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I have both conditions, but I can't say if eating gluten increases my seizures because when you have celiac disease you cannot consume gluten. Consuming gluten when you have celiac not only cause GI issues like pain, bloating, etc. it can also damage the liver and pancreas, and increases the risk for developing other auto-immune diseases. But back to your original question: there are some people on other forums who say consuming gluten causes an increase in seizures, but most of these people have abnormal MRIs such as white matter abnormalities and calcifications in certain areas of the brain.
A few CWE threads you may find of interest:
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/seizures-epilepsy-comon-celiac-disease-16272/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/celiac-sprue-gluten-intolerance-epilepsy-1822/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f42/celiac-seizures-23235/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/gluten-docs-seizures-good-news-5464/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com...ity-temporal-lobe-epilepsy-w-sclerosis-21455/
Thanks for your input, masterjen. Celiac runs in my family. I had a variety of issues for years that no specialist could figure out. I decided to cut out gluten and dairy because they seemed to be big issues for me. Within a short period of time of doing so, my symptoms "magically" disappeared.
Eventually, my gastroenterologist decided he wanted to do an upper GI and biopsy, which meant I had to re-introduce gluten in order for them to get a more accurate reading. About a week after doing so, I was in bed, felt like I had the flu, joint pain, neuropathy, etc. I had to eat gluten for a few more weeks before the procedure, but decided it wasn't worth me being so sick, so I never had it done or got an official diagnosis.
I did decide to test myself a few more times with the on / off gluten thing, and had the same symptoms. I came to the conclusion that at the least, I have a gluten sensitivity.
I've been very careful with avoiding gluten, but ingested some for a couple of days without knowing it. I started getting those weird feelings like maybe a simple partial was near, but a day or so after realizing I was getting gluten in my system, I stopped it, and was fine.
The one advantage of the endoscopic exam is that it will show definitively if you have celiac or not, and if it turned out you did not then you may not have to worry about issues like cross-contamination of gluten free foods with foods that contain gluten. Having said that, though, I don't blame you for not not wanting to go back to gluten if it made you that sick when you did. There is a blood test that can be done to measure levels of certain antibodies, and if the results are "positive" an endoscopy is the next step. Have you had the blood test? I don't know if this is influenced by having gluten in your system or not, by your GI doc would know.
If you are planning on avoiding gluten, be vigilant and avoid all gluten. As you have learned going gluten free cannot be a hit and miss affairTo take things one step further if you want to go on the assumption you do have celiac disease, you will need to make sure to avoid cross contamination as well. Just a very small number of examples: get your own toaster for GF bread, make sure cutting boards and utensils are thoroughly cleaned, make sure you buy only those products that are labeled GF or look them up on the internet or call the manufacturer if the label suggests there are no gluten products in them because the item could have been processed on a manufacturing line that also manufactures gluten containing products. Manufacturers are very good when you call them.
Sorry for the long blabber. I had to learn all this by trial and error 6 years ago, and I'd like to save you some of the error part lol!
Hello all,
Has anyone on here been diagnosed with E and Celiac Disease? I ask because I am interested to see if you notice an increase in seizures or other neurological symptoms if you eat gluten.
Recent studies suggest that "people with autoimmune disease are almost four times likelier to have epilepsy than are people without autoimmune disorders." So there may be a subset of epilepsy, perhaps with a genetic component, that features co-occurring autoimmune disorders such as celiac disease or lupus. For more about "automimmune epilepsy" see http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-p...osciences/new-approach-to-autoimmune-epilepsy1%-5.5% of celiacs having seizure disorders is not surprising considering CD is an autoimmune disorder and leads to malabsorption/ malnutrition/ nutrient deficiencies and all of these can lead to seizures.