In honour of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, we are dedicating this week’s blog post to raising more awareness around celiac disease and its many symptoms. 

Last week, we took a look at some of the basics of celiac: what it is, how to get diagnosed, and what some common symptoms are. Today, we’re going to dive deeper into the symptoms of celiac disease, both in adults and children.

To begin, there are over 200 reported symptoms with celiac disease, showing once again that chronic illness manifests differently in each body. While there are common symptoms that most – if not all – people with celiac experience, there are a vast amount of ways symptoms may show up in your body. 

How symptoms manifest in your body can be based on your body’s predisposition, but also based on the amount of gluten intake, the way it was exposed to your body, how long your body has been exposed to gluten over time, as well as your age. For example, there are symptoms that only impact children, while others only impact adults. Further, some people have minimal or no symptoms at all, which is a reason it is so under diagnosed.

Let’s take a deeper dive into symptoms of celiac:

Celiac in Children

Science is unclear as to why celiac presents differently in children then in adults. It may be due to the microbiome in the gut based on age and maturity, or it may be something else entirely. While there are cross over symptoms at any age, such as abdominal pain and bloating, here are some symptoms that can be present in children with celiac:

Symptoms can also include cross-over symptoms at any age, such as diarrhea, constipation, gas, iron deficiency and/or anemia, nausea and vomiting, and weight loss. 

Celiac in Adults

Along with the cross-over age symptoms mentioned above, some symptoms that can manifest in adults with celiac are:

– Cognitive impairment 

– Depression and anxiety 

– Fatigue 

– Migraines 

– Itchy, blistering skin rashes (known as dermatitis herpetiformis)

– Joint pain 

– Missed periods / irregular menstrual cycles 

– Mouth ulcers and canker sores 

– Osteoporosis and osteomalacia 

– Peripheral neuropathy 

– Reduced spleen function (known as hyposplenism)

These symptoms, regardless of age, can take a massive, damaging toll on the body, mental and emotional health and wellbeing, and can greatly impact quality of life. This is why early diagnosis is imperative for celiac disease, and why removing all forms of celiac from one’s diet and lifestyle is critically important.

It also goes to show why “a small bite of bread won’t kill you” is false and ignorant to the realities of celiac. Raising awareness of the realities of celiac disease is so important. 

Periods in Pain does not constitute medical advice. Always seek the advice of a physician and health professional.