Gluten sensitivity

Symptoms of gluten sensitivity are usually the same as those of celiac disease and as with celiac disease, the usually go away on a gluten-free diet.

A person who has gluten sensitivity is someone who does not have celiac disease but cannot tolerate gluten. These individuals will experience gastrointestinal symptoms but not intestinal damage will result. Also, those with gluten sensitivity notice extra symptoms not associated with the intestines such as: behavioral changes, bone or joint pain, muscle cramps, leg numbness, weight loss and chronic fatigue.

The term gluten sensitivity often is used for those patients with antigliadin antibodies but normal small-bowel mucosa, whereas those with diagnostic abnormalities on small-bowel biopsy are classified as having celiac disease.

Gluten sensitivity is associated with eating foods containing gluten proteins – wheat, rye, barley, spelt, teff, amaranth, quinoa and kamut. Eating grains prevents the intestine from absorbing nutrients and can lead to bacteria and fungal overgrowth in the gut.

Nutritional deficiency is unlikely to be the cause of the neuropathy because most patients with gluten sensitivity and neuropathy do not have abnormalities on small-bowel biopsy and have normal nutritional status.
Gluten sensitivity