Recently my niece was dx with celiac's, she's 27.
My sister being a nurse has been researching the gluten free diet. She has discovered a connection to infertility in celiac's patients in respect to gluten in their system.
I was never tested for celiac's when I had UC nor was my son, however, I do wonder how many of us may have celiac's and not be aware.
I hope Jan will come along with her knowledge and a link to help better understand since I am clueless here.
I do think it could be a worthy discussion.

Hi Holly,
How was she diagnosed? What type of testing was done?
Thanks

Hi Holly,
What kind of tests did they run to diagnose her?
Thanks!

Hi - very anecdotal but...

When I was on a health kick last year I completely cut out gluten for about two months - I have never felt so good! (Although some of this may be due to the other healthy living changes I made!)

I could finally sleep through the night without having to get up to use the loo, and found generally that bowel movements were much more 'normal'!

Unfortunatly I couldn't keep it up for that long - and started to eat bread and pasta again... I don't eat as much though - and I still feel better than before! (I had my ops done over 6 years ago - so I don't think it's a case of time having made it better)

I do know that you can have celiacs in varying degrees - so it's entirely possible that many of us may have a small intolerance to gluten!

Caroline

My niece had gone for a colonoscopy and endoscopy due to symptoms. It was discovered through the endoscopy.
I do believe that certain blood tests will confirm it as per the nurse I spoke to yesterday.
Celiacs was never heard of when I was dx with UC. I wonder if the gluten intolerance even if mild causes our frequncy. It is very difficult to eliminate gluten. It is in almost everything!
Even when a product does not say gluten other products within have gluten in them. Just found out chicken broth called collagen has it!
Very good products available if you want to try reducing gluten. google gluten free diet
I think any dr could order the blood work that would detect it.
This also happened to a friend who has had UC for years and was in remission after doing the SCD diet, no luck getting pregnant and that's when this dx came about and the gluten connection to infertility.
there is a book my sister is reading-wheat free, worry free by danna korn
i was able to get it at the library

This message has been edited. Last edited by: "Holly",

Celiac disease is on the rise. I don't think the incidence is increasing, but the recognition and diagnosis is increasing. It was once thought that you only had it from birth, so it was mostly ignored as an adult onset disease. However, the opposite has been found to be true and more and more, it is found as a primary disease or coexisting with other GI disturbances. It also was once thought to be an all or nothing disorder, which is also now found to be untrue. There are varying degrees of gluten intolerance, and this is part of the reason it has been underdiagnosed and often overlooked.

There are blood tests (antibodies), but these are not definitive, only suggestive. The definitive diagnostic is small bowel biopsy.

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/

Regarding the relationship between Celiac disease and infertility, the data is not clear and the rates of infertility are only slightly higher in some studies. Here are a few representative links:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17592443?ordinalpos=...anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17662282?ordinalpos=...anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16310304?ordinalpos=...anel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Jan