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Dizziness/Clumsiness
Dizziness
is a common enough complaint among Celiacs and there are some reasons for
this. Some also suspect a
pattern of clumsiness or awkwardness in Celiacs. Autoimmune Inner Ear
Disease and Meniere's Disease are rarer causes of balance symptoms, but they too
have some association with food intolerance.
Contents:
Dizziness
Dizziness
may result from gliadin sensitivity in a number of different ways. To list a
few:
· As
a symptom of low blood sugar from hypoglycemia
caused by malabsorption caused by the gliadin
reaction.
· As
a symptom of vertigo from Nystagmus
caused by the gliadin reaction.
· As
a symptom of ataxia
caused by the gliadin reaction.
· Possible
malabsorption
or autoimmune injury to the inner ear.
·
Inner
ear infection, the likelihood increased by gliadin
sensitivity.
Clumsiness
Clumsiness,
awkwardness, or poor coordination may also result from the factors given above
as much as those factors can weaken eye-hand coordination or sense of
balance. But in addition,
·
Axonal
and peripheral neuropathy caused by the gliadin reaction can also affect
coordination.
·
The
fatigue and pain caused by the gliadin reaction can discourage the physical
activity needed to maintain or improve physical
skills.
·
Some
personal interests and hobbies that are stereotypical to gluten
intolerance tend to interfere with opportunities for physical
activities.
Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease
Description of Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease
About 50% of patients with Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease have balance symptoms. Most autoimmune conditions are associated with food intolerances, particularly gluten.
Meniere's Disease
Description of Meniere's Disease on WebMD
I figure that there are multiple conditions that all have the symptoms of Meniere's Disease, so there should be multiple treatments, but only one of which would be best for an individual. There are a few reports of associations between Meniere's and food sensitivities, wheat in particular, but other foods are suggested too. People whose Meniere's improves on a few weeks of a true gluten free diet might have an autoimmune form of Meniere's, or may have some other wheat/immune moderated balance problem, such as ataxia or nystagmus.
Because gluten intolerance can cause vertigo or dizziness as explained in the paragraphs above, because gluten intolerance is much more common than Meniere's, and because Meniere's is reported on occasion to respond to allergen elimination diets, I suggest that one should consider that gluten or other food sensitivities also be investigated when one is diagnosed with Meniere's.
Meneire's, ataxia, tinnitus, hearing loss?
Here is a mention of Meneire's in association with successful treatment of common gluten intolerance. The symptoms of imbalance may have been gluten sensitive Meneire's, or it may have been other misdiagnosed symptoms of gluten intolerance such as ataxia or Sjogrens''s.
Link: Discussion on BrainTalk Communities
Again, here is a report of Meniere’s associated with common gluten intolerance, possibly (possibly not) a misdiagnose of balance problems that were eventually treated with the gluten free diet that could have been started decades earlier (emphasis added):
"I have researched, read, and sometimes cried. Not because I have celiac disease, but because 50 years of my life were wasted. All those years when my children were young, I was always dizzy and so very tired. "
Link: Essay on glutenfreecanada.com
An interesting personal story appears on the web site COPING WITH MENIERE'S DISEASE. Obviously, this person's health problem was treated with the gluten free diet, but only after 20 years of a missed diagnosis. Probably, not all people diagnosed with Meniere's actually have the same condition as Rick's, but obviously some people can be helped. It is interesting that he describes a change in symptoms (worsening in this case) that is consistent with untreated gluten intolerance.
Link: Story
"...I've dealt with this disease for over 20 years but it didn't really cause me great problems until about five or six years ago when I started getting two vertigo attacks a week and was dizzy all the time. I found that a food allergy (gluten-wheat, oats, rye, and barley) was the biggest trigger of my vertigo attacks. I decided at that time to take on a philosophy that all vertigo attacks are triggered by an event and from that time on, when I got a vertigo attack, I would analyze the events leading up to that attack. Mainly within the 30 minutes prior to the attack. While the gluten free diet reduced my attacks to about 1 per month, Further elimination and isolation of triggers has got me to the point to where I have gone 1 year and 10 months without a vertigo attack.
....[other triggers...]
...The bottom line though, is to look for patterns and triggers and hopefully you'll get lucky and find some of the things that's triggering your symptoms."
The following article suggests that excessive food antibodies are not found in the blood of Meniere's patients. However, other studies demonstrate that blood tests for gliadin antibodies are not reliable for detecting some gluten allergy conditions, particularly in earlier stages of wheat sensitivity, so the study should be repeated with a more sensitive test.
Link: Article