Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder that has been found to affect multiple systems in the body. Most notable are the neurological conditions that seem to be growing in their appearance in most often adults in their middle-aged years. Such conditions as epilepsy, myoclonic ataxia, cerebellar ataxia, chronic neuropathies and even dementia have been reported.
Although there is a seeming association with neurological disorders in other age ranges from children through adolescence into young adult hood, it is said that there isn’t sufficient data to make a definitive statement according to one study.
What neurological disorders are associated with celiac disease?
There are, however, enough common – sometimes called ‘soft’ – neurological conditions that have warranted further study into a broader range of these disorders in children and young adults with celiac disease. Conditions such as learning disorders, ADD, ADHD, tics and headaches have become the focus for further study, including the above mentioned, during the past 20 years.
In order to study the neurological data of patients presenting with neurologic disorders or neurologic symptoms, a group was studied through the use of brain imaging and electroencephalograms (EEG) and compared with a control group with the same age and gender.
Interestingly, the celiac patients were 51.4% more likely to develop neurologic disorders when compared to the control group who only measured 19.9% likely. The disorders studied did include developmental delay, learning disorders, ADD, cerebellar ataxia, hypotonia, and headache.
Seizure disorders and epilepsy were slightly more common in patients with celiac disease. Tic disorders were similar in both groups.
The best therapy for treating neurological disorders.
A gluten free diet was used as a therapy, and was demonstrated to be a benefit to patients with migraine headaches and infantile hypotonia.
Conclusions of the study suggested that the large variety of neurological disorders and the many variables within each one with those suffering from celiac disease was much bigger than thought and reported previously. Realizing that chronic headaches, developmental delays, learning disorders, ADHD and the like were also included brings researchers to want to further study the relationship between neurologic disorders and the benefit of therapy using a gluten free diet.
Does removing gluten recover neurological disorders?
It is nice to see that studies are actually recognizing the connection between gluten and the effect that it can have on the brain and the benefit of a gluten-free diet for neurological disorders. Removing gluten from the diet was one of the major steps in the right direction that we took to recover seizure activity in my daughter. Reports of children with autism recovering when gluten is removed from their diet is also becoming more common place.
Believe it or not, gluten can actually take up to 4 months to be completely eliminated from the body. If you or anyone that you know suffers from any type of neurological disorder, I urge you to consider removing all gluten (and possibly all grain) from their diet for a period of 4 months to see what kind of changes for the better you can bring to the forefront of their life for recovery purposes.
How can I begin recovering my neurological disorder?
To begin recovering from neurological disorders, click below to receive the recipes that we used to recover seizure activity, chronic headaches and migraines.