COVID-19 a Possible Trigger for Celiac Disease in Those with Genetic Risk

I had noticed an association between the symptoms of long-term COVID and celiac disease and wondered if COVID could have triggered the disease in some folks. I have seen people who developed celiac disease after being ill or injured. I hope this leads to more people with long-haul COVID being tested for celiac disease.

17 hours ago, Guest Pam N. said:

I had noticed an association between the symptoms of long-term COVID and celiac disease and wondered if COVID could have triggered the disease in some folks. I have seen people who developed celiac disease after being ill or injured. I hope this leads to more people with long-haul COVID being tested for celiac disease.

This makes sense to me. My celiac disease was triggered at age 51 by a virus I picked up during my first visit to Mexico. My brother's was first expressed when he was 70, also after he'd recovered from a virus.
Both of us later discovered through genetic testing that we had a predisposition for celiac disease.

I truly believe this could be why I am having such digestive and mental health issues after contracting Covid19 Feb 2020. I have been trying to heal my gut through probiotics. I am now going to set up a Gluten test. Thank You for the information.

40 minutes ago, Guest Tammie said:

I truly believe this could be why I am having such digestive and mental health issues after contracting Covid19 Feb 2020. I have been trying to heal my gut through probiotics. I am now going to set up a Gluten test. Thank You for the information.

Gluten test? Do you mean a celiac disease serum antibody test?

I 100% believe this is a possibility.  My celiac kicked in when I was 30, after I randomly got pneumonia and a lung abscess.  I was in the hospital for weeks on IV antibiotics.  I got tested for everything you can imagine (HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis, etc).  because they didn't understand why a healthy 30 year old guy would get pneumonia and an abscess.  This was in 2003.  Maybe I had Covid-18 back then :)

Before I got sick I used to eat bread and pasta like a madman with no issues.  Afterwards, all my celiac symptoms started.  So I always wondered what was the cause and effect.  Was it the pneumonia that caused the celiac to kick in?  Was it the months of antibiotics I was on?  (I was on Avelox which was since been recalled for a number of issues).  Was my immune system just a time bomb waiting to go off and it all went to hell at one time?  Not sure, but I can totally believe an infectious disease like Covid could trigger dormant celiac in some people that are prone to it.

I got a vaccine while living in Germany in 2013. I got very sick afterwards.  I was sick for several months. By 2014 I started having serious intestinal issues. By 2015 when I was back in the States,  by whole body was a wreck. 

I went in for testing, that took over a year for all the tests. Finally in 2016, after losing my gallbladder,  I was tested for celiac disease, and it was positive.  I even took the DNA test, it too was positive. 

Afterwards my doctor said that my celiac disease was more than likely triggered by either the vaccine or the virus,  or both since they were related. 

He said that it is quite common for people to trigger an Autoimmune disease by a traumatic event, a vaccine or a serious illness.  This is especially true for late life diagnosis,  which mine was. 

1 hour ago, Guest Tina Brown said:

I got a vaccine while living in Germany in 2013. I got very sick afterwards.  I was sick for several months. By 2014 I started having serious intestinal issues. By 2015 when I was back in the States,  by whole body was a wreck. 

I went in for testing, that took over a year for all the tests. Finally in 2016, after losing my gallbladder,  I was tested for celiac disease, and it was positive.  I even took the DNA test, it too was positive. 

Afterwards my doctor said that my celiac disease was more than likely triggered by either the vaccine or the virus,  or both since they were related. 

He said that it is quite common for people to trigger an Autoimmune disease by a traumatic event, a vaccine or a serious illness.  This is especially true for late life diagnosis,  which mine was. 

This is extremely interesting to note, my celiac symptoms began about a month after receiving the first covid vaccine. Now I wish I never got it!

I would not be sorry that you got the covid vaccine, as it may have already, or could save your life. Getting the vaccine isn't the same as getting the disease, and we've not seen any studies linking the vaccine with triggering celiac disease.

2 hours ago, Makky said:

This is extremely interesting to note, my celiac symptoms began about a month after receiving the first covid vaccine. Now I wish I never got it!

Could be coincidence. 

I had an awful stomach virus in 2018 that lingered for weeks. My stomach was never the same and in 2020 tested positive for celiac. In 2016 I was diagnosed with anemia. Looking back I had symptoms maybe my entire life, but I know that virus flipped a switch permanently. I thought it was daily IBS. My random “IBS” symptoms started after my second c-section ten years earlier. Viruses, stress, and abdominal surgeries can all activate celiac, and I had all three. 
I also had Covid the first week in January 2021 and would now be considered a long hauler. At first it wasn’t bad. Just felt like a cold and mild flu. On day four I felt great and then went back down hill. Had antibiotic in February and felt totally recovered until I tried to resume normal everyday activities. That’s when the chest pain started and gradually turned into burning and tingling with shortness of breath. By March I was having a ct scan and given prednisone. I thought that was the end of it, but the chest pain came back in April and moved down my left arm, so that was scary. Turned out to be costochondritis, which really does feel like a heart attack. The costochondritis is still there three months later, and daily chest pressure and tightness (which was not a symptom I had during Covid). I didn’t lose my taste or smell during Covid, but my smell has been off for several months. Coffee smells like a skunk and just the other day the smell of spaghetti sauce cooking smelled awful-like I was going to be sick. Those are just a couple of examples. Every time I try to start exercising again, even a little bit, I get sick and it sets me back again. It is awful. I’m waiting to see if maybe long haulers are more prone to celiac or gluten sensitivity. I definitely think it has something to do with the activation of the immune system. 

7 minutes ago, sandbtmytoes said:

I had an awful stomach virus in 2018 that lingered for weeks. My stomach was never the same and in 2020 tested positive for celiac. In 2016 I was diagnosed with anemia. Looking back I had symptoms maybe my entire life, but I know that virus flipped a switch permanently. I thought it was daily IBS. My random “IBS” symptoms started after my second c-section ten years earlier. Viruses, stress, and abdominal surgeries can all activate celiac, and I had all three. 
I also had Covid the first week in January 2021 and would now be considered a long hauler. At first it wasn’t bad. Just felt like a cold and mild flu. On day four I felt great and then went back down hill. Had antibiotic in February and felt totally recovered until I tried to resume normal everyday activities. That’s when the chest pain started and gradually turned into burning and tingling with shortness of breath. By March I was having a ct scan and given prednisone. I thought that was the end of it, but the chest pain came back in April and moved down my left arm, so that was scary. Turned out to be costochondritis, which really does feel like a heart attack. The costochondritis is still there three months later, and daily chest pressure and tightness (which was not a symptom I had during Covid). I didn’t lose my taste or smell during Covid, but my smell has been off for several months. Coffee smells like a skunk and just the other day the smell of spaghetti sauce cooking smelled awful-like I was going to be sick. Those are just a couple of examples. Every time I try to start exercising again, even a little bit, I get sick and it sets me back again. It is awful. I’m waiting to see if maybe long haulers are more prone to celiac or gluten sensitivity. I definitely think it has something to do with the activation of the immune system. 

So sorry to hear all this, I wish you healing and truly hope you feel better soon 🙏💜

6 minutes ago, Makky said:

So sorry to hear all this, I wish you healing and truly hope you feel better soon 🙏💜

Thank you so much Makky! I’m hopeful that it will eventually resolve with time 🙏