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

It is possible, and even possible that you've got another auto-immune issue going on...once you have one, you are more likely to get another.

I read somewhere that around 20% of people get long covid, which usually goes away after a few months, but in some people it can last years, and maybe never go away. Be sure to check with your doctor about your symptoms.

6 hours ago, Guest TimR said:

I was diagnosed with COVID last month (June 2022) and have since tested negative and am symptom free. Since then, though maintaining a gluten-free diet, my gut pain (associated with my initial celiac diagnosis in April 2021) has increased this summer.

I am wondering if COVID may have exacerbated my celiac pain?

Gut pain is associated with thiamine deficiency.  Fighting an infection like Covid can decrease your thiamine level to the point of deficiency.  

Be well: A potential role for vitamin B in COVID-19

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The World Health Organization recommends giving thiamine hydrochloride 500 mg three times a day for several days.  If improvement is seen, thiamine deficiency can be diagnosed.

Supplementing with thiamine and the essential B vitamins may be beneficial while you are healing.

Hi, I got CoVid in 2020 before vaccinations. Have had long haul since. I am being tested for celiac. I have been gluten free for 2 months. Not sure it will show in blood work. The symptoms definitely are similar. My iron stores are at 10- D is low too. This is after supplements  for several months. I just assumed it was all long haul. Dr thinks it is celiac. 

15 minutes ago, Guest Marie said:

Hi, I got CoVid in 2020 before vaccinations. Have had long haul since. I am being tested for celiac. I have been gluten free for 2 months. Not sure it will show in blood work. The symptoms definitely are similar. My iron stores are at 10- D is low too. This is after supplements  for several months. I just assumed it was all long haul. Dr thinks it is celiac. 

Marie, going gluten free for two months before testing will likely invalidate the testing. You should not go gluten free until all testing is complete. When you go gluten free, the inflammation caused by the ingestion of gluten (if you have celiac disease) will begin to subside and may not be detected. Did your doctor not warn you about this? Many docs don't know enough about celiac disease testing to tell their patients these things.

The Mayo clinic guidelines for valid testing if one has already started a gluten free diet is to eat two slices of wheat bread (or the gluten equivalent) daily for 6-8 weeks leading up to the serum antibody test and the same amount of gluten for two weeks leading up to the endoscopy/biopsy.

On 7/7/2021 at 4:56 PM, 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!

I came to this forum looking for this comment I developed celiac symptoms after having the booster all I have found is evidence of covid causing it through Google but that's to be expected isn't it knowing who's who big pharma big tech but I didn't actually get covid until some months afterwards so am very suspicious it was the vaccine would love to find out if there's more of us that believe this 

On 7/7/2021 at 10:11 AM, DevilGluten said:

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 was very sick in the summer of 2020 prior to getting Covid-19. They did genetic testing for Celiac which I tested positive for the gene but when they did the serum test and the biopsy test during and EGD, I didn’t have celiac disease but was told it could develop at any point. I had long Covid and all my GI stuff started to flare again. It was a little over a year ago that I had it, November 2021. I wondered then if Covid could’ve set some autoimmune disease into action because I always tested just outside of the normal range before. My GI symptoms are getting so bad recently that I just started wondering if maybe the Covid could’ve set my celiac gene into motion now. We  aren’t there yet with my testing again, but if I test negative for all the stuff they are looking at first, I might ask about the possibility of getting tested again. 
And BTW, that serious antibiotic use could’ve given you an infection in your gut called C-Diff. Very similar GI symptoms to Celiac. 

In 2022 I contacted covid x2 I went down to 92 lbs could hardly walk had constant diarrhea, vomiting  and hair falling out, weaken muscle. Became short of breath. Ended up in hospital multiple times. Had pneumonia and blood clots in lung. Needed a stent put in. I do believe covid woke up celiac. I’m on my road to recovery, following diet, I must admit I do miss bread rolls , I have a bite of something I m missing once in awhile not everyday 

If you have celiac disease, even a "bite" of something with gluten can cause your autoimmune reaction to continue, which will cause ongoing symptoms and risks.

On 7/7/2021 at 4:56 PM, 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!

So did mine, approx two weeks after the injection.  Interesting to hear of someone else with a similar experience