Can drinking alcohol trigger celiacs?

[hersheygirl9]

I got diagnosed with gastritis due to excessive alcohol use and have continued to have the gastritis for the past two months. About a month ago I started having digestive issues and some symptoms of celiacs. The GI and my PCP have said that alcohol shouldnt be affecting my system anymore because I haven't drank in two months and the inflammation in the stomach should have healed so something else is causing it. Considering celiacs or IBS. But what I'm wondering is did the excessive alcohol use trigger the celiacs to appear? I really hope not because this is really killing me and I'm thinking back to all the moments I could have chosen to not drink. Please help! 

[ironictruth]

Have you cut out coffee and acidic foods during the time you were trying to heal the gastritis? As well as aspirin? Because if not, you are probably not healed. 

Use low acid coffee if you must  (I use Rich Rewards) and DGL licorice root. Make sure it is DGL as plain licorice can mess with potassium. The chewables taste yummy!

I did the above and improved. My gastritis/duodenitus issues temporarily worsened after my endo because the drugs they used wreak havoc on the gut. Of course I have a slew of other wacky symptoms still. 

I assume you had an abdominal ultrasound to look at liver and gallbladder as well as serology for liver enzymes and a celiac panel? 

[hersheygirl9]

16 minutes ago, ironictruth said:

Have you cut out coffee and acidic foods during the time you were trying to heal the gastritis? As well as aspirin? Because if not, you are probably not healed. 

Use low acid coffee if you must  (I use Rich Rewards) and DGL licorice root. Make sure it is DGL as plain licorice can mess with potassium. The chewables taste yummy!

I did the above and improved. My gastritis/duodenitus issues temporarily worsened after my endo because the drugs they used wreak havoc on the gut. Of course I have a slew of other wacky symptoms still. 

I assume you had an abdominal ultrasound to look at liver and gallbladder as well as serology for liver enzymes and a celiac panel? 

I didn't touch coffee except for one time in the past two months. I don't take pain killers very often at all. 

Yes! the ultrasound revealed that I had a cyst in my kidney. THey said the PPI from the gastritis could be causing the loose bowels and such. But everytime I see a floating stool or the shiny oil-like film on top of the water in the stool I get so nervous and I don't know if its Celiacs or smthg else. I'm so terrified. I don't have any abdominal pain though so I don't know what's going on. 

Below are my levels from the blood test. These are the only thnks that are relating to the celiacs in the blood test. Doctors said the levels were normal? But I'm still worried.

IgA: 239 mg/dL

TtG: <2 U/mL

[ironictruth]

36 minutes ago, hersheygirl9 said:

I didn't touch coffee except for one time in the past two months. I don't take pain killers very often at all. 

Yes! the ultrasound revealed that I had a cyst in my kidney. THey said the PPI from the gastritis could be causing the loose bowels and such. But everytime I see a floating stool or the shiny oil-like film on top of the water in the stool I get so nervous and I don't know if its Celiacs or smthg else. I'm so terrified. I don't have any abdominal pain though so I don't know what's going on. 

Below are my levels from the blood test. These are the only thnks that are relating to the celiacs in the blood test. Doctors said the levels were normal? But I'm still worried.

IgA: 239 mg/dL

TtG: <2 U/mL

You did not have the whole celiac panel. DGP and EMA should be tested. 

The PPI can cause a lot of bathroom trouble. PPI's can interfere with digestion as well. Do they have you on a plan to taper off?

[Ennis-TX]

Growing up my celiacs was mostly just the minor symptoms, nothing major. After a huge drinking binge the symptoms got much much worse, and completely intolerable. I knew nothing at the time that I even had the disease, and even spent years thinking I was dying before getting diagnosed. Also messed up a whole lot of other things during that.

[hersheygirl9]

7 hours ago, ironictruth said:

You did not have the whole celiac panel. DGP and EMA should be tested. 

The PPI can cause a lot of bathroom trouble. PPI's can interfere with digestion as well. Do they have you on a plan to taper off?

For some reason the doctor didn't test for it so I'm not sure what's happening. This is so frustrating. They don't have a plan right now and they just want me to continue taking the medication until biopsy results. I really hope that it might just be the PPI causing all the issues but with my luck probably not, also the gastritis should have been gone by now. Thank you!

[hersheygirl9]

6 hours ago, Ennis_TX said:

Growing up my celiacs was mostly just the minor symptoms, nothing major. After a huge drinking binge the symptoms got much much worse, and completely intolerable. I knew nothing at the time that I even had the disease, and even spent years thinking I was dying before getting diagnosed. Also messed up a whole lot of other things during that.

Oh man, I really hope that that's not what happened here. Sometimes, I used to experience constipation after eating bread but I don't know what's going on. This is so scary. Thank you. 

[Jmg]

Hi and welcome

20 hours ago, hersheygirl9 said:

But what I'm wondering is did the excessive alcohol use trigger the celiacs to appear? I really hope not because this is really killing me and I'm thinking back to all the moments I could have chosen to not drink. Please help!

There's no real way to know exactly what triggers celiac to become active. Some report it after stress, for some pregnancy seems to trigger it. For others there's no cause as such, it just develops over time. As it has a genetic component the truth is that you've always had the capacity to develop it, so I wouldn't waste any time kicking yourself over past decisions that you can't revisit. 

You need to be kind to yourself and just focus on getting better.  There's loads of positive things you can do, from eating gut friendly foods, to probiotics etc. Just remember that you're going to improve every day as gluten is removed from your life. You're getting better and stronger and you have a lot of healing to come. 

Best of luck!

 

[Barbara Thorpe]

On 3/12/2017 at 5:39 PM, hersheygirl9 said:

I got diagnosed with gastritis due to excessive alcohol use and have continued to have the gastritis for the past two months. About a month ago I started having digestive issues and some symptoms of celiacs. The GI and my PCP have said that alcohol shouldnt be affecting my system anymore because I haven't drank in two months and the inflammation in the stomach should have healed so something else is causing it. Considering celiacs or IBS. But what I'm wondering is did the excessive alcohol use trigger the celiacs to appear? I really hope not because this is really killing me and I'm thinking back to all the moments I could have chosen to not drink. Please help! 

 

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, Barbara!

Yes, the development of celiac disease does require some kind of triggering stress event or factor. Most commonly, it is a viral infection but other kinds of stress events can be the trigger, even psychological/emotional trauma. So it is possible that your alcohol abuse could have triggered the onset of celiac disease due to the physical stress it was subjecting your body to over time.

But right now you are fishing for answers. Your upper GI problems could be due to many things.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which your immune system attacks the lining of the small bowel in response to the ingestion of gluten. Over time, the inflammation caused by this response wears down the villi that line the small bowel, inhibiting the absorption of nutrients from the food we eat. This typically results in vitamin-mineral deficiencies that cause other medical problems. Also, acid reflux (GERD) is more common in celiacs than in the general population.

There are two kinds of testing used to diagnose celiac disease. The first stage of diagnosis is a blood draw to check for the antibodies that the small bowel inflammation produces. The second stage of testing involves an endoscopy with biopsy of the small bowel lining to check microscopically for damage to the villi. Usually, physicians will order the blood test first and follow that with the endoscopy/biopsy to confirm or if the blood test is not conclusive.

So, where I'm going with this is that if you suspect you have developed celiac disease you need to request a blood antibody test from your physician. There are also home test kits for celiac disease available for about $100 US. Imaware is one company that offers them. It's important to know that you should not begin a gluten free diet before all testing is complete or the testing will be invalid.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/celiac-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20352220

Celiac GI symptoms are mostly below the stomach, in the small bowel. But, it can be difficult to distinguish where the pain is coming from because those areas are so close together.

[Wheatwacked]

On 3/12/2022 at 12:05 PM, Barbara Thorpe said:

But what I'm wondering is did the excessive alcohol use trigger the celiacs to appear? I really hope not because this is really killing me and I'm thinking back to all the moments I could have chosen to not drink.

I found it was the undiagnosed Celiac Disease that triggered my alcoholism. I drank for 30 years to alleviate pain and fatigue. The obvious diagnosis was stop drinking and smoking and you will improve. Never happened. After less than a week of GFD I bought a bottle of Saki and did not drink it. Before GFD I had no problem finishing 500 ml vodka or saki every day. Actually my problem was not finishing a bottle. It's been 8 years and I will have a small glass of champagne at birthdays and it does not trigger the alcoholic response (finish the bottle).

Once your doctors give you a diagnosis, Celiac, or NGWS or we don't know; I strongly recommend you start a true gluten free diet. It can take six months to two years of gluten free diet and supplementing vitamins and minerals you are deficient in because of the malabsorption and malnutrition caused by your combo of celiac and alcoholism. Here are the minerals and vitamins that helped me. You can spent a lot of money on tests that are not good indicators of cellular status. Buy a bottle of each and see how it affects you. Increasing potasium to the US DV of 4700 mg a day (food sourced only, potassium supplements are limited to 100 mg a day because the FDA determined that more can cause intestinal lesions). Some BP meds can cause hyperkalemia. Depending on what you don't eat will affect your individual status.

Here is a sample food log with nutrient values.  http://nutrientlog.doodlesnotes.net/

Thiamin 500 mg, B12 1000, B complex; B5 1000 mg; Phosphatidyl Choline 840 mg; Lithium 5 mg; Dhea 100 mg; vitamin C 1000 mg; Calcium 1000 mg; vitamin D3 250 mcg (10,000 IU), raise vitamin D plasma to around 80 ng/ml; 15 ml Cod Liver Oil (vitamin A and omega 3); 3 sheets One Organic Nori (RDA iodine), 2 oz almonds (RDA vitamin E), 10 grams of fresh parsley (vitamin K).