Immune Question?

[BeckyW]

Hi, my daughter and I have recently been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and are still learning. I was wondering since this is an autoimmune disease, is our immune system suppressed and do I need to be more concerned with the cold and flu season approaching? I also have hypothyroidism and hypoparathyroidism which are both autoimmune diseases. My daughter is having a slow recovery and is still very weak. Thanks for any help you can give me on this!

[lorka150]

Hi Becky,

This was brought up a few weeks ago, and there were different responses. Personally, when I first was diagnosed, and went gluten-free, I got very ill (from the celiac), however I did not get one cold or flu or sore throat or anything. I was prone to these (usually the flu twice a winter, plus a plethora of colds since I can remember). However, again, this is probably different per person.

[Ruth52]

I don't know how compromised your immune system would be. But you may find that now you have taken the gluten out of your diet, your body has more resistance because it is not having to fight the gluten invaders. Just my thoughts!

[gfp]

This is obviously personal by person but I don't think that celaics have a weak immune system, rather the opposite.

I used to think I got colds which I now recognise as allergies .... (my colds were never the same time as anyone else).

Whne i take away my gluten symptoms like thick heads, migranes and GI issues I have hardly ever been sick and even things like Measles I just fought off without being ill.

I never get infections from cuts and the only real illness that ever knocked me flat was a very virulent strain of typhoid I fought it off in 4 days, my ex was hospitalised and the Dr told me it probably should have killed me. I'm naturally immune to TB... (I just found out how rare this is)

I view my immune system as hyperactive, it even wants to attack gluten!

What I do suffer from is allergy and this seems to be the base of all my problems. My body just massively over reacts.

[jerseyangel]

I tend to get very few colds and that sort of thing. For years, before I was diagnosed, I would get "sick" a lot--but I now know that these "illnesses" were as a result of the Celiac.

I've been gluten-free for 14 months, and (knock on wood) have not had one cold!

You may find that as your system dosen't have the gluten to deal with anymore, you won't get sick as often. From what I read here, it seems like an individual thing.

[debmidge]

Hubby does not get colds,flu or sore throats in all the years we've been married (27) and he has had celiac disease. I get sick all the time, he never catches it. Only once he came down with something that he needed antibiotic for. Me I look at someone who has a cold and I'm sick too.

It's funny but he is getting other immune stuff that would be the result of an "overactive" immune system, for example, neuropathy, and damage to his knee bursa (not from physical damage, internal). He gets so many strange immune complaints that I say to him "Can't you just come down with a cold instead?" So far he has developed a cyst in the palm of his hand and now has intermittent strange & extreme pain down his calf. I believe this has to do with the nerve damage he has from going so long misdiagnosed with celiac disease.

[nikki-uk]

Hubby does not get colds,flu or sore throats in all the years we've been married (27) and he has had celiac disease. I get sick all the time, he never catches it. Only once he came down with something that he needed antibiotic for. Me I look at someone who has a cold and I'm sick too.

The same here!!

In the 18 years I've been married I've never known my hubby to get a 'cold' or the 'flu'.Lots of weird symptoms before being dx with celiac disease though-but he never caught viruses,even if me and the kids all went down with something.

My hubby used to say I was 'weak' because I always seem to go down with a flu virus every winter and need a week in bed!!

Now that my hubby is G.F,last winter was the first time he caught a cold.So,I take this to mean that his immune system is no longer in a 'heightened' state of response.

[Guest Norah022]

I have been gluten free since June 1st and my immune system is still really weak.

I am constantly sick with a cold or an ear infection. I definitely feel my body is weaker since being gluten free

[ravenwoodglass]

I am another one for never getting sick. Virus anyway. I have been gluten-free now for going on 4 years, my constant stuffy nose and coughing were from allergies, I skin tested allergic to everything but beech trees prediagnosis. My allergist did agree with what was said about my immune system being in hyperdrive, in fact to such an extent that it was doing destruction to some organs, brain, joints and pancreas in particular. He was a very wise and well past retirement age doctor who strongly suspected the celiac when he saw my allergy panel. In my case within a year gluten free my allergies had subsided a lot. Now they are virtually non-existant. I still never catch anything but am knocking real hard on wood when I say that.

[All-about-March]

I am yet another one who appears to be super resistant to colds and other viruses. I rarely catch whatever it is that is "going around". Yet, on the occasion that I do catch something....wow! does my body goes ALL out! I can be down and out for several weeks to a couple of months from what started as a cold and then it just goes beserk from there.

I was only just diagnosed with Celiacs in June and it will be interesting to see if all of the changes in my diet and lifestyle will alter my susceptibility once cold and flu season kicks off. Hope not though.... I am perfectly content with my apparent 'immunity' to most bugs!

[par18]

I tend to get very few colds and that sort of thing. For years, before I was diagnosed, I would get "sick" a lot--but I now know that these "illnesses" were as a result of the Celiac.

I've been gluten-free for 14 months, and (knock on wood) have not had one cold!

You may find that as your system dosen't have the gluten to deal with anymore, you won't get sick as often. From what I read here, it seems like an individual thing.

Same here 16 months without so much as a cold. I think the immune system that can make one so ill detecting gluten must be pretty strong to keep you well after you exclude the offending substance from your diet.

[elonwy]

Autoimmunity just means your immune system is confused, and can't discern between bad things, like viruses, and your own body. Usually people with auto-immune disorders have a hyperactive immune system.

While the body is busy dealing with its reaction to gluten, it can be easier to get sick, since you're not absorbing important nutrients and your immune system is busy attacking you, instead of the stuff it should.

I used to get sick all the time, and now that I'm gluten free, I hardly ever get sick. My damage was pretty minimal though, so I bounced back pretty quickly.

Autoimmunity generally does not mean a weakened immune system as many people think, however. Obviously, eveyone is different, and there are many factors to it, but in most cases it should not make us more susceptable to other illnesses once we have the immune reaction under control through diet.

HTH

Elonwy

[BeckyW]

Thanks for the explaination and the encouraging words! I wasn't sure what to expect as a newly diagnosed Celiac!

[Shalia]

Wow, this is an interesting thread. I've wondered why everyone around me gets really sick and I don't. My husband can get incredibly ill, and I might get a sniffle.

But I'm like someone else said on here... rarely sick, but when I am, I'm out to the world.

Thanks for putting together another piece of the Celiac puzzle for me! It helps so much to be on this board!