A close family member has it
If an immediate member of your family (such as your mother, father, brother or sister ) has coeliac disease, then studies show your chances of having it increase to one in ten.
Perhaps the most common – and well known – symptoms of coeliac disease are gut-related. “Things like nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, stomach pain, stomach cramps and bloating are symptoms can be due to undiagnosed coeliac disease,” says McGough. “However, coeliac disease symptoms can sometimes be put down to stress, getting older or mistaken for IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). So coeliac disease should always be excluded by a GP before a diagnosis of IBS is made.” Yet research shows that one in four people diagnosed with coeliac disease had been incorrectly diagnosed with IBS first.
If you have coeliac disease – which can be confirmed by a blood test and gut biopsy – then symptoms won’t improve until you start eating an entirely gluten-free diet. And even then it can take months, and even years, for a damaged gut lining to heal.
Persistent tiredness is a little known sign of coeliac disease
Persistent tiredness is a little known sign of coeliac disease CREDIT: GETTY
“Coeliac disease damages the lining of the gut, which means your body can’t properly absorb the vitamins and nutrients from the food you eat,” says Norma. One result can be anaemia, which is caused by your body not absorbing enough iron and a diagnosis of anemia is often a red flag for coeliac disease. A blood test from your GP will confirm whether you have anemia, but symptoms can include persistent tiredness that doesn’t get better with rest, pale skin, shortness of breath, headaches and insomnia.
A little known coeliac disease symptom is a type of skin rash, called dermatitis herpetiformis and often referred to as DH. The rash usually appears on the elbows, knees, scalp, bottom and torso and it most commonly appears in sufferers aged 50 to 69-years-old. Symptoms include red, raised, itchy and often stinging patches that appear initially as blisters that burst. “The rash usually appears symmetrically on the body,” says Norma, “so for example, it will appear on both elbows.”
DH is diagnosed with a skin sample taken from the rash area that will indicate whether you have an antibody called Immunoglobulin (IgA). "Even if somebody has DH, but no gut symptoms like stomach pain or diarrhoea, they may have the same kind of gut damage seen in coeliac disease,” says Norma, who says around 60pc of people with DH don’t have digestive symptoms. A gluten-free diet is the only treatment for DH, but it can sometimes take up to two years for a gluten-free diet to clear up DH, in which case sufferers may need to take a drug (in tablet form) called Dapsone to control the itching and development of blisters.
“Most women with treated coeliac disease don’t seem to have a greater risk of fertility problems,” says Norma. “However, undiagnosed coeliac disease may be an underlying cause of unexplained fertility problems so testing for coeliac disease should be considered.”
NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines recommend that a blood test for coeliac disease should be an option for people with unexplained infertility or recurrent miscarriages.
“We don’t really know why untreated coeliac disease affects fertility, but one theory is if you have coeliac disease and you’re not following a gluten-free diet, you’re more likely to be deficient in folic acid, iron, zinc and selenium, which are essential for reproductive health,” says Norma.
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