Celiac Disease and Hormones

[Caleb18]

So I have celiac's disease. Mine is pretty reasonably severe, and I am wondering if hormones will have a bad effect on my body. I'm FTM, and I have been gluten free since April of 2011. I have seen some people here talk about Celiac so I am hoping I can get some good responses.

[Arch]

I haven't been diagnosed with celiac, but I have trouble digesting carbohydrate-heavy food. Generally speaking, I don't do well with grains (particularly wheat), some dairy (but not cheese), and fruits and veggies (fruits more than vegetables).

On T, I have greater tolerance for such foods, but I still have trouble. I often wonder why I am more tolerant. I had other beneficial effects as well; for example, my eczema cleared up. My skin is still super sensitive, so I can't scratch an itch without worrying about getting angry little bumps, but I don't get the scalies anymore and can even wear synthetic fabrics now. T has had an interesting effect on my system.

I hope you get some good responses. Better than mine, anyway.

P.S. You look pretty darned good for someone not on T yet.

[Caleb18]

@Arch
Thanks for the response man. I am hoping that T will have some good effects on my system as well. I doubt I would be able to get away with cheating as much since I really don't want to damage my small intestine. I have heard that it increases the red blood cell count, and I am currently anemic. Because of my celiac my bones are really weak, so I am hoping that it will really make my bones denser.
Oh and Thanks for the comment. It's weird that I've gotten so good at passing and I decided that I was trans around Thanksgiving. I have a pretty deep voice too, but I do a lot of overly feminine stuff that I have to work on. 

[Arch]

Well, if you get comfortable with yourself, you might want to hang onto some of those "feminine" characteristics if you like them. Most guys start "passing" within a year of starting a typical dose of T, so don't sell your soul to the devil just to be read as male now. My two cents' worth, anyway.

I don't know much about celiac except for the little research I did for myself a few years ago. I know that it's an autoimmune thing, and I know that eczema is more common in people with celiac than in the general population. I think the two must be genetically linked. I also read that people with gluten intolerance are more likely than other people to develop lactose intolerance later in life; I never followed up on that lead, though. I actually don't think I'm lactose intolerant because the supplement I took--Lactaid--never did me any good. But I couldn't share a pint of Ben & Jerry's without paying for it later. It's got to be the amount of sugar, not the type. I don't know. It's all very confusing.

You probably have a doctor who monitors your celiac, yes? You might give T a year or so and then propose a test. But from what I've read, you can do yourself some serious damage.

Have you ever tried gluten-free bread? I wasn't impressed, and the stuff I bought was quick to get moldy. I finally gave up.

[Jason C]

Pretty interesting to hear the effect testosterone has had on you, Arch. I have Celiac disease also, VERY severe. If I eat something that's got the tiniest amount of gluten in, my entire health is affected, including my eczema. So I'm never going to cheat my gluten-free diet.

Caleb, you can get calcium tablets for your bones though; I have to take them because I was on steroids for a good few years. And iron, of course, for the anemia.

[Arch]

I have Celiac disease also, VERY severe. If I eat something that's got the tiniest amount of gluten in, my entire health is affected, including my eczema. So I'm never going to cheat my gluten-free diet.

Wow. We must all have a little more caveman in us than most folks...I have read that Northern Europeans (and people with such ancestry) have quite a high rate of celiac and carb intolerance. And I thought, "It stands to reason...if you eat mostly reindeer meat and can't cultivate grains, you don't have a good chance of evolving the enzymes you need to digest all of that other stuff!"

So mainly, I think the intolerance of these kinds of foods does go back to our prehistoric heritage, when humans were eating lots of meat and hadn't cultivated grains yet.

[Caleb18]

Pretty interesting to hear the effect testosterone has had on you, Arch. I have Celiac disease also, VERY severe. If I eat something that's got the tiniest amount of gluten in, my entire health is affected, including my eczema. So I'm never going to cheat my gluten-free diet.

Caleb, you can get calcium tablets for your bones though; I have to take them because I was on steroids for a good few years. And iron, of course, for the anemia.

Hey Jason, I am glad to hear that I am not the only one who has to suffer with the serious effects of Celiac. I do take iron and sometimes calcium. I was wondering if you felt like taking testosterone may have worsened to lightened your celiac or do you feel like nothing relating to celiac has changed.
Also I have heard that testosterone makes your bones denser. Have you felt like it helped?

[dalebert]

I have long believed I was gluten-intolerant but definitely not full-blown Celiac. Recently I discovered I am prediabetic and really anything that spikes my blood sugar is bad for me. Wheat is one of the main culprits. Now I don't know. I am probably going to avoid gluten regardless. There's no point in risking it. I'll be trying out other low-glycemic carbs in moderation and seeing what my body can handle without glucose spikes.

I haven't been diagnosed with celiac, but I have trouble digesting carbohydrate-heavy food. Generally speaking, I don't do well with grains (particularly wheat), some dairy (but not cheese), and fruits and veggies (fruits more than vegetables).

Sounds like you're describing a lot of high-glycemic foods. I would encourage you to pick up an hba1c test from Walmart and then see a doctor if it comes back 5.8 or higher. If you're eating well and avoiding those high-glycemic foods, the test may not indicate much of a problem. You might want to talk to your doctor anyway and ask them to test you. They'll probably have you drink a high glucose drink and wait an hour before testing your blood glucose level. That's a better indicator.

P.S. You look pretty darned good for someone not on T yet.

2nded!

[Caleb18]

I definitely will ad that I have sugar issues as well. Most of the time I have very low blood sugar. Most mornings that I wake up and it is in the 40-70 range.
Thanks for the complement. Coming on this site is usually a good boost for my ego.
Do you feel like testosterone may have aggravated the gluten intolerance thing?

[dalebert]

I understand they have a test for Celiac if you want to know for sure. However, I thought I heard that it only works if you've been eating gluten for a while. If you've been pointedly avoiding it as I have, it may not work. I'm not sure about that though. Ask your doctor.

EDIT: Gluten-intolerance is a slower, less obvious reaction and maybe very different reaction altogether and I'm pretty sure they don't have a test for that. It's still controversial whether it's even a thing. The theory is that if you aren't able to digest the very long protein strands thoroughly enough, the remaining bits act like tiny microscopic shards of glass in your system. They can (theoretically) tear through the lining of your intestine and get into your bloodstream and make microscopic tears in cell walls anywhere your blood carries them (your whole body), thereby causing sort of random, general inflammation. If the holes in your intestine get big and/or numerous enough, you can (theoretically) start to get bits of poop in your blood and thereby even more inflammation. It can even (theoretically) lead to hormonal problems if they, for instance, cause inflammation of your thyroid or pituitary gland, which could then interfere with their normal function. I read an extensive paper on it once. It was pretty interesting.

I used to be very confident I was gluten-intolerant as I just described. Now that I know I'm prediabetic, all the symptoms above can also be explained by high blood glucose levels which glutenous foods are likely to induce. So basically I'm no longer confident I have a gluten-intolerance. I seem to be able to eat very small amounts and not feel anything negative.

[Arch]

Dalebert, I think my situation is simply a genetic predisposition that supposedly occurs at a higher rate in people of Northern European extraction. I figure that people in certain parts of the world didn't evolve the necessary enzyme for digesting wheat. If those folks ate mostly meat and didn't cultivate wheat way back when, they would have no reason to pass along to their descendants a gluten-digesting enzyme. Anyway, I have had problems with wheat ever since childhood. Back then, I mostly had a problem when I ate almost nothing but wheat-based products on an empty stomach. I've always had a delicate tummy.

But I am curious about this OTC test. I'll see if I can find it the next time I am at Target.

Dalebert, what are the obvious symptoms of prediabetic vs. gluten intolerance? I suppose I should look this up...no time tonight.

[dalebert]

Dalebert, what are the obvious symptoms of prediabetic vs. gluten intolerance?

I'm honestly not really sure how one would diagnose gluten-intolerance with great confidence. It's something that we're still figuring out and I don't know if there are many studies on it. Most people just notice problems associated with eating wheat or gluten products.

Diabetes and prediabetes is really easy to diagnose (or rule out?). It just means your body's mechanisms for regulating your blood sugar are compromised in some way and to some degree or another. What doctors will do if they suspect it (so I hear) is give you a high glucose drink and then take some blood one hour later to measure your blood sugar. If you are a certain amount above a normal range, it means your body hasn't regulated it. That can mean that you either don't produce enough insulin or that your body chemistry has changed a bit and your cells have become less sensitive to insulin. High blood glucose levels, either as large spikes or moderately-elevated levels for extended periods of time, can cause all sorts of minor to serious health problems--things like high cholesterol, general inflammation, arteriosclerosis, heart disease, deterioration of eye sight, loss of limbs from circulatory damage, etc. The flip side is some can also be prone to between meal hypoglycemia. A healthy person's body should be able to tap into reserves in the liver and also from fat cells to get energy and raise BGL if a long time passes between meals. A hypoglycemic person might feel fatigue, rapid onsets of hunger, and what-not, if they don't eat frequently. Some might get "the shakes".

I've got a whole thread about my personal revelation of prediabetes and how I'm handling it. I'm lucky that I caught mine when it's still not really bad. I seem to be able to control my BGL with reasonable diet changes and exercise; no drugs. It tends to progress and worsen if you don't control it but if you do control it well, you can theoretically avoid all the health problems.

[Caleb18]

I think that if you have a severe form of gluten intolerance, then it is pretty easy to diagnose. For me, I was losing 5 pounds a month and was Vitamin B deficient, Calcium deficient, Anemic and I was bloated almost all the time. Honestly, I don't really know how people who are only slightly gluten intolerant diagnose themselves. My cousin is gluten intolerant and every time that he eats gluten, he has constipation, bloats 6 inches, and throws up.

[Monkeymel]

@arch - what you describe with lactose and dairy sounds familiar. Especially after ice-cream. I also passed the lactose test - but felt terrible 3 hours later (you are supposed to have response within 30min - 2hr). Ultimately I discovered I was intolerant to Casein - cow milk protein. It's used a lot in dietary muscle supplements. Iherb.com stock a lot of protein supplements without casein - look for vegan or rice protein powders.

Note: I did all my dietry changes pre transition (mtf) so your own mileage may vary. But worth a try. I still avoid dairy (I will use milk in making cake or cookies or coffee). Not easy when living in Switzerland - land of milk cheese n chocolate.