This video features Dr. Vikki Petersen discussing some of the neurological disorders that are associated with gluten intolerance. While she focuses on a specific patient she was seeing, she talks about some of the research on neurological conditions associated with celiac disease.

She mentions a specific study she read that listed the percentages of people with celiac disease in the study that had certain neurological symptoms, more specifically 35% had psychological symptoms (like depression), 35% had proprioception problems (problems with feedback from parts of body to the nervous system), 28% had migraines. Other issues that were noticed included problems with gait, ataxia or dizziness. As she notes these symptoms can be very difficult to deal with and in some cases debilitating.

This study talked a lot about the role of inflammation. This is a common problem with people who have a gluten intolerance, but don’t know it. The body’s inflammatory response goes out into the blood stream and causes a range of problems. For more on chronic inflammation read: Chronic Inflammation Treatment

In regards to her patient she discusses how the typical tests for her symptoms came back negative, meaning she didn’t have a tumor, Multiple Sclerosis, etc so they as diagnosed it as age or stress.

More and more research is showing the correlation between gluten intolerance and neurological conditions, so it is something that should be considered.

I like how she doesn’t automatically assume her patient has a problem with gluten, but she definitely considers it. Too many people are self-diagnosed. It really is important to have proper testing to get an accurate diagnosis so you know what you are dealing with.

She talks about how people often react to the thought of a gluten-free diet, but she also notes how quickly some people get rid of their symptoms once they start living gluten-free lifestyle.