It was about three years ago that I began to experience a rash of canker sores in my mouth. No sooner would one heal and another would come on. Some times I had as many as 7 canker sores in my mouth at once and sometimes clusters of them in the back of my throat. It was miserable. This continued for several weeks in Decemeber before I went to my doctor about it. He told me to suck on black licorice to help soothe them. He recommended over the counter pastes and creams and a prescription paste as well. Nothing seemed to touch them. He finally resorted to prescibing a drug they give to Aids patients. That did nothing at all.
I searched the internet for answers. It was now March and I was really getting desperate to find a solution. One of the ladies on my chronic pain/illness support group for homeschool moms (Beyond Surviving Home School) suggested I go to Celiac.com and check out what they had to say. After reading all the symptoms that gluten intolerance can cause and realizing I had a good share of them, I decided to eliminate gluten from my diet. Within three days my canker sores disappeared and now when I get a canker sore, 9 times out of 10 I can pinpoint where I was exposed to gluten and how I got that sore. It takes a little detective work sometimes. For instance, I got a sore one day after eating snacks at church. All I had were some strawberries. It dawned on me that people were handling brownies and then reaching into the strawberry dish for strawberries, dropping tiny crumbs that I could not see on the strawberries!
There are many symptoms and no two people who have gluten intolerance will have the same set of symptoms. I got most of this list from Celiac.com. As you can see canker sores are not even listed, yet canker sores are what I get when I ingest gluten products. Reactions can be immediate or they may not show up for weeks or even months!
I have put the symptoms I experience in bold print.
| Diarrhea | Constipation | Stools that float instead of sink |
| Abdominal pain | Malabsorption (vitamin or mineral deficiencies) | Iron deficiencies |
| Chronic fatigue | Weakness | Weight loss |
| Bone pain | Bone loss | Abnormal skin sensation (burning, pricking, itching or tingling) |
| Edema | Headaches | Tingling in fingers and toes |
| White flecks on the fingernails | Fuzzy-mindedness after ingestion of gluten | Burning sensation in the throat |
| Failure to thrive | Paleness |
| Irritability | Pot belly with or without painful bloating |
| Pale, malodorous, bulky stools | Frequent, foamy diarrhea |
In addition to these symptoms, a disease called dermatitis herpetiformis will often appear as a painful rash. It most often appears on the head, elbows,knees and buttocks. I had the rash appear on the back of my neck. It blisters up like a bad burn and feels like a burn.
There are several ways to confirm the diagnosis of celiac. However, from the sources I have read, there seems to be some disagreement about what is the best way to confirm it. You and your doctor should come to an agreement about how you want to confirm it. Below are the ways you can can confirm it.
Click the link below to learn about the gluten-free diet, resouces for further reading and how to find the foods you need.
What is a gluten-free diet?