I have dabbled into gluten neurology before with my post gluten neurology-persisting and growing?
Prophetic it seems, as I am here forced to revisit the topic because I came across a few recent interesting reports on the neurology of gluten.
Gluten psychosis
Take this case report from Nutrients titled gluten psychosis: confirmation of a new clinical entity. The article comes with some good references that suggest it will do no harm to check anti-gliadin antibodies in people with unexplained psychosis. I do wonder how one case report would confirm an entity such as gluten psychosis, but there you are.
Gluten-induced visual impairment
The second item is another case report published in Journal of Neurology titled severe, persistent visual impairment associated with occipital calcification and coeliac disease. The subject of the case report has long-standing coeliac disease and visual impairment. Her brain MRI scan showed calcifications in the visual area, evidence the authors claim, of celiac disease causing brain calcifications …..and thereby causing the patients visual loss. Is it just a case of correlation rather than causation? But there you are.
Gluten-induced motor neurone disease (MND)
The third report however pushes credulity to the limits. It is a review in Brain Blogger titled celiac disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-is there a link? To its credit, the piece is heavily referenced; one such reference is from the American Journal of Neuroradiology titled White Matter Lesions Suggestive of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Attributed to Celiac Disease. The thought is hard to bear, but there you are.
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What are your thoughts on the neurology of gluten? Please leave a comment
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How can you tell that each of these cases are not coincidental occurrence?
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Hi Mike. Indeed, that is the point of this rather tongue-in-cheek blog post!
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It’s actually interesting train of thought, I believe this trend of trying to link GI pathologies to inflammation and neurodegeneration, started with PD and its prodromal constipation. In PD case, prion-like retrograde pathogenesis have been postulated (mostly from animal studies); however, can’t say for sure about gluten (or more specifically celiac disease).
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Gluten neurology is indeed a very controversial area, as is the prion theory of neurodegeneration. But all theories have to start somewhere
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I am a neurologist and I have coeliachia, diagnosed at age 52: my first problem which appeared in 1977 is spontaneous activity of muscular fibers resembling fasciculations, associated to neuropathy; these problems persist after 17 years of gluten-free diet.
Whath do you think about?
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Dear Marco. Regretfully this blog is unable to comment on individual clinical questions. I advise you consult a neurologist or your doctor for this. With best wishes
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