One of the reasons I have the information about Enterolab is for people who can’t get their doctor to run a decent blood test. They get tested for wheat allergy, or are told that the risk is small. If nothing else, a positive Enterolab test should annoy them enough so that they will test you just to shut you up. Which is fine with me. Just run the test already.
If you have an autoimmune condition you are supposed to be tested for celiac disease regularly. The most common autoimmune disorder which is associated with celiac disease is Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. Not my words, as you will see below.
In a Dutch study 21% of people with celiac disease had some level of Hashimoto’s hypothyroid. A full 12% had full blown Hashimoto’s. That is one in five people with some level of thyroid dysfunction and about one in 8 with full blown disease. In addition 15% of people with Hashimoto’s had some level of reaction to gluten (one in six) with a full 5% of all tested (one in 20) having full villus atrophy.
The abstract for the study can be accessed here
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17461476
And the full article from the World Journal of Gastroenterology can be found here
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v13/i11/1715.htm
There are several other articles at PubMed demonstrating the same link. It is especially concerning if the person with Hashimoto’s also has a first degree relative with Celiac disease. According to one study, among all first degree relatives of a celiac the risk is about one in five. Most of those who had celiac disease without classical symptoms or manifestations had another autoimmune disease. Like, say, Hashimoto’s.
That study can be found here
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20712266
Or to quote Peter H.R. Green in his terrific book “Celiac Disease – A Hidden Epidemic”
“Autoimmune thyroid disease is the most common autoimmune disease seen and is very commonly found in people with celiac disease” and “There are some cases in which the associated autoimmune disease actually improves after diagnosis of celiac disease. This has been demonstrated in IgA nephropathy, peripheral neuropathy, hypothyroidism, and cardiomyopathy.”
Long story short, if you have Hashimoto’s then you need to get tested for celiac disease.
And if you have celiac, keep an eye on your thyroid and if you are over a certain age, get tested for Hashimoto’s
And if you want a copy of Dr. Green’s book you can get one here
http://www.amazon.com/Celiac-Disease-A-Hidden-Epidemic/dp/006076693X
