Although I think I may be Celiac, I was diagnosed as Diabetic 10 years ago. If my diagnosis of Celiac is right though, I actually think I may have been low-level Celiac all my life and the Diabetes has possibly developed as a result. The consensus seems to be that Diabetes is implicated in Celiac - yes, that may well be true - but which one comes first????

I was celiac since childhood but not dianosed until 5 years ago at 45. For me the celiac came first, appearing as DH and ataxia and nerve issues in childhood. Diabetes was diagnosed 2 years ago but since I have such good blood sugar control, as in normal ranges - unless glutened, I consider myself prediabetic (if that).

That's interesting - I wonder if the Celiac doesn't actually pre-date the Diabetes in most or even all cases and ultimately contribute to it. Perhaps neither you nor I would be diabetic if the Celiac had been diagnosed and dealt with at a much earlier stage!

Whilst Diabetes is on the increase, so is food intolerance. Food is so mucked about with and polluted these days that even 'organic' food is still affected in some way or other - even from polluted rainfall or watering systems.

My Mum became Type 1 diabetic around the age of 17. She was anemic all her life without anyone ever investigating. She had me, then a stillborn, then 10 miscarriages. Nobody knew why she couldn't keep the fetuses. Perhaps it had more to do with Celiac than diabetes! She was not medically 'diagnosed' as a possible Celiac by a Consultant until about 3 months before she died. She may well have been Celiac nearly all her life without it being picked up.

I was diagnosed as type 1 diabetic in 1986, and as celiac in 2000. Looking back, I can see symptoms which are explained by celiac long before the diabetes diagnosis. I had eczema as a child. I had gastric disorders beginning in my teens, and continuing until I went gluten-free at age 46. I do wonder if early recognition of celiac and the adoption of a gluten-free diet as a child might have avoided my becoming diabetic at age 31.

Since celiac disease is so often missed for years, it is hard to say which comes first. But there is definitely a statistical correlation: celiacs are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes, and type 1 diabetics are more likely to be diagnosed as celiac.

I believe it all starts with gluten damage - and it doesn't have to be diagnosed celiac.

My son is gluten sensitive (with neuro symptoms that have almost all disappeared now, 2 years + on the diet). We have recently discovered that he has low functioning pancreas and some of liver enzymes are also low. As far as I can see from observing him and from results of blood tests, he was heading for diabetes.
Whether malabsorption or autoimmunity damages islets of Langerhans I can't say, although in my son it was probably malabsorption, as we haven't picked up any autoantibodies in him as yet.
I am hoping that by going gluten-free (and carb lite) we may have intercepted the diabetes, which we have in the family. I am not sure whether his pancreas/liver will be able to restore their function, but I am for now working on improving his nutrition the best I can hoping that maybe some improvement is possible. After all, if his neuro functions have improved, perhaps the rest will too.

For us it's a very strong incentive to stay gluten-free, although I have to say I feel like a wicked witch trying to explain this to anyone who has gut issues but refuses to believe that bread makes them ill.

Take a look at this link from the American Diabetes Association site:

http://diabetes.org/diabetes-research/summ...k-for-type1.jsp

I have four boys. None of them were sick at all as kids. When my oldest at age 16 almost 17, all of a sudden over a period of a month was sick every day vomiting. He was also helping his uncle clean out an old house full of dust and stuff and my son being sick was him helping clean this house. When the vomiting started to burn his throat, (when I was told he had been sick every day for a month), we went to the ER to find his sugar level was 618 and was told then he had diabetes type 1. After several days in the hospital to bring his level down and learning what he needed to do daily, we started our lives with him and everyone learning how to help him if he needed it. This was in 2002. No one else in the family, either side has diabetes type 1.

In 2006, I ended up having a gall bladder attack, and learned through the scope and blood test that I had celiac. I did a lot of reading and came across this web site with many others and learned about celiac and diabetes type 1, that if you are diabetic chances are you may in fact be celiac. After urging doctors to check my son for celiac and they wouldn't, my son ended up in a diabetic coma with a level of 1661. I begged the hospital to check for celiac, still they wouldn't. His liver levels were high and they couldn't figure out why. 4 months after being released from the hospital I went with my son to the liver specialist, who happened to be in the same office as the gastroenteroligist, and asked again and even dragged the doctor I had into the room and asked for the blood test to check to see if he had celiac. I was told this will take about 2 weeks or so for results, 4 days later, the primary care physician, called and asked who ordered these tests. After explaining that I had, he said good thing you did because this came back as positive for celiac, no doubt.

I had no idea about celiac until I found out two years ago that I had it. If it wasn't for me knowing what celiac even was, because I had never heard of this until that time, my son may have not found out he has it. Two of the three boys have been checked. I had no symptoms of anything until I had a gall bladder attack. I try to educate people at work who complain about different symptoms and tell them to have their doctor check to see if it is celiac. More and more people are learning every day they may have this, but not enough people in the world even know what celiac even is.