..phenomenon of late-onset coeliac disease, if certainly difficult to explain, is much more common than you may think. It’s also important to recognise on two main counts. My acquaintance’s sudden and dramatic presentation is atypical. Rather gluten intolerance in the older age group usually manifests in a subtler form where the inflammation of the lining of the gut prevents the absorption of one or more micronutrients – iron, calcium, vitamin D, magnesium – essential for the production of red blood cells, maintaining bone strength and nerve and muscle function respectively.
Thus the symptoms of late-onset coeliac disease tend to be ‘non-specific’ – tiredness, thinning of the bones and impaired mobility from muscle weakness that all too readily be misinterpreted as an inevitable consequence of the ageing process. They are however readily reversible to considerable advantage by the simple expedient of a diagnostic blood test
and adopting a gluten-free diet.
Coeliac disease may also be a ‘hidden’ cause of three serious neurological syndromes often deemed untreatable: clumsiness, loss of balance and slurred speech, the numbness and tingling of hands and legs,
and ‘brain fog’ from impaired functioning of the frontal lobes.
The implications are well illustrated by a further commendable instance of self-diagnosis and treatment from a Cornish woman in her early 60s. Several years ago when her gait became increasingly uncoordinated, her neurologist arranged for an MRI scan which he informed her was ‘strongly suggestive’ of multiple sclerosis.
Around the same time she was troubled by repeated bouts of diarrhoea. Suspecting they might be diet-related she put herself on a gluten-free diet with immediate beneficial effect. Over the next few months however she also noted her uncoordinated gait improved, as did her near zombie-like fatigue .
