Silent Celiac Disease with Osteoporosis.

The answer is yes. I was 54yo so 20 years ago and got diagnosed with OP. Big, big surprise. After a year or so one of my docs sent me to a rheumatologist who ran a bunch of tests celiac was one. When I saw him he asked if I had ever had any gastro problems. The answer was, no cask iron stomach. He said I had celiac. So absolutely no symptoms then or now except for the OP.
Like I said big surprise. So I went on a GF diet basically fresh fruit, veggies, meat etc. Stuff you can buy regularly. I read a lot of labels and I eat very little 'GF' foods as they are really expensive and higher in calories. I do buy GF bread from Aldi's; it's good but around $7.50 so not cheap.
I maintain the GF diet; never, ever cheat. I may not get sick but it will still do damage. My villi have totally healed and according to my gastro it looks like I had never had celiac.

how long to heal?

to: @charliesmom52
to: @ann707

there is a silent Celiac that causes Osteo !
I've had standard test for Celiac which said negative.
Have gut issues and severe osteoporosis.

Does this better, more sensitive test have a name?
so that I can request it.

thnx

I'm a 63 year old male, and was diagnosed with Celiac several years ago, a little bit after it was determined I had osteopenia. Never had any gut issues whatsoever, but my bloodwork showed deficient calcium scores, and it was suggested that Celiac could be the cause of this lack of absorption. The only definitive way to diagnose Celiac is with an endoscopy. I've been on an extremely strict gluten-free diet since this positive diagnosis for Celiac. Recently started daily injections of Tymlos to deal with progressing osteopenia/osteoporosis. (Also, on as separate note, my 28 year old daughter was diagnosed with Celiac at about the same time as me -- she was not absorbing any iron, and Celiac again was determined to be the cause).

Not a special sensitive test . If you tested negative them don’t worry about it

inreply to | @charliesmom52
thanks for answer.

What is the connection between celiac and osteoporosis?

I was diagnosed with celiac disease at age 50 due to unexplained weight loss, I too was asymptomatic digestively. By the time I was diagnosed my small intestinal villi were cobblestoned. In fact, they were so compromised my gastroenterologist said she could see the damage visually (!) in the endoscopy and only did the biopsy "for completeness." I lost 20% of my bone density because those poor smashed villi couldn't absorb calcium, I know how much I lost because I had a baseline scan at age 37.

The good news is that my bone density recovered substantially once I went gluten free. However, then I went through menopause and lost bone density again. Since then I've reversed much of the second loss and have moved from osteoporosis to osteopenia.

Hi ChristyJ,

Can I ask how you reversed your second loss? Thanks.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease. The body attacks the upper part of the small intestine and causes blunting or in some cases flattening of the absorptive surface there which are finger like projections called villi. When you are not able to absorb nutrients properly (calcium, iron, B vitamins, etc),it can manifest in many different ways. Some people are asymptomatic, some have major gut issues, some osteoporosis and many other potential problems.