How Does Celiac Disease Affect Fertility?

For those living with celiac disease, understand that your battle isn’t just so you don’t have digestive issues anymore.

Celiac disease can affect you in more ways than one. In addition to causing anemia, bone weakening and malnutrition, studies show that celiac disease is also the root cause for many infertility issues. In some cases, this inability to digest gluten has even led to miscarriages.

The Details

Here’s some information for those who are new to understanding the mechanics of celiac disease.

An immune reaction that’s caused when the body is given a protein called gluten causes a reaction in the digestive system, which causes damage to the smeller intestine’s lining over time. This prevents the system from absorbing the necessary nutrients from the food we eat.

As a result, this intestinal damage leads to serious impediments, such as weight loss, fatigue, bloating, anemia, diarrhea, etc.

In terms of Infertility

Of course, since your body is not able to absorb any necessary nutrients, the baby does not receive the nourishment it needs, which causes complications. Additionally, the damage triggers your immune system into releasing antibodies to fight the issue. However, according to some experts, these antibodies do more harm than good, causing damage to the placenta and harming your body in other ways.

As a result, your body essentially attacks you from the inside, thus causing harm to you and the baby.

Treating Fertility Issues by Treating Celiac Disease

Dr. Manju from Fertility Wisdom and Wellness, your first step should be to get yourself screened for celiac disease.

“Celiac disease affects 3 million people in the United States. However, for most, they don’t even realize that they’re suffering from the disease until much later, usually 4 years later. And that’s enough time for the immune system to do its damage on your reproductive system. By getting yourself checked, you can at least get started on the right path so you can begin to undo the damage caused by all these years of neglect,” Dr. Manju states.

Based on a study conducted in Denmark, findings show that women who have un-diagnosed celiac disease suffer from a greater risk of having miscarriages, stillbirths as well as pregnancy complications. However, if they are diagnosed and follow their doctor’s instructions to the letter, they can limit these risks.

Finding a Health and Wellness Coach

If the result of the screening test is positive, going to a dietician should be the next goal. However, this is where we recommend going to an integrative health and wellness coach!

While a dietician may provide you with a standard gluten-free diet plan, an integrative health coach like Dr. Manju from Fertility Health and Wellness would factor your lifestyle choices, stress levels and other elements before coming up with a plan.

In short, their plan wouldn’t just improve your fertility, but your life as a whole!