<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I asked list members to enlighten me on any connections between celiac
and permanent hearing loss - because my 3-year-old celiac daughter has
been recently diagnosed with permanent hearing loss - for which there
has been no real explanation - to date.

We are still getting the doctors to look into this - so I only have a
partial summary.

Most replies were concering people who experiences some hearing loss in
connection with eating gluten.

This is not the case with my daughter - at least we are pretty sure she
is gluten free - and had been for a year before the hearing loss
occurred.

She had a string of ear infections prior to the hearing loss - but the
ENT specialist is not convinced that they could have cuased the hearing
loss - because her loss is in the inner ear.

There is a condition called Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease - which can be
connected to celiac - simply because it is another autoimmune disease -
but is pretty rare.

There can be hearing loss associated with malabsorption of vitamin B12,
or folic acid - common among celiacs - however, again, I don't believe
this is the case with my daughter - although we are getting it checked
out.

It is possible that she simply has a genetic hearing defect - but we are
not convinced of this because it seems that her hearing was perfect
before.

So - we have few answers at this point - but are checking things out -
and will see the ENT specialist again next month.
--
Kate Johnson
Freelance medical journalist
Montreal, CANADA
Tel: (514) 482-8837