<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
My original post to the list was a question asking whether a possible
connection could exist between CD and stuttering. Thanks so much to all who
replied. You have given me and my family of stutterers much food for
thought. Hopefully the material below will do the same for others.
I apologise for this lengthy post of snippets, but I feel the subject is
impossible to summarise without corrupting what should really be a reader's
verdict.
Responses follow:
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You bet!!!!! I start stuttering and stammering like crazy the second I get
a good dose of gluten. Have mapped it to the gluten reaction and absolutely
nothing else can be the cause.
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Well I don't know if it is part of the disease or not but I do know that I
stutter. I don't do it as badly as I use to but I still do stutter. When I
was a teenager nobody could seem to understand me and those who did were
very impatient with how long it would take for me to talk at times. Now I
only seem to do it when upset and nervous.
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I'd be interested in hearing your summary of replies. My son, who was
around three at the time we found out he was gluten-sensitive -- stuttered
severely and we had just taken him to speech therapist for evaluation at
the time. When we removed the wheat from his diet, his stuttering cleared
up almost immediately. We never knew if there was any correlation between
the wheat and the stuttering -- since he was so young it might just have
been age related. But the speech therapist did make a comment about how
often she found there were food sensitivities in the medical histories of
her young patients. This is all anecdotal of course, but I find it
interesting, in light of your recent observation of a possible connection.
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I'm 36 and have been a stutterer all my life and a celiac for some part, if
not all, of it. I've never connected the two. Keep us informed if you
find other links. I admit to being a little skeptical, but who knows?
[In a 2nd letter] Actually, I was diagnosed w/ CD only a few months ago,
and have been gluten free (I hope) since June. I had no clearly defined
symptoms in the first place, so the difference at this point, if any, is
minimal. My doctor said in 3 months it would be "like night and day."
According to what I've experienced and read in the posts, his statement was
overly optimistic... I'll start paying more attention to my speech as I
continue on the gluten-free path that is now mine to travel...
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This is absolutely fascinating...I am a retired speech teacher. Stuttering
has been a very difficult problem to overcome... The kicker comes in, tho,
with this fact....cultures that do not have a word for stuttering do not
have stutterers! The country with the highest rate of stutterers is Japan
where the culture is very demanding and stressful on the young. I would be
very interested to see how and if this ties in with celiac.
[In a 2nd letter] ...One of the things we HAVEN"T seen is a breakdown of
celiac occurrence by nationality. I think that would be very revealing.
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Interesting. I have been both a stutterer and a celiac my entire life. My
father stuttered and, looking back with what we know now, we believe the
"psoriasis" he suffered from for many years was actually DH. So this is
certainly an interesting question for me. However, be careful about drawing
false conclusions from your responses. There are about 3000 members on this
list. I'm not sure what the incidence of stuttering in the general
population is, but if it is, say, 1%, then 30 people should respond even if
there is no relationship at all.
[In a 2nd letter] To follow up: I stuttered from earliest childhood, when I
was not GF (they didn't know gluten caused CD in those days), and I have
stuttered for the last 20 years of gluten-freeness. So there is certainly
no proximate chemical effect in my case. However, not long ago I saw an
item on the web about functional MRI's being done on stutterers. They
showed that stutterers use a different part of the brain to process speech
than normal speakers. So I would think there is at least a possibility that
gluten poisoning in infancy could create organic changes in the brain
leading to abnormal development of the speech processing centers.
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We get surprises all the time. I did not know stuttering might be a
symptom of celiac. I stuttered badly as a child. Not so much now but it
is still there. I've know I'm celiac for only 4 years. I'm 60.
I, also, had a problem with concentration. I didn't realize it was a
problem until I had to find why my son was having difficulties in school.
When his problem was diagnosed by a doctor I knew it was my problem too.
When talking to my daughter who graduated near the top of her class, I
learned that is why she spent so much time in her room studying. She does
not test positive for celiac but I think my son will when we get the
results from the University of Maryland.
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I have a brother that stutters so much that he sounds like a car running.
He has not been tested for CD as of yet. I am the one that has been
tested. I'll keep this in mind when I speak to him next.
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I have a son aged 30 years old. He has had a slight stutter since he was
two years old. When he went gluten-free the stutter went away! It only
comes back when he eats gluten accidentally. So, yes, I believe there is a
definite connection. In the [very expensive specialty] book "Epilepsy and
other Neurological Disorders Related to Celiac Disease" by Gobbi et al, Pub
by John Libby & Co, UK, there is a study related concerning speech defects
being connected to CD. While it doesn't mention stuttering as such, in
fact, it mentions Tourette's Syndrome, which is far worse, I believe
stuttering is definitely connected. Lack of B vitamins affects the nerve
connections. Speech is a series of nerve impulses and connections within
the brain. Please don't discount gluten being the root cause of your
family's stuttering just because the blood tests are negative.
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I am curious to know what you find out. My son has speech problems and CD
as well.
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Please be sure to post the answers you receive. I am extremely interested
as I have CD and I have a 29 year old son who began stuttering at about age
19. He hasn't been tested.
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This is interesting. My husband is a diagnosed celiac. My daughter, 11 has
autism and my son, 9, has a neurological developmental disorder. We suspect
our daughter is gluten intolerant and she is on the same diet my husband
is. At home we all are on the gluten free diet but my son (and 5 yo
"normal" daughter) are allowed gluten when it is offered them away from
home. Both my 11 yo and my 9 yo stutter, although I don't know of anyone on
either side of our extended family who does or has.
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[End of responses]
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I will offer this small bit of speculation, for what it's worth:
Problems with nerves and muscles twitching, aching, spasming and weakening
are commonly associated with CD and related autoimmune disorders, such as
MS, lupus, multiple connective tissue disease, and scleroderma. So it is
not preposterous to imagine muscles and nerves controlling the voice being
affected too in some individuals. If gluten can be a major factor in
stuttering (decide for yourself) then perhaps other allergens, of both food
and airborne varieties, might have the same effect.
For example, with my haywire immune system, I am sensitive not only to
gluten but also to other foods and external things including mould spores
and the toxins that mould emits into the air. The other day I had a big
slump after finally attacking the ceiling mould in our poorly-ventilated
bathroom. My wife, who is an allergy-bag like me, often gets the hiccups,
very curiously, in or near the bathroom -- nowhere else. Her grandfather
only gets them after eating Italian bread. What if hiccups are caused by an
allergic twitch?
Maybe some cases of stuttering could be, likewise, an allergic response to
ubiquitous substances in the environment -- if not food, then mould, dust
mites, chemicals, etc., or a combination of them. Other big allergens we
breathe include nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves, heaters, and car
exhausts; phenol in antiseptic cleaners; terpenes escaping from conifer
trees; and, of course, pollens.
Anyway, who knows? Maybe a really good allergist might just conceivably be
able to help in certain cases of stuttering.
Regards,
Craig Forsythe
Melbourne, Australia
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