<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
I was diagnosed with a degenerating neural hearing deficit about 4 years
prior to my celiac diagnosis. My hearing began to improve after about 6-8
months of being on a g-f diet. I heard my granddaughter speak, for the first
time, when she was 5 years old. It brought tears to my eyes.
A couple of years later, I stopped eating dairy products and I also stopped
getting fluid build-ups in my ears. My hearing improved again, but I'm not
sure whether that improvement would be relevant to your daughter's
challenges.
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I am so sorry to hear of your child's hearing problems. My uncle, mother and
I all have some degree of hearing loss. I am the only one diagnosed with CD,
but I fully suspect my uncle (now deceased) and Mom both had CD but didn't
know it.I don't know how the hearing loss occurs, but I have been told that
if nerves are involved, the loss is usually permanent. Since celiacs are
generally Vitamin B12 deficient and Vitamin B12 greatly affects the nerves,
perhaps that is a key factor. I have heard that B12 supplementation is good
for celiacs (and diabetics) who have a condition called peripheral
neuropathy, which is tingling, burning and/or numbness in the extremities
such as fingers and toes. Since I am not a doctor, I can't personally
recommend B12 supplementation, but perhaps you could mention it to your
physician as a possibility. There are blood tests to check the B12 levels in
blood, so that might be a good first step.
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There is a correlation between hypothyroidism and hearing loss that is
reversible.
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Four of us, ranging in age from 30 to grandma who lived to age 96, have not
had hearing loss. That's not to say it won't happen to the three of us in
the family that are left, but so far so good.
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Some of the B vitamins are important for nerve function. Possibly she had a
deficiency and that affected how the nerves developed. I would start at
http://www.aafp.org/afp/980301ap/pruessn.html It lists lots of symptoms
along with the lab results that can cause them. Then I would followup
looking at various functions for vitamins in nutrition books. Could be
something that was missing at the specific age when that portion of her body
was developing.
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This is an interesting subject for me, too. My hearing problems are what
got me started on checking on celiac in the first place. My husband read an
article in Bottom Line Health that wheat can affect hearing loss because it
can cause the tubes running from the ears to swell and block the fluid in
the ears. He encouraged me to go off wheat and sure enough that was a big
part of my problem. Then that lead to going off the other grains as other
problems starting clearing up as my system cleared out of the grains.
My face with some spider veins and redness cleared up as barley seemed to
cause that. Then when I went to the dentist 6 weeks later after I changed
my diet, my dental hygienist was amazed at how much better my gums were.
Also was plagued with lots of constipation which still is a symptom to watch
for.
So I was sold on the new diet and that happened over 6 years ago. When I
eat gluten now, one of the first symptoms I notice is my ears filling up.
My doctor isn't totally convinced that it is CD, but thinks it's more of an
allergy because of the swelling problems but at least believes that the diet
is helping.
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All I can tell you off the top of my head is that there are forms of
hearing loss that are caused by auto immune disease, AND that auto immune
disease tends to run in celiac families. AND, that the GF diet has been
found to reduce the number of auto antibodies in other auto immune
diseases besides celiac disease. So perhaps the GF diet can reduce the
auto antibodies that cause hearing loss??? We can only hope it will help
or arrest or reduce your daughter's hearing loss.
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I am a speech pathologist (and teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing )
I work with deaf and hard of hearing children (birth to three), I have
never heard of this correlation. I am sorry to tell you this. I know
how much you would love for your daughter's hearing to return or improve
while on a gf diet. Which daughter has the hearing loss? The 2 year old
or the 4 year old? Please let me know if you have any questions. I
would be glad to help if I can in any way.
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I've got an odd story that might give you some comfort.
About 20 years [eek!] when I was in college, I had knee surgery.
At the time, I was not diagnosed with celiac. However, surgery
is considered a major metabolic stressor and can bring out
latent / transient allergies. [ and this was how I was diagnosed
4 years ago -- after surgery. ]
I gained weight inexplicably -- my 'freshman 10' became
my freshman 100 .... I had edema like no tomorrow ...
wretched acne, fatigue, bone pain. And then I started
losing my hearing. It was very gradual, I didn't even
notice it until a guy I was dating told me, quietly,
that he loved me, and I didn't hear him.
I went to ear specialist after ear specialist -- in fact,
my college [University of Texas at Austin] had a fairly
well-established hearing-loss research center. No one
had a clue. I had lost 80% of my hearing in my right
ear and about 40% in my left ear. They even suggested,
given the rapid rate of deterioration, that I learn sign.
Around the same time, a friend of mine suggested I go
vegetarian for a while to help with the weight gain.
I did -- I focused on rice and beans and beans and rice ...
and w/in a few months, my hearing had returned. Again,
doctors were baffled.
My hunch is that I had, unintentionally, gone pretty
much gluten-free in my vegetarian quest.
It isn't "proof", per se, that you can bring to a doctor ...
but I do think anything is possible. My body seemed
to cycle through every celiac symptom [except
wasting! drat! -- well, just a little wasting would have
been nice.] one at a time. And my seizures that
I've had since 1971, they are gone now that I am
GF ... So anything is possible, and I'd vote yes,
based on my [albeit limited] experience.
* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *
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