<<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. **************************** 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. ************************** There is a correlation between hypothyroidism and hearing loss that is reversible. ********************************** 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. ************************** 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. ************************************ 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. *************************** 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. ********************************* 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. ************************************ 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 *