Q. I’m writing about an 11-year old boy who has shown some of the symptoms of Celiac disease. He also is having sleeping issues. To be specific, he’s still wetting the bed and he rarely sleeps though the night. He can’t fall asleep and he wakes throughout the night. Do you believe there could be a correlation?
A. You must actively pursue the diagnosis of celiac disease with a pediatric gastroenterologist, as there may be a relation. If so, treatment with a gluten-free diet could help.
Health and happiness,
Dr. Jeffrey Aron
Gastroenterologist, San Francisco
(Dr. Aron is no longer taking questions.)
Spread the love
Anne says
Looking for CD is certainly a good idea, but negative tests do not rule out a non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Although I have not seen studies, I have met mothers who told me sleep problems and bedwetting went away on a GF diet even though the child did not have villous atrophy. One mom had to remove dairy too.
An interesting aside – my dog started to have urinary incontinence when she was asleep. My vet told me that this was caused by her age and spaying. I put her on a GF diet and her incontinence magically disappeared.
alison says
Wow Anne, that is so interesting! I haven’t heard very much about sleep issues and gluten – I will look into it some more.
Alison
kate says
After 11 years of trying to work I why my daughter was incontinent a blood test showed gluten allergy. Two days after removing gluten from her diet she was dry day and night. Nine months later we know when she has eaten gluten buy mistake because the result is incontinence.