Menstruation and Celiac Disease
Updated: Nov 7, 2022
Many community members start asking questions of how being glutened affects the menstrual cycle. We collect some medical literature to share information about menstruation for women with celiac disease.
One of the main characteristics of celiac disease is the intestinal damage due to autoimmune attacks against gluten. After these attacks, the intestinal villi cannot absorb vitamins and minerals that are important to maintain healthy endocrine glans, including ovaries and pituitary gland, which maintain a regular menstrual cycle.
One of the common effects of celiac disease on the menstrual cycle is missed periods. However, if the missed periods continue after a woman with celiac disease has been gluten-free for more than 6 months and no gluten accidents, we recommend to visit a doctor to further investigate the cause behind the missed periods.
During those days, women are more sensible and have emotional changes due to the hormonal changes occurring inside their body. However, exposure to gluten could intensify mental symptoms like anxiety and depression in women with celiac disease.
If getting glutened during those days, we provide two recommendations:
Beware of the some medicine for menstrual pain that could contain gluten,
The active ingredients of pain medicine are developed in labs and are mostly gluten-free and celiac safe. However,
If you are particularly sensitive to gluten, to the extent that you cannot use gluten-containing ingredients on your skin, you may also have to consider that there are feminine hygiene products in the market that contain gluten.
Missed periods, irregular periods, and other complications of celiac disease on women menstrual cycle could have a negative effect on families looking forward to having children, or planning not to have them using traditional natural methods such as the calendar method.
Besides celiac disease, remember that there are other conditions affecting menstrual cycles.
Whereas, missed periods is a symptom of other diseases and contraceptive methods.
