Sensory ganglionopathy, another way gluten can damage the nervous system

Add sensory ganglionopathy, damage to the groupings of sensory neurons at the spinal level and in the cranium causing pain and other symptoms, to the list of depredations done to the nervous system by reactions to gluten according to a paper just published in the journal Neurology. The authors state:

"Gluten sensitivity can engender neurologic dysfunction, one of the two commonest presentations being peripheral neuropathy. The commonest type of neuropathy seen in the context of gluten sensitivity is sensorimotor axonal."

They examined 409 patients with different kinds of damage to the peripheral nerves. Out of the 13% that had neurophysiologic evidence of sensory ganglionopathy, 32% had antibodies to gluten. (This is especially remarkable since there are factors which can cause the antibodies not the be expressed or detected resulting in a significant number of false negatives.) Another interesting fact was observed:

"The mean age of those with gluten sensitivity was 67 years and the mean age at onset was 58 years. Seven of those with serologic evidence of gluten sensitivity had enteropathy on biopsy...Autopsy tissue from 3 patients demonstrated inflammation in the dorsal root ganglia with degeneration of the posterior columns of the spinal cord."

In other words, the damage can have started years before the person notices various possible symptoms including pains of various kinds, numbness, weird sensations (parasthesias), problems with walking, balance or coordination; cardiac arrhythmia, orthostatic hypotension (drop in blood pressure on standing with feelings of faintness), sudden hypertension, segmental loss of sweating, tremor, etc. Is there hope for improvement?

"Fifteen patients went on a gluten-free diet, resulting in stabilization of the neuropathy in 11. The remaining 4 had poor adherence to the diet and progressed, as did the 2 patients who did not opt for dietary treatment."

The authors sum up their findings with this concluding statement:

"Sensory ganglionopathy can be a manifestation of gluten sensitivity and may respond to a strict gluten-free diet."