Hadjivassiliou acknowledges that the associations he found could be coincidental, but notes that headaches had been eliminated for seven of the nine patients and partially improved for the other two. The man had had severe headaches for four years, along with nausea, disorientation and an unsteady gait. Two years later he reported that the headaches had returned, and doctors determined that he had not persisted in his gluten-free diet. What To Do Compliance with the diet may be a problem for some, Hadjivassiliou says. In fact, an inability to maintain a gluten-free diet may be responsible for the only partial relief two patients of the nine found, he says.
Improvement depends on strict adherence to the diet.
It is very difficult to be sure if the patient's diet is strict or not. The illustrative case highlights this point. For more information on allergies, you can go to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology . You can learn more about gluten sensitivity at the Gluten Intolerance Group . For the latest research on food allergies, try these previous stories from HealthScout .