Gluten Intolerance start in adults or are you born with it?

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Suddenly out of nowhere a couple of days ago I've had "symptoms" of this. I've also been on a birth control pill for 3 years without a problem and I'm wondering if I suddenly am getting this symptom from that? Or if suddenly I have a gluten intolerance, which would be odd because all I eat is gluten and have all my life! Or perhaps this symptom is due to stress/anxiety. Again never had problems with this before. Just literally started out of nowhere. I'm wondering if anyone out there has had this happen to them later on in life without ever having previous issues.

If someone is born with gluten intolerance, they would know pretty quickly. If your body is rejecting gluten, there must be a good reason why. Maybe your body is bored and wants a juicy steak.

I'm not sure. I suppose that it is possible. I have developed allergies of the years. I used to be able to eat kiwi and mangos, now I can't. I also used to be very mildly allergic to latex and bananas. Now they are severe allergies. And I never noticed any reaction to foods with gluten until I was 10ish. That's when I started getting hyperactive from certain foods and noticed that eating wheat bread ellicited a very...enjoyable feeling. I assume that that is what being high feels like, since people have told me that I behave as if I am high after I eat certain foods. I am not very sure about this, but I once heard someone (no clue who) say that over indulging in some foods can cause an allergy to develop. Maybe you eat too much of it.

Apparently it's possible to have coeliac disease without the common symptoms. I think it's possible that you can be intolerant all along but not develop symptoms until later, after your intestines have been damaged so much by it. I'm beginning to think this is the case for me. I've had anemia and malabsorption problems for years and all my doctor has done is prescribe me megadoses of vitamins, which doesn't help because whenever I get blood tests (about twice a year), the levels never go up. And I noticed long ago that whenever I eat something like bread or pasta, I experience fatigue. I thought that was normal. I started eating gluten/casein free a few weeks ago, and I feel so much better. So I'm pretty annoyed that my doctor never suggested that gluten might be a problem for me. I just hope it's not too late for my intestines to heal.

I've been thinking about that and I think it's really possible. I eat the same stuff every day, and it isn't that varying. Perhaps my body has just had enough of it. Wake up call I suppose

There's a school of though that it may be due to a viral illness in early childhood. It's also dependant on genetics and your body's reaction.

Coeliac disease tends to be diagnosed in the 30s (secondary peak around 50-60) as the disease process takes time to manifest. I'm not sure if it's similar for gluten sensitivity.

You can develop allergies.

With all the junk they put in 'food' these days, I expect to see greater increases with people developing and recognising allergies and intolerances.

Go to your GP and take a test if it is concerning you, maybe do it anyways just to be sure. As Gluten intolerances if ignored can result in colon caner.

My sister didn't always have lactose intolerance. She developed it later.

you are born with it. but some people don't realize it until adulthood.

celiac disease (aka severe gluten intolerance, to oversimplify) is nothing like an allergy or like lactose intolerance. it is an auto-immune disorder whereby your small intestine attacks itself as a response to gluten and you cannot absorb food properly. and yes, if ignored (not put on a gluten free diet for life) you would have an elevated risk of intestinal and esophagal cancers, among other things.

[Putting on doctor hat]

The short answer is, that it can be both.

A true food allergy is likely to be genetically based, but the presentation of symptoms can vary significantly during a person's lifetime. An allergic reaction will usually be more severe in childhood than later in life, but this is not always the case.

Non-allergic food sensitivities, however, can arise in a wide variety of ways. Environmental factors, recent infection or illness, and even hormonal events such as puberty, menstruation and menopause can all play a role in food sensistivities arising, discontinuing or changing in severity.

Step one is avoidance. There are a wide range of gluten-free options out there. You can try cutting down your gluten intake, first. If that does not help, you can try complete elimination. Based on the results of those experiments, you and your doctor can come to a much better understanding of what your body is doing, and determine an appropriate response.

For a while,I was getting hives every day,all over,and my eyelids and mouth would be swollen when I woke up.I went to an allergist and did all the testing,they thought it was gluten,so I didn't eat gluten at all,but I still got hives in some form every day for over a year.It was so depressing and difficult and really confusing.Finally they went away.To this day,I still don't know what it was.Chemical in balance?
Last month I was eating a lot of pearl barley (delicious!) but I got hives after having it three days in a row.So I try to be careful about what I eat,acknowledging that I have sensitivities.I have a good book about food allergies as well. I can eat gluten,but I follow the vegan diet via the Kind Diet,the superhero plan,where flours are discouraged,so I don't really even eat flour products.If I do,it's usually almond meal or spelt flour.

there are several skin conditions associated with celiac disease. one is called dermatitis herpetiformis ( < link). if you have this i don't believe it would go away immediately after ceasing gluten intake. from what i have read it can take years for the igA deposits to leave your skin and for the symptoms to fully subside.

if you go to that link they also say this:
"Dermatitis herpetiformis is common among celiacs, but it's far from the only skin condition associated with celiac disease and antibodies to gluten. Eczema, psoriasis, alopecia areata, hives and even acne all have been linked with celiac disease."

my skin problems and digestive problems have subsided a lot since (five years of being very strict about) cutting gluten entirely out of my diet - maybe they are half what they were. i obviously have other food sensitivities that i haven't managed to identify. sometimes i think everything that i put in my body makes me sick. it is depressing. it can be very difficult to sort out.

It's probably possible. I suddenly started to get chronic cramps when I was 11 or 12 and determined later (through a few experiments and finally a doctor's visit) that gluten was VERY likely the problem. I would literally be curled up on the floor in agony a couple of times per week..but, oddly, nothing bothered me as a younger child.

My gluten intollerance didnt manifest until I was in my early 20s, literally like the flick of a switch. There was a time when I could chow down on tasty burgers and drink gallons of beer on a weekend with no ill effects, then all of a sudden those things started having a decidedly unpleasant effect on my digestive system. For a few years I thought it was just IBS due to stress so I sat and suffered through it, then lat year I read something about coeliac disease on a website and related a lot of the symptoms to what I was going through. I cut out gluten completely and have not had any major incidences of digestive discomfort since.

I still allow myself the odd beer every now and then (I.e when we're out of vodka/wine/cider ) but I always pay for it for the next few days.

One of the good things about it is that since I stopped being able to eat bread I have lost 30lbs. Every cloud has a silver lining etc.

I had stomach aches and upset stomach every day when I was a child, but always thought it was just nerves and got used to it. When I eventually went to see my doctor, he diagnosed IBS. He tested me for gluten allergy and it came back negative. However, I went to see a naturopathic/homeopathic person and when she did a bioresonance test the results showed I was definetly gluten-intolerant. Since cutting gluten out of my diet, my stomach is much less painful and hardly ever upset.

I had no problems with gluten until a few years ago when I was eating large amounts of it, and my skin exploded with a horrible blistering condition.

Since eliminating it from my diet, it's not returned.

I was lactose intolerant as a child,
but, as another poster mentioned,
one can be asymptomatic until years and years of damage due to gluten intake have taken place.