What are the symptoms of celiac disease?

1. An infant with celiac disease may have abdominal pain and diarrhea (even bloody diarrhea), and may fail to grow and gain weight.
2. A young child may have abdominal pain with nausea and lack of appetite, anemia (not enough iron in the blood), mouth sores and allergic dermatitis (skin rash).
3. A child could be irritable, fretful, emotionally withdrawn or excessively dependent.
4. In later stages, a child may become malnourished, with or without vomiting and diarrhea. This would cause the child to have a large tummy, thin thigh muscles and flat buttocks.
5. Teenagers may hit puberty late and be short. Celiac disease might cause some hair loss (a condition called alopecia areata).
6. Lactose intolerance (problem with foods like milk) is common in patients of all ages with celiac disease.
7. Dermatitis herpetiformis (an itchy, blistery skin problem) is also common problem in people who have celiac disease.

Adults who begin to be ill with celiac disease might have a general feeling of poor health, with fatigue, irritability and depression, even if they have few intestinal problems. One serious illness that often occurs is osteoporosis (loss of calcium from the bones). A symptom of osteoporosis may be nighttime bone pain. Also, about 5% of adults with celiac disease have anemia.