Dietary Modification - Wheat-Gluten Free

Celiac disease (CD) is Gluten sensitive enteropathy with a wide spectrum of severity and protean clinical manifestations. Patients with atypical (non-diarrhoeal) presentations are missed as the diagnosis of Celiac Disease is not considered. We present three young girls (ages 18, 19, 23 at presentation) who were admitted to our hospital as intractable seizures. All had low serum calcium, features of rickets/osteomalacia and anaemia. This prompted us to consider malabsorption due to CD. The diagnosis of CD was confirmed by serologic tests (IgA transglutaminase and IgG antigliadin antibodies) and biopsy of the duodenum. In all patients gluten free diet not only provided drug free control of seizures but also helped correct other features of malabsorption like hypocalcaemia and anaemia as the primary pathology behind these symptoms was corrected. We wish to highlight that hypocalcaemia of CD which may present as intractable seizures can be treated only by treating CD with gluten free diet and not by oral vitamin D and Calcium alone.