What Is Celiac Disease And Should I Get Checked Out?
Celiac disease is a serious condition that can cause patients to be unable to take in nutrients from their food. There are a number of signs that Celiac disease might be present, so it’s important to get checked out in case you’ve developed this disease. About one out of every 100 people in the world have it, but a proper diagnosis is only given to about 30% of them. Those who have a sibling, child, or parent with this disease have a 10% chance of developing it. People can develop this disease at any age.
The other risk factors for this disease include:
Having type 1 diabetes
Having European ancestry
Being infertile
Having Down syndrome
Having irritable bowel syndrome that causes diarrhea
Having any of a number of other autoimmune diseases
How Celiac Disease Works
This is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack part of itself when a protein called gluten is present. It’s a genetic condition that results in the body’s immune response attacking the patient’s own small intestine. The small intestines have small projections that line them. These are called the villi.
These villi are what get damaged when the immune response attacks. Villi are used by the body to help with the absorption of nutrients from our food. It allows for the nutrients in food to be absorbed by the person’s bloodstream. When the villi get damaged from the immune attack, it causes the body to be unable to absorb many of the nutrients needed for optimal health. No matter how much a person with Celiac disease eats, they can never get enough actual nutrition. When this happens, a number of health problems can develop. These include:
A four times higher risk of small bowel cancers
A two times higher risk of coronary artery disease
Type 1 diabetes
Anemia
Multiple sclerosis
Infertility
Neurological conditions such as migraines and epilepsy
Dermatitis herpetiformis
Osteoporosis
Miscarriages
A lower height
Malnutrition
Heart disease
It’s important to keep the disease under tight control so that the risks of these diseases are lowered. Doing this requires changing your diet in a major way.
Gluten
Gluten is a protein that can be found in wheat, barley, and rye. When these are consumed, it causes the immune response and more villi being attacked. The only way that this disease can be treated is by not ingesting any gluten whatsoever. Even a small crumb of it can cause intestinal damage that can cause serious health problems. If a patient will stay on a strict diet that keeps gluten completely out of it, this is considered a cure for the disease. This is the only autoimmune disease that can be cured by changing the diet.
Symptoms of Celiac Disease
Many people have Celiac disease but haven’t seen any symptoms of it yet. Often, there is an inciting event or condition that causes the symptoms to start. This can include:
Pregnancy
Childbirth
Physical Injuries
Severe Stress
Surgery
Once the symptoms start, it’s important to be checked out medically to find out what the problem is. Some of the symptoms of Celiac disease can be present in other diseases and conditions, so getting the best medical testing is what can tell you for sure what the problem is.
There are a lot of symptoms that people often have once their Celiac disease starts to become active. Some patients see symptoms in their childhood while others don’t have any until they’re adults. The actual symptoms that are felt vary from person to person. Some of the symptoms of this genetic disease can include:
Moodiness
Depression
Constant constipation
Constant diarrhea
Abdominal pain
Weight loss
Shorter height and/or slowed growth
Tools that have a bad odor and are pale
Gas
Weight loss that isn’t on purpose
Teeth turning a different color or losing some of the enamel from them
Anemia that is unexplained and causes fatigue
Infertility
Legs that feel numb or tingling
Bone fractures and/or early osteoporosis
Menstrual cycles that are missed
Joint pain
Itchy or painful rash
Bone pain
Muscle cramps
Repeated swelling of the stomach
Stomach pain
Often, the disease doesn’t show symptoms for a while because the intestines are still able to get enough nutrition into the bloodstream for the time being. Then when an inciting event or condition happens, the symptoms start because the body stops getting the nutrients it needs. This pushes the disease into active mode, and a wide range of symptoms may appear.
When a child isn’t growing as they should and is at a very low percentile for height, it might be a good idea to get some testing to rule out Celiac disease. If any of these other symptoms are found in a child or adult, they need medical testing as well. Don’t let these symptoms get severe before you get testing for Celiac disease. When it isn’t diagnosed, it can result in worse and worse health problems that result from the intestinal damage. Keep track of your symptoms so that you can talk to your doctor about the problems you’re having and the doctor can arrange for the right testing for you.
Getting Celiac Disease Diagnosed
With so many abdominal symptoms, many patients find that their symptoms resemble other conditions. These may include irritable bowel syndrome, a bacterial infection of the small intestine, diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis, and Chron’s disease. The right testing can rule these out when Celiac disease is present.
There are two main types of testing that you can get from your healthcare provider to see whether you have this disease. The doctor will likely look through your medical history and give you a physical examination. After this, you may get blood work, a biopsy, or both. Each of these are important tests in your journey to get your condition diagnosed:
1. Blood work: A specific type of blood test can be done to see whether you have this disease. When a person with Celiac eats gluten, their body will make a much higher volume of antibodies. These are cells that fight infections. However, these cells will see the gluten as dangerous and will attack the small intestine in those who have the disease. The blood test, then, is to see how many of these cells that you have. Many healthcare providers will tell their patients to eat plenty of gluten in the days before the test so that it will be able to detect any problems that come about from eating it.
2. Biopsy: This method of medical testing is the most accurate way to find out whether you have this disease. A doctor, generally a gastroenterologist, will perform an upper endoscopy. Before having this done, a patient is put to sleep. The doctor will then take a long, very thin tube and put it into your mouth. This is the endoscope, and it has a camera on it. They will then thread the tube into your stomach, through it, and into the small intestine. Tools are sent through the tube to take a small tissue sample in the small intestine that can then be brought back and checked by the lab. If you have Celiac disease, this biopsied tissue will tell the doctor what they need to know.
Other Conditions That Are Often Found in Celiac Patients
When you have Celiac disease, there are a number of other conditions that can exist alongside it. These conditions
After Your Celiac Disease Diagnosis
When a child has been officially tested for this disease and found to have it, they can get certain food accommodations at school. A letter from the doctor is enough proof that they have this condition. The Americans With Disabilities Act classifies Celiac disease as a disability, so you can’t be discriminated against because of it, and you have the right to certain accommodations.
Once you have a diagnosis of Celiac disease, you can talk to your doctor about what you need to do next to keep your condition under control. You’ll need to learn about the foods that have gluten in them and what to eat instead. It can take a lot of time to figure out what your diet will be like and how you can avoid gluten. Luckily, today there are a lot of foods that are specifically marked as being gluten-free. When this became a popular diet to eat, Celiacs got access to many more foods that are permissible on their new diets.
It can be tempting to treat yourself to a bit of gluten-containing food every once in a while. However, eating it even one time will cause you intestinal damage that can last for months. Even the smallest piece of food with gluten can keep you sick and bring back your uncomfortable and painful symptoms. Celiac is a lifelong disease, so it will never be gone forever.
