Understanding Celiac Disease

May is Celiac Awareness Month! Raising awareness of Celiac disease is important because over 80% of people who have this disease do not know that they have it.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease, which means that the body is being attacked by its own immune system. Normally, your immune system protects your body by attacking harmful substances that get into it. But autoimmune diseases cause the immune system to mistakenly attack something that isn’t truly harmful. With Celiac disease, the immune system reacts to gluten, which is a protein found in barley, wheat, and rye. This disease causes the immune system to attack and damage the small intestine, making it so that your body has difficulty absorbing nutrients from the food you eat.

Celiac disease is genetic, so if you have a parent or sibling who has it, it’s possible that you may have it, too. However, even if you don’t know of any family members with Celiac disease, it’s still possible that you have it. It’s difficult to know whether or not you have this disease because there are over 300 symptoms associated with it. Because there are so many possible symptoms, this disease is often mistaken for other diseases. In fact, it often takes 6-10 years for a person to receive a Celiac diagnosis because they often receive incorrect diagnoses at first. To determine whether or not someone has Celiac disease, doctors will perform a blood test and small intestine biopsy. They also take a look at the patient’s physical symptoms and family history. Then, a diagnosis can be given.

Celiac disease symptoms can begin to appear in childhood, the teenage years, or adulthood. Children with the disease are more likely to have digestion-related symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, and growth problems (because their small intestine is not absorbing enough nutrients to help them grow). Adults are more likely to have other symptoms, such as iron deficiency anemia, infertility, osteoporosis, loss of tooth enamel, and dermatitis herpetiformis (a type of rash). Celiac patients of all ages are more likely to have emotional disorders like depression and anxiety. However, around 20% of people with the disease are asymptomatic.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for Celiac disease. People with the disease must stick to a gluten-free diet in order to stay healthy and protect their small intestine. But having a gluten-free diet can be difficult. People with this disease often face problems such as social anxiety, missing out on fun experiences, or accidentally eating a food that has gluten.

If you have Celiac disease or think you have it, please talk with your doctor. If you have it, your doctor can help you understand how to go on a gluten-free diet. In general, Celiac patients do not eat breads, pastas, and cereals. Some medicines and cosmetics contain gluten, too, so they also need to be avoided. Corn, rice, and buckwheat are examples of safe foods because they don’t contain gluten.