Celiac Disease Signs & Symptoms

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First let's start by defining what Celiac disease is:  

It is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.   Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barely, rye, spelt and sometimes oats can be cross-contaminated with gluten from being grown near wheat fields. When eating foods containing gluten our immune system responds by damaging the small intestine.   It does this by damaging the villi contained within the intestinal wall.  Think of them like little hairs that normally stand straight up and absorb the nutrients released from our food and then send the nutrients into the bloodstream.  

In the case of Celiac disease though, when gluten enters the body the body goes on high alert and attacks in order to save itself.  Unfortunately what it's actually doing is attacking itself, damaging those beautiful hard working villi.  Sometimes they become completely destroyed (this happens more when there has been very long term damage) other times the villi is damaged.  Those hairlike structures that normally start to stand straight up start folding over and not working properly.  The tips of those hairlike villi are also responsible for absorbing dairy and when damaged they can't do it anymore, and we wonder why many of us have dairy issues.  The damage to these villi also cause a person to become malnourished regardless of the quantity of food eaten.  We can seem soo hungry all the time but not feel well, have no energy, even not gain weight although we eat as much as we can, and this can all be from malnourishment.  Of course there are many other factors that help to cause many of those symptoms but a lot of it is from this. 

The damage done to our intestine can take a long while to heal in some cases up to two years unfortunately.  Something to keep in mind though is to remember that this damage in most cases has taken place over many years, so it stands to reason it would take a long while to heal.  Thankfully starting to eat gluten free gets you on your way to recovery.  As you deal with this disease you will see that being that this is an autoimmune disorder and the fact that we are all different, healing differs from one individual to the next.  Some may begin to heal more quickly and others will find that there has been damage to other organs in the body and enzymes that have been destroyed.   Which will take some more time and patience on our part and our physicians part to figure out just what else has gone wrong and how to begin to fix it.   This is especially when it is helpful to have support from our family and friends. Going through this is very difficult for the one suffering all of the symptoms below.  It affects our moods, energy and even zest for life at times.  We need to have patience with ourselves.  Our family and friends need to be patient, kind, loving and understanding with us.  Be our cheerleaders not mockers or murmerers.  Being supportive of your loved ones situation goes a long way in their healing process, it's important to recognize this.  More on support in a later post.

The body’s own immune system causes the damage in celiac disease because of this it is considered an autoimmune disorder. It is also classified as a disease of malabsorption because nutrients are not absorbed. Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy.

This disease is considered a genetic disease.  It can be inherited from parents either one or both.  The gene can lay dormant for years and then suddenly be triggered or become active for the first time after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection or severe emotional stress.

Being that this disease is considered a genetic disease it is important that if you or a family member has been diagnosed your other family members, especially immediate family, should most definitley get checked for it as well.  

Celiac Disease Symptoms 

This list can also be found on the celiac.org website.  There is said to be at least 300 or more symptoms to this disease.  Even with all of that there are still some people who suffer from this disease and never have one of these symptoms.  

SYMPTOMS MAY INCLUDE:

• Abdominal cramping, intestinal gas
• Acid Reflux
• Distention and bloating of the stomach
• Chronic diarrhea or constipation (or both) (they may misdiagnose you with IBS)
• Fatty stools
• Anemia 
• Unexplained weight loss with large appetite (In my case this was when i had become so sick i was malnourished) or weight gain (In my case this seemed to happen when the disease became active)

OTHER SYMPTOMS:

• Dental enamel defects
• Osteopenia (another thing i developed from malnourishment and possibly from thyroid med they put me on), osteoporosis
• Bone or joint pain (they may try and misdiagnose you with fibromyalgia)
• Fatigue, weakness and lack of energy (they may misdiagnose you with chronic fatigue)
• Infertility – male/female
• Depression (they may say your bi-polar or just chronically depressed and treat with meds)
• Mouth ulcers
• Delayed puberty 
• Tingling or numbness in hands or feet (they may try and say you have carpal tunnel)
• Migraine headaches 

SOME LONG-TERM CONDITIONS THAT CAN RESULT IF LEFT UNTREATED:

• Iron deficiency anemia
• Early onset osteoporosis or osteopenia
• Vitamin K deficiency
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
• Central and peripheral nervous system disorders - usually because of unsuspected nutrient deficiencies
• Pancreatic insufficiency (many of us have diabetes type I or II)
• Intestinal lymphomas and other GI cancers (malignancies)- This alone should warrant further looking into!
• Gall bladder problems
• Neurological problems

I had many of these symptoms throughout the seven years that I sought out help from different doctors. I especially suffered from horrible worsening acid reflux and doctors fixed this nasty little symptom by more and more antacids that just made matters worse by blocking my very much needed B vitamins. UGH. 

None of them ever put it together that I had Celiac.  Instead they treated the symptoms as they often do. Make sure when seeking out medical help that you are thorough when explaining your symptoms and make sure that they look at you as a whole person and not as parts.  Ask for a Celiac Sprue blood test, check out my page with specific blood tests to ask for.  If your doctor doesn't listen to your requests or concerns, FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR WHO DOES.  DO NOT GIVE UP.  THIS LITERALLY CAN MEAN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR LIFE AND DEATH!

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