What is Celiac Disease?

What is Celiac Disease?

Celiac disease is an illness in which the inside lining of the small intestine is damaged after eating wheat, rye, oats, or barley.

Celiac disease is a common cause of malabsorption. It is a disease caused by intolerance to gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Interance to gluten causes the lining of the intestine to loose its villi. Villi are tiny folds in the intestine that absorb nutrients.

Celiac disease can occur at any age but it often occurs in children. Close relatives of a person with celiac disease have about a 5-10% chance of developing celiac disease themselves.

Celiac disease is also called celiac sprue, gluten sensitive entropathy and non-tropical sprue.

Symptoms of Celiac Disease?

In early stages, symptoms of celiac disease may be limited to anemia and early-onset osteoporosis. In later stages of celiac disease, the following symptoms may be present:
Bleeding gums
Dry skin
Foul smelling diarrhea
Bloating
Green stool
Weight Loss
Anemia
Stools that stick to the toilet bowl
Bone pain
Bone tenderness
Soreness of lips and tongue

How is Celiac Disease Diagnosed?

Celiac disease is difficult to diagnose in early stages. In later stages, the doctor will examine stool for fat, take an x-ray of the bowel, take a biopsy of the lining of the small intestine and blood tests.

Can Celiac Disease be Treated?

Celiac disease can be treated. The most common treatment options is to eliminate foods from the diet that contain gluten. If the patient is severly malnurished, intravenous fluids may be temporarily given while the gluten-free diet is taking hold.

After the gluten-free diet is started, the villi will regain their normal shape and regain their ability to absorb nutrients. Stools and weight will also return to normal.

Unexpected Sources of Wheat
stamps and envelopes
canned broth
imitation bacon
veggie burgers
soy sauce
soy marinades
mustard
chewing gum
laxatives