Archive for July 23rd, 2010

Almost 25 percent of the population considers themselves to be gluten intolerant. Of those people, one percent are actually diagnosed with Celiac’s disease.

Overall, the symptoms of Celiac’s disease are vague, and the same symptoms can easily have other causes. But in general, symptoms include typical bowel issues such as constipation and diarrhea (and a host of other digestive problems), muscle cramps, rashes, joint and bone pains, and issues caused from malabsorption like osteoporosis, and anemia, and can even be the cause of seizures.

These symptoms are all autoimmune related, meaning that the body emits an autoimmune response to attack the gluten, which in turn, destroys the villi. When those are destroyed, it creates a smooth surface area (along with inflammation) in the intestines and you lose your ability to absorb nutrients. So that’s why it leads to calcium deficiency and anemia.

Simply giving up gluten will alleviate these symptoms (I know, it’s not that simple–but stores such as Whole Foods and other gluten free companies have made it easier to follow a gluten-free diet.)

But here’s the rub–Celiac’s disease can be tested for, BUT, if you have restricted gluten from your diet, the test will be worthless because it requires measuring the higher levels of certain antibodies that the body as produced to fight the gluten. So no gluten, no antibodies–you get the idea.

Restricting gluten from the diet is the remedy for Celiac’s disease, but there are certain reasons that you may want to know that you have it. On the top of the list is probably the fact that if you’re diagnosed with it, the medical care is most likely covered on your insurance. Also, because Celiac’s is genetic, the chances of your offspring having it go up to 1 in 4!

As a nurse, I’ve come in contact with several people that are pretty sure that they have Celiac’s disease, and would like to be tested, but they can’t tolerate the symptoms of adding gluten back into their diet to simply go get the test.

So if you’ve already given up gluten, you may decide that the benefits of testing for Celiac’s do not outweigh the consequences. But if you’re having some of these symptoms regularly, (pay attention at Thanksgiving and Christmas when we tend to eat a lot of Gluten rich foods) it may be worth having a discussion with your doctor.

Kim Wirth is a registered nurse in Austin, Texas with significant experience helping people to live full lives without the presence of gluten in their diets. Send her questions at kwwirth@yahoo.com