When you know the problem, half of the battle is over.
Imagine when you keep visiting doctors frantically to find the reasons for your troubled health. You try experimenting with various diets and keep on shooting in the dark, hoping your painful journey will end one day, but nothing fruitful comes out.
It does take a mental, emotional, and physical toll on the patient as well as their family members. This ordeal makes diagnosis very important, but unfortunately, a few diseases are often complex especially the uncommon and rare ones. Celiac is one such ailment where diagnosis becomes extremely difficult.
Let’s understand more about this disease so we can catch it early.
Celiac:
It is an autoimmune condition where the immune system reacts to consuming food containing gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. The immune system sees gluten as a possible threat and starts attacking healthy cells of the body. It causes damage to the small intestine and hampers the digestive system. In the long run, it damages the intestinal villi, making it difficult for the body to absorb nutrients and deprivation of essential nutrients ultimately damages various organs.
Celiac disease affects people in different ways. There are 300+ known symptoms of celiac disease, affecting various organs, which makes diagnosis extremely difficult.
Reasons
It can happen to anyone, including children. However, it is not exactly clear what causes celiac disease. In most cases, genes are blamed. If your family member has celiac, the chances of getting a celiac disease are increased. Few people get this after pregnancy or after extreme stress.
Let us understand the various symptoms of celiac.
1)The digestive system:
It hampers the digestive system, and one may get symptoms such as diarrhoea, gas, bloating, constipation, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, acid reflux, heartburn, loss of appetite, etc.
2)Bones and teeth
Malabsorption of calcium leads to extremely low bone density and tooth enamel damage, leading to an increased risk of fracture.
3)Nervous system
Headaches, numbness or tingling in hands/feet, vertigo, seizures, depression, and anxiety are a few of the symptoms of celiac disease.
4)Effect on body
Malabsorption of nutrients leads to various vitamin deficiencies, including iron and vitamin D. Other symptoms may include rashes/blisters on the skin, mouth ulcers, fatigue and deficient energy, joint pains, miscarriage, infertility, weight loss, etc.
Celiac can be misdiagnosed as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
Symptoms of IBS are similar to celiac disease as both cause digestive discomfort and, hence, often misguides. It’s worth noting that, like celiac, IBS doesn’t cause damage to the digestive tract; it rarely causes nutrient deficiencies and affects bone density/ tooth enamel. Checking the bones and teeth’ health might help diagnose the correct ailment.
Diagnosis-
It is tough to diagnose celiac. But there are a few tests which might help.
- Blood test: Low blood count, iron, and vitamin deficiencies can show the possibility of celiac disease. The Tissue Transglutaminase Antibodies (tTG-IgA) will be positive in most celiac patients who are still on a regular (not gluten-free) diet.
- Endoscopy and biopsy: Celiac damages the lining of the small intestine. Endoscopy and biopsy of villi can confirm celiac disease in a few cases.
- Bone density test: Evaluating the health of bones by X-ray may help. Low levels of minerals could be a sign as well.
Celiac diet
- What to REMOVE: Removing gluten from food is the first step. It could be a lifelong change for a person dealing with celiac disease.
-Stop wheat, barley & ray. Avoid triticale, semolina and any flour containing wheat
-Avoid beer, ale and lagers
- What to eat:
– Grains like rice, corn, oats, quinoa, amaranth, ragi, nachni, buckwheat, and soy. Similarly, various lentils, legumes, pulses, nuts and seeds are suitable for celiac patients. However, consider the possibility of contamination with wheat gluten as such products are usually produced in a factory that could also make wheat products. In such cases, reading labels should help. Also, check flare-ups after eating a particular brand/ food product.
– Consume flours made from starches like potato, almond, chickpeas, pulses, soy, etc, instead of wheat flour.
– All vegetables
– All fruits
– Buttermilk, green tea, coffee
– Meat, fish, poultry (chicken, turkey, eggs)
- Where to be careful:
– Be careful with the possible contamination while eating out or in restaurants. Vessels, utensils, etc., used to cook regular food can cause flare-ups in people with celiac disease. Order carefully and speak to the chefs/managers about your condition while eating out.
– In case of flare-ups after consuming dairy, substitute almond, oat, or soy milk for whole milk.
– Keep on checking where the gluten can be hidden. A few examples are processed junk (potato chips/wafers/French fries), ready-to-eat soups/ gravy/ stock, cereals, rice mixes, salad dressings, seasonings, sauces, syrups, etc. Remember, consumption of even the smallest quantity of gluten can cause flare-ups.
– Avoid emulsifiers, dextrin, artificial/caramel colours, mono- and di-glycerides, preservatives, and stabilisers, as they may contain gluten.
– Ask your doctor to prescribe medicines, supplements, herbal drugs, and probiotics which don’t contain gluten or by-products of wheat.
- Vitamins and supplements:
– Calcium
– Vitamin D
– Iron
– Any other supplement which your doctor might suggest
Celiac is a lifelong disorder, and one should learn how to live with celiac. Keeping a food journal might help note flare-ups after consuming a particular diet. Keep experimenting and learning to read positive/negative signs to know what suits you for quicker results.
Remember, a known enemy is better than an unknown one. Once you know what you are dealing with, the situation will start improving in the right direction.
Thank you.