Gluten Free Recipes and Information:Gluten Intolerance

There’s no one symptom that can be used to diagnose Celiac disease. The condition, which simply can be described as a form of gluten intolerance, is a combination of symptoms. In fact, there are many cases where the disease has been misdiagnosed because the symptoms it shares with other digestive and allergy related diseases.

Click Here for Celiac Disease Specific Diet and Recipes>Among the symptoms that manifest in children include abdominal pain, diarrhea, not gaining weight, nausea, anemia, mouth sores, lack of appetite, hair loss, bloated abdomen, not growing in height, dermatitis, and behavioral disorders. In adults, it is common to exhibit fatigue, depression, osteoporosis, irritability, and lactose intolerance. The importance in diagnosis celiac disease is getting to the root of the problem to diagnose it properly.

As we all know, celiac disease is a condition where the inner lining of the small intestines gets inflamed due to the contact with gluten. Gluten is a protein that is commonly found in wheat, barley and rye. Once inflammation of the small intestines occurs, the body is unable to absorb the necessary nutrients from the food you eat. So no matter how much you gobble up food, you will still experience malnutrition. And because you’re not receiving the right amounts of nutrients, your body will get weaker and becomes more susceptible to other diseases.

Diagnosing the condition is somewhat troublesome due to the fact that the exact cause of the disease is still unknown. Research and studies, however, have proven that the disease is genetic based. So this means that if someone in your family has it, there’s a chance that you can have it as well.

Tests and diagnosing the disease can be done through laboratory analysis of blood samples. What doctors will be looking for is the high levels of antibodies, more specifically anti-gliadin, anti-endomysium, and anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies, in your blood. It has been found out that people with celiac disease has high levels of these antibodies in their system. These antibodies identify gluten as a threat to the body and try to get rid of it just like the immune system trying to get rid of virus and bacteria.

However, there are times that the levels of these antibodies were found to be normal, and yet patients still exhibit symptoms of celiac disease. Only once gluten is removed from their diet did they only started feeling a lot better. The disease is really a tricky one to diagnose but through observations and laboratory analysis the task is not impossible.

If left undiagnosed, the disease can potentially lead to complications and other more dangerous disease. Some of the risks the people with the disease have to be ready for include lupus, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, microscopic colitis, and autoimmune thyroid disease.

Of course, malnutrition will be a starting point for deficiencies in vitamins A, B-12, De, E, and K which can cause anemia and weight loss. The body will be lacking in calcium as well which greatly affects the bone density. The damage caused by the disease can also result to developing other allergic reactions from foods that don’t even contain gluten, such as lactose.

So it is really important that people who exhibit symptoms of the disease get some medical attention get to the root of the problem. And if the doctors found out that the disease is not celiac, then that’s still good. However, leaving everything as it is will never turn out good.

Click Here for Celiac Disease Specific Diet and Recipes

Celiac Disease Digesting the Root of the Problem

There’s no one symptom that can be used to diagnose Celiac disease. The condition, which simply can be described as a form of gluten intolerance, is a combination of symptoms. In fact, there are many cases where the disease has been misdiagnosed because the symptoms it shares with other digestive and allergy related diseases. Among the symptoms that manifest in children include abdominal pain, diarrhea, not gaining weight, nausea, anemia, mouth sores, lack of appetite, hair loss, bloated abdomen, not growing in height, dermatitis, and behavioral disorders. In adults, it is common to exhibit fatigue, depression, osteoporosis, irritability, and lactose intolerance. The importance in diagnosis celiac disease is getting to the root of the problem to diagnose it properly.

As we all know, celiac disease is a condition where the inner lining of the small intestines gets inflamed due to the contact with gluten. Gluten is a protein that is commonly found in wheat, barley and rye. Once inflammation of the small intestines occurs, the body is unable to absorb the necessary nutrients from the food you eat. So no matter how much you gobble up food, you will still experience malnutrition. And because you’re not receiving the right amounts of nutrients, your body will get weaker and becomes more susceptible to other diseases.

Diagnosing the condition is somewhat troublesome due to the fact that the exact cause of the disease is still unknown. Research and studies, however, have proven that the disease is genetic based. So this means that if someone in your family has it, there’s a chance that you can have it as well.

Tests and diagnosing the disease can be done through laboratory analysis of blood samples. What doctors will be looking for is the high levels of antibodies, more specifically anti-gliadin, anti-endomysium, and anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies, in your blood. It has been found out that people with celiac disease has high levels of these antibodies in their system. These antibodies identify gluten as a threat to the body and try to get rid of it just like the immune system trying to get rid of virus and bacteria.

However, there are times that the levels of these antibodies were found to be normal, and yet patients still exhibit symptoms of celiac disease. Only once gluten is removed from their diet did they only started feeling a lot better. The disease is really a tricky one to diagnose but through observations and laboratory analysis the task is not impossible.

If left undiagnosed, the disease can potentially lead to complications and other more dangerous disease. Some of the risks the people with the disease have to be ready for include lupus, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, microscopic colitis, and autoimmune thyroid disease.

Of course, malnutrition will be a starting point for deficiencies in vitamins A, B-12, De, E, and K which can cause anemia and weight loss. The body will be lacking in calcium as well which greatly affects the bone density. The damage caused by the disease can also result to developing other allergic reactions from foods that don’t even contain gluten, such as lactose.

So it is really important that people who exhibit symptoms of the disease get some medical attention get to the root of the problem. And if the doctors found out that the disease is not celiac, then that’s still good. However, leaving everything as it is will never turn out good.

Celiac Disease and Other Digestive Disorders

Celiac disease is also known as sprue, nontropical sprue or gluten- sensitive enteropathy. Celiac disease occurs to people who cannot tolerate gluten, a protein substance present in barley, wheat and rye. Celiac disease is a digestive disorder. There are also other digestive disorders that are often confused with celiac disease like the irritable bowel syndrome.

Irritable bowel syndrome or IBS is often confused with celiac disease. IBS is considered to be the most common disorder. In North America, there is about 20 percent of Americans believed to have some form of IBS. Unfortunately, the treatment for IBS is not the same for celiac disease patients. There are times when celiac disease patients would not receive the appropriate treatment and can take a long time before the correct diagnosis is made.

Patients with IBS should ask their physician to make sure that they don’t have any celiac disease. Medical researches in Britain have found a high rate of celiac disease with patients with IBS. The British study found that the chance of having celiac disease was seven times higher for patients with IBS.

IBS causes however, are not well understood. There are several studies saying that it has something to do with the central nervous system. There are changes in the nerves that control sensation or muscle contractions in the bowel. The bowels of the intestines contract irregularly, meaning that food is pushed too quickly or slowly.

IBF effects are more likely to be emotional than physical. Some IBS patients find it hard to lead a normal, happy life while experiencing the digestive disorder. But people with IBS have been found to have a lower chance to develop more serious or life-threatening bowel diseases. Although this is reassuring, this does not mean that serious diseases cannot occur separately.

Another digestive disorder is the inflammatory bowel disease. This is the name of a group of disorders that cause the intestine to become inflamed or red and swollen. The inflammation lasts a long time and usually comes back over and over again.

A germ or by immune system problem may cause the disease. The disease is not contagious however, inflammatory bowel disease, like celiac disease, does seem to be hereditary.

Celiac disease is also misdiagnoses, sometimes, as Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease. It causes ulcers to form in the gastrointestinal tract anywhere from the mouth to the anus. Symptoms may include stomach cramps and pains that comes and goes and blood in the stool. Similar to celiac disease, Crohn’s disease patients also experience diarrhea, sick feeling in the stomach, unexplained weight loss and tiredness.

Crohn’s disease gets treated depending on the status of the gastrointestinal tract. When the disease is mild, medicines may still help. But for sever cases, steroids are generally used. There are times that even surgery may be necessary, but it cannot cure the disease.

There are about 95 million people affected by digestive problems every day. Digestive disorders are one of the primary reasons for physician visits. It is important to get medical attention for digestive disorders since digestive diseases are very complex. They may have subtle symptoms and their causes may be unknown. Identifying or reaching a diagnosis need a thorough and accurate medical history and physical background since some digestive disorders can be hereditary.

If we re what we eat then we should take care of our digestive system. A digestive disorder or digestive disease like celiac disease is impossible to ignore. Undermining celiac disease and other digestive disorders means undermining our total health and would eventually threaten our lives.