What is Celiac Disease ....

For a patient with celiac disease, the list of foods to avoid can seem overwhelming.

No bread. No pasta. No cereal.

No candy. No beer. No gravy.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease that destroys the villi of the small intestine when a sufferer ingests any form of gluten, which includes wheat, barley, and rye. “Celiac disease is an auto-immune disease that is commonly misconstrued for a food allergy, a wheat allergy,” Kelley Dow, a registered dietitian with Self Regional Healthcare, said.
The Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign, part of the National Institutes of Health, estimates up to 1 percent of all Americans suffer from celiac disease, although many have never been diagnosed.

Dow said one problem with the disease is its diagnosis: symptoms vary from patient to patient. Standard symptoms include stomach cramping, unexplained weight loss or weight gain, diarrhea, bone or joint paint, infertility and fatigue, but the patient may have none of those.

It may not be swine flu, but the symptoms of Celiac disease can be varied and intense, and often take many months to correctly diagnose in suffering patients. Symptoms can include bloating, gas, severe diarrhea, headaches, skin rash, and poor weight gain, and can also lead to unexplained depression, infertility and attention deficit disorder.

Symptoms may be warning signs of celiac disease in adults:

• Digestive problems including chronic diarrhea, abdominal bloating and pain. Digestive symptoms, however, are less likely to affect adults than children.
• Feeling tired, anxious or depressed.
• Arthritis or osteoporosis.
• Unexplained anemia.
• Feelings of numbness or tingling in the feet or hands.
• Seizures.
• Irregular menstrual periods, multiple miscarriages or infertility.
• Canker sores.
• An itchy skin rash.

Keeping a 100% gluten free diet is the only way to treat Celiac disease. After going on the diet many people see their symptoms clear up immediately.