What is Celiac disease?
Celiac disease is a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine and prevents it from absorbing parts of food that are important for staying healthy. The damage is due to a reaction to eating gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats.
Causes of celiac disease:
The exact cause of celiac disease is unknown. The lining of the intestines contains areas called villi, which help absorb nutrients. When people with celiac disease eat foods or use products that contain gluten, their immune system reacts by damaging these villi.
This damage affects the ability to absorb nutrients properly. A person becomes malnourished, no matter how much food he or she eats. The disease can develop at any point in life, from infancy to late adulthood. People who have a family member with celiac disease are at greater risk for developing the disease. The disorder is most common in Caucasians and persons of European ancestry. Women are affected more often than men.
Symptoms of celiac disease:
One of the most frustrating things about celiac is that the symptoms are so different in different people. “Classic” symptoms are diarrhea and weight loss. However, many like me don’t have any digestive symptoms at all. Other symptoms include; Anemia, usually resulting from iron deficiency, itchy or , blistery skin rash, headaches and fatigue, nervous system injury, including numbness and tingling in the feet and hands, joint pain and acid reflux and heartburn.
Blood tests can detect several special antibodies, called ant tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTGA) or anti-endomysium antibodies (EMA). The health care provider will order these antibody tests if celiac disease is suspected. If the tests are positive, upper endoscopy is usually performed to sample a piece of tissue (biopsy) from the first part of the small intestine (duodenum). The biopsy may show a flattening of the villi in the parts of the intestine below the duodenum. Genetic testing of the blood is also available to help determine who may be at risk for celiac disease. A follow-up biopsy or blood test may be ordered several months after the diagnosis and treatment. These tests evaluate your response to treatment. Normal results mean that you have responded to treatment, which confirms the diagnosis. However, this does not mean that the disease has been cured.
How long does the blood test for celiac disease take?
it takes about a 1 1/2- 2 weeks to get the results back.
How to Live a Gluten Free Life?
Celiac disease cannot be cured. However, your symptoms will go away and the villi in the lining of the intestines will heal if you follow a lifelong gluten-free diet. Do not eat foods, beverages, and medications that contain wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats. The health care provider may prescribe vitamin and mineral supplements to correct nutritional deficiencies. Occasionally, corticosteroids (such as prednisone) may also be prescribed for short-term use or if you have sprue that does not respond to treatment. Following a well-balanced, gluten-free diet is generally the only treatment you need to stay well.
What
happens when you eat gluten/wheat if you have a gluten allergy or celiac
disease?
more than 70% of celiacs have low blood stream to one or more regions of the cerebrum when they were eating gluten - no one has a piece of information why that would happen. On the off chance that gluten is infused into within the cheek, the body will STILL have an exceptionally quick auto-insusceptible reaction after only a couple of minutes - likewise obscure why that happens. Some celiacs' bodies make antibodies that assault the sensory system when they eat gluten, and as of late, they found that a few antibodies that assault the villi will likewise assault a protein in teeth lacquer.
Can a colonoscopy diagnose Celiac disease?
The
biopsy determination of celiac disease requires exhibition of the irregularities in the proximal small digestive system. It is impractical to get such a biopsy experiencing the butt. The colonoscope does not come to that far. The biopsy instrument must experience the mouth. This is generally accomplished with an upper endoscopy (AKA gastroscopy, EGD) A colonoscopy is as often as possible preformed for the examination of loose bowels yet does not and can not identify celiac disease.
