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What is Celiac Disease? |
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Symptoms
Celiac disease is a digestive problem which is triggered by an intake of a protein found in foods based on grains (gluten), causing the patient to absorb food nutrients less efficiently, and resulting in vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the body. There are no particularly indicative signs for this condition, and some patients do not even experience any gastrointestinal symptoms. Any indication can also be similar to those of various other conditions, such as gastric ulcer, parasitic infection, anemia, and irritable bowel syndrome. Celiac disease may also be determined, but only in speculation, from subtle and common signs like irritability, an upset stomach, muscle cramps, rashes, joint pains, mouth sores, bone mass disorders like osteoporosis, and tingling sensations on the lower limbs.
Causes
Celiac disease occurs when the hair-like protrusions on the small intestines (villi) are dulled, hampering the organ’s ability to absorb food nutrients efficiently; this is primarily due to a gluten-intolerant person’s reaction to the substance. The nutrients which should be carried on into the bodily systems are instead flushed out with stool. Researchers are still searching for the cause of this intolerance, but it is many believe that it can be inherited; if a person has an immediate relative which bears the disease, he or she has a five to fifteen percent chance of acquiring it as well. Celiac disease can happen at any age, but the condition only progresses as soon as gluten is included in the diet. In isolated cases, and for undetermined reasons, the condition can also emerge as a result of infection, physical trauma, a stressful pregnancy, extreme stress, and surgery.
Diagnosis
People who have Celiac disease also bear higher levels of specific antibodies in their bloodstream (such as anti-gliadin and anti-tissue transglutaminase). Antibodies are immuno-proteins which strive to get rid of unfamiliar substances within the body, and those which carry the condition have immune systems which recognize gluten as an unfamiliar substance; the body consequently increases the production of antibodies in an effort to get rid of it. Diagnostic blood testing may be conducted in an effort to detect the elevated antibody levels, and it is usually the first step of diagnosis following a suspicion. This can be confirmed further with a microscopic examination of the patient’s intestinal tissue; the doctor introduces an endoscope through the patient’s mouth and retrieves the sample from the small intestines. The patient may also try to leave out gluten in the diet as a form of diagnosis, but this must be done after a medical evaluation, not prior to it.
Treatment Info
There is no cure for the condition, apart from the removal of gluten from the diet. Once this is done, the intestinal inflammation will subside within a few weeks. Patients with severe nutritional deficiencies resulting from Celiac disease may take on vitamin/mineral supplementation, to bring the body’s health back to normal levels. The thorough recuperation and regrowth of the intestines’ villi is completed within a few months for younger patients, and within three years for older ones. The recovery is particularly noticeable in children; both their physical and behavioral conditions improve, and the stunted growth picks up almost immediately.
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