Celiac disease

Celiac disease is a type of autoimmune disorder that affects the small intestine.  It is known by several other names such as coeliac disease, endemic sprue, celiac sprue, gluten enteropathy, non-tropical sprue, gluten intolerance, and gluten sensitive enteropathy. It generally occurs in people with a genetic predisposition to it and it may occur at any age starting from middle infancy.  

Symptoms of this disease commonly differ for every person affected by it.  They may occur directly in the digestive system or in other vulnerable parts of the body.  For infants and very young children, digestive symptoms are more prevalent.  These may include chronic diarrhea, vomiting, too much bloating, constipation, pale and fatty stool, weight loss, and irritability.  Adults on the other hand rarely develop digestive symptoms for celiac disease.  The more common symptoms of this disease seen in adults are:  anemia, fatigue, joint pain, osteoporosis, and anxiety.  Others may also develop seizures, numbness and tingling in the hands or feet, missed or irregular menstrual periods for women, infertility, and canker sores that are found inside the mouth.

Celiac disease is often caused by the patient’s reaction to gliadin.  This gluten protein is found in grains such as rye and barley.  It is also found in wheat.  Upon exposure, the patient’s immune system reacts with the tissue in the small intestine.  This reaction in turn causes an inflammation of the small intestine that leads to villous atrophy. 

Villous atrophy damages the tiny protrusions that line the small intestine called villi.  These villi are responsible for absorbing the nutrients from the food ingested by the body and transfer it into the bloodstream.  When they are damaged, a person will gradually become malnourished even when he eats the right foods in the proper amounts.  In fact, a person with damaged villi will not gain any of the benefits of eating no matter how much food he eats because the body will not be able to take in the nutrients.

There is only one treatment available for celiac disease patients and that is a diet free of gluten.  There are many health care professionals that can help patients to develop a gluten free diet that is right for them.  For most patients, the right gluten free diet can help improve health in as little as a few days.  Sufferers of this disease typically experience the cessation of symptoms just a few weeks after the introduction of the right diet.  Upon engaging this treatment, the small intestine immediately starts to heal and will return to complete health in a span of 3 to 6 months.  With the small intestine completely healed, the body can then absorb nutrients correctly and efficiently and can now function normally.

However, there are rare instances where even a gluten free diet will not work.  This condition is known as refractory celiac disease.  This condition results when a patient with celiac disease goes on for too long without the disease diagnosed.  When this happens, the small intestine becomes damaged too severely that it cannot repair itself.  The only available remedy for this condition is for the patient to receive his nutrients intravenously.