Celiac Disease And Crohns Disease.
Is There A Relationship?
Celiac disease. Celiac diagnosis. How to check for gluten allergy?
Celiac or Crohns disease?
I was watching “The View” and got very excited. The host of the show, Elizabeth was talking about her condition and how she is doing so much better with gluten free diet. She said that at some point she was misdiagnosed with Crohns disease. Thankfully, her doctor tested and diagnosed her correctly.
What is Celiac disease?
Celiac is considered to be genetic and autoimmune disease. Celiac is defined as a disease that has an outside or environmental trigger. It's also called Sprue.
What causes Celiac disease? Celiac disease diagnosis.
Eating gluten containing products causes the autoimmune reaction in a Celiac patient. That causes damage to the small intestines. This leads to malabsorption symptoms celiac disease. Malabsorption creates more nutritional gaps for the body and requires a creative nutritional supplementation.
The statistics say that about one for every 133 people have Celiac, that’s huge. And mostly (about 85%of them) go undiagnosed.
Celiac disease symptoms:
There are Celiac symptoms that are associated with malabsorption.
Those can be:
- lactose intolerance
- weight loss
- fluid retention
- vitamin and mineral deficiency
- anemia
- muscle weakness
- infertility
- easy bruising
- osteoporosis, etc.
That’s why it’s important to supplement. And the natural supplements should mostly be in liquid form for best possible absorption.
Tests for Celiac disease: the most accurate test for Celiac would be test for gluten sensitivity and gluten allergy called Gluten-Sensitive Enteropathy Tests. Older tests for sprue may not be as accurate. Make sure your doctor uses updated laboratory. Your doctor will perform other tests to confirm an autoimmune disorder like CBC, B12, Mg, Iron, Se, Stool fat, Albumin and Total Protein and other tests.
The famous TV host has Celiac, and just like Crohn's disease is an autoimmune disorder. The autoimmune disease means that the immune system starts attacking its own cells thinking that they are “foreign substances”. The body is often tired and the patient gets fatigued from all that “fighting”. In a confirmed case of Celiac (Sprue) the treatment plan is simple. The treatment is the DIET. 100% Gluten Free diet! And your life gets back on track instantly. In the confirmed Crohn's disease case it is not as simple as just a diet change. Although plenty of Crohns sufferers improve a great deal on the gluten free diet, there is much more involved in
Crohns.
Gluten Sensitivity.
All you need to know about gluten intolerance and gluten free life.
Hidden Gluten.
All you need to know to avoid hidden gluten.
The key word is “confirmed” diagnosis, or truly diagnosed patient. It’s not always simple to diagnose patients with gastrointestinal disorders. Crohns disease gets misdiagnosed with
Ulcerative colitis,
IBS and others. Celiac (Sprue) also gets misdiagnosed for others. During the show it was mentioned that around 85 percent of patients with Celiac (Sprue) don't know they have it.
On your next doctors visit, you can mention to your doctor about gluten sensitivity test if he/she has not done it yet. If the patient has increased gluten sensitivity, it is very possible that they have Celiac (Sprue). But do you need to run and get tested, just in case? Well, do you have terrible cramps and diarrhea after eating wheat, barley, oat (still questionable?) or rye products? Patients with Celiac (Sprue) will most likely run to the bathroom with diarrhea about 15 minutes after having gluten food. Patients with Celiac (Sprue) also have other health concerns, like Elizabeth mentioned that she could not get pregnant until her diet was changed.
Diet for Celiac disease should be mostly staying away from gluten. But many gluten free products available right now have loads of sugar. Be careful. Only healthy food should be on your Celiac disease food list.
Celiac Disease Food List.
It tells you what products are gluten free and what to look for.
Patient with true, 100% gluten allergy will most likely indicate Celiac disorder. I have Crohns disease and show some gluten sensitivity. I do much better on the gluten free diet.
I have been trying to make a point about gluten sensitivity for years, but now since it was brought up by a famous show host maybe some patients will benefit from this information. Maybe we will even be able to have gluten free options on the menus in all the restaurants.
Whole wheat bread has less gluten than bleached white flour bread. Rye has less gluten than wheat. But that is not an option for Celiac patient though. They need 100% gluten free products.
The foods which don’t have gluten are: veggies, fruits, meats and dairy (but be careful with this one too because a lot of people have allergy to milk). The grains that don’t have gluten are buckwheat, millet, brown rice and quinoa. They are good and delicious, just have to get used to them. Cook it for about 15 minutes so most of the nutrients are still there.
I am so thrilled that Elizabeth raised this issue because all the members of my family have a big problem with gluten sensitivity. We often have problems going out to restaurants to eat. I hope more and more people become more aware on what they eat and how they react to different foods.
I wish you all the best!
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