Celiac Disease

My sister Laura (aged 13) has been diagnosed with celiac disease, along with diabetes a couple of years ago. She has to change what she eats to gluten free equivalents of most foods, apart from fruit, vegetables, rice, potato’s and other foods, which don’t contain gluten.

In the Small intestine there are villi, which absorb nutrients from food, however when someone with celiac disease eats gluten, the immune system responds by damaging these villi. Therefore the disease is described as ‘autoimmune’, the damage is due to the consumption of gluten that is found in wheat, barley, rye and possibly oats. The consequence of the villi being damaged is that the body does not absorb all the nutrients it needs and therefore the person becomes malnourished.

There is no known cause of celiac disease, but it can be developed at any point in life and there is an increased risk if a family member has it (sadly for myself.) As well as it being common in families, it is more common if you have Type 1 Diabetes therefore when my sister was diagnosed with type 1, she was put at a higher risk. It is also more common for people with Down syndrome, Intestinal Cancer, Lactose intolerance, Addison’s disease and thyroid disease.

There are many symptoms for celiac disease and they do vary for different aged people.  The main symptoms are abdominal pain, constipation, decreased appetite, diarrhoea, lactose intolerance (until disease is treated), nausea and vomiting, unexplained weight loss. In children symptoms could be slowed growth, delayed puberty, poor weight gain and effects on tooth enamel. Due to the lack of nutrients other symptoms can include bruising easily, depression, hair loss, itchy/irritated skin, nosebleeds, tingling in hands and feet.

Sadly for my sister, there is currently no cure: however I hope one day there is one, (along with the cure for diabetes.) Therefore the only way for patients with celiac disease to help is to have a gluten free diet, which can be quite challenging.