November 2, 2005

Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, found in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten is found mainly in foods, but is also found in products we use every day, such as stamp and envelope adhesive, medicines, and vitamins.

...http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/index.htm...

Celiac disease is a genetic disease, meaning it runs in families. Sometimes the disease is triggered-or becomes active for the first time-after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection, or severe emotional stress.

Symptoms of celiac disease may include one or more of the following:

• gas
• recurring abdominal bloating and pain
• chronic diarrhea
• pale, foul-smelling, or fatty stool
• weight loss / weight gain
• fatigue
• unexplained anemia (a low count of red blood cells causing fatigue)
• bone or joint pain
• osteoporosis, osteopenia
• behavioral changes
• tingling numbness in the legs (from nerve damage)
• muscle cramps
• seizures
• missed menstrual periods (often because of excessive weight loss)
• infertility, recurrent miscarriage
• delayed growth
• failure to thrive in infants
• pale sores inside the mouth, called aphthous ulcers
• tooth discoloration or loss of enamel
• itchy skin rash called dermatitis herpetiformis

...http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/index.htm...

Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity

By Carol E. Semrad, M. D.

http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/gi/celiac.html

The extent of loss of intestinal absorptive surface area generally dictates whether an individual with celiac disease will develop symptoms. Individuals with celiac disease may experience severe symptoms such as diarrhea, weakness, and weight loss indicating a marked decrease in intestinal absorptive surface area involving much of the small intestine.

http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/gi/celiac.html

Testing for Celiac Disease

What is Celiac Disease (CD)?  "Celiac disease (also known as Celiac
Sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy) is a chronic disease in which
malabsorption of nutrients is caused by a characteristic...lesion of the small
intestine mucosa.  The lesion is produced, through unclear mechanisms, by
protein constituents of some cereal grains". (J.S. Trier, 1993) Traditionally,
doctors have suspected CD only when patients show poor growth, extreme
gastrointestinal problems and fatty stools.  It is now known that many patients
with a sensitivity to gluten serious enough to damage the gut wall show no
such symptoms!

In patients with CD, the intestinal wall is excessively porous; not only are
nutrients improperly absorbed, but large molecules which should be
contained by the gut wall are not.  This could be the way in which improperly
digested peptides pass into the bloodstream and then cross the blood-brain
barrier.  Thus, the speculation that CD is present in some autistic children
who would benefit from a gluten free diet is not inconsistent with the opioid
excess theory of Reichelt and Shattock.

Various experts on autism seem to have long ago dismissed the idea that
gluten could be a significant causal factor.  However, gluten exists as a
"hidden ingredient" in many foods, medicines and even in the envelope glue we
lick. It is possible that autistic children put on a so-called gluten free diet
were inadvertently ingesting gluten in minute amounts.  For those with full
blown Celiac Disease, tiny amounts can be toxic; it is not so far fetched to
imagine that in less severe forms of gluten intolerance, minute amounts could
also cause harm.  When full blown CD is diagnosed, it can take more than a
month on a gluten-free diet to see changes; again, it is not far fetched to
assume that the same is true for people with gluten intolerance that have
different outward symptoms.  It may be then, that  early researchers and
parents who tried this intervention in the past  simply gave it up too soon.
Patients with full-blown CD often have terrible symptoms of gastrointestinal
distress, fatigue, failure to grow or gain weight.  Therefore, these symptoms
are not ignored and the diet is changed when the child is relatively young.
But it is possible that far less severe forms of CD exist and are, in fact,
quite common.  If so, these could go undiagnosed for years.  Undiagnosed, the
toxic effects of the ingested gluten could prove extremely damaging and could
cause what is likely to be permanent damage to the central nervous system.
According to Reichelt, there are fifteen opioid sequences in a single
molecule of gluten!

According to an article by Dr. Allessio Fasano in the most recent newsletter of
American Celiac Society:

       In recent years there has been a noticeable change in the age
       of onset of symptoms and the clinical presentation of celiac
       disease.  Because the typical symptoms of gastrointestinal
       dysfunction are frequently absent in older children, the diagnosis
       beyond the first two years of life is more difficult and often delayed.
       These cases are now regarded as having atypical or late onset
       forms of celiac disease.

Rimland and Meyer noted as long ago as 1967, that children with the highest
scores on Rimland's E-2 Diagnostic Checklist also showed many gastrointestinal
symptoms.  It has also been suggested that CD is an auto-immune disorder with
gluten stimulating increased synthesis of some antibodies in CD patients.  Ruth
Sullivan noted that "though few children with celiac disease have autism, it
seems a disproportionate number of autistic children have celiac. Why? Does
malabsorption of the small intestine prohibit vital substances (like
serotonin...) from reaching the brain?  If so, why do not all `classic cases'
have celiac? Or do they? (1975)"

A disorder very closely related to celiac disease, and necessitating the same
dietary intervention, is a skin disease known as dermatitis herpetiformes
(DH). According to the newsletter of the American Celiac Society,
"Dermatitis herpetiformes is the skin manifestation of gluten sensitivity and
70-80% of DH patients have coexisting damage in the intestine."  In many cases
DH sufferers have no outward signs of intestinal difficulty, and yet at least
70% actually do suffer from CD!  DH appears as a bumpy rash, usually on the
arms, legs or buttocks.  It is extremely itchy and may also burn.

...
http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/aut/autintro.html

http://www.gluten.net/

http://www.celiaccenter.org/

http://curezone.com/

IBS

http://www.helpforibs.com/footer/ibs.asp#symptoms