The Many Symptoms of Celiac Disease

This damage to the small intestine is just part of the damage encored to the body as a result of celiac disease. As a Celiac continues to consume gluten, the entire body enters an inflammatory response. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease, meaning that when gluten is consumed, the body lunches an immune attack not only on the small intestine, but on other parts of the body as well. Essentially, the body is attacking itself. However, for most people with celiac disease, the symptoms do not end with the small intestine.

First, there are usually a host of digestive symptoms happening as a result of the immune attack:

• abdominal bloating and pain,  usually lasting 4-12 hours
  
• chronic diarrhea, which can persist for days following the consumption of gluten
  
• vomiting, usually immediately following the consumption of gluten
  
• constipation, which can persist for days or weeks following the consumption of gluten
  
• pale, foul-smelling, or fatty stool
  
• weight loss
  
• weight gain 
  
  

Each time a person with celiac disease consumes gluten, their digestive system takes anywhere from a few days to a few months to recover, depending on the state of their health before consuming gluten.  The gastrointestinal component of celiac disease is only part of the picture. Once a Celiac consumes gluten, and an auto immune reaction commences. There are a vast number of other systemic reactions that are triggered by the intestinal reaction that can occur. Some of these symptoms include:

• fatigue, lasting days to months
  
• bone or joint pain, often mimicking symptoms of arthritis
  
• depression or anxiety
• trouble concentrating (brain fog)
  
• tingling and numbness in the hands and feet
  
• seizures
  
• dry eyes
  
• canker sores inside the mouth
  
• an itchy skin rash called dermatitis herpetiformis
  
• hair loss, due to lack of nutrient absorption
  
• migraine headaches as well as generic headaches
  
• missed menstrual periods
  
• lactose intolerance
  
• heartburn
  
• discoloration of teeth
  
• false feelings of hunger, due to lack of nutrient absorption 
  
  

The long term effects of a person with Celiac Disease consuming gluten are:

• bone density problems
  
• delayed growth in children
  
• the development of other autoimmune disorders like Type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis (MS)
  
• anemia
  
• osteoporosis
  
• miscarriages and infertility
  
• epilepsy
  
• vitamin and mineral deficiencies
  
• central and peripheral nervous system disorders
  
• intestinal lymphomas and other GI cancers
  
• gall bladder malfunction
  
• Sjögren’s Syndrome
  
• Ulcerative Colitis and Microscopic Colitis, which effects the large intestine and bowel
  
• Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy
  
• Crohn’s Disease, which effects the lower intestine and bowel
  
• autoimmune Hepatitis
  
• autoimmune Thyroid Disease (Graves/Hashimoto’s)
  
• Addison’s Disease
  
• intestinal lymphoma
  
• small bowel cancer
  
• pancreatitis
  
  

Different Symptom Behaviors of Celiac Disease

With such a vast multitude of symptoms associated with celiac disease, there are no two Celiacs who have the same long-term symptoms and effects. In fact, according to the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, only 1 in 56 people with celiac disease experience related or ‘text book’ symptoms. While some people with celiac disease have a large number of symptoms, others outwardly experience very few. 

On average, a person will wait 6-10 years to be correctly diagnosed with celiac disease. (Source: Daniel Leffler, MD, MS, The Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center). Part of the reason for the delayed diagnosis is that celiac disease is a moving target of symptoms.

Regardless of the severity and frequency of symptoms, long-term damage to the small intestine still occurs no matter what. Here are the categorically different behaviors of celiac disease:

Typical Celiac Disease: Or what is generally what is being referred to as ‘celiac disease’. Those who were diagnosed based on a variety of intestinal and general symptoms, tend to fall into this category. These individuals are aware of their symptoms and ill effects as a result of consuming gluten. Diagnosis can take place as a child, or as an adult. Though not curable, celiac sprue disease can be treated with a gluten-free diet.

Atypical Celiac: Atypical celiac disease occurs when patients test positive for celiac disease, but they don’t have the obvious gastrointestinal symptoms. Instead, when someone has atypical celiac disease they tend to develop symptoms extra-intestinally, which means they develop symptoms beyond their gut. This includes migraines, ataxia, neuropathy, joint pain and more. Some researchers even believe celiac disease may manifest neurological symptoms more often than gastrointestinal symptoms.

Silent Celiac: Silent celiac disease generally begins in your adulthood and has no symptoms that can be seen or felt. The way you can tell if you have silent celiac disease is by having a blood test, followed by a biopsy of the small intestines. The blood test would show that antibodies are running in your bloodstream, and the intestinal biopsy test would confirm that the proteins from the gluten that was being ingested was eating away the tissue and the cells of the intestine abnormally. Silent celiac disease is treated by a gluten free diet.   

Refractory Celiac Disease: Refractory celiac disease occurs when your small intestine fails to heal and you continue to suffer from villous atrophy, even though you've been following a strict, careful gluten-free diet for a year or more. People with true refractory celiac disease, which is a very rare condition, are at much higher risk for serious complications, including a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma associated with celiac disease. This condition is very rare and only 1.5 percent of all celiac disease patients develop refractory celiac disease.

Written by The Healthy Celiac for Richard Helfrich.com | content also posted on richardhelfrich.com