Celiac disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is primarily found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. People with celiac disease who eat foods containing gluten experience an immune reaction in their small intestines, causing damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.
Celiac disease can cause abdominal pain and diarrhea. Eventually, the decreased absorption of nutrients (malabsorption) that occurs with celiac disease can cause vitamin deficiencies that deprive your brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of vital nourishment.
No treatment can cure celiac disease. However, you can effectively manage celiac disease by changing your diet.
Symptoms of Celiac Disease
There are no typical signs and symptoms of celiac disease. Most people with the disease have general complaints, such as:
- Intermittent diarrhea
- Abdominal pain
- Bloating
Causes of Celiac Disease
It's not clear what causes celiac disease, which is also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue and gluten-sensitive enteropathy. Doctors know that something happens in people with celiac disease to cause the body's immune system to overreact in response to gluten in food.
Normally, your small intestine is lined with tiny, hair-like projections called villi. Resembling the deep pile of a plush carpet on a microscopic scale, villi work to absorb vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from the food you eat. Celiac disease results in damage to the villi. Without prominent villi, the inner surface of the small intestine becomes less like a plush carpet and more like a tile floor, and your body is unable to absorb nutrients necessary for health and growth. Instead, nutrients such as fat, protein, vitamins and minerals are eliminated with your stool.
While the exact cause of celiac disease is unknown, doctors have discovered that it often runs in families. If someone in your family has been diagnosed with celiac disease, you may have an increased risk of the disease. Researchers have discovered that some gene mutations seem to increase the risk of celiac disease, but having those gene mutations doesn't mean you're certain to have celiac disease. This means that other risk factors play a role in whether you'll develop celiac disease.
Treatment and Medication
Celiac disease has no cure, but you can effectively manage the disease through changing your diet.
To manage the disease and prevent complications, it's crucial that you avoid all foods that contain gluten. Once you've removed gluten from your diet, inflammation in your small intestine will begin to subside, usually within several weeks, though you may start to feel better in just a few days. Complete healing and regrowth of the villi may take several months, or as long as two to three years. Healing in the small intestine tends to occur more quickly in children than it does in adults.
If you accidentally eat a product that contains gluten, you may experience abdominal pain and diarrhea. Some people experience no signs or symptoms after eating gluten, but this doesn't mean it's not harmful. Even trace amounts of gluten in your diet can be damaging, whether or not they cause signs or symptoms.
If your nutritional deficiencies are severe, you may need to take vitamin and mineral supplements recommended by your doctor or dietitian to help correct these deficiencies. Your doctor may recommend supplements to increase your levels of Calcium, Folate, Iron, Vitamin B-12, Vitamin D, Vitamin K
Vitamin supplements can be taken in pill form. But in some situations, your digestive tract may have trouble absorbing vitamins. In these cases, your doctor may give the vitamins by injection.
In cases of severe inflammation in the small intestine, your doctor may recommend medications called steroids to control inflammation. Steroids may be used to give you relief from severe signs and symptoms until the effects of a gluten-free diet begin to become apparent.
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