LFG27’s BodyBlog

Few of you close to me know that I have Celiac disease. A disease is defined as: pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms. My disease is genetic and totally un"spreadable". I have started saying that I have Celiac disorder in order to prevent the "OMG" wide eyed and scared look people give me when I say I have a disease. I vowed when I found out 2 years ago that I had this condition that I would help spread the word on what doctors have thought for so long was a rare condition. In reality it isn’t as rare as originally thought. Celiac disease is quite often misdiagnosed as doctors only receive about 20 minutes instuction on this condition in all their years of med school. It took about 6 months of agony before I finally INSISTED on a blood screening for Celiac Sprue simply because I knew my father had it and knew there was a slim (10%) but real possibility I could have inheirited it. Sure enough, blood tests came back overwhelmingly positive. What is Celiac disease? It is a auto-immune disorder. My body reacts to a protein found in wheat as if it were an enemy. When wheat is ingested, my immune system attacks my intestinal lining in an attempt to destroy what it perceives as a very real threat. In doing so I destroy my own tissues which leads to malabsorbtion. Untreated Celiac patients eat but starve to death due to malabsorbtion. Common symptoms of Celiac disease are: Weight loss due to malabsorbtion-I was actually a weight gainer before diagnosis. I felt so hungry all the time because I wasn’t getting proper nutrition that I ate and ate and never felt satisfied. Bloating and abdominal distention-One of the ONLY symptoms I exhibit. Children with growth retardation Patients with recurrent mouth sores-I had these only if I had consumed large amounts of wheat. Changes in bowel habits Skin rashes-dermatitis herpetiformis Extreme fatigue The ONLY symptoms I showed on a regular basis was abdominal swelling and fatigue which put me out of the symptom range that doctors normally look for in diagnosing Celiac. The only treatment available for Celiac disease is a lifelong adherance to a wheat/gluten free diet. I urge anyone who has been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, acid reflux, even depression (untreated Celiac has been linked to depression and neurological damage) to request testing for Celiac. You may be met with resistance as I was, but it is a simple blood test and YOU are in control of your health. If anyone has any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me! Best wishes for health and happiness:)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 7:06 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.