Celiac Disease

Official Website of Celiac-Disease.com

You are here: Home / Archives for Celiac Disease / Diagnosis / Symptoms

Diagnosis / Symptoms

How Does Celiac Disease Affect Your Fingernails?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 3 Comments

Celiac Disease is a digestive disease that occurs to the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of the nutrients from food. This disease makes impossible the toleration of gluten, a protein which is found in foods or in everyday products such as medicines, vitamins and lip balms.

People with Celiac Disease usually get it from the family because is genetic and becomes active for the first time after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection or severe emotional stress. This disease stops the nutrients’ absorption and manifests with an abnormal immune reaction to gluten. There can be no symptoms but can still develop complications of the disease over time. Long term complications include malnutrition, which can lead to anemia, osteoporosis, and even liver diseases, or cancer of the intestine. Fingernails are the first indicators who show the overall health of the body. Celiac Disease is also shown on the Fingernails appearing on their surface some white flecks.

Currently the only treatment for the Celiac Disease is a gluten-free diet. To remain healthy, people having this disease must avoid gluten for the rest of their lives. They are advised to work with a dietitian on a gluten-free diet plan. The dietitian is specialized in food and nutrition and the persons having a Celiac Disease who to read ingredient lists an identify foods that contain gluten in order to make informed decisions when they decide to buy some products or when eating out.

For most of the people with Celiac Disease such a diet will stop the symptoms of the illness, heal existing intestinal damage and prevent further damage. Improvements begin within the first days of starting the diet. The small intestine usually heals in 3 to 6 months in children but can take several years for an adult to heal. Some problems that can occur when having this disease will not improve, depending on a person’s age at diagnosis. There are symptoms such as short stature and dental enamel defects that will remain for the rest of the life.

Can Celiac Disease Cause Infertility?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

Health studies suggest that celiac disease, a hereditary condition that often goes undiagnosed, can lead to infertility. Experts acknowledge that without treatment, celiac disease can cause repeated miscarriages and early menopause.

For women facing no explanation for their infertility, now there is a simple, accurate way to find out if the undiagnosed celiac disease might be the cause. For the first time in Canada, Health Canada has approved the Biocard™ Celiac Test Kit, an at-home test that measures gluten antibodies from a fingertip blood sample.

According to health officials, about one percent or one out of 100 Canadians are affected by celiac disease, which occurs when gluten–a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley–triggers damage to the lining of the small intestine, interfering with your absorption of nutrients. But that estimate increases to as much as six percent for women with unexplained infertility.

Infertility affects as many as one in six couples in their reproductive years in America. Of those, about 15 percent are from no apparent cause. At the same time, the symptoms of celiac disease are not always obvious. It may be years before symptoms worsen and the disease is diagnosed, and by then child-bearing years may be over. The Biocard™ Celiac Test Kit, first developed in Finland, gives these couples an easy way to find out if celiac disease is a possible cause of their infertility.

Celiac disease affects people differently and not all symptoms are obvious. Classic celiac symptoms include diarrhea, stomach pain, weight loss, and, in children, delayed growth. For others, the symptoms are subtler, such as bloating, or excess gas. Fatigue, weakness, joint pain, and migraines — symptoms typically not associated with the gut — are also reported, and the diagnosis is often anemia, stress, irritable bowel syndrome, or chronic fatigue syndrome. Without treatment, celiac disease increases the risk of malnutrition, osteoporosis (because of poor absorption of calcium and vitamin D), certain digestive tract cancers, and other disorders such as Type 1 diabetes and thyroid disease.

Average time for correct diagnosis of celiac disease – 12 years: According to a 2007 survey of the Canadian Celiac Association’s more than 5000 members, the average time it took to be diagnosed was 12 years. Many reported consulting with three or more doctors before their diagnosis was confirmed. In fact, health research experts estimate that some 97 percent of those affected by the disorder remain undiagnosed.

Home Screening Test Now Available

The Biocard™ Celiac Test Kit is an at-home test that measures IgA antibodies from a fingertip blood sample. While this easy test gives a high degree of certainty that you are either developing celiac disease or already have celiac disease, you still need to see your doctor for confirmation. Confirming a diagnosis requires a small bowel biopsy in which an endoscope is passed through the mouth into the stomach’s upper intestine so that the lining can be examined and a biopsy taken.

The only treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet for life. Still, the day you’re confirmed celiac and start your diet, is the day you’re on the road to recovery.

Information on celiac disease, the Biocard™ Celiac Test Kit, and links to key informational sites can be found at www.celiachometest.com/. The kit can be purchased online, or at London Drugs, Rexall Pharma Plus, and other major Canadian retail chains.

Does Celiac Disease Cause Canker Sores?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

Have you ever found that you have trouble with canker sores? Over the years I’ve talked to a number of people that mentioned having a problem with canker sores prior to their celiac diagnosis. Though not all the time, I’ve heard some mention that the problem cleared up significantly while following a strict gluten-free diet.

While doing a little bit of research on this topic for this post, I can across the following blog post with some information.   According to the Expert Doctor’s Health Tips Blog:

It’s well known that canker sores can run in families. One of the reasons for this is because whatever is causing this ulcer may have some genetic cause or reason. I’ve found that people who have gluten intolerance and/or have celiac disease have canker sores until they stop eating gluten. This could be one genetic connection, since celiac disease is genetic and passed on in the genes although the genes still need to be triggered by something unknown. One can carry the gene but not have full-blown celiac disease yet or ever.

It appears that some experts believe it is associated with the body’s immune system. Here again, it could also relate back to Celiac Disease because gluten flattens the villi in the small intestine and nutrients can’t be absorbed so the immune system suffers and its defenses are broken down.  This leads me to believe that nutritional deficiencies could also play a part.

Can Celiac Disease Cause Sleep Apnea?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 7 Comments

Now that more research is being put into Celiac Disease, it is truly amazing just how many problems are now considered to be a symptom of Celiac. It seems I read about new ones all the time, or I see previously speculated information actually be confirmed.

While doing some symptom research, I recently noticed that Best Sleep Apnea Treatments has written a post referencing sleep apnea and other sleep disorders as symptoms of Celiac Disease and a gluten intolerance.

They site gluten is a key component for sleeping comfortably and people that are intolerant to gluten in turn develop sleeping problems:

Sleep doctors are able to detect and treat both common and rare sleep disorders. Some common sleep disorders are insomnia, jet lag, sleepwalking, snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.  And, it could be that you have intolerance to gluten.

Gluten is a type of protein compound in certain cereal grains – primarily wheat, barley, and rye – the basis of breads, baked goods, and pasta. These are foods that are helpful in getting good sleep.  But the inability to sufficiently digest gluten protein can lead to all sorts of symptoms, including skin rashes, irritability, aggression, moodiness, ‘brain fog,’ cognitive problems, cramping, bowel problems, pain, and sleep disturbances.  This is why it is so important to see a doctor if you are experiencing sleep disturbances as often the sleeping problems are really caused by a medical problem.

When intestinal cells are damaged for any reason, they cannot properly absorb nutrients, which results in malabsorption. Without healthy intestinalcells, you can become malnourished, no matter how much food you eat. Many people do not realize that a second key function of intestinal cells is to produce several key digestive enzymes. In particular, these cells produce specific protein and carbohydrate degrading enzymes needed for the thorough digestion of gluten (and other similar proteins such as casein).

Sleep disorders is a pretty big group of symptoms to attribute to Celiac Disease, so this is definitely something people should be aware of and looking for in my opinion.

On a similar note, I also noticed our friend Zach wrote about Restless Leg Syndrome (another sleep disorder) and how it is also considered to be a symptom of Celiac Disease.

Getting a Blood Test for Celiac Disease

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

The most common way to get diagnosed with Celiac Disease typically involves two different tests. The first part is a blood test, and the second part is a biopsy to officially confirm Celiac Disease. Chances are if you know of anyone that has been officially diagnosed, this is the process they went through.

For people that are wanting to learn more about the testing process, I ran across a great post focusing specifically on the blood tests for Celiac Disease, which explains the varying types of blood tests that exist due to some being more sensitive towards milder forms of the disease while others are more specific for more severe forms of Celiac.

The most specific tests are tests for Celiac disease endomysial antibodies (EMA) and tissue transglutaminase antibody (tTG) tests. These two tests are IgA based tests and can be negative if you are deficient in the immunoglobin IgA, which occurs in 10-20% of people with Celiac. When either EMA or tTG are positive Celiac disease is very likely and usually the intestine biopsy is positive. Recent studies indicate that the tTG may only be positive in 40% of true Celiacs when mild degrees of intestine damage are present on biopsy. Seronegative Celiac, meaning the blood tests are negative but the biopsy is positive, may occur in up to 20% of Celiacs.

Antibodies for gliadin (AGA), the toxic fraction of gluten are considered very sensitive but not specific for Celiac disease. Newer assays for AGA antibodies for gluten that has undergone a chemical change called deamidation appear to be more specific for Celiac disease (Gliadin II, Inova) than the older gliadin tests. They also may be as or more accurate than EMA and tTG antibody tests but are not yet widely available.

If you’d like to learn more general information about getting diagnosed with celiac disease, check out our Celiac Diagnosis page.