What are Celiac Disease and Autoimmune Diseases?

Lately people have asked me what Celiac Disease is so I thought I would put something together to explain to everyone. If you have questions please ask in the comments or private message me. I want to get this out and provide as much information as I can so that you all can try and understand what it is and what people with Celiac (or gluten sensitivity) may be going through.

Celiac Disease is a digestive autoimmune disease.

What’s an Autoimmune Disease?

An autoimmune disease develops when your immune system starts attacking your body because it sees healthy cells as the enemy. The immune system will attack specific cells and organs depending on what type of autoimmune disease(s) a person has. A person can have more than one autoimmune disease which makes it difficult for medical professionals to diagnose what is going on, especially when the patients have had little or no symptoms up until recently.

Autoimmune diseases affect approximately 23.5 million to 50 million people. Why such the range? Well, the National Institute of Health estimates the number of people affected at 23.5 million due to the fact that they only recognized 24 autoimmune diseases at the time their approximation was made. Since then an additional 56 diseases have been identified and categorized as autoimmune for a total of 80. This means the approximation of 23.5 million is no longer completely accurate. According to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) the number should be at about 50 million people now.

Now that I have covered the autoimmune disease portion let me give you more information on Celiac disease itself. To start with the basics, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye but it is also used in other products as a thickener or filler such as vitamins, nutritional supplements, medications, and even lip balms. When someone with Celiac disease consumes a product with gluten their body creates antibodies which should attack the gluten but instead the antibodies attack the small intestine instead causing damage to the villi. The villi are these little finger like pieces on the lining of the small intestine that pull in nutrients. When the villi are damaged the person doesn’t get the nutrients they need which in turn causes them to become sick. There are many signs and symptoms to Celiac and like all autoimmune diseases it can go undiagnosed for years because there isn’t routine testing for it. It’s also hereditary so if a parent has it there is a very good chance that a child will get it at some point in their life time. There are as many as 2 million Americans out there that have Celiac and have no idea because the testing hasn’t been available to them.

Celiac is a very serious autoimmune disease and if it is left untreated it can lead to other diseases because the body will become malnourished and over time increasingly sicker. Per the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases “Over time, celiac disease can cause anemia, infertility, weak and brittle bones, an itchy skin rash, and other health problems” (What I need to know about Celiac Disease, 2011).

So what’s the treatment for Celiac disease? A very strict gluten free diet. This means absolutely no cheating on it. One can’t just be gluten free for a week and then have a sandwich, it doesn’t work like that. Alessio Fasano, MD said is perfectly in an article I posted last month: “…a gluten free diet is for celiac what insulin is for diabetics” (Neimark, 2015).

So what am I going through specifically? Currently I am at a stage where I have to eat gluten for my biopsy so I am pretty miserable. To be frankly honest I feel like I am dying. My immune system is constantly attacking my digestive system so it is not fighting any bacteria or viral bugs going around which means I now have a cold on top of feeling crummy. I am not sleeping well because I am in constant pain and I am exhausted just doing basic things, partially because my body is in hyper drive fighting off the gluten and normal daily life stuff and partially because I cannot sleep very well. My face, hands, feet and body feel like they are all bloated and I feel like I weigh 100 pounds more than I do because of all this makes me feel like a freaking balloon. My emotions are all over the place and I am just completely blah to put it nicely. Just say I am looking forward to the biopsy being done so that I can return to my gluten free lifestyle and finally start healing.

Okay, I know that last paragraph sounds really dramatic but that is really how I feel. It’s not pleasant and I wouldn’t wish this on anyone but it is what it is. Please don’t feel sorry for me, I am not sorry this happened because I believe this is a blessing in disguise. I made the decision to go back to school a while ago to become a Registered Dietitian and now I know that I will specialize in autoimmune diseases and Celiac disease. This is not going to be an easy road and I know it but I am doing everything I can to be strong and I will continue to do so no matter what is thrown at me. Please ask questions if you have any and I will answer them. If I don’t know the answer right away I will find the answer and get back to you as soon as I can. I hope that this information, as long as this post is, will provide some information on autoimmune diseases, Celiac disease, and what I am going through. This will change me but only for the better.

One more thing! To those who are standing by my side through all of this, thank you. I appreciate you putting up with my rollercoaster of emotions and my struggles. Thank you for letting me cry on your shoulders (in person or remotely). Thank you for being my strength when I feel I don’t have any. Much love to you all.

Below you will find some links that I used to base my post information on. If you want you can review them or you can reach out to me for additional info. Thanks much for taking the time to read this. I appreciate your time from the bottom of my heart.

References:

Autoimmune Disease Fact Sheet | Womenshealth.gov. (2012, July 16). Retrieved from Womenshealth.gov: http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/autoimmune-diseases.html#a

Autoimmune Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from American Autoimmune Related Disease Association, Inc.: https://www.aarda.org/autoimmune-information/autoimmune-statistics/

List of Diseases - AARDA. (n.d.). Retrieved from American Autoimmune Related Disease Association, Inc.: http://www.aarda.org/autoimmune-information/list-of-diseases/

Neimark, J. (2015, December 11). The gluten-free craze is making celiacs like me sick. Retrieved from QUARTZ: http://linkis.com/qz.com/569410/Jy0ZK

What I need to know about Celiac Disease. (2011, March). Retrieved from National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/digestive-diseases/celiac-disease/Pages/ez.aspx