Everything You Need To Know About Celiac Disease
Digestive health is an important part of our well-being. There are numerous diseases and pathological conditions that can affect our gut. One of the most common causes of the problem is the celiac disease, otherwise known as gluten sensitive enteropathy. Although most people have heard of the disease at some point in their lives, it’s surprising how few actually know what the condition really is. When you don’t know about something, understanding that you have a problem, figuring out what it is and then moving on to the treatment becomes extremely hard. The best weapon against this disease is the knowledge of what it is. Here we describe what celiac disease is all about.
What is celiac disease?
The problem starts with your immune system. What happens is that due to genetic or other unknown reasons, your immune system starts forming excessive antibodies. These antibodies filter into the gut wall and hyper sensitize it. Then whenever gluten comes into contact with the gut wall, it reacts with the antibodies and triggers an inflammatory reaction that is responsible for the effects of the disease. As time goes on, the prolonged effects of inflammation set in, resulting in poor absorption of nutrients and a number of other effects characteristic of this disease.
Celiac disease encompasses a range of symptoms. They range from an abdominal pain, flatulence, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting to conditions as severe as anemia resulting from poor absorption of nutrients. Besides this, the effect on the gut has its toll on the skin as well. The inflammation shows itself as an itchy, blistery skin rash and mouth ulcers. The skin rash is given a special name called dermatitis herpatiformis. Besides this, the poor absorption also leads o chronic deficiency and hence, loss of bone density, softening of the bones and chronic joint pain. In addition to all of this, the disturbed digestive health can ultimately manifest as neuropathy, resulting in tingling in hands and feet and cognitive impairment.
How do you treat celiac disease?
Celiac disease does not have a cure. You can only treat the symptoms and try to avoid setting off the inflammatory reaction in the first place. The most commonly prescribed prevention is a gluten free diet. This helps to limit exposure to this irritant, preventing the gut from reacting against it. This will help control the symptoms of the disease. However, you need to be careful with a gluten free diet. Not everything gluten-free is healthy. You still need to balance carbs with proteins and other vital nutrients to prevent triggering any inflammatory reaction.
Knowing the symptoms and the different ways that celiac disease presents will help you diagnose the disease faster. Your digestive health can be compromised due to a lot of reasons. However, celiac disease can result in a long term process with sinister complications. You would do well to understand how this disease manifests to be able to identify it earlier. Your health is in your own hands.
