Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity

May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month.

Gluten, Celiac, AND Gluten Sensitivity…

Before you skip over this section because you don’t have Celiac Disease…

I’ll tell you this is likely the most important article you have ever read about your health and the health of your family.

This discussion goes FAR beyond Celiac Disease and includes Hashimoto’s hypothyroid disease, other autoimmunity, gluten sensitivity, grains, and more.

Here are some very important things you’ve probably never heard about this common disease, it’s related conditions, and grains.

Celiac Disease is an autoimmune reaction to gluten (and for the majority of sufferers many other foods).

You may know this but here are some things that you probably have never heard about including how common the problem is, the much more common diseases related to the same protein (gluten) which include headaches, vertigo, balance issues, neuro-degenerative diseases, all autoimmune conditions, … and more!

This damages the gut barrier and leads to massive problems. Interestingly, a very large percentage of celiacs do not have stomach complaints but instead have other problems and symptoms ranging from skin problems to neurological problems like fatigue, headaches, coordination problems, brain fog, and much more.

Many people think this may be because the gut lining, the skin, and the nervous system are all from the same embryological tissue.

More than 1 out of 10 people with celiac disease develop one or more of the following…

• Arthritis
• Ataxia (Gluten Ataxia)
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Lactose Intolerance
• Liver Disease
• Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (Cancer)
• Peripheral Neuropathy
• Obesity
• Osteomalacia or Low Bone Density
• Thyroid and Pancreatic Disorders
• Type I Diabetes an autoimmune disorder where the person also has Celiac Disease but the vast majority are never tested.

Anemia, Dermatitis, Migraines, and Osteoporosis are also common conditions suffered by Celiacs, and people with untreated celiac disease are at far greater risk of developing some form of gastrointestinal cancer than the average person (it’s estimated that celiacs are up to 50 times likely to
develop a GI cancer).

Consider how common these things listed above are… and how frequently people with celiac disease are never diagnosed.

But wait, there’s more! (lol)

Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity

Problems with grains and gluten beyond just Celiac is that they are often an underlying driver of headaches, migraines, many different stomach problems (from IBS to Chron’s disease, reflux, and any other stomach problem is worth a long trial of eliminating grains to see if it helps), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, fatigue, brain fog, memory issues, skin problems, and more.

Kids and Gluten

In kids, it’s VERY common to see kids that have problems with gluten be underweight and undersized for their age.

This is because they are reacting to gluten, damaging the gut, and interfering with nutrient absorption.

I have never seen another doctor in Texarkana, including pediatricians, suggest this to a parent even though it is a common indicator.

It’s also fairly common that a child’s attention problems and developmental delays ranging from autism to ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, mood problems, clumsiness, and more can be related to a reaction to gluten, grains, and other foods.

‘Gluten’ containing grains being most common.

Wow, that’s a huge list of conditions related to consuming gluten and that’s only the tip of the iceberg because grains, especially ‘gluten’ containing grains damage the gut barrier in everyone.

Some people are fortunate enough to recover from the damage quickly before causing serious problems.

On the flipside – a huge number do not recover from this and continually damage the gut (and blood-brain barrier) resulting in immune dysfunction, pain, inflammation, and serious symptoms of underlying diseases.

The Quick History Of Celiac Disease.

Before World War II, celiac disease was thought to affect mostly children and had a mortality rate of about 30%.

An observant doctor noted the mortality of celiac disease during the war was zero.

Why?

There was very limited access to wheat.

During the war, flour was made with potato starch and not wheat.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that celiac disease was labeled an autoimmune disorder.

Before that time, celiac disease was thought to be a food allergy.

In the 1990’s, celiac disease in the US was still considered extremely rare, even though in Europe there was an epidemics of celiac disease.

Pediatric gastroenterologist researcher, Dr. Fasano, found through research that celiac disease was just as prevalent in the US as it was in Europe. In the 2000s, Fasano did a large study which found the prevalence of celiac disease in the US at around 1%.

This was 10 times higher than previously thought.

It’s estimated that more than 3 million people in the US suffer from celiac disease. The more disturbing statistic is that only 1 in 4,700 have been diagnosed.

This means that there are millions of undiagnosed cases of celiac disease in the United States.

Why is celiac disease not often diagnosed in the US?

It’s generally ignored most likely because our healthcare system is based on taking medications for symptoms and there are no medications for celiac disease.

Think about how many people suffered or died unnecessarily because their celiac disease wasn’t diagnosed in the US.

There is much more to this story though.

ALL people with ANY autoimmune condition are very likely to be reacting to certain foods that drive the disease.

At the very top of the list is gluten, but includes all grains, dairy, and several other common foods that autoimmune sufferers continue eating multiple times a day, every day, that drive their immune dysfunction, pain, inflammation, and more.

Many never hear this or if they do they write if off because their MD specialist never told them about it or told them to eat what they want.

It is a HUGE mistake to rely on dietary advice for health from the vast majority of MDs.

Unless they spent time educating themselves, they have no more knowledge about diet and it’s relationship to health than the average person.

You might as well ask the person checking you out at Walmart. This isn’t meant to criticize them, it’s just not their area of expertise. MDs are excellent at crisis care and managing diseases/symptoms.

Immune Responses to Foods and Food Sensitivities.

I’m not talking about ‘allergies’ which are an IgE mediated
immune response.

IgE is what doctors commonly measure when looking at food and and other immune responses. A true food allergy would be for example someone that is allergic to peanuts and may have a deadly reaction.

Unfortunately, autoimmunity and food sensitivities can not be measured with IgE testing. It’s different types of testing that measure the immune response.

These other tests are rarely done by your family doctor or other specialists because of several things including that…

• Insurance companies generally won’t pay for the tests.
• The tests are tricky and you really have to know what you’re doing. It’s not taught in school. It would take a healthcare practitioner learning it on their own and the science is constantly evolving at a very fast rate.
• Finally it generally doesn’t matter for medical treatment because the care revolves around treating the symptoms of the problem with medications.

For example, you may have been told you have low thyroid (hypothyroid) but not told why you have the problem. In 90% + of people with low thyroid have an autoimmune condition called Hashimotos disease. It can be diagnosed by lab work identifying thyroid antibodies.

Most doctors don’t do this test, so they don’t know why you have low thyroid.

Medically, what tends to happen in cases of any low thyroid (including Hashimoto’s hypothyroid disease) is hormone replacement once the body has already destroyed a huge amount of the thyroid (and possibly other tissues).

It would make sense to know you have Hashimoto’s Disease for several reasons…

• You have an autoimmune condition. This means that you have an immune system problem.
• Your immune system may very well be attacking other tissues. You are much more likely to develop another autoimmune condition.
• Your relatives are at greater risk and knowing you have Hashimotos might help them get tested for autoimmunity that could be causing symptoms in them as their body attacks various tissues causing symptoms that haven’t been properly diagnosed yet.
• You are likely reacting to different things that are driving your autoimmunity. These are things that you can change and prevent further damage. For example, gluten as mentioned above is likely one of those things. Continuing to consume it if it’s driving your autoimmunity will lead to bad things happening.

One final thought, it’s tricky eliminating gluten from your diet. There are many sources that you probably don’t know about. It’s also very difficult to get it all out due to cross contamination and many other issues.

This is why it helps to have someone that knows the ins and outs help you do it.

Dr. Hagebusch can help walk you through this process if you need help.