Lately, it seems like more and more celebrities and professional athletes are openly talking about going gluten free. Whether it’s due to a diagnosis of celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, or simply because they want to get healthy, many of them have noted a weight loss as part of the benefits they’ve been seeing. Then why is it, that so many doctors and specialists will dismiss a diagnosis of celiac disease in a patient simply because the patient is not underweight?

In a recent article by Sonia Kupfer, MD, the belief that people with un-diagnosed celiac disease are all underweight is revealed to  Read More »

Who has celiac disease? While you cannot tell just by looking at a person, there are some common issues that can point doctors in the direction of celiac disease. Here is a list of 8 things that make a person more likely to have celiac disease.

1. Celiac disease is the most common genetic autoimmune disease in the world. Celiac disease runs in families. First degree relatives are found to have celiac disease 4% to 12%. Second degree relatives also appear to have a higher prevalence.

2. 100% of people with dermatitis herpetiformis, an intensely itchy chronic skin condition, have celiac disease. Dermatitis herpetiformis is the skin expression of celiac disease. It is an intensely itchy rash that sometime occurs symmetrically on the arms and legs, but may present anywhere.

3. 1 in 5 people with collagenous colitis have celiac disease. 20% of people with collagenous colitis have celiac disease. Collagenous colitis is inflammation in the lining of the colon. It can only be seen under a microscope. Everyone diagnosed with collagenous colitis should be tested for celiac disease.

4. Up to 8% of people with Type 1 diabetes have celiac disease. People with diabetes and celiac disease have been found to have similarities in their genes with seven common alleles. Everyone diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes should be tested for celiac disease.

5. One in ten people with Downs syndrome have celiac disease. Celiac disease affects 10% of persons with Downs syndrome. Proper diagnosis and treatment with a gluten-free diet has been found to improve symptoms and quality of life. Everyone diagnosed with Downs syndrome should be tested for celiac disease.

6. Almost 7% of persons with cardiomyopathy have celiac disease. Cardiomyopathy is an enlargement of heart chambers and subsequent reduction in their ability to pump blood. Cardiomyopathy responds to a gluten-free diet, possibly because nutrients like carnatine are better absorbed. Everyone diagnosed with cardiomyopathy should be tested for celiac disease.

7. Until recently, celiac disease was thought to be a rare disease affecting less than 1 in 5,000 children. It is now know to affect 1 in 100 persons and can present symptoms at any stage during life. That means it affects children and adults.

8. 

   Multi Generation Family Sitting On Garden Seat

   Celiac disease is a permanent condition but was previously thought to be temporary affliction that children could “grow out of.” Once the immune system has been triggered, it forever identifies gluten as a poison or foreign body within the system. That means it will always attack when gluten is eaten. This attack causes inflammation, intestinal damage, and malabsorption of nutrients.

Visit the Gluten Free Works Treatment Guide to discover how to recognize and correct hundreds of symptoms and disorders caused by the damage from gluten and celiac disease.

It is well documented that only a small minority of those with celiac disease are successfully diagnosed in a medical setting.

Gluten sensitivity, which we based on medical research and proposed in Recognizing Celiac Disease in 2007,  has only recently been accepted as a true medical condition. So we decided to hold an informal survey to see just how people are becoming gluten-free? How are they finding out that gluten sensitivity or celiac disease are the cause of their health problems and are doctors diagnosing them or are they figuring it out on their own?

We posted this question to our GlutenFreeWorks Facebook friends and here are their answers. Were YOU diagnosed by a doctor? Leave your comments below! Read More »

Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity are related to over 300 signs, symptoms, associated disorders and complications.

Symptoms differ for everyone. One person might have gastrointestinal problems. Another might have a mental disorder, without any gut issues. Bones, skin, reproduction, muscles – any body system and organ can be affected.

We were the first publisher to report this in our groundbreaking book, Recognizing Celiac Disease. You can find them all listed on our Symptom Guide and our Gluten Free Works Treatment Guide, our online resource that tells you how to fix them.

When it comes to seeking a diagnosis, there is usually Read More »

Dr. Rodney Ford, pediatrician and author of The Gluten Syndrome, provides us with an excellent and easy-to-follow video that tells us how to know if we need a gluten test.

This short presentation explains which symptoms to look for and tells you the tests you need to to request to find out if gluten is making you sick.

Dr. Ford estimates up to one third of people with chronic diseases are being affected by gluten and sums up why people do not ask to be tested. “We are so used to being sick that we don’t know we’re sick.” People think they have always been this way, so they do not know to ask.

He then establishes a great litmus test to determine who should be tested – “People who are sick, tired or grumpy should be tested.”

Read More »

I was recently speaking with a friend at my gym who complained about a number of health problems that sounded like celiac disease. I suggested she get tested.

She answered that she was tested, but it was negative.

I asked when she was tested.

Ten years ago…

Many people report that their doctors tested them and told them, “you don’t have it,” after one blood test.

There is a great deal of confusion when it comes to celiac disease tests. This video answers the question of whether the blood tests are pass/fail.

[Editor’s Note: Article first published Jul 2, 2008]

Dentistry Blog

By Tammy Davenport, About.com Guide to Dentistry since 2005

Celiac disease causes the body’s immune system to damage and attack the small intestine upon consumption of proteins in barley, rye, wheat and possibly oats. Since there are no specific blood tests to determine if someone has Celiac disease, doctors use blood tests to look for certain autoantibodies and biopsy the small intestine to look for traits of Celiac disease. Nancy Lapid, our Guide to Celiac Disease, points out that certain dental conditions are more common in people with this disease, which puts dentists in a good position to help notice when a patient might Read More »

[Editor’s Note: This video is from 2007, but it is still true. Celiac Disease research still lags other, less prevalent conditions. Yet, it is the easiest to treat, requiring a gluten-free diet and nutrient replenishment. The focus has been on the Gluten-Free Diet. Let’s shift it back.]

 

Doctors are missing over 95% of people with celiac disease – over 3 million in the United States.  That’s more people than autism or Type 1 Diabetes, yet celiac disease receives a fraction of the funding of these diseases.  Lives are being destroyed every day, when a simple change in diet could cure them.  Let’s get the word out…

Read More »

May is National Celiac Disease Awareness Month, so it seems appropriate to share some medical facts about this autoimmune disease that just might shock you.

These facts come from Dr. Tom O’Bryan who is is a nationally recognized speaker and workshop leader specializing in gluten sensitivity and celiac disease.  Dr. O’Bryan’s specialty is in teaching the many manifestations of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease as they occur inside and outside of the Read More »

Celiac disease awareness is desperately needed – now more than ever. 

While the gluten-free diet has exploded in popularity, celiac disease remains massively under-diagnosed.

Why? Two Reasons: 

1. The public has shifted its focus to the gluten-free diet and away from celiac disease due to the media. The media likes diets. Diets sell. Oddly named diseases that are difficult to describe in catchy sound bites don’t sell.

2. Doctors do not have the information they need to recognize, diagnose and treat this common disorder. The information exists but there is no authority that actively ensures Read More »