CELIAC DISEASE
It is a chronic digestive and immune disorder that damages the small intestine. The disease is triggered by eating foods containing gluten. Gluten is a protein found naturally in wheat, barley, and rye, and is common in foods such as bread, pasta, cookies, and cakes. Many products contain gluten, such as prepackaged foods, lip balms and lipsticks, toothpastes, vitamin and nutrient supplements, and, rarely, medicines.
Celiac disease can be serious. The disease can cause long-lasting digestive problems and keep your body from getting all the nutrients it needs. Celiac disease can also affect the body outside the small intestine.
Celiac disease is different from gluten sensitivity or wheat intolerance. If you have gluten sensitivity, you may have symptoms like those of celiac disease, such as abdominal pain and tiredness. Unlike celiac disease, gluten sensitivity does not damage the small intestine.
Celiac disease is also different from a wheat allergy, a type of food allergy. In both cases, your body’s immune system reacts to wheat. However, some symptoms of wheat allergies, such as having itchy eyes or a hard time breathing, are different from celiac disease. Wheat allergies also do not cause long-term damage to the small intestine.
COMPLICATIONS OF CELIAC DISEASE: -
Long-term complications of celiac disease include: accelerated osteoporosis or bone softening, known as osteomalacia , anemia, malnutrition, a condition in which you don’t get enough vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients you need to be healthy, nervous system problems, problems related to the reproductive system
RARE COMPLICATIONS CAN INCLUDE:
adenocarcinoma, a type of cancer of the small intestine, liver damage, which may lead to cirrhosis or liver failure, non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
SYMPTOMS: -
Symptoms of celiac disease vary widely, and a person may have multiple symptoms that come and go. If you have celiac disease, you may have digestive problems or other symptoms. Digestive symptoms are more common in children than in adults. Digestive symptoms of celiac disease may include:
For children with celiac disease, being unable to absorb nutrients at a time when they are so important to normal growth and development can lead to damage to the permanent teeth’s enamel, delayed puberty, failure to thrive, meaning that an infant or a child weighs less or is gaining less weight than expected for his or her age mood changes or feeling annoyed or impatient, slowed growth and short height, weight loss, some people with celiac disease have symptoms that affect other parts of the body. These symptoms may include:
mental health problems, such as depression or anxiety nervous system symptoms, such as headaches, balance problems, seizures, or peripheral neuropathy
reproductive problems in women and girls—which may include infertility delayed start of menstrual periods, missed menstrual periods, or repeated miscarriages—and male infertility symptoms involving the mouth, such as canker sores; a dry mouth; or a red, smooth, shiny tongue
Most people with celiac disease have one or more symptoms before they are diagnosed and begin treatment. Symptoms typically improve and may go away after a person begins eating a gluten-free diet. Symptoms may return if a person consumes small amounts of gluten.
Causes: - Research suggests that celiac disease only occurs in people who have certain genes and eat food that contains gluten. Experts are studying other factors that may play a role in causing the disease.
GENES: Celiac disease almost always occurs in people who have one of two groups of normal gene variants NIH external link, called DQ2 and DQ8. People who do not have these gene variants are very unlikely to develop celiac disease. About 30 percent of people have DQ2 or DQ8. However, only about 3 percent of people with DQ2 or DQ8 develop celiac disease.
Researchers are studying other genes that may increase the chance of developing celiac disease in people who have DQ2 or DQ8.
Gluten: - Consuming gluten triggers the abnormal immune system response that causes celiac disease. However, not all people who have the gene variants DQ2 or DQ8 and eat gluten develop the disease. Research suggests that among children with a genetic predisposition for celiac disease, those who eat more gluten in early childhood may have a greater risk for celiac disease.
OTHER FACTORS: -
Researchers are studying other factors that may increase a person’s chances of developing celiac disease. For example, research suggests that a higher number of infections in early life and certain digestive tract infections may increase the risk. Experts also think changes in the microbiome—the bacteria in the digestive tract that help with digestion—could play a role in the development of celiac disease.
HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINES FOR MANAGING CELIAC DISEASE: -
The Homoeopathic approach for treating coeliac Disease is similar to treating any auto immune or allergic disease. Homoeopathy recognizes coeliac Disease as a hypersensitive state due to Immunological reactivity governed by genetic tendency.
Some commonly used medicines are: -