Diabetes and Celiac Disease

Celiac Disease is common in people that have Type 1 diabetes. This disease, like type 1 diabetes, is also an autoimmune disorder. So then a person with the autoimmune disorder of type 1 diabetes, is then likely to have this difficult digestive disorder.

What happens in this disease, also called Celiac Sprue, or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, is the immune system places an attack on gluten. Gluten is a protein found in your wheat sources, barley, pastas of some types, and rye. The body will no longer have the abilities to absorb nutrients from foods. What can happen next is that you easily become deficient in calcium, vitamins of most types, and not to mention iron. This digestive disease can happen to any age group of people, younger or older, and it also runs in families from what I've studied.

How would you know you have Celiac? The symptoms are divided into three categories. There is first of all, the "classic" version of Celiac. You may notice that you have diarrhea that is not going away; there could be constipation issues on the other hand, abdominal pain which can be very intense, and also losing weight and gas problems. Some people may show osteoperosis, and marked malnutrition.

Now, in the "atypical," type of celiac disease, you may or may not have such pronounced gastrointestinal symptoms, or symptoms may not be showing at all. There are people that get a rash sometimes such as dermatitis, which shows up on the face, elbows, knees, or buttocks. Even though this form is labeled atypical, it is the most common. The signs and symptoms can also happen in the classic form.

There is also "silent Celiac disease. This group of people are asymptomatic. This form is only diagnosed when the bowel is examined or biopsied because of another problem a person is having.

Otherwise the diagnosis of Celiac starts with blood testing which will search for a certain type of antibodies that are usually found in people with Celiac. If you do have these antibodies, then your doctor will need to do a series of biopsies to remove tissue samples of your small intestine. What they are looking for there is a change in tissue. This testing is done by using a special scope through the mouth leading into the small intestine.

The next step in diagnosis is to have you try a gluten-free diet for about a week or so. If you feel much more comfortable, then this is an indicator of Celiac disease present.

The key to treating Celiac disease, is to give up gluten-containing foods. I would advise anyone with this problem to sit down with a nutritional expert, or dietitian, and figure out how you can eat well, still enjoy many foods, but without gluten present.

The body will no longer have the abilities to absorb nutrients from foods.



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