Any Celiacs here?

We think hubby may have Celiac so he's now on a gluten free diet. I wonder if there are other followes of GF diet here?

By the way, I know I probably mentioned every possible disease in relation to hubby here. You probably think either he's hypochondriac or I have Munchahesen (sp?) by proxy Thing is they still don't know what's wrong with him and it's been going on for over a year. So we keep looking...

What is Celiac? I've never heard of it.

Here is what happens to a person with Celiac and the associated symptoms.

Source: http://www.celiac.org/


When individuals with CD ingest gluten, the villi, tiny, hair-like projections in the small intestine that absorb nutrients from food, shrink or disappear. This is a destructive immunological reaction to gluten. Damaged villi interferes with the body's ability to absorb basic nutrients -- proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and, in some cases, water and bile salts. If CD is left untreated, damage to the small bowel can be chronic and life threatening, causing an increased risk of associated disorders -- both nutritional and immune related.

Some long-term conditions that can result from untreated CD:

Iron deficiency Anemia
Osteoporosis
Vitamin K deficiency associated with risk for hemorrhaging
Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
Central and peripheral nervous system disorders -- usually due to unsuspected nutrient deficiencies
Pancreatic insufficiency
Intestinal Lymphomas and other GI malignancies
Other food sensitivities/lactose intolerance
Other associated autoimmune disorders:

Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH)
Insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus
Thyroid Disease
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
IgA Nephropathy & IgA Deficiency
Primary Biliary Cirrhosis
Less commonly linked to CD:

Chronic Active Hepatitis
Scleroderma
Myasthenia Gravis
Addison's Disease
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sjogren's Syndrome
Down's Syndrome
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Symptoms

Many patients are asymptomatic for years, with the disease becoming active for the first time after surgery, viral infection, severe emotional stress, or pregnancy and childbirth. CD may appear at any time in the life of a person with a hereditary pre-disposition. Symptoms of CD are as varied as the nutritional deficiencies caused by the malabsorption. Infants, toddlers and children may exhibit growth failure, vomiting, bloated abdomen and behavioral changes.

Classic symptoms may include:

abdominal cramping, intestinal gas, distention and bloating
chronic diarrhea or constipation (or both)
steatorrhea -- oily stools
anemia - unexplained, due to folate, B12, B6, or iron deficiency (or all)
weight loss with large appetite, or weight gain
Other symptoms:

dental enamel defects
osteopenia, osteoporosis
bone or joint pain
fatigue, weakness and lack of energy
infertility
depression

One of my coworkers thought I had that but it turns out I just have really bad IBS.

I've posted many times about my mother's illness when I was growing up. Doctors to this day aren't specific in what she had, but they said it was a combo of celiac and another digestive disorder (large latin name that I don't remember). This was back in the late 70's, and the disease was not researched that well and my mother had Canada's best gastroenterologist working on her (You can check out Dr. Kursheed Jeejeebhoy, here Dr. Jeejeebhoy . She was even written up in a medical journal because she was such a severe case and they wanted to document her case.

One day she just fell over with severe cramps. Within months, she dropped her weight down to death levels. She was in the hospital for a 2 year period, and the doctors could only tell us to pray. She occasionally came home on weekends, where we set up half our kitchen like a hospital lab. Here she could change her own IV and take her drugs in a sterile environment.

Then, again, one day out of the blue, her body changed around and she was able to absorb food again. Today, she is quite healthy, but still gets the odd call from the doctors wanting to do tests and examine her for their books.To this day, my family doctor said that in his 45 year medical practise, he has never seen a medical comeback like my mother's.

When she first came home, she had to stay away from all gluten and lactose free food. Back in the 70's it was almost impossible to find such products, and when you did find a product, it was sooo expensive (ie: a loaf of small loaf of gluten free bread was $6 - plus it tasted like cardboard)! Today you can easily go to your health store and find a wide selection.

Sorry Anne, didn't want to take away from your hubby's health problems! I always ramble about health topics!

I'm glad your mom is better now. With hubby there are no abdominal symptoms and he's not losing weight. But it turns out most men with Celiac are actually overweight so it doesn't really mean much.

He did some of the blood tests for Celiac but they came back inconclusive. So he's now trying the diet just in case.

Turns out there's a local grocery store with a wide selection of GF products and they're not that expensive either. For now we just got him the GF cornflakes other than that he stuck to vegetables, potatoes and lentils today.

And true to form, Anne, the google ads in this thread are actually providing you with resource links. I sure hope this mysterious makady of hubby's is cleared up soon.