How Celiac Disease Affects Different Age Groups Ep. 108

Depending on when someone is diagnosed with Celiac Disease, it may affect their lifestyle and health in different ways.
Today I am discussing some of the various concerns and challenges people with Celiac Disease face from babies through to the elderly.


Previous Episode mentioned:
What is Celiac Disease? A Guide for Family and Friends Ep. 72


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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

All right, welcome back to this week's episode of the Healthy Celiac Podcast. Now on today's show, I want to talk to you about the different stages of our lives and how that can affect what age group you are in when it comes to a celiac disease diagnosis. Now, this might be helpful if you are a parent and you have a child that's been diagnosed with celiac disease or perhaps a parent, or even just understanding yourself. Now, let's start at a really young age. So some babies do get diagnosed with celiac disease. I've been chatting with a lady online the last couple of days who was diagnosed before she was the age of one. So it does happen. People do get a very early diagnosis. So the thing with a young baby is they will present their symptoms in a way that it may be very hard for a parent to understand, because if they're vomiting, they've got diarrhea, it can be very hard to pinpoint what that is and what's causing that problem. So in those instances, we have to be very thankful that doctors are able to pinpoint what's going on and get to the bottom of those symptoms. They tend to be the most outwardly, I guess, obvious symptoms that a baby is going to show you. And I guess that irritability and just being cranky and a bloated tummy, those are very obvious signs of celiac disease. So it's hard because I guess at that age, they can't voice what's going on for them. They can't tell us what's wrong with them. Whereas when they get to a little bit older, older, sort of like the two plus age, when children are starting to talk more and they're able to express what's wrong with them, then they can tell us what's going on. And again, if it's those types of symptoms, it's easier for them to explain. Now, you might have heard me talk about my son. He does not have celiac disease, but he does have non-celiac gluten sensitivity. And looking back, I don't, I honestly don't remember how old he was when he started showing symptoms, but he was very, very little and it just progressively got worse. We finally got a diagnosis for him when he was around the age of four. So prior to that, it would've, it would've probably been nearly two years of trying to get answers and trying to figure out what was going on. But he could very easily tell us, mummy, I don't feel well, mummy, I don't have any energy. My tummy sore. I feel sick. You could see that he had diarrhea. Every time I had to go to the toilet and wipe his bum, you could see there was something not right with this poor kid. He was very dark under his eyes all the time. He just didn't look well. He never felt well. So for him, it was easy for him to express what was going on because I was very aware of celiac disease. Obviously, I was able to ask the questions and find

Speaker 2: 3:23

Out how he felt constantly. It wasn't just, oh, you know, that's just how he is. I knew there was something not quite right. So for that age group, it's easier for them to voice what's going on. Now, when you get to a little bit older, this is when kids are, I guess you need them to be open. So if you have a child and you suspect they have sis have celiac disease, you need to ask them more. You know, you're not seeing what's going on in the toilet. You need to get them to tell you how they're feeling. They need to be more, I guess, communicating with us rather than, um, just expecting us to know. I guess we we're not mind readers. We can see usually when there's something not quite right with our children, but we all live very busy lives. We are all, you know, doing our own thing, and kids are going off to school. And you know, that age group, it can be a little bit tricky because if they're not telling you what's going on, they might just be keeping it to themselves and thinking it's normal. So if you have celiac disease and you have children, then you definitely need to be getting them tested no matter what. It's recommended that you definitely get your children tested. If you yourself have celiac disease or, uh, any parent of your child has celiac disease, they need to be tested. So yeah, that, that's the best thing that you can be doing to roll it out and to keep on top of it. Now, teenagers, once a teenager gets a celiac disease diagnosis, it's a really hard time. It's a really hard time for teenagers because when you think about it, teenagers are very social. They go out with their friends, you know, they go to have catch ups at takeout places, they have sleepovers, they're doing all the, all of these things that teenagers should be doing. But it's such a challenge for teenagers. Now, again, symptoms can be very similar to those of babies and children. And in the teenage years we see a d ADHD represented as well. We see that the behavioral issues are quite obvious and all the other very common symptoms as well. So it's not always the gastro side of symptoms. The behavioral side of it comes in and the tiredness and the brain fog and the constantly being hungry because the body's not absorbing nutrients. And if you think about that, any teenage boy, for example, if they were eating nonstop, you wouldn't even question it. You wouldn't even bat an eyelid because that's just what teenage boys do. And even teenage girls, I see that in my daughter. She goes through growth spurs and she's constantly eating, and then she'll go back to eating a regular amount again. So it's these, you peaks and troughs, whereas teenage boys tend to just constantly eat. They're just constantly hungry. And what we see in people with celiac disease that's undiagnosed because their body's not absorbing all the

Speaker 3: 6:21

Beautiful nutrients that they need to be absorbing from their food, is they're constantly in a state of starvation because they need to get the nutrients from their food that they're not absorbing. So that's where you'll see people are just constantly hungry, constantly asking for food. So if you notice that that has changed in your teenagers, then it's also worth asking them if there's anything else going on for them. We are very open in our household when we talk about bodily functions, when we talk about our health, I find that it's very important for our children to be able to come to us as parents and talk to us about their emotions, how they're feeling, what's going on for them, and, and helping us to help them basically. So I'm big on communication with children of all ages, but especially teenagers because, you know, it can be embarrassing. It can be such a transitional time in all aspects when we talk about puberty and things like that. So with children, with undiagnosed celiac disease and teenagers, it can delay puberty. So you'll find in younger children, it can delay their growth if they hun have undiagnosed celiac disease. And then in teenagers, we can find that it's delaying that puberty. So you, if you have a child that you know, perhaps they haven't got their period and they're at an age where all of their friends are getting their period, or you know, they're starting to develop more, then your teenager may be experiencing being kind of left behind because they have got celiac disease. So again, that's where this testing comes into place and making sure that we can get some answers for these kids and, and helping them to go on their journey. Now, once teenagers have got a celiac disease diagnosis, I truly believe it's so important to empower them and help them see the benefits of eating a gluten-free diet. Because when you think about it, they just want to be included. They just want to be part of their group, and for them it might be eating gluten and suffering the consequences because they don't wanna be left out. So it's really about empowering them and educating them and making them understand that it's so important for them to eat gluten free and that they can still be included with their friends, but they just have to do it in a different way. So that is very important. Now, when we are talking about young adults, so let's just say kind of the, the 18 plus sort of mid twenties, we have another whole challenge, you know, this age group, some of them go off to college, university, and they might be living on campus, or they might be living in a group or in a house with a group of people. Again, it's another challenge. So it's that whole empowering them to be able to talk with their roommates, to be able to talk with the people that they're with, and making sure that they are keeping themselves safe and that their friends know to keep them safe

Speaker 4: 9:19

Because they might start to let their guard down because mom and dad aren't there to protect them and be checking that their food's gluten free and doing their shopping for them and cooking their food and doing all of the things that you've been doing for such a long time that if they, you know, if they were diagnosed in their teen years, for example, and then they go into their twenties, this can, this can be hard for those, those kids, I guess because they have been looked after for such a long time. So this is where that empowerment comes into play. So symptom, let's just say they got diagnosed in their twenties. Again, the symptoms are so similar to all age groups. So again, there's over 200 celiac symptoms, there's over 200. So it's too hard for me to kind of pinpoint every single one for each person because it varies. But if we were talking about the most common ones, again, it's those feeling unwell, bloating, the all the, you know, the diarrhea may be vomiting depending on the person, brain fog, just feeling tired and run down. All of those things that can play that part on that, on that young adult, I guess. So yeah, helping people to really see that this does affect all age groups. And then when you get into your thirties and your forties, again, same sort of symptoms, same sort of issues. However, by this time, it depends on where you are at in your stage of life. For me, when I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I was already with a f with my partner. We had a daughter, you know, we'd built a life together, we had our own home. We had, you know, everything in place to be able to be successful. So for me, it was, I guess having my husband on board with me and having that support. And it can be hard for some people in their thirties and forties because change can be hard for a lot of people. So depending on when you were diagnosed, maybe you are in your thirties and your forties and or your forties rather not, and your forties, and you might be seeing it as a challenge because perhaps your partner doesn't wanna make changes or doesn't understand how severe it is and doesn't understand how important it is for you and your health. So it's, it's the same thing. It's education. It's empowering yourself to make sure that you are taking the steps to look after you and your body and getting the people that are around you to be on board with that. Because at the end of the day, you need to be safe, you need to be nurtured, and you need to be protected, particularly in your own home. If you can't do it in your own home, then it's really, really hard. So for me, I'm all about empowering you to get to that place and getting the people in your life on board with you and getting them to support you as well, because if they don't understand how important it is, then it's hard for them to do that. So yeah, that, I'll link some episodes below that you can, um, check out and, and share with loved ones if you need support in that area. Or send me a DM over at the Healthy Celiac on Instagram and I can help you, you know, with some answers there as well. More than more than happy to reach out and, and get back to you on that one. So be sure to send me a dm. Now, if you are in your sixties or your seventies, then there might be, there might be different sort of symptoms that we need to worry about. And we can talk about things like bone density, because as you know, the older you get, the fra you get, so you may find that those are issues that you need to be looking into as well. I do recommend that anyone that gets diagnosed with celiac disease gets a bone mineral density test done just to see how their bones are. And again, that will depend on how long you've been suffering with symptoms for. If you're in your sixties, seventies, and it's only a recent kind of trigger you, your celiac disease only just been turned on, you may not be suffering too badly with that. But if you've been suffering with symptoms for a very long time and you've only just got a celiac disease diagnosis, then it's definitely something your doctor should be recommending that you get done regularly. So that's something to keep in mind. Now, when we are talking about people in their eighties plus getting a celiac disease diagnosis, this can be very, very challenging and it will depend on a number of factors. So mindset is a big one. Uh, you might have heard me talk about one of my uncles, he got a celiac disease diagnosis late in life. He tried to eat gluten free, he tried to cut out the beer, and he just went, this is not how I want to live my life. I'm not doing it. And all, all respect to him, that's his personal choice. That's no one's gonna change his mind. Nothing anyone says is changing his mind, apparently<laugh>. So that's, that's his choice and that's the path he wants to go down. So he still lives in his own home with his wife, and he's, he's kind of accepted that that's how he's gonna live his life, so be it. Um, but if you have someone in your life that is kind of in that age group and they are in a home, so let's just say they're in a care facility, then it might be up to you to go to that facility and make sure that your loved one is getting gluten free food, that they understand what celiac disease is, and that your loved one needs to be eating gluten free so that they do live the, you know, the last years of their life feeling better than they should be. So if they were eating gluten, I imagine they would be feeling rubbish if they've got the symptoms that most

Speaker 5: 15:15

People, people with celiac disease have, unless they're asymptomatic. But if they have got symptoms from eating gluten, then absolutely we need to be looking after our loved ones and making sure that they're getting safe, gluten-free food. And then, you know, if they're in your care, then that's, that's your, I guess, your challenge and you need to be helping that loved one and learning what you can about celiac disease and learning more about gluten-free, which you are because you are here and you're checking out this episode. So for that, I, I truly thank you and your loved one would be so grateful as well. So yeah, it, it's definitely, it's definitely challenging for all ages. I, I do believe that. But then what I like to do is I like to look at it from the angle of change in a positive way so we can, we can move through the diagnosis and we can get to the other side. Like I always look at it as what's on the other side of this and the positive that comes out of this. Because for me, I just felt like rubbish before my diagnosis, and I'm so thankful that I didn't suffer for too long. I got a, I got a diagnosis pretty quickly in hindsight compared to many people that tell me they've suffered for like 10, 15, 20 years of being misdiagnosed with say, i b s and no one ever tested them for celiac disease. And then they finally get a diagnosis for celiac disease and just go, oh my God, like, life could have been better all this time. So I do feel very grateful that I got a diagnosis quickly and I was able to heal my body, and I was able to start feeling better, much quicker than what a lot of people suffer with. So, yeah, I, I truly see the light at the end of the tunnel for so many people. And when people first get a diagnosis, they're so in the thick of it. And so, you know, you're still healing, you're still learning, you're still taking on all this information. So it is a journey. It is definitely a challenge. I'm not denying that at all, but it can be such a beautiful thing to get a celiac disease diagnosis and come out the other side a happier and much healthier person. So I hope that helps you, and I hope that this reaches someone that needed to hear this today and this message. And I look forward to talking with you again very, very soon. Take care. Bye.