What is Celiac Disease? Ep. 124

Have you ever wondered about the science behind Celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects 1 in every 100 people worldwide? Join me as I share my personal struggle with the disease, discussing symptoms like chronic diarrhea, extreme weight loss, anemia, fatigue, and brain fog, and how it led me to a profound understanding of the disease. Get ready to learn about the direct link between gluten and Celiac disease, the damage it does to the small intestine, and how this affects nutrient absorption.

Going beyond understanding the disease, we will embark on a positive journey towards healing and living with Celiac disease. We’ll talk about how accurate testing and understanding of the disease can transform a diagnosis from a life sentence to a chance at a healthier, more conscious lifestyle. I'll share insights on my own healing process through a gluten free diet and other strategies to accelerate recovery.

An enlightening discussion, this episode promises to make you see Celiac disease not as a limitation, but as a stepping stone towards a healthier, more vibrant life. Let's navigate this journey together, towards managing and thriving with Celiac disease.

Episodes Mentioned
How to get a Celiac Disease Diagnosis Ep. 106

Want to know how I've nailed living with Celiac Disease? Ultimate Celiac System has all my exclusive tips, secrets and insights.
Find out how Ultimate Celiac System can support your Celiac journey here
https://belindawhelantraining.com/ultimate-celiac-system

Wish you could get gluten free meals on the table fast that the whole family will love? Check out Meal Plans Made Easy
https://belindawhelantraining.com/gluten-free-meal-plans-made-easy

 Join my free community and grab your copy of 11 Mistakes People Make Living Gluten Free here www.belindawhelan.myflodesk.com/11mistakes

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Music Credit bensound.com 

Chapters

• 0:00 Understanding and Managing Celiac Disease
• 9:29 Understanding and Managing Celiac Disease

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

What is celiac disease? Well, the simple answer is celiac disease is an autoimmune disease where the body reacts to a protein found in food, and that is gluten. So when a person with celiac disease consumes anything with gluten in it things such as wheat, oats, barley and rye what happens is the body sets off an immune response and attacks the tissues of the small intestine. So there's about one in 100 people throughout the world who have a celiac disease diagnosis and those people have to be very, very strict with eating a gluten-free diet. Now what happens when the body attacks itself is how this happens is the person with celiac disease eats something with gluten in it. So let's just say they had a piece of bread or they had a cake or a cookie, something like that. They consume that food and then that food goes into the stomach. The stomach breaks down the food into particles and then that goes through the intestine. When it hits the small intestine, that is where the damage happens. So in the small intestine you have what's called villi, so they're kind of like these tiny, tiny little finger-like projections, and the villi is designed to absorb the nutrients from your food. So this is where you get your iron absorption, your calcium absorption, your vitamins all of that goodness that your body needs to thrive. This is where it's meant to be absorbed. But when someone with celiac disease has damaged villi, what happens is those villi's go from being these beautiful little finger-like projections to being flat, and then the nutrients pass straight on by and don't get absorbed into the body. So this is where we start to see things like iron deficiency or failure to thrive in children, because they're not getting the nutrients that they need from their diet. So what happens is that person continues to eat gluten and the villi continues to be damaged, the intestine continues to be inflamed and the body has all of these other side effects from eating gluten.

Speaker 1: 2:57

So for me personally, my symptoms were varied. So in the early days, the very first symptom that was very obvious to me was chronic diarrhea. So from that diarrhea it led on to so many other things, such as major weight loss, which then led on to being anemic, which then led on to fatigue, which then led on to having brain fog. So all of these things happened progressively and I was misdiagnosed for a very long time and during that time my body was getting worse and worse and worse, instead of being able to heal because I wasn't getting the treatment that I needed. I wasn't getting the guidance and the support that I needed from my medical team. They brushed me off. They didn't give me the results that I needed. As far as taking my concerns further and really listening to me and understanding that what was happening to my body wasn't normal, and this happens to so many people.

Speaker 1: 4:00

You hear of people that get misdiagnosed so often, like it's actually very, very common for people to go to their doctors or to go to the hospital and present and tell their medical team what's going on for them and them to be told you've got anxiety or you've got IBS or you've got depression. In my case, which I was told, I just had a baby and I was told that I had depression and that I needed to get out of bed and I needed to exercise, and I literally just told this doctor that I had fatigue and no energy and it was hard to get out of bed and she was telling me to go exercise. So it does get misdiagnosed very, very often. So if you think that perhaps you have celiac disease or you have any of the known symptoms the very common symptoms of celiac disease, you can push for testing. You can ensure that you get the correct testing done to get a diagnosis or to be able to roll it out. So some of the most common symptoms are some of those ones that I just said about myself, bob, you know there's so many other ones as well that tie in with celiac disease. So, for example, it's not just diarrhea. I did an episode on this recently that constipation is also a symptom of celiac disease for some people. So doctors are not very quick to assume that it's celiac disease when people present with constipation Skin conditions can be linked to celiac disease hair falling out, now even things like tingling in your hands and your feet. There's so many different symptoms. It's not always just the common symptoms. There's about 200 and something symptom that are related to celiac disease.

Speaker 1: 5:54

Now if you have someone in your family that has celiac disease, you're at a higher risk of having celiac disease yourself. So if you have an immediate family member that has celiac disease so that would be a parent, a child or a sibling then I highly recommend that you get tested for celiac disease yourself because you are at a higher risk for having it. So that is definitely something that you should look into doing, and that's as simple as, first off, going and getting a blood test. If you'd like to learn more about how you go about getting a celiac disease diagnosis, I'll pop a link below to another episode where I discuss that in depth about how you need to do it, because a lot of doctors are not following this procedure correctly and people are not getting a diagnosis and then when they follow the procedure that I recommend, they are getting a correct diagnosis. So I'll link that below so you can check that out.

Speaker 1: 6:52

Now, when it comes to celiac disease and healing, you can heal your body. Ok, so once you go on a gluten free diet and you're making sure you're eating gluten free, you're making sure there's no cross contact, which means you know a crumb here or there or you know getting some form of gluten into your diet accidentally. Once you ensure that you get rid of all of that, then your body has the chance to heal, and there are some recommendations that I have for people to heal their body quicker, and that is. You know, that's quite in depth. That's probably not what we can go through in this episode, but if you'd like more information on how I can help you with that, please just reach out to me via Instagram so you can send me a DM over at the healthy celiac, because the quicker you can heal your body, the quicker you can feel better.

Speaker 1: 7:43

Now, just a side note when we say heal, we don't mean you fix it and you can go back to eating gluten. You can never eat gluten again until there is a cure. At this point in time, there is no cure for celiac disease. The only treatment is to eat a gluten-free diet. Ok, so unfortunately, that's what we need to do, but I always look at that as a positive. You know, we don't have to take medication, we don't have to be, you know, injecting anything into our body. It is. It is just a matter of changing our diet and I know for many people it is hard and it seems daunting and it's overwhelming and it can be an you know, an anxious time, but once you get that down pat, it is incredible. So, absolutely, the gluten-free diet is the only treatment for you living with celiac disease.

Speaker 1: 8:35

Once you have a confirmed diagnosis, that's what you need to do. So if you need support and guidance in that, please reach out to me, because that's my expertise and that's what I do as a health coach who specialises in celiac disease follow up support so you can reach out to me and get my guidance on that. But yeah, that's basically celiac disease in a very quick nutshell, just to help you understand what it is, what is, what is the treatment and and how you can basically move forward once you have a celiac disease diagnosis. So yeah, it's not. It's not like you're always going to feel the way that you might have been feeling in the lead up to a celiac disease diagnosis. Once you get on track with your diet and your lifestyle, life can be truly wonderful and you can feel better and live a very full life.

Speaker 1: 9:29

So, yeah, it's, it's not. It's not as detrimental as you may be thinking it is in the early days, but it is something that, once you learn more and you get that guidance and that support, it can be an incredible journey and can change your future for the better. So thanks so much for tuning in. I'm sure this episode has given you a quick rundown of what celiac disease is and moving forward, the positive outcome that you can achieve through a celiac disease diagnosis. So thanks for tuning in and I'll talk with you again very, very soon.