In this week's episode I'm discussing why there has been an increase in people getting diagnosed with Celiac Disease.
Take a walk with me down memory lane as we rewind the clock to 2009 when I first got my Celiac diagnosis. Let's focus on the incredible change in the Celiac landscape over the years - from awareness to testing. We'll also shed light on instances where the many people in the medical field overlooks this disease, emphasizing the need for patients to champion for their own testing.
There's been a surge in people being diagnosed and it's crucial to understand what this increase means for us all. From my personal experience to what the future could hold, I'll be examining every facet of this increase. I'm eager to hear your thoughts and experiences on this topic. Connect with me on Instagram and let's keep this conversation going.
And I would love to connect with you on Instagram thehealthyceliac
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Music Credit bensound.com
Speaker 1:
All right, welcome back to this week's episode of the Healthy Celiac Podcast. Now I thought it would be interesting this week to answer the question of has Celiac disease prevalence increased? Now there's a couple of sides to this answer and if I kind of rewind back to 2009, when I first got my Celiac disease diagnosis, every time it would come up in conversation. You know you're talking about food restrictions, you're ordering a meal, whatever. Whoever you're with would be like what is Celiac disease? What does that mean? What happens to you if you have gluten? You know all of these questions. It was always the case for me back then that it would always be a question. People didn't understand what Celiac disease was. They'd never heard of it. They didn't know what it was. They didn't understand what gluten did to me, all of those things. But if you fast forward to now, whenever it comes up, I find that most people that I talk to will say things like oh, I know someone that's got Celiac disease. You know my cousin's got Celiac disease. Or my neighbor has Celiac disease, or my you know, my best friend has Celiac disease. So many more people now say that they know someone with Celiac disease. So why is that? Why is there more people with Celiac disease now than what there was even a couple of decades ago? So what has changed to get to this point Now?
Speaker 1:
There's a couple of ways that we could look at this. We can look at it and go yes, more and more people are getting Celiac disease, or more and more people are getting a Celiac disease diagnosis. So they say that approximately one in a hundred people worldwide have got Celiac disease, and it used to be very rare Okay, they used to think of it as rare whereas now they think of it as a major health problem. Okay, it's something that affects so many people throughout the world. It's not just in those European countries where they initially saw most people with Celiac disease, it is worldwide. Now we're seeing it more and more. So the way that I believe this is happening is there's more information about Celiac disease, there's more awareness as such, and what that means is more people get a diagnosis because people are looking into it further. So when they present to their medical team, there's more likely that opportunity for their medical team to look at them and go right, we need to test you for Celiac disease, rather than being fobbed off or believing that it's something else or that their symptoms aren't in alignment with Celiac disease.
Speaker 1:
So if you've heard me talk about my Celiac disease journey, it took me nearly a year to get a diagnosis and it was basically. It never even came up in that whole time. But one person said you know, oh, it could be Celiac disease, or it could be gluten, or it could be a food problem. None of that. There were so many ridiculous things that these different doctors over that period of time said to me and believed that was wrong with me. And it wasn't until that very last doctor that actually said I think you've got a Celiac disease, that you know something came of it.
Speaker 1:
So in this time over the years, more and more people know about it, don't they? So more and more people have this awareness of Celiac disease, and it's through you know so many different factors. I believe social media plays a massive part in getting the word out there. You know Celiac Australia. They do a fantastic job in sharing more and more about Celiac disease. There's different organizations throughout the world. So more and more people sharing more and more information about Celiac disease helps us get that awareness out there so that more people are aware of it the amount of people that I speak to just in general day to day life and things come up about celiac disease. They're like, oh, I have this symptom or I have that symptom. And I say to them get tested, just get tested for it. You can rule it out or you might have it and then you can start to feel better.
Speaker 1:
So, just having these conversations, how many more people are having conversations with people and saying get tested, push for this testing? And you might be listening to this and thinking you know, it took you ages to get a diagnosis and you pushed for that diagnosis and you might have been in the same situation that I was way back in 2009, where I didn't even have that opportunity to push because I didn't even know what was wrong with me. I had no idea that it would be about gluten or celiac disease. So you might have, even in the last few years, been at that point where you didn't know anything about it. So don't get me wrong there's still so many people that have no idea what celiac disease is. There's so many medical people, professionals, that don't even want to test for it. They are fobbing people off, they are pushing people aside and not accepting that they want to get a celiac disease diagnosis. The amount of people that contact me and say I've got this symptom, this symptom, this symptom, and I think I've got celiac disease or at least a gluten intolerance, but my doctor is refusing to test me for it, I think is absolutely appalling. And I say to them get another doctor, go to another doctor and push for the testing, because someone will test you for it and it can be as simple as just starting with a blood test. So you know, in that respect, yes, there are still so many people that are in disbelief or refuse to test for it. Don't get me wrong. I know that is happening throughout the world. It is not uncommon.
Speaker 1:
However, I do believe there's more awareness around celiac disease and around the prevalence of it, that more people are choosing to test for it and pushing for it. And here in Australia, you know, I think that we are quite lucky with our medical system, that we get a lot of free medical care and our government pays for that. So we are very, very lucky. So I do see that that is a privilege and I do believe that countries that don't have free medical access, they don't have as much opportunity to get tested or to push for these testing. So I do believe that in certain countries there is probably a higher prevalence simply due to the medical system Okay. So when we look at these areas, there's so many things that play a part in what happens in helping people get a celiac diagnosis. Do not get me wrong about this. I see it as a privilege, but it is a human right for people to get their health on track.
Speaker 1:
Now you may have heard recently that in Italy they have just announced that they are going to be testing every single child for celiac disease, and this is huge. This is going to be a game changer for so many people. Couple of countries have come back and said that they will not be following suit with this because it's too much of a financial burden, which it will cost a lot of money. But then look at the long-term benefits of helping those people getting a celiac diagnosis when they're young rather than when they're older. They are going to be able to stop so many other health problems, which is huge and amazing, and you know it's such a simple thing to start to screen for that. You know there may be other countries that follow suit. Italy may be an amazing role model for other countries. So I think, with them rolling this out, there's going to be an even higher number of people being diagnosed with celiac disease simply because of that, and whether we see that across the world. Who knows, we're yet to get to that point, but at the moment, I think that's an incredible step towards helping more and more people getting a celiac disease diagnosis.
Speaker 1:
So that's my two bits on why I think that we are seeing an increase in people with celiac disease. I know that we hear certain things like well, you might not have. I hear things such as you know, chemicals are causing more people to have celiac disease, so what they're spraying on our food is causing celiac disease. But celiac disease was around before these chemicals were being sprayed on our food. So, you know, I don't think that is what's causing the increase. I personally believe the increase is due to more people getting tested and more awareness.
Speaker 1:
So, yeah, if you've got an opinion on this or you want to share your inputs on this, I'd love to hear from you. So make sure you send me a message over at the healthy celiac on Instagram and we can have a chat about it further. But yeah, that's, that's kind of where I see it coming from that there's been an increase in celiac disease diagnosis and, like I said, I think we're going to continue to see a rise in numbers, and simply due to more people getting tested and nothing else. So I look forward to talking with you again very soon. Have a fantastic week and I'll catch you then. Take care Bye.