Are Gluten Sensitivity Symptoms Your Body’s Alarm for Celiac Disease?
You may be experiencing one of the 200 known Gluten Sensitivity Symptoms and wonder if this is a sure sign that you have Celiac Disease. Well, as in all things medical, the answer is crystal clear…maybe, or then again maybe not.
This may not be the answer that you were hoping for but let me explain. Have you ever leafed through one of those huge medical encyclopedias? These are the books that define just about every known disease, ailment and health issue. Along with what is often an unpronounceable name, a whole bunch of symptoms of the disease or ailment follow the definition. Give yourself enough time reading this book and you will be certain that you have 70% of the ailments listed and be ready to call the doctor or call the mortuary.
When you experience Gluten Sensitivity Symptoms it is possible that you do not have Celiac Disease; however, if you have Celiac Disease, then you certainly have intolerance to gluten. Celiac Disease is the result of intolerance to a very specific gluten. To make matters a little more confusing, a person can have Celiac Disease and yet have no obvious symptoms of the disease for years.
The one symptom that is found to be consistent with Celiac Disease is a condition known as villous atrophy. This happens when the villi located in the intestines are damaged. Once this occurs the body is not able to absorb all the nutrients from the food that is ingested. But even with this tell-tale sign, villous atrophy can also be the result of other conditions as well including:
- Cow’s milk allergy
- Soy allergy
- Fish intolerance
- HIV enteropathy
- Intestinal lymphoma
- Ulcerative jejunitis
- Chicken intolerance
- Opportunistic infections
- Tropical sprue
- Hookworm disease
- Leukemia
- Intestinal troubles
- Methotrexate (a pharmaceutical drug)
- And many others…
If you suspect that you have a gluten intolerance based on symptoms that are similar to others with gluten sensitivity then one thing you can try is eliminating gluten from your diet. Of course any dietary adjustments you try should be done in cooperation with your medical advisor. If there has been damage to your villi as a result of a gluten intolerance the good news is that by eliminating the gluten and going gluten free your body can get on with the business of healing.
