Celiac Disease - Coping With the Conditions

Celiac disease is the inability to tolerate gluten, a protein found in common grains, wheat, rye, barley, and oats.  This disease is also referred to as nontropical sprue, gluten-induced sprue, idiopathic steatorrhea, or gluten enteropathy.  For someone with celiac disease, eating these grains could not only mean unpleasant symptoms but it could also damage the intestinal tract.  The first order of business is to be sure that the symptoms are signs of celiac disease. No matter how strongly doctors suspect celiac disease, they will want a biopsy of the small intestine to be sure.  If their suspicions are confirmed by a positive result, you will be asked to follow a special diet that eliminates gluten.  You may also be advised to limit lactose, an enzyme found in milk products, in your diet as well.  Sometimes those with severe symptoms have a problem handling the lactose as well as the gluten, but this generally goes away once the celiac symptoms are brought under control.

To help cope with your new restrictions, you could write to food companies for a list of their products that are gluten free.  Most companies have this list readily available for such requests.  You can also use the internet to find out what companies and what foods are available to you that do not contain gluten. 

Anyone who has suffered through an attack of celiac disease can tell you, your long-term health is the last thing on your mind when the symptoms strike.  But once these are under control, you will want to discuss a few other issues with your doctor including: supplementing your diet with vitamins and minerals to compensate for reduced absorption of nutrients from foods; ensuring that complications of celiac disease such as rickets in young children, are ruled out and promptly treated if found; and staying alert for any signs of the abdominal cancers that are more common among those who have had celiac disease for many years.