You are not seeing things if it appears that everyone in your life is suddenly turning gluten-free. While others may feel that eating gluten-free is a weight-loss strategy or a lifestyle choice, celiac disease sufferers have a different perspective. Staying away from gluten isn't only about avoiding bloating and stomach aches for them. It's a serious health problem.
Celiac Disease Awareness: Approximately 400,000 Canadian Living With This Autoimmune Disorder Without Knowing
Several People Experiencing Celiac Disease
According to Maple Ridge News, doctors diagnosed Sonia Pereira with celiac disease after suffering from what she believed was a stroke.
She was chatting to the CEO of a firm in her car in 2015 when she discovered she couldn't speak and was making no sense. The person on the other end of the line advised Pereira to go to the hospital, but she chose to stay at home and work on her computer.
She couldn't read the screen in front of her after that. She decided to seek medical care at that point.
Doctors first diagnosed Pereira with a stroke. Doctors looked at it more and concluded that it may be migraines. Some said they couldn't tell her what was causing her problems.
According to Pereira, it would take more than four years of visits to physicians and experts - more than 30 in total - and at least $1 million in tests and scans.
But after four years, doctors diagnosed Pereira with celiac disease. The patient was back to her old self after cutting gluten from her diet for two weeks.
In another situation, after being diagnosed with celiac disease, Hayden Bishop can't help but feel self-conscious when she goes out to dine with friends and family.
Bishop acquired a severe rash on her elbows, knees, and butt cheeks four years ago while fighting professionally in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
"It was extremely itchy, so itchy that I would wake up with blood underneath my fingernails because I was scratching while I was asleep. I was scratching it so hard that I would just bleed," she told Madison.
Bishop reduced his gym time from 20 to 30 hours per week to a maximum of five hours per week "because it takes a long time for my body to recover."
After receiving her diagnosis, Bishop eliminated gluten from her diet, and "within the first week the rash really cleared up."
However, she continued to have gastric and neurological issues. She assumed it was because she hadn't actually followed a gluten-free diet.
Bishop was later diagnosed with refractory celiac disease, a rare form of celiac disease in which the body does not respond to a gluten-free diet because the stomach has been damaged too much and is still inflamed.
To suppress her immune system, she was forced to take steroids. Despite this, she continues to suffer symptoms, according to Bishop, since the celiac disease has made her body hypersensitive.
"We always talk about how we feel like we're a burden just to eat at a restaurant with friends or with work or traveling," Bishop said. "You have to ask all these questions, and a lot of time people eyeroll or they just flat out tell you, 'Don't eat out.'"
However, she continued to have gastric and neurological issues. She assumed it was because she hadn't actually followed a gluten-free diet.
Bishop was later diagnosed with refractory celiac disease, a rare form of celiac disease in which the body does not respond to a gluten-free diet because the stomach has been damaged too much and is still inflamed.
To suppress her immune system, she was forced to take steroids. Despite this, she continues to suffer symptoms, according to Bishop, since celiac disease has made her body hypersensitive.
"We always talk about how we feel like we're a burden just to eat at a restaurant with friends or with work or traveling," Bishop said of celiac disease patients. "You have to ask all these questions, and a lot of time people eyeroll or they just flat out tell you, 'Don't eat out.'
What is Celiac Disease?
According to the Canadian Celiac Association, celiac disease is a condition in which a chemical called gluten damages the absorptive surface of the small intestine.
The body's inability to absorb nutrients such as protein, fat, carbs, vitamins, and minerals stems from the subsequent intestinal damage, which can manifest itself in traditional symptoms such as persistent diarrhea, stomach discomfort, malabsorption, and weight loss.
However, anemia, osteoporosis, excessive exhaustion, mouth ulcers, liver enzyme abnormalities, constipation, infertility, dental enamel defects, and neurological disorders are becoming increasingly common in patients.
Best Source Of Carbohydrates for People With Celiac Disease
People with this condition sometimes struggle to get enough carbohydrates because most products contain gluten. Individuals with this condition can get carbohydrates and grain nutrients from wild rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, flax, whole corn, millet, sorghum, and teff, according to Diana Meeks, a family practitioner.
Celiac Disease in Numbers
Madison said that only a quarter of people (24%) know it's an autoimmune condition. Just over half of people (53 percent) are aware that there is no treatment for celiac disease and that the only method to manage it is to follow a gluten-free diet.
That implies no foods that have been exposed to any level of gluten-containing cereals such as wheat, barley, or rye.
Gluten sensitivity isn't the only symptom of Celiac disease. People who are gluten sensitive may experience comparable symptoms, but they do not suffer from the same type of intestinal damage as people who have celiac disease.
According to the Harris Poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans (61%) are "not at all sure" what illnesses are associated with untreated celiac disease. Anemia, mental disorders, brain fog, headaches, infertility, cancer, osteoporosis, and delayed growth in children are just a few examples.
Celiac disease affects half or more of the population, however barely a third of Americans (32%) are aware of this. Only 18 percent are aware that an appropriate diagnosis of celiac disease takes an average of six to 10 years.
RELATED ARTICLE: Eating More Gluten is Linked to a Child's Risk of Celiac Disease
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