If you believe you could have celiac disease you will need to see your physician immediately. The physician will likely have you take a celiac disease blood test to confirm.

Celiac Disease (CD) is a digestive disorder that affects both children and adults. This disease is life long and there is no cure. Essentially when foods containing gluten are eaten the body has an immune-mediated toxic reaction that causes damage to the small intestine. This does not allow food to be properly absorbed. This reaction will occur even if there is only a small amount of gluten present.

Gluten is the protein in specific grains that are harmful to people with celiac disease. You can find these harmful proteins in all forms of wheat and related grains such as barley, triticale and rye. This means ALL of these must be eliminated from the patient’s diet. One important thing to understand is that celiac disease is not a food allergy. It is an autoimmune disease. One out of one hundred thirty three people in the United States have celiac disease.

Some symptoms of celiac disease are recurring bloating, gas and abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea or constipation or both, unexplained weight loss or weight gain, pale, foul-smelling stool, unexplained anemia, bone and joint pain, behavioral changes, depression, vitamin K deficiency, delayed growth, fatigue, weakness or lack of energy, missed periods, infertility in male or female, spontaneous miscarriages, canker sores inside the mouth and tooth discoloration or loss of enamel.

To determine if you have celiac disease your physician will send you for a celiac disease blood test. This specific antibody blood test will screen for Endomysial antibody (EMA-IgA), tissue transglutaminase antibody (tTG- LgA/lgG), anti-gliadin antibody (AGA-lgG, AGA-lgA) and total serum lgA. If the patient is under the age of two, tTG and EMA may not be present. If the results of the blood test are inconclusive, then a small bowel biopsy may be needed.

The blood tests only screen for the risk of celiac disease but it isn’t a confirm or deny it’s presence. When blood tests and biopsy are inconclusive, testing for HLA DQ2/DQ8 genes associated with celiac disease may be performed. Celiac disease, being an autoimmune disease, is the result of the interaction between genes and the environment. HLA DQ2 and or DQ8 are necessary to develop Celiac Disease. That does not mean it is present just that it is possible.