In 1994 I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which led me to create Celiac.com in 1995. I created this site for a single purpose: To help as many people as possible with celiac disease get diagnosed so they can begin to live happy, healthy gluten-free lives. Celiac.com was the first site on the Internet dedicated solely to celiac disease, and since then it has become an invaluable resource to people worldwide who seek information about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet. In 1998 I created The Gluten-Free Mall, Your Special Diet Superstore! which was also another Internet first—it was the first gluten-free food site to offer a shopping cart-style interface, and the ability for people to order gluten-free products manufactured by many different companies at a single Web site.
I am also co-author of the book Cereal Killers, and founder and publisher of Journal of Gluten Sensitivity.
There is no typical celiac. Individuals range from having no symptoms (asymptomatic or "latent" forms of the disease) to extreme cases where patients present to their physicians with gas, bloating, diarrhea, and weight loss due to malabsorption.
In between these two extremes lie a wide variety of symptoms that include:
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Steatorrhea (fatty stools that float rather than sink)
- Abdominal pain
- Excessive gas
- Any problem associated with vitamin deficiencies
- Iron deficiency (anemia)
- Chronic fatigue
- Weakness
- Weight loss
- Bone pain
- Easily fractured bones
- Abnormal or impaired skin sensation (paresthesia),
- Including burning, prickling, itching or tingling
- Edema
- Headaches*
- Peripheral
Neuropathy* (tingling in fingers and toes)
Individuals have reported such varied symptoms as:
- White flecks on the fingernails
- Fuzzy-mindedness after gluten ingestion
- Burning sensations
in the throat
In children, the symptoms may include:
- Failure to thrive
- Paleness
- Querulousness, irritability
- Inability to concentrate
- Wasted buttocks
- Pot belly with or without painful bloating
- Pale, malodorous, bulky stools
- Requent, foamy diarrhea
In addition to all of these, dermatitis herpetiformis, a disease in which severe rashes appear (often on the head, elbows, knees and buttocks) is related to celiac disease.
Reactions to ingestion of gluten can be immediate, or delayed for weeks or even months.
The amazing thing about celiac disease is that no two individuals who have it seem to have the same set of symptoms or reactions. A person might have several of the symptoms listed above, a few of them, one, or none. There are even cases in which obesity turned out to be a symptom of celiac disease.