other issues associated with celiac

[MADMOM]

i have been been reading lots of blogs and articles on google about all these liver / gallbladder/organ issues associated with celiac and just wondering if this is something super common or “can happen if untreated”?  so many things i read are scary and i had checked my liver pancreas and gallbladder prior to dx and also had an almost perfect cbc panel a month before dx as well - thyroid and liver enzymes and levels all normal.  so my question would now be - do i still risk having damage to these organs if i’m gluten free now?  i’ve been on this journey 4 months almost and i’m so terrified that something bad will happen 

[trents]

  On 5/1/2021 at 2:16 AM, MADMOM said:

i have been been reading lots of blogs and articles on google about all these liver / gallbladder/organ issues associated with celiac and just wondering if this is something super common or “can happen if untreated”?  so many things i read are scary and i had checked my liver pancreas and gallbladder prior to dx and also had an almost perfect cbc panel a month before dx as well - thyroid and liver enzymes and levels all normal.  so my question would now be - do i still risk having damage to these organs if i’m gluten free now?  i’ve been on this journey 4 months almost and i’m so terrified that something bad will happen 

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Elevated liver enzymes is what led me to a celiac diagnosis almost 20 years ago. I had mildly elevated liver enzymes for about 13 years before that and primary care docs tested me for various kinds of hepatitis and this and that but those tests were all negative. This was going on from late 1980's to early 2000's when very little was known about celiac disease and very few docs even knew what little information on the disease there was. Finally, a GI doc tested me for celiac antibodies and I was positive and soon had a endoscopy/biopsy and that was positive. By that time I had some mild symptoms and other lab values (like iron levels and albumin and total serum protein) were getting out of whack. Within three months of eating gluten free (or close to it) my liver enzymes had normalized and there is no sign of liver disease or any permanent damage. The liver is very resilient and can take a lot of abuse. What we know now is that about 18% of celiacs have elevated liver enzymes before eliminating gluten from their diet. We also know that it typically takes many years after the onset of celiac disease before there is a diagnosis so my 13 years of living with it is more common than not. A big reason for that is that so many people are largely asymptomatic for years after the onset of the disease. Hopefully, average time between onset and diagnosis is getting shorter now that there is more awareness in the medical community about celiac disease. But I don't think it has changed that much up to this point.

MADMOM, I wouldn't worry about what hasn't happened. The old saying is true. 80% of the things we worry about never materialize. Don't add this additional stress to all the celiac disease related adjustments you are now making.

Edited May 1, 2021 by trents

[MADMOM]

you are right - my logic is that things were pretty normal prior to dx and now that ive started on this gluten free journey i should only be getting healthier 🙏🏻❤️

[Scott Adams]

The good news is that most of the negative risks and side effects associated with celiacs who eat gluten will go away once they are gluten-free. It may take a while, but if you maintain a gluten-free diet for years the risk of getting other disorders and conditions associated with it are greatly reduced, and many of the issues caused by gluten will go away after time.