Onset Of Celiac Disease

[gfb1]

i've noticed an increase in the frequency of postings regarding understanding of partially-positive or negative test results, in the face of celiac-like symptoms. conflicting test results also seem to be common.

celiac disease can be considered to be a 'threshold' disease. that is, blood test results and small bowel injury do not occur in a persons life until AFTER some 'threshold' or minimum level of gluten exposure. this threshold level appears to be extremely variable, taking into account both the degree to which one's gastrointestinal tract can metabollize gluten, one's level of inherent immune response to gliadin/gluten as it contacts the intestinal mucosa (probably the role of HLA alleles), the extent of one's immune response AFTER small bowel injury (i.e., following the entry of gliadin into the bloodstream) and, unsurprisingly, the amount of gluten one eats!!

a personal example;

my wife came from a 'meat and potatoes' family -- eating bread approx once per week-- with no health issues.

she had the misfortune of marrying some good looking italian 'guy', who (not to be stereotypical, but.... ) insisited on pasta twice a week and bread at every meal. worse, this poor fellow was a ny/nj-italian-american -- who introduced her to the wide, wonderful (but gliadically evil) world of bagels -- probably 5 times per week (the other 2 breakfasts were usually red bean cakes from chinatown...).

within 2 years, age 23, her health issues started and it took nearly 10 years to be diagnosed.

not a strange story, in and of itself... but, her dad -- who continued on the same meat/potatoes diet -- was only diagnosed with celiac disease 5 yrs ago at the unripe, young age of 77.

so, as equivocal test results start rolling in; remember that in order to consistently test 'postive' across all blood/biopsy tests; you really need to be eating gluten and have 'mature' celiac disease. perhaps contrary to expectations, some of the gastrointestinal outcomes of celiac disease, eg. bloating, gas, diarrhea, occur BEFORE all the clinical testing is postive.

this is probably why the 'old timers' in the group always tell the newcomers to try a gluten free diet for a few weeks to see if you feel better.

the difficulty with this approach involves the personal decision as to whether to re-introduce gluten into the diet in order to test positive...

[nasalady]

i've noticed an increase in the frequency of postings regarding understanding of partially-positive or negative test results, in the face of celiac-like symptoms. conflicting test results also seem to be common.

celiac disease can be considered to be a 'threshold' disease. that is, blood test results and small bowel injury do not occur in a persons life until AFTER some 'threshold' or minimum level of gluten exposure. this threshold level appears to be extremely variable, taking into account both the degree to which one's gastrointestinal tract can metabollize gluten, one's level of inherent immune response to gliadin/gluten as it contacts the intestinal mucosa (probably the role of HLA alleles), the extent of one's immune response AFTER small bowel injury (i.e., following the entry of gliadin into the bloodstream) and, unsurprisingly, the amount of gluten one eats!!

a personal example;

my wife came from a 'meat and potatoes' family -- eating bread approx once per week-- with no health issues.

she had the misfortune of marrying some good looking italian 'guy', who (not to be stereotypical, but.... ) insisited on pasta twice a week and bread at every meal. worse, this poor fellow was a ny/nj-italian-american -- who introduced her to the wide, wonderful (but gliadically evil) world of bagels -- probably 5 times per week (the other 2 breakfasts were usually red bean cakes from chinatown...).

within 2 years, age 23, her health issues started and it took nearly 10 years to be diagnosed.

not a strange story, in and of itself... but, her dad -- who continued on the same meat/potatoes diet -- was only diagnosed with celiac disease 5 yrs ago at the unripe, young age of 77.

so, as equivocal test results start rolling in; remember that in order to consistently test 'postive' across all blood/biopsy tests; you really need to be eating gluten and have 'mature' celiac disease. perhaps contrary to expectations, some of the gastrointestinal outcomes of celiac disease, eg. bloating, gas, diarrhea, occur BEFORE all the clinical testing is postive.

Very helpful post...thanks!

I should add that many of us who have battled with weight problems have tried every diet out there, and not surprisingly, discovered that we felt BEST on a low-carbohydrate diet....that it made our "IBS" subside or even go away entirely!

So we have unconsciously been on a "gluten-light" diet for years or even decades to control gastric discomfort as well as to lose weight. This definitely complicates things when we go see the doctor wanting a firm diagnosis!