Dangers Of Ignoring Celiac

[blythiee]

I was diagnosed when i was about five, so don't really remember any of the original symptoms off my condition. I am now 17, and from about four years I have been ignoring the fact that I have celiac, at first just eating a cake now and then, but now I rarely even think about the ingredients of food and regularly eat pizza pasta bread etc. I don't appear to have any adverse symptoms of ignoring celiac that people associate with the condition so what does this mean? Was I wrongly diagnosed as a child or will i incur health problems on the future if I continue eating what ever I like?

[AzizaRivers]

What you are doing is very dangerous.

Sometimes, people who have been gluten free for a long time begin to eat gluten again and have no visible symptoms. It's called a "honeymoon period" by many of us around here, and it's deceiving. Additionally, some people don't have any visible symptoms at all. I know girl in her 20s who was diagnosed as a baby because of failure to thrive and nothing else (blood test, scope) and to this day, she has no idea when she has accidentally ingested gluten because she doesn't get symptoms.

However, symptoms or no symptoms, you are doing actual damage to your intestines by continuing to eat gluten. You may not feel it now, but you are risking all kinds of complications including secondary autoimmune disease, organ damage, and various types of cancer.

I highly encourage you to quit what you're doing and go completely gluten-free again, with no cheating whatsoever because if you have been doing this for several years, it's likely you have a lot of damage that needs to heal.

I don't know what your relationship with your parents is (since I can't imagine them letting you eat like that unless they are severely misinformed as well) but consider asking them what your diagnosis was like?

[ravenwoodglass]

It used to be thought that children outgrew celiac because it can take time before the damage from the antibodies becomes apparent when they began consuming gluten again. Doctors now know that is not the case. You may at this time not be having symptoms, or think your not. Many don't realize that celiac is much more than a GI disease. It can impact all organs including the brain. By consuming gluten you are risking the formation of other autoimmune diseases, depression and anxiety, arthritis, learning problems, infertility and increasing your risk of cancers like lymphoma.

I realize that the diet is inconvient when you are a young adult but it really does need to be followed for life.

[SakuraKisetsu]

I am a 21 year old woman who was just recently diagnosed. I was told that I had a minor wheat allergy growing up and so it wasn't a real problem if I kept eating wheat. Growing up my immune system was almost completely shot, I was depressed, unmotivated, and always felt sick. Then I had this nice period from about 15-19 where if I ate wheat I only had a minor stomach ache and I thought it was worth it to eat what I wanted. I started to suddenly get sick with throat infections, sinus infections, colds, flus, and everything else that normal people shouldn't get back to back. On top of that I started getting indigestion, signs of malnutrition, and sharp pains in my stomach. I finally was diagnosed at 20, and not four months later got even SICKER despite being gluten free. From eating gluten and wheat for so many years, I had developed gallstones despite being below average in weight, young, and eating low transfat diets. I had years worth of scarring to my gallbladder caused by eating the gluten, and even developed lactose intolerance to boot. After surgery I have felt better, but if I had known what you did from so early an age, I would have had so much better of a life and childhood. I know it's hard to be gluten free, but take it from me, it's not worth the consequences. I've undergone so many painful treatments, surgeries, and horrible sickening medications for celiac related problems that I would never wish on even my worst enemy this god awful disease.

You may not believe any of us and think we all just sound like we are over worried over things since you don't feel anything now(heck I did too), but you are destroying part of your body everytime you eat gluten, and the more you do that, the less your immune stystem can fight real problems and the less your body functions. It took me a painful surgery and 3 months of agony before I realized that I had caused all of it by being stupid and pretending I didn't have a problem. I truly wish you do not make my mistakes.

[AVR1962]

What can happen too is there is this time called the romance period when young people can seemingly eat gluten again. This happened as the hormones change. Most will then have a flare-up in their 20's. Read about it, it might help you.

[mommyto2kids]

Read the teen age stories on gig.net. That will convince you. Those are pretty moving stories!

[UnhappyCoeliac]

I ignored it for 3 or so years in my 20's I have no developed menieres disease.

My doctor diagnosed someone 87 who had apparently lived there whole life with Coliac.

In short it's flipping random you could be 'lucky' or 'unlucky' one things for sure though you will get sick more, you will get more tired you may get depressed.