Another Newbie Question

[AmandaD]

Hi there - I met with my registered dietitian today. She was a very nice lady, but basically handed me a packet and admitted that she didn't work with a ton of celiacs. She was clear on some science about the condition - she explained I need to have a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to gluten...and was clear on the fact that I could live a very healthy, normal life as long as I adhere to the diet. She also said it's a very successful one and that many people feel better in a semi-short amount of time. One of the things stuck in my head and I was wondering if any of you have a good perspective on this - she basically said the main scary thing people hear about is celiac being linked with lymphoma. She told me that's something far off to worry about and that basically if I stay gluten-free, I'm going to stay healthy. She also said the doctors mention lymphoma in the barrage of information you get because they want you to take the diet seriously.

I'm totally taking this diet seriously no question...but even that little piece of talk about lymphoma sort of freaked me out. Does somebody out there with celiac "experience" have a good way to help me put this in perspective so I don't think that every cough or cold is going to kill me down the line ...

Again, this is just so darn new!! I'm not sure I get it all just yet!

[tarnalberry]

Hopefully this will help:

A chronically heightened immune response causes all sorts of chemical changes in the body, including rapid turnover of some cells, which - if it triggers a gene that lets the cells grow uncontrolled - leads to cancer (of which, lymphoma is a type). The immune response related to celiac comes only when you ingest gluten - the body sees the protein as a foreign invader and responds to it immunologically. So, if you don't ingest gluten, you don't have this immune response. If you don't have the immune response constantly occuring, you don't have a chronically heighted immune response throughout the body.

This is why staying strictly gluten-free reduces the chances of all of these complications.

This is also why there is a zero tolerance perspective - the body is a big chemical factory. It doesn't matter if you ingest a tiny amount of gluten, the chemicals in the body still react to it and start the reaction.

It's wonderfully nice in that sense - the gluten free diet completely eliminates that particular immune response. The diet may be hard, but zero tolerance really makes a huge difference in the body at a chemical level.

[AmandaD]

thanks Tiffany that makes a lot of sense.... - i must ask, is that actually you in that picture?

how old are you? i'm 29 and i haven't been that flexible since I was a kid!!!!

[tarnalberry]

lol! yep. I'm 26. worked on that one half a year to get it. :-) practice practice practice. ;-)