What is Celiac Disease?
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition where the body attacks its own tissue. Shockingly, the majority of symptoms tend to be neurologic (in the brain), not gastrointestinal (in the gut). In fact, for every single celiac suffering from gut symptoms, 7 others may have only brain-based symptoms (headaches, fatigue, numbness/tingling, depression, etc).
The majority of Americans actually have a genetic predisposition for gluten intolerance, which can trigger and/or exacerbate many other conditions, especially related to autoimmunity. Let us help you find out if your health conditions are related to gluten intolerance.
Celiac Disease Symptoms
Do you suspect or know that you have celiac disease or are gluten intolerant? Symptoms may include :
- Abdominal cramping, pain and bloating
- Depression/Anxiety
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Headaches
- Fatigue (can present as chronic iron deficiency)
- Bone/joint pain
- Itchy skin/rashes (dermatitis herpetiformis)
- Struggles with weight gain or inability to lose weight
- Balance troubles (ataxia)
- Mouth ulcers
- “Failure to thrive”
- Miscarriage
- Osteoporosis
Triggers for Celiac Disease
What can trigger celiac disease?
- Lack of breastfeeding
- Chronic stress
- Fungal/Candida overgrowth
- Timing of gluten introduction
- Hormones
- Chronic low vitamin D levels
How Can Dr. Autoimmune Help?
“Why don’t I feel better now that I’m off gluten?” Sadly, 60% of patients studied one year post gluten removal still had no significant gut healing. Meaning, you can remove the main trigger (gluten), but you can still suffer from symptoms. This is most likely from continued autoimmune inflammation, infections, hormonal changes and nutrient deficiencies. You heard that right: The majority of those diagnosed with celiac disease do not recover after gluten withdrawal!
It can be frustrating trying to find help with chronic and complex conditions, which is why we have chosen to dedicate our practice to exactly that. Instead of treating the symptoms, our functional medicine approach focuses on finding the causes.
All autoimmune diseases start in the gut. We design custom plans of dietary intervention, supplements and lifestyle recommendations to help heal the gut and support the immune system. In supporting these fundamental functions of the digestive tract we can reduce inflammation and see dramatic changes in symptoms.
Finding the Root Cause
We know that autoimmunity requires 3 things to develop:
- Genetic predisposition
- Leaky gut (a.k.a intestinal permeability)
- An environmental trigger
It All Starts in the Gut!
Our small intestine consists of 25 feet of tubing, the inside surface area being equivalent to that of a doubles tennis court!
Proteins called “tight junctions” prevent a flood of material into the gut. Low vitamin D levels coupled with inflammation in the gut starts to widen the space between cells, allowing materials (bacteria and food) to start seeping through. This triggers inflammation and antibodies are formed against your own tissue.
