Gastroenterologist Questions Gastroenterologist

What is celiac disease?

I am a 24 year old male and I was diagnosed with celiac disease. What is celiac disease? How will my life change?

4 Answers

I would think that the doctor who diagnosed it would have explained it to you, but celiac is an immunological reaction of the small intestine to gluten. Make sure that the diagnosis is correct and not simply "gluten sensitivity" or something else.
Celiac diseas is simply your body protecting itself from infection. It searches out and destroys bacteria, viruses, and other substances that may be harmful. In the case of Celiac disease your body is most likely reacting to the protein (gluten) in wheat. This happens because today's wheat has been genetically modified to have the same genetic code as roundup insecticide and weed killer spray. In addition to basically being roundup itself, the farming industry uses roundup on the wheat while it is growing. Thus, basically, your body is reacting to the poisons that are now in the wheat. This means, all flour products will be off limits to you. No bread, no pastries, cookies, cakes, cereal, pasta, breaded meats like chicken nuggets, no buns on your burgers or hot dogs, etc. Your body is working over time to eliminate the poisons in the food you eat that have wheat or flour products in them.
If you can remain very compliant with the appropriate diet, you should expect to live a very healthy life! If you are not compliant with the diet, you can expect gastrointestinal symptoms that can be quite bothersome, and you can have some complications due to poor absorption of nutrients. The good news is that there is increasing availability of gluten-free foods in your grocery store and restaurants because lots of people, even those who don’t have celiac disease, just feel better when they avoid gluten, so the demand is higher. So the biggest change to your life is that you’ll decide to be a pickier eater. Good luck!
Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten. You will have to be on a gluten free diet that is all wheat products