celiac disease

I've been doing well and have not been on this forum in a long time. I have since been diagnosed with celiac disease. I had absolutely no symptoms but due to the genetic factor and my mother's diagnosis I took the test. Now one of my kids has been diagnosed as well and it's changed his life for the better. I'm curious if anyone out there has dealt with both of these and recognizes any bearing of one on the other. For me it's a bit of the chicken or the egg. I've was in remission before the celiac diagnosis and now am curious if eating gluten free has any bearing on UC and my ability to reduce meds. I've been over to the celiac forum but want any thoughts from this group too.

I doubted the thought it was UC and then turned up having Celiac Disease, and it's confirmed. The "gluten free girl" says nothing about UC or that it was even suspected.

Remember that Celiac Disease is in the small intestine, not the colon. UC has a specific pattern of involvement in the colon. It's sometimes confused with Crohn's that follows the pattern, but eventually it gets figured out as the Crohn's progresses.




Slimcook.....Regarding having UC and Celiac....difficult to determine what the symptoms represent dealing with two autoimmune diseases that can cause diarrhea, frequency, cramping, etc. With Celiac...one MUST be totally gluten free or risk destruction of the small intestine.

With that autoimmune disease (as it's stated in some references) uncontrolled and another in a flare, I would tend to believe that the gluten free would have less strain on the body and tend to lessen the autoimmune reaction.

I think having Celiac is more straight forward....it's a straight NO regarding specific foods.

Regarding UC...you'll soon find out if you improve. I think it would be easy to say it helped but looking at the big picture, you would have to focus on the UC with your meds and recognise that the symptoms may be a bit more obvious than when sufferig with Celiac symptoms as well.

I suggest you recognise all the rules regarding foods and supplements for gluten.

I hope you feel better soon....please keep us posted.

quincy

you didn't....I took it upon myself to check. Thanks for the link...she had a LOT to share for Celiac.

Unfortunate some doctors are so stubborn as to not check for it...frustrating.

She didn't mention other symptoms such as deficiencies or diarrhea, etc.

q

I developed mucous, blood in stools, pain etc. and lived with this for many years with the generic diagnosis of IBS. Finally a new doctor gave me a blood test for gluten intolerance thinking for sure I had Celiac Disease. The blood test was positive for gluten intolerance, so she sent me in for both an endoscopy and colonoscopy. The endoscopy showed no signs of Celiac in my small intestine. However, the colonoscopy showed ulcerative colitis in my large intestine, so I was officially diagnosed with UC and not Celiac. My doc never gave me a definitive answer on whether or not I needed to be gluten free since my biopsy showed no "official" Celiac symptoms. Despite this, I decided to go on the gluten free diet since my blood work was definitely positive for gluten intolerance. I have now been on the diet for almost 4 years. It helps with bloating and pain, but doesn't seem to stop the flaring including blood and mucous. Still, I stick with it since I do generally feel better, and who knows what other diseases I might get in the future by ingesting gluten when I know for sure my body produces antibodies against it. I sometimes wonder if eating gluten for 30+ years caused me to get UC. I have heard that some gluten-caused auto-immune diseases are irreversible. Gluten causes them but when you stop eating it your disease doesn't go away. The connection between gluten and UC seems to be quite the mystery.