What is celiac disease. Diagnosis and treatment
Celiac disease is a digestive disorder caused by gluten intolerance. For the first time, doctors mentioned this disease 2 thousand years ago. But the pathology was thoroughly studied only in the last century, at the same time a special diet was developed that could prevent the suffering of patients.
Causes of celiac disease
Gluten intolerance, which is mentioned in the diagnosis of celiac disease, is caused by the fact that the villi of the small intestine, which are actively involved in the absorption of nutrients into the blood, are damaged by food products that contain proteins with a specific structure. These compounds are gluten, as well as the related avenin, hordein, and some other cereal proteins (including wheat, rye, and barley).
Symptoms of celiac disease in children and adults appear due to insufficient digestion of these proteins, which occurs due to a lack of enzymes that are able to break down gluten and proteins similar to it.
Celiac disease is a genetically determined disease: about 10-15% of relatives of patients with celiac disease had the same disease. A connection between celiac disease and immune status was also found. This was confirmed by the fact that many patients with celiac disease were found to have other diseases of an autoimmune nature:
- diabetes of the first type;
- Schöngren's syndrome (disease of connective tissue with involvement of salivary and lacrimal glands);
- autoimmune thyroiditis;
- juvenile (youthful) rheumatoid arthritis.
Symptoms of celiac disease in children and adults
After finding out what celiac disease is and why it occurs, let's consider the symptoms of the disease. The main signs of pathology:
- diarrhea;
- steatorrhoea (excess amount of fat that is excreted with feces);
- weight loss;
- signs of multivitamin deficiency.
The first signs of the disease appear at the age of 9-18 months (the period when the baby is first offered bread and flour products made from cereals). Such children have frequent and infrequent bowel movements. There is a failure in the development of the child - it does not grow well and does not gain body weight.
In adults suffering from celiac disease, the following symptoms appear:
- instability of the work of the large intestine - diarrhea is replaced by constipation;
- flatulence;
- unpleasant rumbling in the stomach.
Gluten intolerance can be suspected based on the characteristics of defecation:
- at least 5 times a day;
- stools of a liquid consistency, frothy, fragments of undigested food can be seen in them.
If the diarrhea lasted, the symptoms of dehydration gradually develop:
- dry skin and visible mucous membranes;
- the tongue is dry, coated with a white coating;
- headaches;
- urinating less frequently than normal, the amount of urine output decreases.
When diagnosing celiac disease in adults, it should be taken into account that the increase in clinical symptoms may be triggered by:
- pregnancy;
- postponed operations or medical manipulations (chemotherapy in cancer);
- infectious lesions.
Laboratory research methods are used to confirm the diagnosis. A blood test for gluten intolerance includes the determination of specific antibodies in the blood to:
- gliadin (gluten protein);
- tissue transglutaminase (an enzyme contained in hepatocytes, erythrocytes, epithelial and submucous layers of the small intestine).
They also study feces for the presence of excess fat and undigested food elements.
We recommend that you read more about the laboratory methods of diagnosing this disease on the pages of our website Dobrobut.com.
How to treat celiac disease
The basis of the treatment of this disease should be the limitation of the provocateur factor. A celiac disease diet is a gluten-free diet. The following are excluded:
- bakery products from such types of flour as wheat, rye, barley;
- pasta products from these types of flour;
- semolina;
- products in which gluten can be detected in small quantities - sausage, sausages and sausages, chocolate, ice cream, mayonnaise and sauces related to it, soy products, fast food (soups, bouillon cubes), beer, kvass. li>
Prescriptions and recommendations during the treatment of patients with celiac disease do not consist only in dietary nutrition - in the absence of the desired effect from the diet, patients are prescribed treatment with hormonal drugs.
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