Celiac Disease Symptoms
Celiac disease symptoms also called celiac sprue, gluten-sensitive enteropathy, and nontropical sprue symptoms are brought on by this digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.
People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, and barley. When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the small intestine. Specifically, tiny fingerlike protrusions, called villi, on the lining of the small intestine are lost. Nutrients from food are absorbed into the bloodstream through these villi. Without villi, a person becomes malnourished—regardless of the quantity of food eaten.
Because the body's own immune system causes the damage, celiac disease is considered an autoimmune disorder. However, it is also classified as a disease of malabsorption because nutrients are not absorbed. Celiac disease is also known as celiac sprue, nontropical sprue, and gluten-sensitive enteropathy.
Celiac disease is a genetic disease, meaning that it runs in families. Sometimes the disease is triggered
or becomes active for the first
time, after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection, or severe emotional stress.
Symptoms of Celiac Disease Celiac disease affects people differently. Some people develop symptoms as children, others as adults. One factor thought to play a role in when and how celiac appears is whether and how long a person was breastfed—the longer one was breastfed, the later symptoms of celiac disease appear and the more atypical the symptoms. Other factors include the age at which one began eating foods containing gluten and how much gluten is eaten.
Symptoms may or may not occur in the digestive system. For example, one person might have diarrhea and abdominal pain, while another person has irritability or depression. In fact, irritability is one of the most common symptoms in children.
Symptoms of celiac disease may include one or more of the following:
- recurring abdominal bloating and pain
- chronic diarrhea
- weight loss
- pale, foul-smelling stool
- unexplained anemia (low count of red blood cells)
- gas
- bone pain
- behavior changes
- muscle cramps
- fatigue
- delayed growth
- failure to thrive in infants
- pain in the joints
- seizures
- tingling numbness in the legs (from nerve damage)
- pale sores inside the mouth, called aphthus ulcers
- painful skin rash, called dermatitis herpetiformis
- tooth discoloration or loss of enamel
- missed menstrual periods (often because of excessive weight loss)
Anemia, delayed growth, and weight loss are signs of malnutrition, not getting enough nutrients. Malnutrition is a serious problem for anyone, but particularly for children because they need adequate nutrition to develop properly.
Some people with celiac disease may not have symptoms. The undamaged part of their small intestine is able to absorb enough nutrients to prevent symptoms. However, people without symptoms are still at risk for the complications of celiac disease.
Celiac Disease Symptoms to C
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