Do You Have Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance? Read On to Find Out...

Many possible symptoms exist for celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. And to make matters more complicated, each person has their own unique set of symptoms.

Should you be tested for celiac disease? If you, your children or anyone in your extended family have symptoms like those outlined below then it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor about getting tested.

It is important to have an official celiac diagnosis before going on a gluten-free diet. Once you switch to eating gluten-free, it becomes difficult for doctors to use the standard tests to make a viable diagnosis.

Standardized tests detect how the body reacts to gluten both in blood work and how villi in the small intestine look. The moment you start eating gluten-free the body’s healing process begins, which makes getting an accurate diagnosis more difficult.

Classical symptoms differ between adults and children. With that in mind, I have broken out the symptoms by each of those groupings. (Please keep in mind I‘m not a physician. The lists below are an aggregation of information from books, the Internet, and personal experience.)

10 Common Symptoms for Adults

• Chronic Diarrhea. Do you have a list of foods you just can't eat because they give you diarrhea? It may be gluten (not those foods!) that is causing the problem
  
• Frequently bloated / gasey. Feel like you're going to explode a while after you eat? It could be gluten causing the issue.
  
• Abdominal pain after eating. Do you feel ill for a while after you eat some meals?
  
• Brain Fog. Like with fatigue, your body's particular reaction to gluten may not be belly related - it could be causing other symptoms
  
• Persistent skin rashes that come and go but doctors can't explain why
  
• Fatigue, especially after meals but you feel like you have no energy to do anything
  
• Depression
• You or your child get sick an hour or two after a meal then fall asleep
  
• Arthritis
• Osteoporosis

Although this isn’t a complete list, these are the most common symptoms Infants and children with sensitivity to gluten tend to have digestive symptoms. If they are not getting the nutrition they need, it becomes obvious very quickly.

It is still difficult to get doctors to order the tests for celiac disease...but this is slowly changing. If your doctor dismisses your concerns about gluten or is not knowledgeable about the disease, find one who is. If you see these symptoms in your child, be persistent and get the tests done! The sooner you know what is going on, the healthier your child will be.

• Failure to thrive - which basically means the child is not growing in height and weight at a normal rate
• Chronic diarrhea
• Vomiting after meals
• Large, distended belly
• Decreased appetite