People that cannot eat gluten because there is a high possibility that it can damage their intestines have what is called celiac disease. If people who suffer from this disease eat foods that contain high amounts of gluten, the immune system tries to fend off that group of proteins and in the process damage the small intestine. This protein can usually be found in cereal grains such as wheat, rye, legume and others such as these.
The symptoms of this disease can be different from person to person. Sometimes it may affect just your intestines, other times it may affect other parts of your body. One person may suffer from constant headaches and even fall into depression others may just have physical symptoms such as diarrhea. Some people may not show any kind of symptoms.
There still isn’t any real cure for this disease, you can treat it however with different medications to reduce the symptoms or treat it by removing gluten-based food from your diet.
The celiac disease can be often misdiagnosed
Because this disease can sometimes show a little or no symptoms, it can be hard for doctors to properly diagnose it. However, there are several tests you can do at home such as the imaware™ to find out if you suffer from celiac disease.
How dangerous is a celiac disease if left untreated?
People who suffer from this disease have a much weaker immune system because it constantly focuses on attacking the gluten proteins instead of focusing on more important factors such as bacteria or viruses. It also increases the risk of developing other more serious diseases such as bowel cancer or other autoimmune diseases such as diabetes. The celiac disease might also lead to anxiety attacks, constant migraines, epilepsy, depression, and even dementia. About 15 percent of patients who have celiac disease suffer from some type of neurological problem.
Recent studies have shown that adults who have developed this digestive condition have an increased risk of developing dementia, a chronic brain condition that takes away the abilities for linear thinking, accessing memory and influences behavior.
In recent research, 15 patients who suffered from this disease after a few years showed a serious decline in neurological stability. In 35 percent of the cases, both the mental decline and celiac symptoms appeared at the same time. There is a good chance that this digestive condition to cause dementia in patients suffering from it.
The main treatment for celiac disease is changing the diet to gluten-free foods. Three of the cases in this study showed that after an extreme gluten-free diet showed a great improvement in both the digestive condition and their mental stability.
It is still unsure whether celiac disease is a direct cause for this brain condition, however, there is good evidence that it might be. The next step into this research is to find why one causes the other to appear. It might be because the immune system tries to fight the gluten proteins so hard that it starts attacking the brain too. Another suggestion is that celiac can cause inflammation in the brain which then results in serious degradation of the brain and finally dementia.
