The question I often get asked is how I discovered that my 5 years old had Celiac. The truth is, it very tough to get diagnosed. While I have listed a few symptoms, my tip to all parents is to be vigilant and map your child’s growth from birth in terms of height and weight. Don’t compare siblings or with friends and just track your own.
Some of the classic symptoms are:
- Diarrhoea
- Stomach Pain
- Vomiting
- Bloating
- Fatigue
- Brain Fog
- Passing Wind
- Low Blood Count (Anaemia)
- Osteoporosis
- Rash on the Body/ Private Parts
Gluten Intolerance can be of three types Wheat Allergy, Celiac Disease and Non-Celiac Sensitivity. Symptoms for all three are similar and the level of positive or negative to tests defines the level of gluten intolerance.
What Is Wheat Allergy?
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Wheat Allergy is when someone is allergic to wheat grain only and might not be allergic to the protein called “gluten”. Symptoms of wheat allergy can range from mild to life-threatening and causes severe difficulty in breathing (anaphylaxis).
This Protein-Rich, Gluten-Free Grain Will Improve Your Child's Digestion & Bone Health
What Is Celiac Disease?
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Currently, Celiac Disease has no cure and requires a person to be on a 100% gluten-free diet. When I keep saying this word 1'00% Gluten Free' it means no cross contamination in the environment. Honestly, the hardest part is to be compliant at all times. This is the biggest challenge for most patients and especially kids. Celiac Disease is a serious genetic autoimmune disorder where the ingestion of protein gluten found in wheat, rye, oats and barley leads to damage in the small intestine. It is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide. People with first degree relatives with celiac disease have 1 in 10 risk of developing celiac disease.
To diagnose Celiac Disease levels of TTG and IgA are checked in a blood test and the gold standard to confirm is a Biopsy. Celiac disease is hereditary and runs in the family. It is a lifelong disease that requires no medication except a very strict gluten-free diet and no cross contamination either. Please note alternate therapy, homoeopathy or naturopathy can’t cure Celiac.
If Celiac Disease goes undiagnosed the failure to absorb nutrients during critical years of growth and development can lead to health problems such as failure to thrive in infants, delayed puberty in adolescents, short stature and weight loss and infertility at a later stage.
What Is Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity?
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Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity: Is intolerance to the protein gluten found in wheat, rye, oats and barley. But either the blood test or the biopsy is negative. These people experience better gut conditions when not consuming wheat, rye, oats and barley. But often suffer the diagnose isn’t complete. A lot of other food allergy conditions such as FODMAP have been diagnosed with people suffering from non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
The truth is it is very tough to diagnose gluten intolerance/Celiac Disease. Sometimes a person can have these signs and still go undiagnosed and keep suffering till they reach old age and by then the venial is very badly damaged and all the nutrients have been drained out of the body.
I feel very fortunate that my son was diagnosed at a very early stage. Mannat was just 5 years old. Some of the signs he had that made me realize that something was wrong were that his shoe size didn’t increase for a whole year, his weight hadn’t increased though he had grown taller at a slower rate, he was biting his nails, constantly complained of stomach ache. When the doctor checked his growth had slowed down from 95 percentile to 75 percentile.
Awareness is the key to handling any problem. Like President Barack Obama says “Our destiny is not written for us but by us”
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Vaishnavi Venkatraman
Luke Coutinho
Mansi Zaveri
KSP Team
Parul Gupta
Parul Gupta
