My Problem... Celiac Disease

Training Over 35 Lifter
21

[quote]gettingyounger wrote:
Hello all, I am the guy who started this post back in March of this year when I was diagnosed with Celiac’s disease. I wanted to give everyone reading this post an update. The first 6 weeks I was on the gluten-free diet everything was great. Then BAM! The diarrhea started…
I re-evaluated all of the food products I was eating to confirm that I was not getting gluten. This was a miserable time, and very frustrating. Then over about a one month period the diarrhea gradually went away. Over the last 3.5 months, I have gain 16 lbs. (approxiamtely 10 lbs. of muscle, 6 lbs. of fat). It is great to workout and actually realize gains in muscle mass and strength!

My iron levels have improved, but they are still low and I continue to take an iron supplement, but I am feeling much better. My energy level is great, and I cannot even imagine how much better I will feel when my iron levels are normal.

I have learned this:

  • all Celiac’s recovery phrases are different. I participate in my local Celiac support group’s monthly meetings, and everybody’s recovery story is different.
  • the only sure fire thing to do as a Celiac is to eliminate gluten. This takes some time and self-education, but it is mandatory to recovery and living a healthy life.
  • hang in there. I was so depressed and pissed-off during my recovery. I was trying everything and nothing was working to stop the diarrhea (but I was gluten free and my intestines were healing)…

.[/quote]

Wise advice.

A question: is the diarrhea worse with oral iron? If so, consider Repliva, or even IV iron. (Getting replenished should only take a few shots, and then you will not need to continue oral iron constantly.)

22

YO, gettingyounger, how you doing? I am a type 1 diabetic and once thought I had Celiac disease. Once you have an autoimmune disease you’re more susceptible to others possibly (type 1 diabetes is autoimmune).

You should seek another expert opinion. You may have Celiac but if I recall there are other sighns as well. Like upset stomach, etc. Did you have these also? Turned out I didn’t have Celiac.

I learned not to trust your Dr. I would bring in tons of literature, etc and teach my Dr. things. He was a nice guy but did not know in depth specific things I needed to know.
Good luck.

[quote]gettingyounger wrote:
I posted a topic a couple of months ago stating that I could not gain any size regardless of how hard I lifted. I was lifting hard, eating right, taking all the right supplements, etc., but I was not gaining any muscle. Several of you made great suggestions which I tried, but nothing seemed to work.

Four weeks ago, I went to my doctor for my annual physical. I was anemic (and I also had just turned 50)so he ordered a lower and upper GI. When the gastro doc was performing the upper GI, he noticed that the wall of my small intestines were damaged, so he took a biopsy.

Turns out that I have Celiac Disease. This means that when I eat products containing gluten, I have an autoimmune response that attacks the lining (or villi) of my small intestine. Since all the nutrients that we consume are absorbed into the blood stream through our small intestine and the lining of my small intestine was damaged, I was not getting the nutrients I needed to build muscle!

Gluten is found in wheat, rye, barley and oats and because these foods are used as binders and fillers, they found in a ton of food and personal items. I have totally eliminated any products containing gluten. The doctor told me that my small intestines will heal in 2 to 6 months depending on the amount of damage.

After they heal, I should be able to put on some muscle.

Celiac Disease is genetic and it is estimated that 1 in every 133 people have it. The amazing and alarming staistic is that only 3% of the people who have it are every diagnosed. 97% are never aware that they have it.

If a person with Celiac Disease does not go completely gluten-free, they greatly increase their risk for diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, thyroid disease and the list goes on and on.

I’m really looking forward to gaining that muscle I have been working so hard to obtain!

If you are interested in learning more, here are a couple of websites:

www.celiac.org [/quote]

23

[quote]DrSkeptix wrote:

Wise advice.

A question: is the diarrhea worse with oral iron? If so, consider Repliva, or even IV iron. (Getting replenished should only take a few shots, and then you will not need to continue oral iron constantly.)

[/quote]At this time, the diarrhea has stopped and I am still taking an oral iron supplement (Hemocyte Plus) once daily. I wish I had known about the oral iron possibly being a problem, and about the shots. If my iron level is not back to normal at my next doctor’s appt.(February), I will definitely inquire about getting a shot (or two). Thanks for the advice!

24

[quote]tiggersdesire wrote:
YO, gettingyounger, how you doing? I am a type 1 diabetic and once thought I had Celiac disease. Once you have an autoimmune disease you’re more susceptible to others possibly (type 1 diabetes is autoimmune).

You should seek another expert opinion. You may have Celiac but if I recall there are other sighns as well. Like upset stomach, etc. Did you have these also? Turned out I didn’t have Celiac.

I learned not to trust your Dr. I would bring in tons of literature, etc and teach my Dr. things. He was a nice guy but did not know in depth specific things I needed to know.
Good luck.

[/quote]I’m doing great! It is amazing how much better you feel when you can actually absorb the nutrients from the food you eat. The bad part is that I will probably have to go on my first weight loss (or fat control) diet in 12 years.

I definitely have Celiac’s disease. It was confirmed both by a Celiac blood panel and intestinal biopsy.

I did not have any of the stomach problems that some Celiacs experience, but I was anemic big time. Oh, and my liver enzymes were very high. They are completely normal now. One of the reasons why Celiac disease is so hard to diagnose is that everyone’s symptoms are different.

For example, most Celiacs are very thin (and it maybe hard to believe), but 20% of the people who are diagnosed with Celiac disease are considered obese.

There are several good websites on the internet that list all the symptoms of Celiac disease. I would recommend that if anybody is experiencing any of them on a regular basis they should at least have the Celiac Blood Panel performed.

My doctor’s grandmother had Celiac’s disease, so he is probably better informed than most. He has admitted to me that doctors in general are currently a little behind in diagnosing and treating Celiac disease. It is estimated that 1 out of every 133 people have Celiac disease and that 97% of these people are undiagnosed. This will difinitely improve over time.

25

[quote]tiggersdesire wrote:
YO, gettingyounger, how you doing? I am a type 1 diabetic and once thought I had Celiac disease. Once you have an autoimmune disease you’re more susceptible to others possibly (type 1 diabetes is autoimmune).

You should seek another expert opinion. You may have Celiac but if I recall there are other sighns as well. Like upset stomach, etc. Did you have these also? Turned out I didn’t have Celiac.

I learned not to trust your Dr. I would bring in tons of literature, etc and teach my Dr. things. He was a nice guy but did not know in depth specific things I needed to know.
Good luck.

[/quote]

More to bring your doctor, from today’s New England Journal of Medicine:

[i]
Shared and Distinct Genetic Variants in Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease
Deborah J. Smyth, B.Sc., Vincent Plagnol, Ph.D., Neil M. Walker, M.A., et al.

ABSTRACT

Background Two inflammatory disorders, type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, cosegregate in populations, suggesting a common genetic origin. Since both diseases are associated with the HLA class II genes on chromosome 6p21, we tested whether non-HLA loci are shared.

Methods We evaluated the association between type 1 diabetes and eight loci related to the risk of celiac disease by genotyping and statistical analyses of DNA samples from 8064 patients with type 1 diabetes, 9339 control subjects, and 2828 families providing 3064 parent?child trios (consisting of an affected child and both biologic parents). We also investigated 18 loci associated with type 1 diabetes in 2560 patients with celiac disease and 9339 control subjects.

Results Three celiac disease loci ? RGS1 on chromosome 1q31, IL18RAP on chromosome 2q12, and TAGAP on chromosome 6q25 ? were associated with type 1 diabetes (P<1.00x10?4). The 32-bp insertion?deletion variant on chromosome 3p21 was newly identified as a type 1 diabetes locus (P=1.81x10?8) and was also associated with celiac disease, along with PTPN2 on chromosome 18p11 and CTLA4 on chromosome 2q33, bringing the total number of loci with evidence of a shared association to seven, including SH2B3 on chromosome 12q24. The effects of the IL18RAP and TAGAP alleles confer protection in type 1 diabetes and susceptibility in celiac disease. Loci with distinct effects in the two diseases included INS on chromosome 11p15, IL2RA on chromosome 10p15, and PTPN22 on chromosome 1p13 in type 1 diabetes and IL12A on 3q25 and LPP on 3q28 in celiac disease.

Conclusions A genetic susceptibility to both type 1 diabetes and celiac disease shares common alleles. These data suggest that common biologic mechanisms, such as autoimmunity-related tissue damage and intolerance to dietary antigens, may be etiologic features of both diseases.

[/i]