I Just Wonder....

[Guest ~jules~]

I was recently diagnosed, and I have been reading alot about celiac. I want my children tested, I wish I could get my family to go, but I doubt they will. I thought of something today though and maybe I'm just over thinking due to the recent diagnosis. My father lost his mother at the age of 6 to cancer (lymphoma). I have heard she had poor health for awhile, and now that I recall any photos I saw of her she looked so thin. I just wonder if maybe she had undiagnosed celiac? I don't reallly know if I will ever find out more details about her, as my family isn't very close to that side, and my grandfather is 93 years old. I'm not so sure I should go investigating things he may not even remember...I guess this diagnosis has really got my wheels turning these days!

[Canadian Karen]

I too have tried to pinpoint where in my family I got celiac from. There is depression and lupus on my dad's side. But it's my mom's side that I am suspicious of. My grandfather and his brother apparently had stomach problems their whole life. As far as I can remember, I remember Grampy eating only baby food and baby rice pablum or boiled chicken. That it. Also, my mom had two sisters. Both sisters died of intestinal problems and were absolute skeletons for most of their lives.

I think I have my answer....

[Nantzie]

I've got so many family members that, looking back, seem to have had celiac symptoms. And since I've got two copies of the genes, it's on both sides.

My mom's mom had schizophrenia, which has been mentioned as being linked to gluten. I remember now, that my mom said that my grandma was always thinking she had weird medical things. I also remember my mom pointing out a box of cookies called "digestives" when we were in an import grocery store once, and told me that those are the cookies that my grandma used to eat all the time, and how gross my mom thought they were. Wouldn't you know it, but when looking for gluten-free cookies, I came across those same "digestives" that my mom pointed out. Also, my grandma had several miscarriages. My grandpa wasn't the most supportive person to her, and I wonder if she was just going through the weird disbelief, thinking the person is a hypochondriac thing that a lot of us get with friends and family, and she just gave up the fight. My mom always assumed that my grandma's weird medical things and odd food were because of her schizophrenia. Maybe she actually was diagnosed as celiac at some point during her childhood, tried to continue it, was faced with disbelief and hostility from her husband, and finally just caved. This was back in the 30's, 40's and 50's too, so with schizophrenia, we're talking shock treatments, primitive drugs and sanitariums. So with all of that mess, it's no wonder she finally just gave up. She actually had a bachelor's degree in music and worked as a chemist for quite a while before she married my grandfather, so, back in the late 30's/early 40's, for a woman to have accomplished all of that... She had to have been very smart.

Well, at least now, we know about gluten. Now, at least, if our family members ever start having health problems, even if they don't want to be tested now, will know to demand testing if it gets as bad as most of us got when we finally figured this out. And they'll be able to say that yes, they have a relative with it, so they're susceptible to it. Whereas most of us had no diagnosed relatives to point to.

Nancy

[tiffjake]

I've got so many family members that, looking back, seem to have had celiac symptoms. And since I've got two copies of the genes, it's on both sides.

Is that for sure? Why couldn't you have gotten both from one parent since genes aren't 50/50? Its not like you are divided one half of you is your mom's genes and one half is your dads....

I have two genes, and I am pretty sure both are from my dad.....

[Guest Doll]

Is that for sure? Why couldn't you have gotten both from one parent since genes aren't 50/50? Its not like you are divided one half of you is your mom's genes and one half is your dads....

I have two genes, and I am pretty sure both are from my dad.....

Actually you DO get a copy of each gene from each parent. You will have one gene from each parent in each "set" of genes.

The "genes" related to Celiac are just HLA types, they are involved in programming the immune system and not specifically linked to Celiac. Although 98% of people with Celiac have a specific HLA type (necessary to get Celiac), most people with that HLA type never get it (insufficient to cause Celiac).

I'm sure there are other genes, but we do not know what they are yet and can not test for them as far as I know. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Just for the record, Lupus is an autoimmune disease, and thus related to Celiac. It is also true that Celiac is thought to be linked to Schizophrenia in some cases.

[Nantzie]

Yep, if you have two genes, one is from each parent. But keep in mind, just because a person has the gene for something doesn't mean it will ever activate. So even though one side of the family doesn't seem to have had any celiac-type symptoms, it doesn't mean they didn't carry the gene.

Maybe it's a recessive thing in some cases like we all learned about in high school science with eye color. Maybe if your mom's side had a recessive celiac gene, and it was combined in you with a dominant celiac gene, the combination made you much more susceptible... I have no idea if that's how it works. Just makes me wonder if that has anything to do with it.

If it weren't for my grandma's schizophrenia, I would have wondered the same thing about my mom's side. Because nobody, including my grandma ever had any major digestive problems that I ever heard of or noticed. I'm guessing she probably had some issues since she would eat the digestives, but nobody in the family had anything like I had with the uncontrollable D. My mom would carry Tums in her purse, but that was about it, and she rarely used them. The only other symptom that I ever heard of on my mom's side was bad teeth.

If you think about it too, when you go into any drug store, there's practically a whole aisle dedicated to Maalox, Gas-X, Pepto and the like. Most people don't think to tell their doctors about stuff like that because they think that if they can fix or improve it with something from Rite Aid, it can't be anything serious. So I'm sure a lot of people just never think to question it.

Nancy

[Guest Doll]

Don't forget too that genes can and do mutate, so even if your ancestors did not carry genes to predispose you to Celiac, you could be the first in your family to be the lucky one!

And yes, some people have protective HLA types against autoimmune diseases inherited from one parent(usually Asians), so that could prevent Celiac from occurring despite having a genetic disposition from the other.

[Guest ~jules~]

I also read that celiac is related to diabetes. My grandmother on my mothers side had type 1, and my mother was dx with type 2 at about 45. You know if this is all I get compared to all the things I have read celiac to be in the same "family" as, then I will consider my children, my self, my husband, and family to be lucky that is all that I have. I am worried about my kids though! I know there is alot of nasty stuff in our genetic code, and now that I have this, I just worry what may happen to them! Ugh, is this a normal feeling of a mommy just diagnosed? I hope so.

[Nantzie]

Yep. Entirely normal. I've got breast cancer in my genetic code, and my mom died of it at 46. Feeling guilty or blameful (new word!) about it is normal. It's not true. But it's normal to feel it anyway. It's not how they would ever feel I'm sure. It's just part of Mommy Guilt. Just think about it. Every time they get hurt, we all cycle back to how we could have prevented it. If they fall off their bike and just scrape their knee, we think we should have gotten them the better bike, or we shouldn't have let them ride their bikes so far, or at a certain time of day, or with that friend we don't like, or with sandals instead of tennis shoes, or...

Yep. Normal.

Nancy

[Guest Doll]

I also read that celiac is related to diabetes. My grandmother on my mothers side had type 1, and my mother was dx with type 2 at about 45. You know if this is all I get compared to all the things I have read celiac to be in the same "family" as, then I will consider my children, my self, my husband, and family to be lucky that is all that I have. I am worried about my kids though! I know there is alot of nasty stuff in our genetic code, and now that I have this, I just worry what may happen to them! Ugh, is this a normal feeling of a mommy just diagnosed? I hope so.

Yes. Celiac is related to Type 1 (but NOT Type 2) diabetes. They share the same genetic susceptibility, as do MS, Lupus, RA, and other autoimmune diseases.