Layman's Definition Of Celiac

[Beth in NC]

I remember seeing somewhere on the board in the last few weeks where someone described what happens with Celiac in layman's terms. There were a few technical words, as you can't get away from it, but can anyone help me out? I can find tons of stuff on the small intesting damage, but my son isn't getting why this attacks other areas of the body and most "definitions" of celiac stick to the intestional issues. He's trying to explain it to the few friends he's willing to tell and he's getting most of his info from me, as he's in college and really too busy to spend the time I have spent researching this.

anyone?

[elonwy]

I describe it this way: When I eat gluten, my body identifies it as a poison which triggers an auto immune response. This creates antibodies that then attack my body, causing x symptoms. This also damages my villi, which then keeps me from absorbing vitamins and stuff, and causes secondary complications.

I use that or a variation thereof as a laymans cliffnotes. Not sure what the other one you saw was, but that's mine:P

Random funny story: I'm meeting a bunch of my bf's friends, and we go out to eat. He and I are discussing the menu, and he leans over to explain "she can't eat gluten". His friend pipes up "Oh are you a Celiac?" Turns out he's a biochemist at Stanford working with the Celiac Group. Sadly, they've lost their funding, but it was still cool to natter on about this stuff with someone who's been working on it.

[ShayFL]

He could just say. I have Celiac. It is kind of like an allergy. I cannot eat wheat, barley or rye and most oats. If I do, my whole body can be affected and I get sick. And even if I dont feel sick, my body can be damaged.

[Beth in NC]

  ShayFL said:

He could just say. I have Celiac. It is kind of like an allergy. I cannot eat wheat, barley or rye and most oats. If I do, my whole body can be affected and I get sick. And even if I dont feel sick, my body can be damaged.

I think this is fine for him to say to others, but HE is still trying to understand it completely. He was in Alaska when I was doing all my initial research so he didn't learn any of that initial stuff. Me telling him what would happen to the rest of his body was part of what convinced him he needed to tackle this. He was ready to just ignore it.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

  elonwy said:

I describe it this way: When I eat gluten, my body identifies it as a poison which triggers an auto immune response. This creates antibodies that then attack my body, causing x symptoms. This also damages my villi, which then keeps me from absorbing vitamins and stuff, and causes secondary complications.

Ooh, that's REALLY good. That's the best description I've seen yet!

[Mango04]

The gluten protein causes the immune system to attack and destroy the intestines (or just "organs" would be fine).

I don't explain it to my friends though. Most of them just know I have some sort of mysterious and severe adverse reaction to certain common foods.

[jerseyangel]

  Mango04 said:

The gluten protein causes the immune system to attack and destroy the intestines (or just "organs" would be fine).

This is pretty much what I say....it's short and to the point

[Beth in NC]

OK, for my OWN benefit....I used to be a nurse, so this stuff is important to me!! LOL! Doesn't something happen in the small intestine that allows the gluten to enter the bloodstream? So where ever that blood carries it, which is everywhere, the immune system will be attacking it right along, right?

[elonwy]

You're talking about Leaky Gut. Check out this web site. Its a lot of reading, but its well laid out.

Open Original Shared Link

[jerseyangel]

  Beth in NC said:

OK, for my OWN benefit....I used to be a nurse, so this stuff is important to me!! LOL! Doesn't something happen in the small intestine that allows the gluten to enter the bloodstream? So where ever that blood carries it, which is everywhere, the immune system will be attacking it right along, right?

You may be thinking of leaky gut, where the intestine--damaged from Celiac or something else--allows particles of undigested food out into the bloodstream where it is then attacked as an invader injuring other organs/systems in the body.

In Celiac, the autoimmune reaction happens in the small intestine. The damage done to other systems in the body by Celiac are generally secondary (vitamin deficiency, inflammation, autoimmune reaction, etc). For instance, I was glutened recently--repeatedly for a couple months-- from eating a product that used to be safe. (My own fault) It caused my liver enzymes to elevate--I had a workup (blood, ultrasound, endoscopy) and nothing else turned up to explain why they went up the way they did.

The latest round of bloodwork--after all this--revealed that they had all returned to normal

Celiac can affect us in lots of different ways.....

[2kids4me]

The way I told my kids is: the gut is inflammed and damaged. The good nutrients are not absorbed very well so the stuff your body needs to function well - just passes on through. Then because the lining is worn away from inflammation (I liken it to a skinned knee)...so bad stuff - bacteria, and proteins that normally shouldnt get past the "barrier" of normal tissue get into the body. Yes it does trigger an autoimmune response which is systemic, in addition - all this other stuff is going to the brain, nerves, muscles etc..which leads to a cellular response in various organs and this is why the symptoms are so varied among celiacs. My daughter had neurologic symptoms and my son had muscle aches and pains as well as bed wetting.

Back to the skinned knee - I use this analogy because they can visualize the scrape - they see it can get infected...and how the healthy intact skin is not red and oozing. Basically the difference between a heathy gut and a damaged one. Very simple and it gets the point across without a bunch of medical terminology.

So I told them, by eating gluten free the gut can heal and function as a normal barrier to bad stuff - just like normal skin does on the outside of our body.

Hope this helps.

Sandy

[nora-n]

When eating gluten, all people make zonulin, but celiacs make more and the effects last longer. so, noone really should have gluten. Zonulin opens the blood-gut barrier, and the blood-brain barrier at the same time.

Just type in zonulin in www.pubmed.com , and google it.

nora

[Beth in NC]

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Really informative. That is what I was trying to figure out. So many Celiacs don't just have symptoms that are related to nutrient deficiencies, but things that go further than that...Hashimoto's, for example.

thanks everybody!