Ways to Combat Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is a health condition wherein the person suffering from it experiences bloating, weight loss, diarrhea and fatigue. This happens when wheat or wheat gluten is ingested and the patient is not treated accordingly. If you’re suspecting you’re one of those who have the health condition, the best way to combat celiac disease is to have proper diagnosis and treatment.

For proper diagnosis, you can visit a physician or specialist in Hepatology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Hematology and Neurology. You may then visit a dietitian after a diet plan to combat celiac disease has been recommended. If you think your child is suffering from celiac disease, you can have him or her diagnosed by pediatric specialists.

You may need several tests to determine whether you have celiac disease or not. You may have to take blood tests or have samples of your intestine tissue taken. Similar to most other allergies, it takes a long process of observing and taking a series of tests to obtain proper diagnosis, because a patient with celiac disease may display symptoms or none at all.

Gastric ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome are just some of the many other similar conditions that are incorrectly diagnosed as celiac disease. However, the only sure thing about celiac disease is that it is caused by wheat gluten. So, the obvious way to combat celiac disease is by avoiding wheat gluten in the first place.

Once you are diagnosed with celiac disease your healthcare specialist will most likely put you on a gluten-free diet. There is no cure for celiac disease, so maintaining a recommended dietary plan is the key to combat celiac disease and its irritating symptoms. Also, your diet can prevent the more serious effects of celiac disease like intestinal cancer. Your treatment options to combat celiac disease are a change in diet and the addition of dietary supplements.

Being on a gluten-free diet means having a diet free of gluten, which is found in rye, wheat, barley, and in most types of grains and food containing grains. Not all grains contain gluten, but there are two things you need to remember when consuming grains: grains that normally contain gluten and grains that normally do not contain gluten, but may have been contaminated during food processing or harvesting.

To combat celiac disease, avoid all kinds of wheat, malt and barley, buckwheat, amaranth, oats and rye. Some of these do not normally contain gluten, but if you must consume buckwheat, amaranth or oats, you have to be absolutely sure by reading the back label of products that the product itself is gluten-free or does not contain traces of gluten.
 
In addition to a gluten-free diet, you can combat celiac disease by taking nutritional supplements, which may contain iron, magnesium, vitamins D and K, folic acid, and calcium. Celiac disease can cause a myriad of other health conditions because the body becomes unable to absorb enough nutrition to keep healthy. Additional supplements can help the intestine heal and maintain healthy digestive functions.