A Life With Celiac Disease and What It Means for Patients

Celiac disease falls into three types, Classical, Non Classical and Silent Celiac. Classical celiac  is the form that most people will experience that includes weight loss from malabsorption of nutrients and some of the side effects previously mentioned, this is the form that most commonly affects children.

Non-classical celiac is a form where sufferers will have mild stomach responses to gluten that involves distended abdomens with pain and constipation, reduced bones mass and bones that are prone to breaking and fracture, chronic fatigue along with other side effects associated with classical celiac. Silent celiac is often referred to as asymptomatic celiac because patients will not exhibit any outward signs of the disease but the villi of the small intestine will still suffer damage. Patients with silent celiac still benefit from a gluten free diet as a study showed that those who adopted one reported a decrease in flatulence, abdominal distention, acid reflux and better overall general health.

Because of the way that symptoms present with celiac patients, it’s difficult for health care providers to diagnose without prior knowledge that first degree family members have the disease. This contributes to the low diagnostic rates in the United States and it’s estimated that over eighty percent of the celiac population remains undiagnosed.