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Causes and Symptoms of Celiac Disease
The condition is mostly genetic and nearly 4-12% of victims’ first degree relatives suffer the disease. Symptoms of Celiac Disease vary from person to person. Some people may not show any symptoms but the damage to their body will reveal over time.
Factors that could trigger the onset of Celiac Disease are:
- Genetic
- Acute emotional stress
- Viral infection
- Pregnancy and child birth
- Surgery
Current research is giving insight into the other factors that maybe responsible for this condition. One factor maybe that children who have had long periods of breast feeding are less likely to get celiac disease; even if they do get it, it is at a much later stage than those who were weaned of early and started on feeds that contained dietary grains and exposed to the protein gluten.
Symptoms in Children
Symptoms of this disease manifest differently among persons. Symptoms could show up either in the digestive system or in other parts of the body.
Infants and children most often exhibit digestive symptoms of the nature mentioned below:
- Abdominal bloating and pain
- Constipation
- Vomiting
- Chronic diarrhea
- Smelly stool
- Loss of weight
- Irritability
Infants with this disease may be unable to thrive. Growth and development of children also take a beating due to malabsorption of nutrients. Children suffering this condition may be short in stature; some of them may also experience delayed puberty.
The disease may remain undiagnosed for more than a decade and the longer it remains undiscovered the more the long term consequences of the disease.
Symptoms in Adults
Adults may not portray digestive symptoms. Symptoms in adults could be of the type mentioned below.
- Fatigue
- Mouth ulcers
- Anxiety and depression
- Osteoporosis
- Anemia
- Seizures
- Tingling sensation in the hands and feet
- Joint pain
- Irregular menstrual cycle
- Infertility
- Repeated miscarriage
- Dermatitis Herpetiformis – itchy skin rash occurring on the elbows, knees, and buttocks, affecting 15 to 25 percent of people with celiac disease.
Screening for celiac is routinely done among Americans. In a study by Joseph Murray it was suggested that the present generation has 4.5 times moré chances of having Celiac Disease.