About Celiac Disease (CD)

Do You Have Celiac Disease and Need Support?
Do You Think You May be Sensitive to Gluten?
Do You Want to Learn More?

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, and barley. 

Dr. Peters and Marlene Crosby MA, Celiac Specialist use a simple, questionnaire from the Celiac Foundation for the self-assessment of people who have symptoms or conditions associated with Celiac Disease (CD). Once the results are known, they can refer you to a lab to confirm your diagnosis. To download the test, click here.

A celiac disease diagnosis - unlike other diseases - does NOT have to start with your physician's suspicions.

Symptoms can include any of the following:

• recurring abdominal bloating and pain
• chronic diarrhea OR constipation
• weight loss
• pale, foul-smelling stool
• unexplained anemia
• bone pain
• muscle cramps and painful joints
• extreme fatigue
• delayed growth
• seizures
• tingling numbness in the legs (from nerve damage)
• pale sores inside the mouth, called aphthus ulcers
• painful skin rash, called dermatitis herpetiformis
• reproductive issues (infertility, miscarriages)
• missed menstrual periods (often because of excessive weight loss)

It is also possible to have NO symptoms- but still have undiagnosed celiac disease - especially if other family members have celiac disease or other autoimmune conditions such as hypothyroidism, type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, and barley. When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the small intestine. Specifically, tiny fingerlike protrusions, called villi, on the lining of the small intestine are lost. Because the body's own immune system causes the damage, celiac disease is considered an autoimmune disorder. However, it is also classified as a disease of malabsorption because nutrients are not absorbed. Nutrients from food are absorbed into the bloodstream through these villi. Without villi, a person becomes malnourished--regardless of the quantity of food eaten.

Too often, people who have CD have inaccurate information about food needed to treat their condition: the gluten-free diet. Too often, CD patients eat gluten-containing foods without knowing, continuing to injure themselves.

If YOU have any of the following symptoms above, here's what to do;

1. Make an appointment with Dr. Peters for lab test designed to identify celiac and gluten sensitivity
2. The specific antibody tests you'll need should include: anti-endomysial antibody (lgA EMA) and anti-gliadin antibody (lgA & IgG), and tissue transglutaminase (tTG IgA). These tests are very sensitive and specific for celiac disease.
3. If the results of the antibody test(s) are positive, the next step is is to follow a gluten-free diet. Dr. Peters and his staff, offer one-on –one coaching for gluten sensitive people interested in successful living.