FHN Complementary Medicine Monthly Newsletter June 2005
Celiac Diagnosis
For those of you that have celiac disease the problem needs no introduction. Briefly celiac is an enteropathy of the small bowel, characterized by a sensitivity to the proteins in wheat , barley and rye. Symptoms can include chronic diarrhea, type I diabetes, abdominal distension, weight loss, dermatitis, anemia, autoimmune disorders, irritable bowel, miscarriage, and neurological symptoms.
Because of the many clinical presentations of the disorder the average time between symptom onset and diagnosis is 11 years! The gold standard to diagnosis is a tissue biopsy in the intestine.
Great Smokies Lab (GSDL) has developed a new celiac profile blood test that measures antibodies (IgA and IgG) Anti-Tissue Transglutaminase (tTG). These markers have been shown to be very specific for celiac disease that was later confirmed by biopsy.
If Iga-tTG is positive GSDL runs another marker , anti endomysial antibodies which help identify silent of latent forms of the disease.
Celiac disease is now considered the most common food intolerance world wide affecting about 1% of the population. This simple blood test may help shorten the detective work in discovering this problem.
Sincerely
Dr. Glenn and Julie Smith
Complementary Medicine
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