elmhar

Celiac is an autoimmune disease. Eating gluten (in wheat, barley, rye, & oats) in those genetically predisposed causes the body to turn against itself & start destroying the small intestine. As the gut is destroyed, it becomes more difficult to absorb nutrients. For this & other reasons, it's pretty common for celiacs to have a bit of depression & anxiety -- although of course there are many other possible causes for D & A.

The current treatment for celiac disease is a 100% gluten-free diet. In the vast majority of cases, this diet resolves symptoms over a period of time. (It can take months to yrs. for the gut to heal; generally longer in older folks & less time in younger folks.) The GF diet is unlike any other diet you've heard of, no days off and no cheating, ever. It must be followed to the letter; even microscopic amts of gluten, can perpetuate the autoimmune destruction. So, not a drop of beer (unless it's GF/sorghum beer), and not a crumb of regular food; even a new toaster is called for.

Celiac used to be thought rare in the USA, but the current incidence is 1/100 people. As doctors test & find more celiacs, the food industry has stepped up to the demand. For example, just five yrs. ago sales of GF food was a $20 million dollar industry, but it is soon projected to break a billion dollars. The diet is much easier to do than in the past because of the commercial GF foods now available.

The learning curve for the GF diet is steep, but doable. And once you learn it, adjust to it, GF diet becomes second nature like everything else.

The consequences of untreated celiac can be scary: increased risk of developing other autoimmune diseases; and increased risk of certain nasty gut cancers.

CD is diagnosed by blood tests and/or endoscopy with biopsy. All though the procedure sounds scary, most everybody sails through it without problem.

You don't have to be full-blood Irish to have celiac disease. There are many other ethnicities with predispostion, and many of us are just kind of ... Heinz 57 ethnicity. But Irish, Italian, and one E. European Jewish subset are among those more commonly afflicted.

Please take that referral to the GI doc that your PCP has offered. If your celiac test results come back negative, it's quite likely that the gastro will be able to help you one way or another, and KNOWING what's wrong is so empowering! There's so much less to worry about, and usually there are steps to be taken to improve the situation.

Best wishes, and I hope you let us know how things work out.