Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Just to pass on....

My baby sister, Steph, and me. Steph is currently waiting on her results to come back on her biopsy to determine Celiac or not. My thoughts are with her. Photo taken on April 15th.

What is Celiac Disease?

Celiac Disease is an autoimmune 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 that is found in wheat, rye, and barley. Research has shown that timely diagnosis of Celiac Disease is essential to treating or preventing its complications

10 Facts about Celiac Disease

1. Celiac disease is common: affecting an average of 1/133 Americans and up to 1/22 for those associated with risk factors.

2. The average duration of symptoms for celiac patients before they are correctly diagnosed is 9 years.

3. Celiac disease is twice as common as Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis and cystic fibrosis combined.

4. Approximately 50% of adult patients present with atypical symptoms.

5. Celiac disease is often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome or lactose intolerance and up to 1/3rd of celiac disease patients have been previously diagnosed with IBS.

6. Celiac disease meets the criteria for the World Health Organization for justifying general screening.

7. Physicians may use more widely known but less accurate serological testing that can result in missed diagnosis.

8. Up to 21% of intestinal biopsies, necessary for confirmation of celiac disease, are rejected by insurance companies, claiming that the cost of the testing isn’t justified by the symptoms.

9. Celiac disease has a 95 percent genetic predisposition.

10. Celiac disease is associated with or can lead to a number of other disorders including infertility, premature births, reduced bone density (both osteopenia and osteoporosis), neurological disorders, malignancies such as adenocarcinoma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and others, and a host of autoimmune disorders such as insulin dependent diabetes, thyroid disease, Sjogren’s syndrome, Addison’s disease, Psoriasis, autoimmune liver disease, and cardiomyopathy.

Taken from my new blog friend, Lea's Glutenfree's site. Thought I would pass it on.

6 comments:

Anna K said...

nice photo of the two of you. Now where is baby C's photos.
Hope Steph's test results come back negative for this.

LKW said...

Wow, I had no idea Celiac was that common. File that under 'learn something new'. Good luck with Steph's testing. Nice pic and nice chompers!

Lea Ray said...

What a beautiful photo of you and your sister. I hope that things work out well for her.

Anonymous said...

Prayers and thoughts that she tests negative. GREAT photo!!!!!! and thank you for the information too.

Lynn Barry said...

What a gorgeous pic of you two. If your sis does have celiacs she already has a fabulous support system...Y-O-U! I'll be praying for you two. HUGS

Anonymous said...

watermelon viagra viagra jelly viagra and cocaine viagra overdose where to buy viagra can viagra be used by women viagra rrp australia cost side effects of viagra buy cheap viagra online cialis v s viagra viagra 34434 does watermelon have viagra effect viagra professional pfizer viagra