What on earth is a coeliac?!
What on earth is a coeliac?
we have some walkers sensations poppadoms and it says 'suitable for coeliacs'. what is a coeliac?
Answers:
I have coeliacs disease. Basically, its where you can't tolerate gluten or wheat, and sometimes oats. At all.
IT IS NOT AN ALLERGY!!! Coeliacs disease is an autoimmune disorder of the small bowel. If you eat wheat, then the villi in the small intestine flatten and you can't absorb food and nutrients very well. Usually the villi expands the surface area when ready to absorb food, and the bigger the surface area, the more the nutrients are absorbed. When the villi flatten, obviously there isn't a lot of area for food to be absorbed.
Symptoms are (for me): severe stomach cramps, very bad wind, diarrhoea, serious bloatedness, anaemia, vitamin D and calcium deficency (I have vitamin D injections due to bad absorbtion in the small intestine)
Its not nice, and it can't be cured, you just have to avoid ALL food with gluten and wheat in them. Bread, pasta, bakery.... sigh, all the good things....
I have a friend who has very severe reactions if she eats wheat, she is ill for days. I'm not as bad as that though, I just tend to get stomach cramps and the rest of it... so it can depend on how bad you have it to what you can and can't tolerate.....
It can be misdiagnosed for IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) but coeliacs is a lot more serious, can't be cured, and has links to lower stomach cancer if a gluten/wheat free diet isn't followed. It also tends to run in families, my dad has it and my nana had it.