Celiac's Disease, IBS, Crohn's Disease - What's The Difference?

I have written my story on another hub, but suffice it to say that I started out with Celiac's Disease (gluten sensitivity) in 1963, when I was around 10 years old. In short order, it progressed to Ileitis - Crohn's Disease. By the time I was eleven, I had a temporary colostomy which was supposed to be for six months, but I ended up keeping it a full year. What a long year that was for an eleven year old!

Here is a bit of background on Celiac's Disease. If you think you have a form of IBS, before the professionals jump to Crohn's Disease or "pass you off" with IBS, consider Celiac's Disease - which is very treatable without "invasive" surgeries.

Celiac sprue disease was first noticed in the second century, but it wasn't until research confirmed that children with celiac disease was the same as adult non-tropical sprue. When it was translated from Greek to English in 1856, patients became known as "celiacs." The term "celiac disease" is now most commonly used. Another term for the same condition includes "gluten sensitive enteropathy."

In 1888, Dr. Samuel Gee of UK gave accounts of both children and adults with Celiac Disease. Dr.Gee stated that regulating the food intake was essential to treatment. Eating foods made of farina (ex: cream of wheat) should be minimal. If one expected to be cured, diet changes were a must. Dr. Gee was the first to link diet to celiac treatment.

In 1950, a Dutch pediatrician wrote in his doctoral thesis that the disease is caused by the ingestion of wheat proteins. By 1954, a number of his colleagues working in England confirmed the treatment.

I was diagnosed with Celiac's in 1963 and finally Crohn's Disease in early 1965. As you can see from the above studies, it was still a relatively new disease on the medical books. My doctor called it "gut disease."

It was nearly impossible, as a child, to take advantage of the self-helps of the day to get rid of stressors in life, eat healthy, etc. I was just a kid, still in grade school. I literally had to wait until I was out on my own (or at least responsible enough to buy my own foods) before my health would get better. Even then, it took a long time for me to regulate my lifestyle so I wouldn't be sick all the time and so I could continue to work. The first thing I had to do was get rid of the stress in my life and the second thing was to stop listening to all the doctors because no one agreed on what to do. Try this, try that, and I was the guinea pig. Not a happy one either.

I had horrible pains in my belly and bloating that, many days, made me look 4 or more months pregnant. I fluctuated back and forth between chronic diarrhea and constipation. I was 5 feet tall by the time I was 10 years old and I weighed, at the most, 60 pounds. I had awful mouth sores (ulcers) that were so painful I couldn't eat the food put in front of me. Many was the night I sat alone at the kitchen table, long after the dinner dishes were washed, dried and put away, because I couldn't and/or wouldn't eat my dinner. Water seemed to be the only liquid that didn't hurt me. I was constantly tired.

Blood tests showed I was severely anemic, so that in addition to low doses of prednisone for inflammation, I was given vitamins fortified with iron. Because my colon was in constant state of upset, the iron aggravated my illness. My parents doled out steroid and other medication to me since I was not permitted to do it on my own at my age. I often went to school without it because it was a mad rush to get us all out the door in the morning - my parents to work and me and my brothers to school, which was about two walking blocks away.

My diet was never changed or altered - I was served what everyone else in the house was served. In winter months, we were sent to school with breakfasts of Cream of Wheat, Maypo, Farina or Wheatena. It was a sure bet I was sick before lunch time with terrible belly pains followed by expelling gas, sometimes vomiting, and a couple of hours in the girl's bathroom because I was constantly "going". The nuns gave up calling for a parent to come take me home because they couldn't leave their workplace. So I often roughed it out either in class or in the bathroom until the school day was over.

As time went on, it was suspected that I might be diabetic. Between my unregulated, high sugar and starchy diet and varying doses of oral prednisone - both were raising my blood sugar and no one ever made the connection for almost two years.

In those days, the only test for diabetes (after a routine glucose blood test to get a baseline) was an 8 hour glucose tolerance test. After you drank 8 ounces of a concentrated Coca-Cola type syrup, blood was withdrawn in half an hour, and hourly after that to see how long it took for your body to metabolize the sugar in the syrup. It was the longest test of my life and I was given the test on the average of three to four times a year. (In recent years, the test has been revised to 3 hour glucose tolerance test.) I rarely made it to the 8th hour before I passed out from LOW blood sugar. After being revived with a glass of orange juice with sugar in it, by the 6th hour of the test, I was in the hospital cafeteria getting a meal. And the next day I'd be sick with IBS from going so long without food in my system, the orange juice and whatever I ate in the hospital cafeteria that more than likely was prepared with lard, oils, or butter.

It was not unusual for my blood sugars to be 60 or less in the early morning, which was still a functioning level for me at that time. After a meal, my sugars could go as high as 300. Not only was my colon in spasm, my vision was affected as well. High blood sugar blurs vision. Instead of investigating a way to regulate, I got new eyeglasses every year.

It wasn't until I was in 8th grade, that doctors became vigilant with me for diabetes because of how long I had been on steroids. It never occurred to them that the food I was being fed at home and the long periods between meals at home and school was what was making me sicker. I was becoming HYPOglycemic (low blood sugar).

Dairy products, pudding, junket, jello, homemade frosted cakes and cookies (my grandmother loved to bake and did the cooking when she came to stay overnights with us), all the fried foods, breads, grains, corn, hot dogs, scrapple, pork roll, lunchmeat sandwiches - all were everyday fare at our house.

Lunchmeat (cold cuts) is cured meat (often smoked). It contains nitrates, and is not healthy for even normal people to eat, so when given to a person with colon problems, it is a recipe for flare ups. My parents served only 3 meals a day, no snacks in between. Sometimes, my grandmother would leave baked cakes, cookies, or puddings for us for mid afternoon or after dinner snacks. But, because of the house rules, the treats were given as dessert directly after a meal, not as a snack before bed. My body needed food in smaller portions and more often, not larger portions, less often. All of this aggravated my colon, so that I was always in a constant state of flare up.

Of course nowadays we know that all these foods are not good for you. In my case, they were never good for me due to Crohn's Disease which was chronic until I was 15. Liquid Paregoric was given for diarrhea and pains in the belly. Every time I turned around, a spoonful of Paregoric was being shoved in my mouth. If I began vomiting, a syringe of compazine was never far away. Being anemic, a B-12 shot was often given to me once a week.

At age 15, I graduated from high school. I went to college for the last two years of high school, so I only had two more years to complete and graduated at age 17 with Bachelor's Degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Journalism, and English.

In an effort to get and stay well, I educated myself and took control of what I ate and how often. It was only possible to do that because at age 13, my parents separated (divorced when I was 15) and when my father left our house, I was put in charge of getting dinner ready every day before I went to my evening job, doing the weekly food shopping with the $40 per week child support (it was actually enough to pay for a full week of groceries), planning the meals, and keeping the kitchen clean. My mother worked from the time I was 4. My two brothers were 3 and 2. We were all one year apart in birth. Although my grandmother was a frequent visitor to our home, she had three other grown children who were married raising children, so she would go from one house to the next as she was needed. We were in our teens and finally old enough to not need "babysitting".

By trial and error, I learned what was okay to eat and what was going to make me sick. A food journal was very beneficial in identifying trigger foods.

Celiac's Disease

Each person with Celiac's Disease can experience some of the same symptoms or a totally different set of symptoms. Some people have no symptoms (asymptomatic) because their intestines are still able to absorb nutrients, but they may experience bouts of diarrhea Some of the most common symptoms are:

• Bloating (expelling gas, rolling gas in belly)
• Diarrhea, with alternating Constipation
• Mouth sores (canker sores)
• Fatigue (Exhaustion, no energy)
• Joint Pain (pre-osteoporosis, thin bones)
• Weight Loss (malabsorption, malnutrition)
• Depression (from mood swings to deep dark depression)
• Menstruation and/or Fertility problems (disrupted or irregular menstrual cycles, infertility or miscarriages)

Diagnosis and Treatment

Because Celiac's Disease looks like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn's Disease, and a host of other mimics, the first order of business is to get certain blood tests performed. They are: 1) Total IgA, IgA-tTg, IgA-EMA. If your Total IgA test comes back low, then another test called IgG/IgA-DGP can be requested. It is extremely important that you continue eating your normal diet - gluten and all, so that your blood tests can detect if their is gluten sensitivity. If so, then a biopsy of lining of small intestine will confirm a diagnosis. TREATMENT: The only true treatment is a diet that is gluten-free. It is a diet you will have to follow for the rest of your life if you want to remain well. That means NO wheat, rye or barley. You'll be surprised all that you can still eat while remaining gluten free.

IBS - Irritable Bowel Syndrome

IBS is different in that it affects the large intestine but has many of the same symptoms as Celiac's and Crohn's Disease with regards to bloating, cramping, both diarrhea and constipation, abdominal pain, mucousy stools, and gas. IBS rarely becomes colon cancer. It is treated with revised diet to avoid foods that have been identified as a problem for you, limit caffeine, an exercise program, anti-diarrhea medication, and fiber supplements. Only your doctor can make this diagnosis. If symptoms continue more than three times a week for up to three months, you have met the first criteria for this diagnosis.

Crohn's Disease

Symptoms can occur gradually or suddenly. Crohn's Disease can go into remission for long periods or short periods, depending on how well you are managing your disease. Signs and symptoms are similar to all of the above - Diarrhea, abdominal cramps and pain, blood in stool, mouth ulcers, intestinal ulcers, weight loss, and reduced appetite. Severe Crohn's will include: eye inflammation, skin disorders, fatigue, frequent mouth sores, fever, arthritis and fatigue. DIAGNOSIS: Blood tests, stool test for blood, either or all of these - CT, Endoscopy, Colonoscopy, Flex-sigmoidoscopy, barium enema and images for large intestine, and small bowel imaging that cannot be seen on colonoscopy. TREATMENT: To reduce inflammation, an anti-inflammatory drug is essential. Drugs include Sulfasalazine, Mesalamine, Corticosteroids, drugs to suppress the immune system, anti-diarrhea medications, antibiotics (ex Flagyl, Cipro), pain relievers, laxatives, calcium, Vitamin D, B-12 injections. Surgery is usually considered a last resort when diet, lifestyle changes, and drug therapy have not put you into remission. Your physician should be more vigilant for cancer screenings more frequently than the recommended every 10 years.

Some people do not care for the side effects that often comes with taking prescription medication. In that case, many turn to Alternative Medicine which includes herbal/nutritional supplements, PRObiotics, fish oil supplementation, and acupuncture.

Probiotics are not the same as PREbiotics. Probiotics are bacteria that you would normally find in your gut, and are used to help with lactose intolerance and with side effects of antibiotics like cramping, gas, and/or diarrhea. Prebiotics are what the probiotics needs to create healthy bacteria in the colon. Refer to the link in sidebar to compare the two and for a list of products and their function.

© 2/7/2012 Anne DiGeorge