Celiac Disease

My husband is lactose intolerant. He mentioned the other day that he seems to suffer more when he combines dairy with starchy carbs. I thought this was interesting so I Googled "gluten and lactose intolerance." The first thing that came back? Celiac Disease.

From what I've read, Celiac Disease can be misdiagnosed as lactose intolerance. I know it's not a common disease but my husband seems to fit the bill (at least to my untrained eye). He's always suffered from heartburn, indigestion and lactose intolerance. I've told people that he has a weak stomach but I think it may be more.

While I try to convince him to see the doctor, is there anyone who has Celiac Disease that started off as "lactose intolerance"? What is the process for being diagnosed with it? Have the symptoms lessened by going on a gluten-free diet? Is there any advice or useful information I can pass along to my husband?

Celiac's disease is actually more common than you might think. About 2 million americans, or 1 in 133 people are estimated to suffer from this type of gluten enteropathy disorder. The good news is it is fairly straitforward to diagnose for any gastroenterologist.

Click on this link to learn more from the National Digestive Disorders Information Clearinghouse-

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs /celiac/

**Note** Your husband could also be "gluten intolerant" without actually having Celiac's disease.

I have Celiac disease.  I had a lot of stomach issues as well as constant horrible heartburn, stomach cramps, etc.  Eliminating gluten makes a significant difference.  Most people who have Celiac also have a lactose problem (which for some can actually go away once you eliminate gluten).  I personally am allergic to casein so I have also eliminated all dairy products, I also have other food allergies (soy, eggs, navy beans, kidney beans, casein).  Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease, if left untreated it could lead to intestinal cancer, lymphoma or other problems.  I personally have experienced bone loss and still have malabsorption problems (and its been 7 years now).  You should tell him to see a gastroenterologist, there are blood tests for Celiac Disease as well as endoscopy if the doctor feels it necessary. 

You couldn't pay me enough money to ingest even one crumb of gluten now, its just not worth.  The difference is night and day.

Original Post by bier:

What is the process for being diagnosed with it?

Something he could do for himself that would make a diagnosis easier for the doctor would be to go on a self-imposed gluten-free, lactose-free diet and keep a food and symptom diary.   Obviously he'd need to eat plenty of other foods to make up the shortfall.   Go with it for two or three weeks and see if the symptoms improve.  If they do, reintroduce gluten and see if the symptoms change for the worse.   He'd be able to reach some fairly good conclusions doing that. 

If the symptoms improved greatly then he might just carry on with the same diet and he probably wouldn't need blood tests.  If there was no change then he'd be able to go back to the doctor with that information and they'd be a little further down the track for a diagnosis