Celiac Sprue Symptoms
Celiac disease is a digestive 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, which is found in wheat, rye,
barley, and possibly oats. When people with celiac disease eat foods containing
gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the small intestine.
Specifically, tiny fingerlike protrusions, called villi, on the lining of the
small intestine are lost. Nutrients from food are absorbed into the bloodstream
through these villi. Without villi, a person becomes malnourished--regardless of
the quantity of food eaten.
Celiac disease affects people differently. Some people develop symptoms as
children, others as adults. Symptoms may or may not occur in the digestive
system. For example, one person might have diarrhea and abdominal pain, while
another person has irritability or depression. In fact, irritability is one of
the most common symptoms in children.
Symptoms of celiac disease may include one or more of the following:
- recurring abdominal bloating and pain
- chronic diarrhea
- weight loss
- pale, foul-smelling stool
- unexplained anemia (low count of red blood cells)
- gas
- bone pain
- behavior changes
- muscle cramps
- fatigue
- delayed growth
- failure to thrive in infants
- pain in the joints
- seizures
- tingling numbness in the legs (from nerve damage)
- pale sores inside the mouth, called aphthus ulcers
- painful skin rash, called dermatitis herpetiformis
- tooth discoloration or loss of enamel
- missed menstrual periods (often because of excessive weight loss)
For more, please visit the following MedicineNet.com areas:
Portions of the above information has been provided with the kind permission
of the National Digestive Diseases Clearinghouse, National Institute of Health (www.niddk.nih.gov)
Last Editorial Review: 9/30/2002
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