Modern Body Xperiment

Navigating the Challenges of Celiac Disease: From Diagnosis to Gluten-Free Living

• Dan and Jenni • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Imagine feeling unwell but not knowing why—this is the reality for many before they are diagnosed with celiac disease. Join me and my co-host Jenni, who's been navigating the choppy waters of this autoimmune disorder, as we unravel the wide array of symptoms that celiac disease can present. From the digestive system havoc to the more covert signs like unexplained fatigue, we cover it all. We share not just the clinical side but also the personal challenges and the importance of catching the signs early for a better quality of life.

The journey to a celiac disease diagnosis can be fraught with confusion and missteps. Hear about Jenni’s own experience with the diagnostic process, where a gluten-free diet nearly concealed the true level of damage to her intestines. We dive into the significance of the Marsh score system in assessing intestinal damage and how it guides the treatment and management of the disease. This is a chapter where you'll learn about the trials of living with celiac disease and the unwavering diligence needed to avoid further health complications.

Lastly, we talk about the everyday struggles and adaptations that come with managing celiac disease. From the meticulous art of label reading to the social dance of dining out safely, we share the strategies that make living gluten-free manageable. We wrap up by thanking you, our listeners, and encourage you to get involved in our wellness community. Hear our stories, share your own, and let's navigate the gluten-free lifestyle together. Your health journey matters to us, and we're here to support you every step of the way.

Dan:

Welcome to the Will of Wellness podcast, where we embark on a transformative journey through the intricate facets of health and well-being.

Jenni:

Join us as we explore the interconnected spokes of the wellness wheel, delving into physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual and environmental health.

Dan:

Our experiences and insightful discussions will help empower you to achieve balance and harmony in your life, guiding you towards a healthier, happier you.

Jenni:

Get ready to spin the wheel and uncover the secrets of a fulfilling and well-rounded life.

Dan:

Welcome back to the Wheel of Wellness podcast. I'm your host, dan, and I'm your co-host, jenny. Today we're going to be going over a subject that is very near but not so dear to our hearts.

Jenni:

Yes, definitely not dear to the heart.

Dan:

What we're going to be covering today is celiac disease, and the reason we say it's not so dear to our hearts is because Jenny is actually a long time sufferer from celiac disease. Yes unfortunately, unfortunately. But we've learned some things and you know, if we had the choices, obviously you would not have it. Yes, of course, it's great that we know that you have it. That way we can deal with it, obviously, first off, what we got to go over is we got to talk about what celiac disease is, absolutely.

Jenni:

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease.

Dan:

It's a chronic autoimmune disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. The condition is characterized by an intolerance to gluten, and gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Basically, wheat barley and rye is in everything that's processed, it seems.

Jenni:

Yes, very much so. And you know, when I first got diagnosed, we had to see a nutritionist who gave us like 50 different words that would be on the label that could contain gluten.

Dan:

And we'll go over some of that. We're going to go over the details of celiac disease. We're going to explore symptoms. We're going to talk about its diagnosis, the way it's treated and the impact it has had on our lives and other people's lives that we know.

Jenni:

Yep. So celiac disease manifests in various ways and symptoms can vary from person to person. Common signs of celiac disease include digestive issues, of course, such as bloating, diarrhea, abdominal pain. However, non digestive issues can be an issue as well, like fatigue, joint pain, skin rashes. All of those things are prevalent. Recognizing these diverse symptoms is crucial for early detection and management.

Dan:

Extremely important, extremely important. The way that celiacs can affect a person is so widespread. There's some people that say I've read that they think everybody should be tested for celiac. I think that's going a little bit too far. I think that people that show any signs and symptom of celiac whether it might be attached to a cold, a flu, a virus, allergy I think it would be good for them to be tested. That way you could go ahead and get rid of it, because it has some very dangerous implications if you don't treat it or don't pay attention to it.

Jenni:

Yeah, it does. It can actually feel like the flu.

Dan:

Yeah, the thing is when you first noticed it. I'll let you elaborate on it, but you were really in a malaise type of vibe at that point in time. You didn't show a lot of energy. The thing that really brought it to our attention, the most overt thing, was your rash the sprue, yeah.

Jenni:

That was a fun diagnosis to get. I actually felt really sick, like I had the flu, and I could barely get off the couch. All of a sudden, I get this rash that as a kid, I had chicken pox and I even had lice of the child, and I never in my life have experienced the itch that this rash caused. I would wake up in the middle of the night with blood on the sheets because I would be digging myself. It was the most horrific thing I had ever gone through. And, of course, we went to a dermatologist and this was in 2012 and they don't know what celiac disease is and they told us we had bed bugs. And then what was it? Scabies, scabies yeah.

Jenni:

So they were treating me for that and we had our house checked and you know we sleep in the same bed and I'm the only one with the issue. So obviously I was getting a little suspect. So obviously, when they couldn't figure it out, they sent me to an allergy specialist in Columbus and he tested me for every environmental allergy under the sun and I was allergic to nothing. So he suggested getting a blood test to check for celiac disease.

Dan:

There are different ways to diagnose it. Most definitely, the one thing that really people should look at, I should say, would possibly be genetic testing.

Jenni:

Yes.

Dan:

Now genetic testing. People with celiac disease almost always have at least one of two groups of the antigen HLA gene variants that encode the following serotype equivalents the big ones, the two big ones, are HLA-DQ2.5 or HLA-DQ8. Now I've had ancestry 23 in me done.

Jenni:

Yeah.

Dan:

And I actually have a variant of this. I don't really I don't know that I have celiacs because I haven't been specifically tested for it. This is nothing but like a screening for it. About 95% of people with celiacs still have HLA-DQ2.5.1 and the other about 5% they're going to have HLA-DQ8.1 and a very small percentage have other genetic variants, but they're rarely associated with celiac disease. Now, these genetic testings, it's just a screening. It's not a diagnosis, by any means whatsoever.

Jenni:

Now, and you do have to have two variants of this in order for you to be at a higher risk of celiac disease. For me, I fall under the category of the HLA-DQ2.5, which is that 95% of people with celiac disease usually have that, so you have to have those two variants too.

Dan:

An interesting thing is, as I was doing research for this, obviously I have personal research. By being with you I've seen that a lot of people with celiacs they develop it in their teen years. They don't really develop it. They start showing signs and they start saying they have this as their perception, as the human experience that they just have. The normal thing is for them to have the diarrhea, the bloating that this is normal for them? They don't understand that they have this, you know, condition.

Jenni:

And I think for me I've probably had it my entire life and just didn't know it. Yeah, you had a lot of things you had to do when you were young. Yeah, I was in hospitalized for diarrhea at times I've had. You know, my grandmother used to have to give me enemas because it can also cause constipation. It can go both ways and then I always had some sort of digestive issues. When I was a baby I had to drink goat's milk.

Dan:

Couldn't drink regular milk.

Jenni:

You know, even when we got together, I really, you know, I had my gallbladder taken out in my early 20s, so I was told my diarrhea was from that. It was like the dumping syndrome, but the dumping syndrome is not supposed to last for several years.

Dan:

And that's what was happening. When we would go on trips, we'd go on extended drives and vacations. It would be like you would have I would always try and be aware where a bathroom was. Oh yeah, because we would have to take well traveled roads because we could not go down the country road.

Jenni:

No, not happening, especially if I ate, because then we didn't know what was going on. We just assumed it was because I had my gallbladder taken out.

Dan:

We thought it was the normal human experience. Yep so just like you were talking about with the allergy doctor you know, the next step that you had was to be able to take some type of blood test.

Jenni:

Yeah, so they checked. They did a TGG and an IGA blood test for me and that was basically. It measures your proteins of antibodies in your system.

Dan:

Yeah, the, what is it? The TTG IGA, that's the big one that they go with. That's like the, the home run. It covers the most of the bases, right? Yes, because that test has a sensitivity of 78 to 100% spesicivity, spesicivity.

Jenni:

It's a great word. Glad you have to say it.

Dan:

Of 90 to 100%. The performance of the test may depend on the degree of the intestinal damage that you have, making the test less sensitive than people who have mild celiac disease, the people who think that's just their standard human experience.

Jenni:

Right this test for me, so every lab's a little bit different, but for me a normal range is zero to three, and when I first got diagnosed, when the allergy sent, doctors sent me to get this test done, I was at a 17. And that pretty much blew it all the water. So they're like yep, you have celiac disease, so start eating a gluten free diet which might not have been the best thing to do.

Dan:

Nope, right then. Once again, you know the, the genetic testing and the blood test. It's more like a screening tool. And why wouldn't the blood test? Okay, I'll let you explain why. Wasn't the blood test, the results, the response to it, the best thing for you to go gluten-free?

Jenni:

Because to get a confirmed diagnosis as of right now you have to have a biopsy done. So you have to have an endoscope where they go in and they take a biopsy of your small intestine and send that off and that also measures the damage that's already been done and kind of where it kind of sets where you're at. But if you start eating a gluten-free diet your gut starts to heal and it kind of skews the testing.

Dan:

Yeah, the endoscope. Then, like you said, excuse it, you don't know exactly what kind of damage you have, you don't know how severe it is. You don't have a good, valid diagnosis. Yes, and that's an upper endoscopy, right? Yes, so we've gone through the fact that we've talked about the genetic testing, the serology, the blood testing done and the endoscopic results, and that is essentially. You have two screening tools. One could possibly be deemed a diagnostic tool, but the real diagnostic tool is the last, the endoscopic result.

Jenni:

Yes. And so for me, they told me to go on a gluten-free diet after my serology test and I did, and they waited six months before they did the endoscope and it came back okay. So of course me I'm like, oh, I don't have celiac disease, let's go ahead and eat what I want, right.

Dan:

Let's go back to those subs and pizza.

Jenni:

Yes, so I did and then I ended up really sick and they took me back and did another endoscope and I had moderate to severe damage at that point in time and it took me three years to get my gut healed enough to actually put a remission to where my serology test was in normal range.

Dan:

Now you talk about how severe. Okay, one thing that they use to scale or to talk about the severity of the celiacs that you have would be the more scoring system. Right, right Now, there's four big stages to it, right? Yes, there is. So stage zero would be. The biopsy sample would be classified as more stage zero. That's known as the pre-infiltrative stage. It's because the lymphocytes, the lymphocytes type of white blood cell, have not yet started to move into or infiltrate the intestinal lining. That's correct. So you just blew past that, wouldn't you say?

Jenni:

Yeah, oh yeah, I was definitely beyond that and actually still am, unfortunately. But then you look at stage one, marscore. It means the cells of the surface of the intestinal lining, known as the epithelial cells, I have to say that slowly have more lymphocytes among them than normal. So the presence of too many lymphocytes indicates inflammation and potential for damage.

Dan:

So stage one is you'd better start saying it's gonna be concerned. Now, if you're, getting an endoscope done and you get this. The doctor might not be really good and strong on what's going on, because it could be a lot of different things, because it's inflammation.

Jenni:

Yeah, and a lot of times they don't even tell you what your Marscore is. They just talk about the findings of the different cells.

Dan:

Now as far as stage one, marscore, in a normal small intestine there should be no more than 30 lymphocytes per 100 epithelial cells, but in stage one there are more than that. So you're gonna have more than 30 lymphocytes per 100 epithelial cells there and your pathology report will more than likely read increased intraepithelial I said that right lymphocytes. Celiac disease is not the only condition that can cause an increase in the disease by lymphocytes.

Jenni:

Yeah, you may have more lymphocytes if you have inflammatory bowel disease, sorghum syndrome, which is another autoimmune disease, or any other food intolerance. So infections could also cause it, like helicobacter pylori, hp.

Dan:

Yeah, you're better than me, if you want that one.

Jenni:

Which also is also linked to ulcers.

Dan:

And you can also if you use too many over-the-counter pain medications. That can also can cause this type situation.

Jenni:

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure the helicobacter pylori. I am totally butchering that, but that can definitely be it Age pylori yeah that could definitely be a big factor with those.

Dan:

With stage two you'll see more lymphocytes and there's bigger depressions than normal in the intestinal billi. The depressions are called crypts and larger than normal crypts are called hyperplastic. So if the pathology report following your biopsy says you have hyperplastic crypts or crypt hyperplasia, it means the depressions are actually being seen in your biopsy and they're bigger than it would be in a normal intestinal line.

Jenni:

Yeah, and sometimes they use the words in your pathology report like bluntine or flattening. They don't always say the crypts or any. You know it depends on the pathologist. But just so you're clear too, the villi is what? When you eat, it's in your small intestine, that's the. Your food goes straight there and it absorbs those nutrients from the food before it passes into your stomach.

Dan:

So if you have blunting or if they're flat, yeah, you can actually get into a wasting situation where your body is not absorbing the the nutrients that you need Exactly. Now we're moving on to stage three. Stage three actually has three sub stages.

Jenni:

Yeah. So for me this one rings true for me because I'm stage three A, so partial villius atrophy. Your intestinal villi are still there, but they're smaller. So for me, mine would say bluntine is what my pathology report says various bluntine. So subtotal villius atrophy boy, I'm having trouble talking tonight would be stage 3B. Your intestinal villi have shrunken significantly so they're really shortened, and total atrophy of your villi is when your intestinal lining is basically flat, with no intestinal villi left.

Dan:

You could think of like a gear where all the, where all the the actual teeth have been ground off of the gear.

Jenni:

Yeah, most people who are diagnosed with celiac disease have a stage three March score.

Dan:

Now, that's like you said, that's what you have and that's generally what people who have active celiacs and you have celiacs, this I'm going to call it active you can do things that to where it's not going to be in constant inflammation, but you're going to have it.

Jenni:

Yeah, I mean, if you follow a strict gluten free diet and you don't have what they call refractory celiac disease, which is a whole nother issue, you can really manage this and get it to where it's. I call it remission, so it's not. It's not damaging in your stomach lining and your villi can actually kind of recuperate a little bit.

Dan:

Yeah, and you know they might not be 100% healthy, like a person that's unaffected, but they're going to be vibrant for what they would be as compared to like a stage four.

Jenni:

Oh yeah, for sure.

Dan:

Now, with stage four, your villi are totally flattened, their atrophied and the cribs are shrunken as well, so it's almost like a wasteland. Yeah, nothing's going to be absorbed. This is obviously all in your intestine, your small intestine, stage four. Generally you have to be in the older population and you have to have had celiacs for a long time. Now. If your marshgore is at a stage four, you have a higher risk for celiac disease complications, including lymphoma.

Jenni:

Yeah, which is very scary. If you have a good GI doctor, they're going to do testing for you yearly. I get an endoscopy done every year, the same time every year, and it just kind of monitors how my celiac disease is responding to the gluten-free diet. Because, believe it or not, if you think you're being very strict with your gluten-free diet, there are so many things have gluten in it, you can get cross-contamination and it only takes less than a grain of gluten to mess you up.

Dan:

They talk about you need less than 20 parts per million. Yeah, but can they really measure what parts per million is? In incidental contacts, you know? I mean, like the one thing the the most amazing, not really amazing. The most scary thing that I've heard of is the most scary thing that I've heard of is that for the corn tortillas, they actually put flour in between them to where they don't get stuck together.

Jenni:

Yeah, and I unfortunately did not know that.

Dan:

No.

Jenni:

Until we saw our functional medicine doctor and I've been struggling since December and we couldn't figure out why and I don't know. I'm sure that played a role, I'm not sure what else, but I got really, really sick in December and had my endoscope scope done at the end of the month, got sick at the beginning of the month and of course I've got blunted villi now and an increased lymphocytes.

Dan:

We're on the recovery path. I mean, we're taking a close attention to that. Now see, that's some of the complications that you get. You can have with cross contamination, you know these cross-cost contaminations and everything can lead to severe complications. You can have malnutrition, osteoporosis and you lead an increased risk for other autoimmune disorders. There's also an association although not as severe, but there is an association between celiac disease and certain neurological conditions.

Jenni:

There's a huge association with brain fog. I mean, that is the worst and I get that quite often.

Dan:

Now I've read some. I've read some some interesting things Now. We've talked about how they diagnose it. We've talked about the symptoms. We've talked about some personal experience with it Now treatment for it. I've read some promising studies that are coming up to where they've looked for medications that are just going to actually work with some receptors to try and cure it. But it's really far off in the in the time frame it is unfortunately.

Jenni:

But I will say I've had some friends who say they know people who have celiac disease severely and can't eat bread or any gluten right here in the States. But if they go overseas to like France or Australia, they can eat all the bread they want and they're just fine. It just goes to show how much the United States have modified our food.

Dan:

Oh, it's terrible. I mean, I believe this has been a problem for all ages, but just the exploding of it is when we started working with GMO things and they start genetically modifying the way they treat things. And that's one thing we always go back to is you try and stay away from highly processed foods.

Jenni:

You're going to run into some dextrose extruded thing that has gluten, and if you're dealing with highly processed foods, yeah, I mean, celiac disease was not a thing hundreds of years ago and they they had gluten in their diet then.

Dan:

So yeah, so right now, the one primary treatment for celiac disease is strict adherence to a gluten-free diet.

Jenni:

Yeah, and that's unfortunate because unfortunately some people with refractatory celiac. That doesn't even help them and that's sad because they don't really have a good. There are immunosuppressant drugs that they can give them to help, but that's not ideal.

Dan:

That's also one of the reasons. That's one of the cases where the cure can be almost as bad as the disease. Because you take those immunosuppressants and you have other things that occur.

Jenni:

You might take care of the celiac symptoms at that point in time Make it sick from something else, exactly so the impact on your lifestyle, the impact on our lifestyle, the people with celiacs.

Dan:

There's a lot of things that go into that.

Jenni:

Yeah, it's very frustrating, especially when you first get diagnosed, because you're like, what the heck do I do? Because it's a complete lifestyle change and you have to change it or you're gonna feel really bad for a very long time until you end up with cancer or another autoimmune disease or whatever right. So the frustration is real and even today I get frustrated at times.

Dan:

It's frustrating because on your own personal level, on our own personal level, when we go grocery shopping, it takes 23 minutes longer. I mean it used to, because you'd read every single label and you get down to ingredient number 34, it'd be like, ah, there it is.

Jenni:

And then you have to be careful too, because you have some grocery stores that's putting gluten-free tags on everything and then you look at it and it's not gluten-free, or if it's gluten-friendly which is not necessarily gluten-free.

Dan:

And that's one of the issues that we have today. People think it's one of the myths. They think that gluten allergy and celiac is the same thing. They think, oh, it's okay that they eat a little bit of gluten.

Jenni:

They're just intolerant. They'll be fine.

Dan:

And that's not really the case, is it?

Jenni:

No, it definitely isn't. And there are people out there that have intolerances to it but can eat it, but will probably have a bellyache or something like that, but their autoimmune antibodies aren't attacking their gut, the crazy thing is.

Dan:

Another crazy thing is that, even though you are celiac, you aren't allergic to wheat.

Jenni:

That is absolutely correct. So Allergies and autoimmune are two totally different things, exactly.

Dan:

So the impact on our lifestyle, the things that we have to do for shopping, the things we have to think about when we go out to eat, social situations is very tricky because the same thing we have an active church to where we go and hang out with other couples and our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we'll go to their house and they're like, hey, well, we made this and you're like I don't know, it's got gluten in it.

Jenni:

Yeah, and it makes it for me for a long time, up until really recently, if we went out to eat or if we would have a social gathering, I would feel like the oddball and feel really just. You know, I didn't want to put people out.

Dan:

You feel like you had that scarlet letter.

Jenni:

Yeah, I didn't want to be the person being like, well, I can't eat that, I'm sorry, or yeah, I didn't want to bring attention to it, yeah, so it just made me feel awkward, and now that I've been getting sick again, it's like you know what I really need to take control of my health, and I don't care what people think.

Dan:

One thing that we do is, if we're in that situation because we do want to spend time with our friends is we'll eat before we go and we'll, like you know, figure out something there that we can have that is not going to be infiltrated with gluten.

Jenni:

Yeah, and you know I got to say I have the best husband because he eats gluten free with me and he doesn't have to.

Dan:

Well, you never know, I might have acetyl-X as well. I'm just benefiting from you because my human condition might have been. You know, okay, I got gas and I got this. But you know, hey, I support you and I love you. It's part of a teamwork, right.

Jenni:

It sure is and it needs to be. That's another thing. You have to have people that supports you, and if they don't, then you need to find a support group, because it's very frustrating. It can really play, you know, not only on physical health but your mental health too.

Dan:

Yeah, people don't understand how serious celiac is.

Jenni:

Yeah, they sure don't.

Dan:

You know we're lucky, we got some friends, some close friends, that they understand that and they look out for us whenever we're dealing with situations.

Jenni:

but Even family. I mean, think about the times we go for Thanksgiving or Christmas and they just don't get it. Even till today, they just don't get it.

Dan:

No, and you know they example. You know they'll have a serving spoon, they'll be used for two different things. One thing's gluten and one thing is supposedly wink, wink, nudge, nudge, not gluten. And they're like hey that's not gluten, but it has this all over it. Yeah, they don't understand. This must be 20 parts per million, and I don't think that's more like 30,000 parts per million.

Jenni:

And you try to explain it. But again, I'm one of those people that I don't wanna push my problems on someone else. So, typically I make the food before we go and we eat before we go. That way, we're not caught up in that situation, that's a key thing.

Dan:

You have to be prepared, and it's one thing that you gotta. You gotta look at all different places. Okay, you might have a medication that has gluten in it. You know the gluten will hide anywhere, just like, like I said, the most shocking thing is that in the gluten-free corn tortillas they use flour to separate them so they don't stick together.

Jenni:

Yeah, and the crazy thing is my functional medicine doctor also has celiac disease, so he can give me a lot of tips and tricks.

Dan:

He has been a wellspring of health, inspiration and understanding.

Jenni:

For sure, absolutely has. And also lipstick, lip gloss, for ladies out there with celiac disease. Be very careful of that, because obviously you lick your lips or whatever. When you have it on, you're ingesting it.

Dan:

Saucers, coffee flavorings, everything. You gotta be aware of it. But the thing is, of course, okay if you don't have symptoms, if you don't have anything that can be going on. You know it's. It's not necessarily going to be an issue for you. If you do have things going on, then you can follow the three stages of testing. Okay, make sure your doctors are aware. A lot of our doctors, early on, weren't aware of this. No, they weren't.

Jenni:

Well, and it didn't help either that they say it's hereditary, but I don't know. Apparently, I got a gene from each side of my my dad and my mom, because it takes, you know, two variants, but I don't know anything that they anybody that had celiac disease. It's like I just came out of nowhere, which can happen. Yeah, if one parent has one variant, the other one has another and they have a baby. It can happen.

Dan:

You have a celiac baby. Yeah, so this is another good thing. I mean, this is just a side note, sidebar from this celiac discussion. If you have the opportunity, please talk to your parents, talk to your uncles and they ask see what medical conditions they have. That way, especially if you're young, you might know in the future what you can be on the lookout for. You might know that Uncle, uncle Bill, had high blood pressure. Therefore, you might want to get checked for things like that nature. You might want to know specific things about them.

Jenni:

Yeah, start young, because you don't want to wait until you're older and then have to deal with that. But I will say that society has come a long way from 2012 with celiac disease as far as your choices of gluten free food. So, again, the best thing is to probably for me, we have. I have decided, of course with your help, to go more carnivore. Now I cannot sit here and say that I'm 100% carnivore, because I just don't know that I can do that, but I am more animal based now where my GI doctor told me to be more plant based and I did that and I was having issues. So now I'm switching over to a more I guess you would say more keto vor diet, carnivore adjacent.

Jenni:

Yeah, carnivore adjacent because I gotta have my fruit. I'm sorry. I have a sweet tooth. The only way I'm going to get that sweet tooth taken care of is some pineapple.

Dan:

Well, it's a healthy lifestyle and it goes back to you know, when you think of things like paleo and whole 30, you think about whole foods. And when you are eating in a carnivore carnivore adjacent fruit, meat, things like that low glycemic value vegetables you're eating whole foods. You're not eating that packaged, you know, mashed potato mix, not eating that packaged hamburger helper.

Jenni:

Although you know I did cheat a little bit today. I had a friend bring me some really good gluten free keto cookies. Oh, they're so good.

Dan:

I was going to snitch out on that.

Jenni:

But it was very thoughtful and it really. It took my sweet tooth, but man, they're addicting.

Dan:

But see, that's also the same thing. I mean, he is very aware of the gluten free.

Jenni:

Yes.

Dan:

And he's very. He always keeps an eye out for things that could be advantageous for a person with celiacs, yeah, advantageous for a person that's trying to live a gluten free lifestyle, and we appreciate that. So, and that's the same thing. It's a diet, is something that's going to end A needing lifestyle, is something that can continue and that's kind of like where we're at right now.

Jenni:

Yeah, for sure.

Dan:

So, in conclusion, celiac disease it's a really complex condition. There's a lot of effects on the physical health and our lifestyle. There's increased awareness, early diagnosis and ongoing support are key. They're very crucial for individuals managing this autoimmune disorder. As research continues, we really hope that advancements will provide new avenues and treatments and it'll enhance the quality of life for you yeah, for me, since I'm in that sport group. This is not eating gluten and by the people that are affected by celiac disease.

Jenni:

Yeah, and if you do live near a, if you have celiac disease and you live near a celiac foundation, I highly recommend that you go to them for support and help. And if you think you have celiac disease, you know, if you have a celiac foundation next to you, get diagnosed by them. I mean that's a great thing. I think the closest one to us is Cleveland Clinic.

Dan:

You can also like the 23andMe the health thing. You can see if you have the celiac variants. Now you can see a cornucopia of different medical conditions and you can follow through with those things. You know. Obviously you're going to want to do the things that we had talked about. You can check the genetic code, you can check your serology, your blood tests, and you can get your way to that celiac center, just like the Cleveland Clinic.

Jenni:

Yeah, and if you do have a family member, especially a first degree relative, that has celiac disease, definitely dig in, because it's more than likely that you would have it and you know, that's the best advice I can give.

Dan:

Hey, guys, we definitely appreciate your time. We know it's valuable. This was a subject that was near and not so dear to our hearts, and we're glad that we're able to share it with you. If you have any questions about it, if you have any insight in it, you've got any hints for us, please contact us. We're on Instagram, we're on Facebook. You can go to our website, wwwwheelofwellnesspodcastcom. So, hey, once again, we appreciate it, guys. We hope that you guys have a wonderful day, a wonderful evening, a wonderful life. Use some of these tips that we give you to go ahead and enhance your life and stay healthy. We'll talk to you guys soon, thank you.

Jenni:

Bye.