celiac diagnosis

[Mom2Will]

just wondering how celiac is diagnosed. took my son to endo who said his thyroid seemed a little enlarged, did blood tests that all came back normal but just wondering if the enlarged thyroid is a sign

[BrendaK]

No, enlarged thyroid is not a sign of celiac. I had an enlarged thyroid in middle school and it was eventually diagnosed as hashimotos thyroiditis (an autoimmune thyroid disease that causes "hypothyroid"). My blood work was normal at first, but the thyroid was enlarged because it was working extra hard to produce the thyroid hormones.

Celiac is also an autoimmune disease -- it can be suspected if you have positive antibodies through bloodwork, but the main diagnosis comes from a small bowel biopsy where there is damage shown to the villi in the small intestines. Some symptoms of celiac are abdominal problems (vomiting, diarreah, tummy aches), weight loss, anemia, and there are many more symptoms that vary person to person.

Hypothyroid, Celiac, and type 1 diabetes are all autoimmune diseases that are somehow genetically linked (I'm not sure how, though). My mom has all 3 disease. And I got the thyroid problems in 8th grade, diabetes at age 30, and I'm pretty sure I have celiac as well, though it hasn't been diagnosed by a doctor.

Hope that info helps.

[Mom2Will]

Thanks for that I did research for thyroid conditions and saw the hiro...(forgive me) and that said it usually showed in 13-14 year olds so I kind of shrugged that off but the endo was mentioning the other problems diabetics seem prone and celiac was one of them and she did testing for antibodies that came back neg (for now anyway). Every little thing now concerns me... especially waiting on tests to come back

[funnygrl]

I was tested for celiac. They can do antibody testing. An intestinal biopsy is needed to confirm the dx. I had both and was negative on both counts.

[Twyla]

Hi,

My son just got an almost certain dx of Celiac on top of his D. We will wait for the biopsy but the best antibody was very high on a routine screening at Joslin. He is asymptomatic now but still is at risk for nasty complications if he doesn't go gluten free. Turns out I may have it too. Our family history for autoimmune disease is horrible (if we both have Celiac it will be 7 diagnoses in 3 of the 4 of us).