by Gary Tougher

Created on: November 10, 2008

It is well researched that a lack of B12 can and will be diagnosed as Pernicious Anemia, however, one under-diagnosed disease also hides itself within the lack of B12 as found in a blood test. Seven years ago I had a blood test as part of a standard physical done by a GP. The results showed that not only did I have nearly a complete lack of B12, my blood was also low in Iron content. My Doctor ordered up a brand new batch of blood work that was meant to further detail the initial testing.

The second test confirmed the original one and also showed a lack of other important nutrients that should have been there. The Doctor suggested a bone scan which took a few months to arrange. The scan showed that I had very poor bone density and the Doctor then advised that because of the lack of B12 and other nutrients along with poor bone density he was diagnosing Celiac Disease, a disease of which I had no knowledge whatsoever.

Through the Internet and before my GI appointment I did some research on Celiac Disease and found out that a patient with Celiac Disease is gluten intolerant. This meant that the Celia (protuberances on the intestine that catch and hold nutrients for later distribution within the body) were flattened by proteins within gluten and therefore unable to "catch and release" important nutrients such as B12. Gluten is found in all major grains, wheat, durum, rye, triticale and barley. I also discovered that the only solution to beating Celiac disease was to live with a gluten free diet forever.

I did go to the GI specialist and he confirmed a 95% diagnosis of Celiac Disease. To get to 100% he wanted to do a Colonoscopy and I passed on that as I was not interested in anything that invasive. I immediately went on a gluten free diet which was very difficult to control and accept for the first two years. I was told by the Doctors that Celiac disease is inherited and that I may have been suffering from it foir a long time and my body somehow adapted. I was replacing nutrients daily but was unable to store them for any length of time.

After a year of gluten free living my bone density zoomed up to better than normal and the testers had never seen such a dramatic improvement, they said it looked like tests from two different patients. Celiac disease can lead to many serious gastric difficulties and cancers, so the awkwardness of trying to be so careful not to ingest gluten is well worth the effort to insure better health. Celiac disease is being diagnosed more often now in patients that show a lack of B12 in blood tests rather than assuming Pernicious Anemia as the initial diagnosis.

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