Getting aware of Celiac Disease

So, what the heck is Celiac Disease?

Celiac Disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of food.
People with the disease have bad reactions to digesting wheat, rye, barley and possibly oats. Or anything with a protein called gluten.
When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the small intestine.
What happens is the tiny fingerlike protrusions, called villi, on the lining of the small intestine are lost. When that happens, a person becomes mal-nourished—regardless of how much food they have eaten because nutrients from the food are absorbed into the bloodstream through these villi. Pretty strange isn’t it?
Celiac Disease is a genetic disease, meaning it runs in families. Sometimes the disease becomes active for the first time after surgery, viral infection, or severe emotional stress.

What are the symptoms?
Celiac Disease affects kids differently. Some develop symptoms as children, others as adults.
Some factors include the age at which a person began eating foods containing gluten and how much gluten is eaten.
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: