What is the difference?

After several conversations with different people it became clear that there was a necessity to define three things:

Allergies

Autoimmune:

Immunodeficiency:

Coeliac Disease is the Second of these three.  Lets start though with the definition of an Allergy.

When you have an allergy it is because your body overreacts to otherwsie harmless stimuli, causing uncomfortable and sometimes harmful symptoms.

When you have an autoimmune disease (as I do, Coeliac Disease) your body essentially attacks itself, causing damage to your digestive system, respiratory system, or muscles for example.

An immunodeficiency disorder is when your body stops protecting you from foreign stimuli like viruses, toxins, bacteria and tumors.

So the difference between gluten sensitivity (allergy) and Coeliac disease (autoimmune) is this:
With Coeliac Disease gluten triggers an autoimmune response that causes serious harm to the digestive system. People who have Coeliac Disease MUST cut all gluten products from their diet (hence 'strict' gluten free diet), if they don't it can cause irreparable damage to the digestive system.  If you have problems when eating bread, cakes or crackers it doesn't mean  you are Coeliac.  You may have gluten sensitivity which means that your body produces histamines whenever it detects gluten in your system (allergy).

'A little bit won't hurt' statement as, you can see here, could not be more dangerous as it WILL cause damage, and make the Coeliac ill.

That is not to say that gluten sensitivity can cope, as they are more likely to be prone to anaphylactic shock. Which needs an Epipen and immediate medical attention i.e 999 emergency.

The current NICE guidelines (UK only) on the diagnosis of IBS, is before your Doctor confirms a diagnosis of IBS you should be screened for Coeliac Disease first.  This consists of a blood test, if positive then you will need confirmation, if negative then IBS can be considered (www.coeliac.org.uk/health)

A very useful site if you are going away................

The link below will take you to a very useful site if you are going abroad or even if you are just staying at home, I have used the English restaurant card for my stay in hospital and it was worth it's weight in gold and I now always have one in my bag and because you can give them out to Staff in restaurants or anywhere that may need to feed you they are a good tool and save a lot of embarrassing awkward questions.  They are free and all they ask is if you cannot donate please post their address on your blog, this is what I am doing now as I've just printed off another 3 to make sure I'm safe over the Festivities when going out with friends.

www.celiactravel.com   and go to the Gluten Free Restaurant Cards section, then select the language you wish.  

Have Fun.