Myth #3 You Can "Outgrow" Coeliac Disease

Doh! yes some people are actually told this!....

You likely recall how much better you felt soon after starting a gluten free diet (differs for each person). And the odds are darn good that as you continued your diet, all your previous symptoms gradually resolved and you remained well thereafter. It could be - human beings being human afterall - that at some point you inadvertently (or maybe even intentionally) resumed consuming gluten. It's likely that in short order your old symptoms came back to haunt you, reminding you that you had not been cured of your Coeliac disease, but rather that you still had it and needed to look after it. But what if you had resumed eating gluten and your symptoms, in fact, did not return? Or perhaps you have a child with CD and after being entirely well for years whilst on a gluten free diet, you are now wondering whether your child need to continue it? Could it be that you or your child have "outgrown" Coeliac Disease?

So then with that in mind, can you in fact, outgrow Coeliac disease?....Alas, although you will outgrow your high chair, your first bike, adolescence (thank goodness) your wedding day tuxedo (sigh) and a million other things, you will not outgrow your Coeliac disease. Similarly, if you have a child with Coeliac disease, your child won't outgrow it either.

If you are middle aged person and were diagnosed in your youth with Coeliac disease it is quite possible that you recall long ago being told by a doctor that you could - or would - out grow your Coeliac disease. At one time this possibility was entertained by some health care providers. Nowadays we know this is incorrect.

So what might happen to you if, feeling completely well, you decide to resume eating gluten containing food? The answer is, you will develop one or more of the following problems:

*Your symptoms will return, possibly becoming severe and exceptionally difficult to settle

*You will develop complications of Coeliac disease (such as iron deficiency anemia or osteoporosis)

*You may expose yourself to an increased risk of several types of Cancer.

The bottom line: As much as we wish to were otherwise, you cannot in fact, outgrow Coeliac disease and it is potentially dangerous to resume eating gluten even if, having don so, you feel perfectly well.