Nicola is in her thirties and a mother of one of my patients. She has coeliac disease.
Over the years she had become slack on her gluten-free diet and had symptoms, but did not worry about too much. She did not really understand that eating gluten whilst coeliac was going to harm her in the long run and increase her mortality rate.
She came to my attention because I diagnosed her daughter as coeliac. I have now measured mum’s blood tests on several occasions and it demonstrated the gut damage (high tTG and high DGP). She has now gone on a strict gluten-free diet and her blood tests are improving. This highlights the need for regular testing of people with coeliac disease.
Just like people who have high cholesterol levels need their cholesterol tested regularly, so coeliacs need their antibodies tested regularly to ensure that they are on the right track.
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