Useful Resources: Mystery Diagnosis on Discovery Health Channel

Ever watch that show called Mystery Diagnosis on Discovery Health? Every time I flip this show on I think in the back of my head that somebody has to be on here for Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease has over 300 symptoms, often times looks like other diseases and seems incredibly difficult to diagnose (average time of diagnosis in US is 10 years). Well, I recently stumbled on the story of little Eamon Murphy which originally aired in 2005.

Eamon originally began having some issues at 3 months old. His conditions got progressively worse and he began to fall behind developmentally. Problem was that no one thought Eamon had Celiac Disease - even though his own mother was diagnosed years earlier. Eamon's symptoms were not the typical ones thought of for CD - diarrhea, weight loss, failure to thrive, etc... Gluten was having a more neurological effect on him. He began to suffer from seizures at around age 3. His mother assumed that since the issues were not GI related like hers that it couldn't be Celiac - bad assumption. In fact it wasn't until she attended a lecture by Dr. Peter Green from the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University that she really understood CD to be genetic and that it could cause numerous other symptoms. It took Eamon 4 years to get the proper diagnosis of CD.

This should serve as a reminder to you to get your immediate family members screened for Celiac - even if they are not showing the typical GI symptoms. There is a quote in the second video clip from Eamon's father that goes something like "Celiac Disease causes malabsorption issues - the potential is limitless on what it can do to your body". Gluten leaks from your intestinal track and is highly toxic to patients with Celiac Disease. Not only can it affect your gut, but also your skin, your brain and pretty much anywhere else.

Click here for Part I and Part II of the video on YouTube.