Celiac Social Awareness

Celiac is an inherited autoimmune disease. 
It affects 1% of the global population.

In the U.S. celiac is 97% undiagnosed: There are 2,910,000 people who do not know that they have celiac. These people have learned to ignore symptoms, have accepted their symptoms as "normal", or have been told they have other condition(s), often with expensive treatments. Some have been trying to find out what they have, sometimes for decades. 

Undiagnosed celiac results in unnecessary chronic illness and deaths.
The cost for undiagnosed celiac is often tens of thousands of dollars, without successful healthcare.

Celiac Disease fits the criteria for universal testing or screening. 
It affects every global region, families, villages, generations. 
Its broad-scale identification would save lives and benefit society.   
It pays to diagnose celiac: Undetected celiac is very expensive. 
The earlier in life celiac is detected, the more money and health resources are saved.
It is cost-effective for every community to do so. 

Question: Why do you think celiac screening has not been 
established as standard medical practice, and smart health policy?  

Why is patient advocacy so important? 
It is vitally important to share information to alert doctors 
and patients alike about celiac, celiac symptoms and need for testing!
Doctors in the U.S. are averaging over 10 years to diagnose celiac, 
once a patient seeks help for specific symptoms. 
This is a serious, dangerous failure and simply not acceptable that testing is not done, or done when people are irreversibly harmed by failure to diagnose.

Here are some patients' ideas of what has been going on:
Failure to know about celiac.
Failure to ask the right diagnostic questions. 
Failure to recognize symptoms. 
Poor attention paid to symptoms and to medical history clues. 

Wrong or premature conclusion.
Misdiagnosis of other conditions. 
Hasty prescription of pharmaceuticals to fix symptoms.
(Diagnosis pattern does not fit any trendy pharmaceutical profile.)

It is not uncommon for celiac to be diagnosed in the process of cancer treatment, aftercare of childbirth tragedy, or during onset of diabetes or other disease caused by celiac or its effects on the body.

Let's Advocate!
AMA Letter: Proper follow-up care for celiac is rare. Well-informed doctors are hard to find. To sign a letter to the AMA about education for this: <Letter>

Local Medical Office/ School Letter: 
Let us know if you would like a celiac information package & complimentary 
Gluten-free Samples gift basket sent to an office in your local community: <Info Pkg> 

Celiac Expertise
In the NY area:
Dr. Peter Green, Columbia University Celiac Disease Center

List of national celiac organizations 

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