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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffCeliac disease has no cure, but you can effectively manage the disease through changing your diet.
Changes to your diet to avoid gluten
To manage the disease and prevent complications, it's crucial that you avoid all foods that contain gluten, including:
- Barley
- Bulgur
- Durum
- Farina
- Graham flour
- Rye
- Semolina
- Spelt (a form of wheat)
- Triticale
- Wheat
Your doctor may refer you to a dietitian, who can help you plan a healthy gluten-free diet.
Once you've removed gluten from your diet, inflammation in your small intestine will begin to subside, usually within several weeks, though you may start to feel better in just a few days. Complete healing and regrowth of the villi may take several months, or as long as two to three years. Healing in the small intestine tends to occur more quickly in children than it does in adults.
If you accidentally eat a product that contains gluten, you may experience abdominal pain and diarrhea. Some people experience no signs or symptoms after eating gluten, but this doesn't mean it's not harmful. Even trace amounts of gluten in your diet can be damaging, whether or not they cause signs or symptoms.
Vitamin supplements to combat malnutrition
If your nutritional deficiencies are severe, you may need to take vitamin and mineral supplements recommended by your doctor or dietitian to help correct these deficiencies. Your doctor may recommend supplements to increase your levels of:
- Calcium
- Folate
- Iron
- Vitamin B-12
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin K
Vitamin supplements can be taken in pill form. But in some situations, your digestive tract may have trouble absorbing vitamins. In these cases, your doctor may give the vitamins by injection.
Medications to control intestinal inflammation
In cases of severe inflammation in the small intestine, your doctor may recommend medications called steroids to control inflammation. Steroids may be used to give you relief from severe signs and symptoms until the effects of a gluten-free diet begin to become apparent.
- Farrel RJ, et al. Celiac disease and refractory celiac disease. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisinger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/linkTo?type=bookHome&isbn=978-1-4160-6189-2&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-6189-2..X0001-7--TOP&uniq=200844987-3. Accessed Nov. 2, 2010.
- Ferri FF. Celiac disease. In: Ferri FF. Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2011. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=aboutPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05610-6..C2009-0-38600-6--TOP&isbn=978-0-323-05610-6&uniq=210978719. Accessed Nov. 2, 2010.
- Rubio-Tapia A, et al. Celiac disease. Current Opinion in Gastroenterology. 2010;26:116.
- Celiac disease nutrition therapy. ADA Nutrition Care Manual. http://nutritioncaremanual.org/index.cfm. Accessed Nov. 2, 2010.
- Celiac disease. National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/index.htm. Accessed Nov. 4, 2010.
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