MARCH 2007
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Biophysical250 helps physician uncover his own celiac disease.
Biophysical250 helps physician uncover his own celiac disease Walter Gaman, M.D., simply attributed his fatigue to the pressure of working 10-hour days juggling the demands of two medical practices. He blamed his intestinal problems on eating a lot of fiber and his tooth enamel loss on having rickets as a small child. He never suspected he had celiac disease. Like many people who have the disease, Dr. Gaman explained away the symptoms of celiac disease—the inability to tolerate a protein called gluten—to other causes. It wasn’t until he took the Biophysical250, that it all began to add up.
For Dr. Gaman, a board-certified family practice physician with Healthcare Associates in Irving, Texas and co-partner for Executive Medicine of Southlake, taking the Biophysical250 healthcare assessment made sense.
He and his Executive Medicine co-partner, Dr. Mark Anderson, had just decided to offer the Biophysical250 to their patients to augment their other health and wellness services. "When I learned about Biophysical250, I knew it would be a wonderful screening tool for my patients," said Dr. Gaman. "I never expected that my own results would come back anything but completely normal."
Biophysical250 showed that Dr. Gaman had an out-of-range tTG antibody, one of three biomarkers that can indicate the presence of celiac disease. It also revealed that his serum ferritin level was very low—although still within the normal range. This meant that he had borderline iron deficiency, also consistent with celiac disease, which can cause mild chronic bleeding in the small intestine. “Even though I had a full panel of blood work done each year, it wasn’t measuring my iron levels,” he said. "The test for serum ferritin, which measures your body’s total iron content, was removed from the standard blood test (CBC) most people have in conjunction with an annual physical a few years ago for being generally regarded as being unnecessary."
Once he saw the results of the Biophysical250, he made immediate changes. "All of the problems I had been living with for at least 10 years were suddenly explained,” he said. “Rather than having further tests to verify celiac disease, I decided to immediately eliminate gluten from my diet. Within a week, my digestive problems resolved and I had more energy than I’d had in years. Instead of crashing at 6 pm, I was staying up until 11:30 pm. Furthermore, if I unintentionally eat a small quantity of gluten, I suffer the consequences within hours. It’s clear to me that I have celiac disease and I’m very happy that the Biophysical250 helped me connect the dots."
What is celiac disease?
Celiac disease is a hereditary autoimmune digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. Gluten is also in some prescription medicines, vitamins and even the adhesive used for postage stamps and envelopes. Health officials estimate that between 2.3 and 3 million Americans have celiac disease— or at least one in 133 (0.75%).
Many people live with celiac disease and do not know it. The disease could be under-diagnosed in the United States due to a combination of factors. These include the fact that the symptoms can be attributed to other problems and many physicians are not knowledgeable about the disease.
Researchers have recently discovered that people with celiac disease have higher than normal levels of certain antibodies (anti- tTG, anti-endomysial and anti-gliadin antibodies) in their blood. To diagnose celiac disease, physicians can now test a person’s blood to determine if one or more of these autoantibodies are present. If the blood tests and symptoms suggest celiac disease, a small bowel biopsy is generally performed to confirm the diagnosis.
The only way to treat celiac disease is to follow a life-long gluten-free diet. As Dr. Gaman can attest, eliminating gluten relieved his most obvious symptoms within a week. At the same time, his small intestine began to heal. For older adults, healing is usually completed within two years, enabling the small intestine to absorb nutrients from food as intended.
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