Ciara Kelly

Around 78,000 people in Ireland are living with undiagnosed celiac disease.

We're going to talk through this along with some of the symptoms now to keep an eye out for.

I'm joined by dietitian with the Celiac Society of Ireland,

Sarah Kioser, you're very welcome to the programme.

Good morning.

Thank you for being with us.

So many people living with this thing and they don't know it.

And I think that will be surprising for a lot of people listening to this because you always think, well, if you're celiac, you're going to know about it because there are going to be certain things that really don't agree with you.

Infertility as well.

People who are dealing with infertility, you're saying that it's not widely known that celiac disease might be a factor there?

So you may not have any digestive issues whatsoever.

We're getting messages in from people telling us about their experience.

So a listener says, I didn't realise how serious celiac disease was until my son was diagnosed at 13.

His only symptoms at the time were low iron and he wasn't growing.

And is that the start then of the diagnostic process?

OK, and this listener whose son was diagnosed at 13, they're just saying how difficult his life has been, what a challenge it has been.

So when he was a teenager, he couldn't go out and eat with his friends and have pizza and chips and all the rest.

He couldn't eat school meals, can't eat at the canteen in college or work.

Travelling is really hard, stomach issues now, even though he follows a strict diet.

What is the treatment like and living with the disease?