justperhaps

Your story is amazing. I heard you say (on Underground Radio) that if you have gluten or casein, you end up back in a wheelchair for several weeks. Can you speak to exactly what you think casein does to the brain that causes a problem? Thank you for your research and your experience - and for sharing it!

So it's the immune reaction. Interesting - I'm allergic to casein, too (but don't have MS). I was wondering how it affected me because I unfortunately love cheese. :) Good to know this. Thank you!

You would do well to look up the research of Dr. Alessio Fasano. For people who are allergic, gluten makes their bodies create a chemical called zonulin…which opens the tight junctions of their small intestine. That's what causes a leaky gut, and it leads to multiple allergies and immune system dysfunction. There are countless medical studies about it.

Leaky Gut Syndrome and Celiac Disease have a lot of the same symptoms, and they're interrelated. If you have Celiac Disease, you will have a leaky gut. No question, an allergic reaction to gluten opens the tight junctions. A leaky gut is a real thing, too. I think in order to be diagnosed with Celiac Disease, they have to do a biopsy and show that the villi in the small intestine are damaged. But many of the symptoms are the same.

While they might be called different things, I think both Leaky Gut Syndrome and Celiac Disease produce the same results in people: compromised immune systems. It seems the question is what causes the leaky gut. Certainly, zonulin is one cause when allergic to gluten. I don't know what else might cause it - maybe what it says on wikipedia. Unfortunately, there isn't as much research as there should be (in my opinion) about either Celiac Disease or Leaky Gut Syndrome. But I definitely think they're both real things. I also think the terms used to describe the conditions are separated. For example, I think many people are allergic to gluten and don't know it. I don't know for sure that they could be diagnosed with Celiac Disease because you must have a biopsy and show villi damage to get that diagnosis. But you can have an allergic reaction to gluten and not necessarily have it show up in tests. I am a perfect example of that. I had a food allergy test years ago that barely showed any reaction to wheat/gluten. But I finally tried a diet where I cut it out for a week…and it totally changed my life. I couldn't believe the amount of energy I had. I don't have areas of psoriasis anymore. I don't even get sick anymore - no colds, viruses, etc. - and gluten makes me noticeably ill now. I never would have known if I hadn't figured it out for myself. I think science has a long way to go in identifying gluten allergies and leaky gut problems. But there is not a huge push to develop this research. There's a lot of money in creating a drug, but no money in telling people to stop eating something. And there is certainly no money in improving people's immune system (without a drug), because those people no longer need a doctor every few months. And they don't need drugs because they don't get sick. That's why I support what Dr. Wahls is doing. She's not pushing a drug…she's simply pushing a dietary change that might really help people. I respect that a lot.