Gluten intolerance--a new 'fad' disease?

Cairenn

Senior Member.
I am sure that there are folks that are gluten intolerant (I have a couple of odd ball allergies my self--silver and coconut). I really doubt that the percentage is as high as some are saying it is.

http://www.undergroundhealth.com/six-signs-you-are-gluten-intolerant-and-may-not-even-know-it/

More than 55 diseases have been linked to gluten, the protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. It’s estimated that 99% of the people who have either gluten intolerance or celiac disease are never diagnosed.

It is also estimated that as much as 15% of the US population is gluten intolerant. Could you be one of them?

Six common symptoms of gluten intolerance

(1) Gastrointestinal (GI), stomach, and digestive problems. These can include one or more of the following: gas, bloating, queasiness, abdominal cramping, constipation, diarrhea, or an alternating combination of both – IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).

(2) Headaches and/or migraines.

(3) Diagnosis of an autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, lupus, psoriasis, scleroderma or multiple sclerosis.

(4) Emotional issues involving chronic irritability and sudden, irrational, mood shifts.

(5) Neurological issues. This may include dizziness, difficulty balancing, and peripheral neuropathy affecting nerves outside the central nervous system and resulting in pain, weakness, tingling or numbness in the extremities.

(6) Fatigue, brain fog, or feeling tired after eating a meal that contains gluten.

Most of these symptoms are common to other health issues and diseases. That’s why identifying symptoms alone and trying to tie them to gluten intolerance is difficult.

Am I Gluten Intolerant?

The best way to determine if you are indeed gluten intolerant is to go on a gluten-free diet for 60 days. If you feel you can’t or won’t, that may already indicate you’re addicted to gluten. We are often addicted to things we’re allergic to.

That gluten-free diet would include wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, oats, and triticale which are grains with gluten. Quinoa, buckwheat, and sorghum grains are gluten-free. So is rice.

How to treat gluten intolerance?

Eliminating gluten 100% from your diet means 100%. Even trace amounts of gluten from cross contamination or medications or supplements can be enough to cause an immune reaction in your body.

The 80/20 rule or “we don’t eat it in our house, just when we eat out” is a complete misconception. An article published in 2001 states that for those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity eating gluten just once a month increased the relative risk of death by 600%.

-OR-

Seek out a local homeopathic doctor or integrative medicine specialist who can test you and your family for gluten intolerance.
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That 'list' of symptoms seem to involve a lot of NON related systems. A Gish Gallop of symptoms maybe?
 
The percentage is exagerated, but it seems to become more prevalent according to Mayo:
The latest research at Mayo shows that Berg is far from alone. The prevalence of celiac disease appears to be rising dramatically. Joseph Murray, M.D., a Mayo gastroenterologist, says celiac disease is becoming a public health issue. Studies show four times the incidence compared to 1950, with fatal complications if it goes untreated.

"Celiac disease was rare, but it's now more common in all age groups," Dr. Murray says. Although the cause is unknown, celiac disease affects about one in 100 people. What's more, Mayo has found a fourfold higher death risk for people with undiagnosed gluten intolerance.
http://www.mayo.edu/research/discoverys-edge/celiac-disease-rise

Most interesting part is the source they used: A collection of blood samples taken from Air Force recruits in the early 1950s amid concern about streptococcus outbreaks in barracks. Some guy still had those in a freezer in Cleveland.
They tested the samples for gluten antibodies, tested men born 50 years later and finally a set of men the same age as the recruits were when the samples were taken. Comparison showed 4 times and 4.5 times more gluten intolerance cases.

No increase of "relative risk of death by 600%", but
Intrigued, Dr. Murray still wondered about the long-term effects. From the airmen's public health records, Mayo researchers learned that those whose gluten intolerance had not been diagnosed in the 1950s were four times likelier to have died. "Having undiagnosed celiac disease is not good for you," Dr. Murray says. "It may take 20 to 30 years for that risk to become apparent. But there's a good chance it's a problem."
Not sure how much can be deduced from that...
 
The overly encompassing list of nonspecific symptoms make it an attractive choice for people who are seeking a diagnosis for their general malaise.

Obviously Celiac disease and what allergies are real, with fairly definitive signs and symptoms. But I think the more general "gluten intolerance" is very often a questionable diagnosis - especially if it's based on nothing more that self-reported symptoms, and perceived changes in those symptoms with a change in diet. In that respect it's similar to Morgellons, chronic Lyme, and chronic fatigue syndrom.

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medically_unexplained_physical_symptoms
 
It would be interesting to see if there are any commonalities among those that do have celiac disease.

Personally I have often wondered if modern medicine and our ability to save folks, like low birth rate babies, will not end up showing up higher rates of some illnesses.

This comes from my knowledge of dog breeding. Purebred dogs tend to have more health problems than mixed breeds. That is often blamed on 'poor breeding (and sometimes it is), but a lot more of it, is that more purebred puppies receive more vet care and more survive. Even puppies that are weak nursers will be fed and thus survive to breed.

Is this allowing more diseases to creep into the human gene pool? I see a LOT of problems with anyone trying to study this and no funding for it.

There are a few folks that have partners that are HIV positive or that even have AIDS itself, and in spite of years of sex, one party seems 'immune' to it. They are studies of them. One of the interesting facets that has been reported is that many of them seems to have a relative that not only survived the bubonic plague, but one that had close contact with folks that did and that never seemed to have gotten it.
 
The symptoms that celiac disease and gluten intolerance produce are virtually the same. I know there are a lot of people who doubt the gluten intolerance diagnosis, but that's because they haven't experienced it first hand. I'm sure that there are some people who have not been diagnosed with gluten intolerance who are avoiding gluten for no good reason. Getting gluten out of your life is not an easy task to accomplish since gluten is in a wide variety of food and personal products. I'd say it takes a minimum of several months to go through everything in your house to be sure it is gluten free.

But living gluten free is not easy! You have to read every label (including labels on supplements, OTC medications, and personal care products) and you often have to call manufacturers and speak with pharmacists to be sure the product does not contain gluten. You pretty much have to forget about eating out at restaurants too. Most that offer a gluten free menu really don't understand how the gluten free food can be cross contaminated, so it usually is. There is only one restaurant I will eat at, and that's because the owner is gluten intolerant and she has properly trained her staff.

Why anyone would willingly live a life this restricted without a positive diagnosis is beyond me. It not only affects what you put in your mouth, on your skin, and on your hair, but it affects your social life. Forget about going out with friends for beer and pizza. Forget about having cake at birthday parties. Forget about office parties and picnics.

There are tests that can be done to determine if one is gluten intolerant, but from what I've seen and experienced, mainstream doctors and specialists don't use them. They tend to be old school and they stick with old test methods.

For example, I had chronic unwellness so I went to an alternative MD who specialized in allergy and immunology. He tested me for gluten intolerance and the test came back positive. Because avoiding gluten is such a drastic life change I decided to go to a gastroenterologist for a second opinion. He did a blood test and an upper endoscopy on me and said I didn't have Celiac Disease and there was no reason to stop eating gluten containing foods. Yet, in order to eat without having gut cramps, I had to take Doxepin.

So I went on eating gluten for two more years... until the gut cramps got so bad that I was afraid to eat. I am 5'7" tall and I got down to a skinny 121 lbs. The doctor ordered a CT scan to see if I was getting enough blood flow to my gut. I was, but the CT scan showed that I had no fat in my chest or abdominal cavity and because of that, the blood flow was being cut off to my kidneys (Nutcracker syndrome). The doctor ordered me to eat even though it was painful.

Feeling let down by mainstream doctors, I decided to go to a Naturopath. The first thing she did was order another gluten intolerance test. Of course it came back positive, but this time my anti-gliadin antibodies were much higher. She told me that they can't see the entire length of your small intestine with an endoscope, and that the villi in your small intestine does not need to be completely dissolved in order to have gluten intolerance/celiac symptoms. This time I was convinced to go gluten free.

It wasn't (and still isn't) easy, but within a couple of months I was able to get off and stay off the Doxepin for good. (I'd tried to quit it several times before, but the cramps always returned within a week). I was glad to find out that gluten really was the culprit, but I was not happy to have been misled by the gastroenterologist which caused me to suffer for two additional years.

So when someone tries to tell me the gluten intolerance is in my head, I'm going to tell them NO, it's in my gut!
 
As someone who watched a relative spend 2 months suffering in bed before a celiac diagnosis, I have strong opinions (that I keep to myself..) about 'gluten intolerance'. If you're walking about wondering if you're an undiagnosed celiac you're not, basically.
 
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