Good article on arthritis/leaky gut

[hazel]

This was in the New York Times today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/magaz ... ealth&_r=0
I think many here will recognize the behaviors, reactions, frustrations of those involved.

[Carriagehouse]

Great article, Hazel! Thanks for sharing.

[Gabes-Apg]

it is a great article - with lots of good names of people studying leaky gut

it also explains that as a kid why i shyd away from exercise, and didnt enjoy it, it did cause me pain and no one believed me. I would fall asleep in the car on the way home from tennis.
I am pretty sure i had leaky gut from birth.

[Sheila]

Thanks so much. More grist for the mill and hopefully more research that will produce positive results.

Sheila W

[christinakay]

Great article, easy to understand. Thanks for sharing!

Christina

[garina]

Excellent article. It certainly gives us encouragement. Going GF and mostly DF, my D problem is practically healed, however, arthritis seems to be getting worse as time goes. Leaky gut evidently is in association with worsening arthritis, and I need to check into that. Very good information to know.

The advice in this article seems so logical, with the sour cherry juice, plus lots of fish oil with omega 3's, and I'm curious about the four-marvels powder. More and more alternative medicine makes more sense, not to mention, safer.

Thanks very much.

garina

[Zizzle]

I was about to post this! Long read, and I was about to give up halfway through after reading all the clueless doctor responses!!

I'm also interested in the 4 marvels powder. I may ask my Chinese Medicine doc about it.

This definition of IBS gave me pause. I wonder as MC prevalence increases, will they try to lump it into "IBS"?!???

Probiotics may also help to tighten up a hyperpermeable gut barrier, says Robert J. Shulman, a professor of pediatrics with a specialty in pediatric gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He has an N.I.H. grant to study the effects of a probiotic called VSL No. 3 (which is the kind we gave Shepherd) on gut bacteria and gut-barrier function in children with irritable bowel syndrome, a disorder in which changes in the gut bacterial population are associated with inflammation in the colon.

I thought IBS was pain and cramping with bowel changes and NO inflammation??


And I love the health farm concept. I've been telling my parents they should do this with our coffee farm in Guatemala. Let people stay there to kick-start their elimination diets, herbal remedies, whatever, away from stress, gluten, etc.

In a study published in The Lancet more than 20 years ago, a group of rheumatoid-arthritis sufferers was isolated on a “health farm” and, after a week of fasting, were fed a gluten-free, vegan diet. After four weeks, they showed “significant improvement,” compared with the control. In 2001, a study in the journal Rheumatology echoed the positive effect of a similar diet.

[tex]

I thought IBS was pain and cramping with bowel changes and NO inflammation??

It was, a few years ago, until some researchers discovered that it involves inflammation. Unfortunately, they didn't also discover that it is either undiagnosed MC or some other IBD, or the early stages of one of the IBDs. Doctors apparently actually believe that diseases develop instantaneously. One minute you don't have MC (or celiac disease, or whatever), the next minute you do. IMO, MC and celiac disease, and probably most other autoimmune diseases take a long time to develop, before the inflammation finally reaches a point where it becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Tex

[Zizzle]

Doctors apparently actually believe that diseases develop instantaneously. One minute you don't have it MC (or celiac disease, or whatever), the next minute you do.

So true. Same goes for other autoimmune diseases. I know so many people with nuisance symptoms who get a positive ANA and their doc says they are fine - that if you tested everyone on the street, many would have a +ANA or other autoantibodies, and they are healthy. That may be correct. However, they fail to admit that if you check back on those people in 10 years, chances are very high that they will have a verifiable autoimmune disease!! Autoantibodies, particularly at high titers, are very predictive of future disease (don't I know it!), and we should be practicing preventive/predictive medicine!! If I knew 8 yrs ago what I know now, my health would be radically different...

And I see so many people, even kids, headed down the same ugly clueless path to ill health, which could be prevented!

[tex]

and their doc says they are fine - that if you tested everyone on the street, many would have a +ANA or other autoantibodies, and they are healthy.

You have to remember that they consider celiacs who are sick as a dog, but who still don't have enough small intestinal damage to trigger a positive celiac test result, to be healthy, also.

A lot of doctors like to stick their heads in the sand until a disease kicks them in the butt, so that the diagnosis becomes so obvious that a child could do it.



Tex

[JLH]

I emailed this to DH. He said if there is good GF bread, he'd try going GF to see if it works for his arthritis. Good luck with that. Maybe it's time for a bread machine.

Although he has no digestive symptoms, he has to be the one who gave DD#1 her Celiac gene.

[Gabes-Apg]

while ever the medical profession are in the mode of;
'throwing' drugs at the symptoms and hoping they go away, rather than seeking the true cause; and
looking at the symptoms in their silo's of the nominated specialities (the different tribes) the gut, or thyroid, or joints, or hormones, or skin rather than looking at us wholistically
i dont hold much hope.

i know in the usa, natural therapies are considered alternative. Here in Aus we call them wholistic, as they are the only practitioners that do look at the person as a whole, inside and out, everything from the tips of toe nails to the hair on our heads.

Big pharma can not produce (and patent) a drug that helps people wholistically, so until then research in those areas will be limited, and will struggle to get published (and struggle to get credibility)

What this article reiterates is why educated self management is highly successful for people with AI conditions.
take all the information regarding medication, diet, natural therapies, and make decisions that work for you.
you dont need the doctors' blessing or acceptance, your own wellness and fulfillment of life is worth more than any doctors acceptance!!!


(the intention was not to keep repeating my normal rants, I wrote this to encourage the new people to be pro-active about their wellness)

[Sheila]

JLH, before buying a bread machine, make sure it is designed to be used for GF recipes. We had an old bread machine when I was first diagnosed and it pounded the GF dough into submission. I got heavy, flat loaves. DH got tired of my complaining and bought me a Zojirishi machine and programmed it for me. I bought a book, "125 Best Bread Machine Recipes" and use it all the time. When I found I could no longer tolerate some of the non-GF flour I was using, (MRT) I contacted the author and they responded quickly with suggested substitutions. The bread is really good as long as it is toasted. If you don't toast it, it tends to crumble. There are so many things you can add to the dough to improve the taste and nutrition; flax seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, millet etc.

Sheila W

[JFR]

you dont need the doctors' blessing or acceptance, your own wellness and fulfillment of life is worth more than any doctors acceptance!!!

I think that is the most important thing I have learned, that I can make my own informed decisions about how to treat my body, whether or not I have a doctor's approval.

Jean

[Gloria]

Good article, Kathy. Thank you for posting it.

Gloria