Comments on: Celiac Disease and Reversible Memory Loss

By: quincy47

quincy47 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:08:40 +0000

I found that I was gluten intolerant last year, after nine long years of problems I can now trace to the brain inflammation gluten causes. I’ve had two operations that I can directly attribute to symptoms caused by gluten intolerance, and have had large portions of my once healthy and happy life destroyed. I am now almost free of the symptoms of brain inflammation, the only remaining symptom that really bugs me is the persistent tinnitus. The swelling, organ failure and disruption of function, fuzzy eyesight, mental fog, tired feeling, etc. are pretty much all gone. My body had returned to a normal size for someone my age, and people comment that I don’t look swollen any longer. I would suggest that anyone suspecting gluten intolerance stop eating gluten for three weeks and be perceptive of any changes in your body. You should notice a change, I did in four days. After a few months, the major changes will start as the body rebuilds itself. If you want some sort of test indication, I would recommend the gene test to see if you have one or more of the three genes associated with gluten intolerance if you don’t want to try and go cold turkey. The blood tests above can give false negatives, according to the health care professional I see, and a friend of mine with celiac had all the test come back negative, but as he was having major organ failure, took the chance, and is now completely recovered. Gluten intolerance, in my opinion and experience, primarily affects the brain and nervous system through inflammation, and this causes all the symptoms that western medicine talks about. The most dramatic health benefit I have found in my entire life (61 years) was getting off gluten. I loved bread, and cooked it twice a week. I made seitan regularly. I was addicted to gluten. However, that four days off gluten made it completely clear to me that I was severely impacting my health by eating it. I now check every food I eat for gluten, and recognize the symptoms within hours of eating gluten accidently. I can say in no uncertain terms that if you are gluten intolerant, you are slowly killing yourself by eating gluten, and you owe it to yourself and to your family to stop eating it. It is just not worth losing one single neuron to brain inflammation, and loss of a lot of them will cause dementia. Look at the latest info on webmd on the connection between dementia and gluten, or try giving up gluten yourself and seeing if it makes a difference. You will recover function that you lost if gluten intolerance is your problem.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:46:11 +0000

I am 38, I have Celiac’s, and I have neurologic damage from Celiac’s that is NOT related to B12 deficiency. While I appreciate that a good portion of the neurologic damage is, in fact, related to nutritional deficiency, not all of it is. There’s some theory that the same autoimmune responses involved in the changes to the gut and the skin are probably involved in changes to nerve and brain tissues as well.

Anyway …

The three blood tests are a gliadin antibody, an antiendomysial antibody, and a tissue transglutanimase antibody. Wendy is right that terminology makes a great difference, though, and if a doctor says that someone is proven not to have celiac by blood tests, it’s often good to ask which tests were done – especially if a family history is present already. Just my $.02.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:32:22 +0000

I’m not sure what you mean by attacks?
A lot of neurological disorders associated with Celiac patients have to do with the undernourishment that results from the Celiac reaction. B12, for example (a deficiency I had before being diagnosed with celiac) can cause brain damage and memory loss, and in extreme cases, dementia and death. I was told when this deficiency was found (after years of being treated for ADHD instead of Pernicious Anemia) that most American doctors don’t test for it because most Americans eat enough meat to get it from our food.
My daughter was “proven not celiac” with blood tests, but when I questioned the doctor, he said that there are two blood tests he ran, one came out negative, the other positive… therefore, the test was really inconclusive… not negative as I was initially told. Check on that. Terminology makes all the difference sometimes.

By: julie

julie — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:53:56 +0000

My father is at present dying from what has only recently been suggested maybe having a gluten alergy. He proved positive in a blood test to be Celiac but not from a biopsy (but this was taken after he was on Gluten free food!!). We have spent the last 18 months watching him deteriate and he now has lost the abilty to communicate with us. He has had many. many test done and has alos spent time in Oxford Neuro hospital with still no diagnosis.
My worry is (apart from my prro Dad) – is that my daughters both have wheat alergies and although it has been proven by blood tests that they are not celiac, they both keep having nasty attacks and I’m concerned they should be on a gluten free diet.
Could someone PLEASE give me advise as I’m not getting anywhere>
Thank you

By: Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:13:58 +0000

Memory Loss Caused By Brain Damage is Reversible…

The brain damage caused by degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, might soon be reversible with drug treatment. A new study suggests that “memory loss” might not actually be a permanent loss; instead, memories may simply be inaccessible b…

By: Dr. R.L. Kaplan

Dr. R.L. Kaplan — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:34:58 +0000

Hi Wendy, by ‘easy to treat’ , I meant no need to use extremely toxic or expensive medications.

Sticking to a healthy diet is definitely a challenge for the majority of people (myself included!)

By: Wendy T

Wendy T — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:42:08 +0000

“Importantly, celiac disease is quite easy to treat.”

As someone diagnosed with Celiac and living in the United States, I can say that this is not an accurate statement. The dietary chances required to remain Gluten Free is very difficult. However, there are support groups, lists, and websites that can help.

Don’t fool yourself, it’s not easy to be gluten free… but for an improved quality of life, it’s really worth it.