When I was doing some research…as I always do…I came across this lady. I had no idea, at the time, that these three things could be linked. I was so in awe of this ladies story, I really couldn’t do it justice with trying to explain it in my own terms, so I decided just to post what she wrote to me…
“In my three years experience handling the tics/Tourette Syndrome (which we never did get that official diagnosis.) My son’s symptoms greatly improved over the course of a year and even though he was still ticcing a year after onset we did not return to the neurologist for the dx and the script because by that time we knew we were on the right track and were confident meds were the wrong answer.
I can tell you that after all my research I truly believe that what we are dealing with is comorbid. I think a combination of factors caused the onset of both disease states. If I were to be completely honest about it I would say that the digestive issues surfaced long before the neurological ones in my oldest son. The gluten free diet in isolation is not enough to cure the tic disorder. I belong to many forum boards and know a few moms with Celiac that have kids diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome. If you did extensive research on tics/Tourette Syndrome/Pandas/Pitand you would discover emerging research into an autoimmune connection. The catalyst is quite often systemic bacterial or fungal overgrowth that crosses the blood brain barrier. Of course we both know that those two microbes really love undiagnosed Celiacs, so for this reason I believe that someone with the Celiac gene is more susceptible.
I believe diet can play a major role in curbing and possibly curing the symptoms. I think the key is in using foods and supplements that will make microbial overgrowth impossible and this goes beyond just eating a wheat free or gluten free diet. Our oldest son did not get a biopsy but was diagnosed through genetic testing and remission of both gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms after instilling a healthy low grain diet for nine months. His initial blood tests for gluten intolerance came back elevated, but it was on an IgG test. He did not get tested for Celiac beyond that (in other words, no biopsy). He was just 4 years old at the time of testing and our doctor felt that at his age a false negative was likely so he did the genetic testing to make his diagnosis. My son has had accidental ingestion since then and has had reactions to gluten but the reaction severity has lessened over the years. We did also have his stool tested by Enterolab last spring and it showed elevated antibodies two years after instilling the diet. They were only slightly elevated, but enough for my doctor to say, “Keep it up!”
I am currently looking at the connection to autoimmune illness and mercury toxicity, as I have a mouth full of silver amalgams. There is a large body of work relating neurological disorders and autoimmune disorders to metal toxicity. So for many chelation is part of the protocol with healing the tic disorder/Tourette Syndrome. A majority of these kids are low in glutathione when tested (my son included.)
I don’t know which articles you read but I will link to any that have pertinent info on tics and Celiac/gluten free:
http://healthy-family.org/caryn/289/scientists-have-discovered-that-celiac-disease-can-be-the-root-cause-of-most-neurological-disorders
http://healthy-family.org/forum/index.php/topic,268.0.html (of course you know that IgA deficiency will result in a false negative test for Celiac disease—
If you like to read a lot: http://healthy-family.org/forum/index.php/topic,247.0.html
http://healthy-family.org/forum/index.php/topic,241.0.html
http://healthy-family.org/forum/index.php/topic,97.0.html
We had so much success with our son that I felt I needed to grab a bull horn and give a shout out. When we were going through it all three years ago I stumbled in the right direction often times not knowing why certain treatments were working until a few months or even a year after the fact. I was reading non-stop and doing many treatments at once. I am still reading and researching regularly on the subject and I have to say that the science is moving forward at a tremendous speed. There is a huge paradigm shift toward natural treatments in our nation and unfortunately a larger percentage of people with autoimmune issues as well. There is a lot doctors and scientists don’t know; but cases like ours prove that we certainly ARE what we eat and changing our diets can go a long way in healing our impaired immune systems in the long run.
Caryn”
I feel this is information that needs to get out there and I am positive that it needs to be researched further…so I am hoping that we can all help get things like this out into the public and get done what needs to be done!
Hope you all have a very Happy and Healthy day!
o announce that Post cereal will be going gluten free with their Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles! I think it is awesome! We must be doing something right…because companies are starting to figure out that there are more gluten free people out there…since they seem to be answering our concerns of making more foods gluten free.
There has been a bunch of talk about the “new celiac pill” GlutenEase. I tried GlutenEase for the past couple of months and I have to tell you…they are really good.
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