!Iimp.article: Seizures & Celiac!!

[Zoe]

Hi Folks,
This quote is from an article by a gastroenterologist. He reccomends a gluten free diet for people with neurological and psychiatric symptoms. This diet is one of the major changes that put me on the path to overcoming my seizures naturally after my brain surgery for seizures failed.
Happy New Year to all of you!


P.S. Feel free to ask me questions if you are interested in trying this diet. I'm asking Bernard to set me a page for it here.

Brain dysfunction may be the only or the main sign of gluten related disease. Dr. Mario Hadjivassiliou recently reported at the International Celiac Symposium that his neurology clinic has followed over 300 patients with gluten sensitivity presenting with various symptoms. In his clinic the most common gluten related neurological disorder is ataxia, a condition of impaired balance, present in almost half. However peripheral neuropathy, myopathy, headaches, and seizures are also neurological manifestations of gluten related brain disorders.

Gluten Free Diet Should Be Considered For Everyone With Neurological And Psychiatric Symptoms

[joan]

Thats great to hear and something Ive been curious with about my son. Keep us posted and continued success*

joan*

[brain]

Zoe, that's an awesome article!
Thanks for posting that one!

[RobinN]

Great to have more related articles behind what is being discussed among those affected.

Thanks so much Zoe.
Great to see you out an about. I will be in touch

[Bernard]

Interesting article Zoe. I found this quote interesting:

About 60% of patients with gluten ataxia have shrinkage of the cerebellum portion of their brain.

I seem to recall many anecdotal reports across various E forums over the years where people reported shrinkage as being found in their MRIs. Most had attributed it to the long term effect of seizures, but perhaps there is another explanation (ie. gluten ataxia).

So is the body not getting enough magnesium to inhibit glutamate, or is the system broken down? Either way, it would seem the most obvious step would be to remove glutamate from the diet.

[Meetz1064]

even MORE reason to pay attention to what we really eat...

[Bernard]

I remembered wrongly. It was the hippocampus that is often reported to exhibit atrophy problems, not the cerebellum. See this thread/post for more info: Human Herpesvirus-6B with Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

[Zoe]

Hi Joan,
This article should be of special interest to you. It is the abstract about celiac disease and seizure disorders in children. The definitions of celiac disease and of gluten intolerance are not clear cut and change as more information is learned. Some studies indicate that if gluten containing products are introduced at too early an age, a child's digestive system cannot handle it and a chronic immune response may follow which can lead to the seizures developing. You may want to try a google search on "gluten" "children" "epilepsy." That can lead you to a lot of information. If you want to try the diet, you can look into DogtorJ's section on the GARD diet here and also go to "http://www.celiac.com

Brain White-Matter Lesions in Celiac Disease: A Prospective Study ...Celiac disease (CD), or gluten sensitivity, is considered to be a state of ... occur in approximately 8% to 10% of adults with CD.5 These include epilepsy, ...
http://www.pediatrics.aappublication...full/108/2/e21

[Zoe]

Hi Bernard,
It doesn't appear to be glutamate in the diet but gluten in this case refering to the cerebellum [link below]. Perhaps the chronic inflammation from the reaction to gluten is damaging the blood brain barrier allowing glutamate to get in and do further damage. Either way, keeping the MSG out would be tops on my list too.

Gluten ataxia in perspective: epidemiology, genetic susceptibility ...The clinical characteristics of 68 patients with gluten ataxia were as follows: the mean ... MRI revealed atrophy of the cerebellum in 79% and white matter ...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12566288

[Zoe]

Yes, Bernard, and what is seen in the temporal lobe are calcifications. I need to get more information on how they form. A link on this is below.

Bilateral occipital calcification associated with celiac disease ...The calcification was progressive, but it and the seizures stabilized after institution of a gluten-free diet and iron and folic acid supplements. ...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

[Zoe]

Hi Robin,
I'll be searching for more articles to list here, there's a lot of new information coming out on this topic. It isn't necessarily that so many have allergies, but that many are developing sensitivities, for any number of reasons.

[brain]

I often wonder if there's a "close ties" in
some shape, forms, or ways between
the two that Neuroscience is "missing" it?
Both the HHV6B and the Celiac?

Remember; Neuroscience is discovering
new findings all the time as well as
'connections' or 'associations' to one and
another.



They could be even related and no one has
yet discovered it ...

[joan]

Yes, thank you. The way I understand it, and Im not an expert is, certain food not digested well, most cause of gluten allergy or intolerance, they lay around undigested creating mold. That goes into the blood stream as well and passes thru the brain. They also call it a leaky gut. The thinking now is you dont always have to have celiac to be effected in this way.

Im very interested in this and took the kids to an allergist last week. He refused to test them as I couldnt be specific what they were allergic too. He told me there are too many false positives to just test. I told him I wanted them tested to glutens and dairy and he forwarded me to a gastrointestinal guy. OIY.... Sometimes I feel like Im playing.. tag.. you're it!! lol Either way, Im on top of it and made an appt with a pedi gastro and we shall see. I will naturally keep you all posted.

Thank you again
Happy and healthy 2009!!
joan*

[epileric]

certain food not digested well, most cause of gluten allergy or intolerance, they lay around undigested creating mold. That goes into the blood stream as well and passes thru the brain.

I don't know much about celiacs or gluten (I'm still reading up on it) but from what I understand the blood-brain barrier would stop mold and bacteria from reaching the brain.

[RobinN]

Impairment of intestinal folic acid absorption with a defect in folic acid transport across the blood-brain barrier has been demonstrated in a case of epilepsy and cerebral calcifications associated with coeliac disease.

Folic Acid Malabsorption

[brain]

I don't know much about celiacs or gluten (I'm still reading up on it) but from what I understand the blood-brain barrier would stop mold and bacteria from reaching the brain.

Depends on your Chemistry and Hematology,
and your DNA (genetic) make up, which can
be one, two, or all of the above and then some.


Example, we never knew after all these decades
(thanks to modern technologies) that I lacked
the DNA genetic for B-9. In other words, I had
no way of making or handling vitamin B-9. I
lacked it in the DNA chain, and which I had
been informed which would explain why no
matter what they attempted to do - it offset
everything else. For example, my Iron would
be low or dangerously low, and attempts to
raise it even going so far as using baby formula
to raise it ---> backfired; and Doctors did not
know why, so they left it alone being clueless
as they were.

I could consume very Iron rich products, like
Collard Greens for example, like a pig and it
would do absolutely nothing except too much
of it would give me diarrhea. *laughing* As
they were trying to get that Iron count up, but
moreover instead it was creating problematic
issues on the other end, raising up havoc, in
other words ---> "rocking the boat" on my
chemistry and hematology.

So when they opt to elect to increase the vitamin
B - (the normal multiple vitamin B dosage), it
caused my Iron to rise up to toxicity levels and
my vitamin B to decrease ... and it left them
totally perplexed! Insomuch, they just backed
off from trying anything anymore, as implied,
they were just plain clueless.

Vitamin B-9 deficiency is not a known event,
and it would be very easily missed by anyone;
even in the Laboratories and the Chemists.
Moreover, due to today's technologies, with it
being computerized, it can catch things where
everyone missed.

To quote an old adage "For want of a horseshoe,
the battle was lost" ~ can be rightfully implied
in this case; "For want of vitamin B-9, everything
went haywire."

So with all clarifications in conclusions, every
one of us is very unique; for this is why they have
"ranges" for males and females when it comes to
chemistry, hematology, and so forth. However,
it does not mean when one is lower or higher
than the "normal range" mean that you're "out
of the league", for it can mean it's normal for
you if you have had repetitious reports reflecting
it being so. For this I remark it is very important
to have your chemistry and hematology reports
moved as well, and not just your Doctors and
Hospital records.

Those little small things as incredible as it seems
can really make an impact upon individual's own
lives! Amazing, isn't it? Just be off by one or have
a "missing ingredient" can create a whole havoc
on your entire system!

This also creates a new view on the same canvas
from a different angle.

For you have:

• Neuroscience (by this, it's been recorded and classified)
• DNA / Genetics
• Chemistry & Hematology
• Medications
• Diet
• Sensitivities
• Lack of or Missing of .....
• Inherited trait
• Unknown reasons or has yet to be discovered (by this Neuroscience has not reached to this level yet)
• Known reasons (viral, trauma, infections, etc...)
• Symptomatic association(s) due to .... in relation or correlation to another medical problem(s)
• Symptomatic association(s) due to ... in relation or correlation to due to: reaction(s), allergy(ies), sensitivity(ies) - to medication(s)
• Symptomatic association(s) due to ... in relation to trauma - whether physical or psychological

The above is my gathering from all of the studying
I have researched from online and offline but I am
positive there is even more as this is vast and very
much broad spanned. So as one can see a Neurologist
or Epileptologist (even Surgeons too) can have their
hands full trying to narrow down the field of
perspective as a whole with what the knowledge
that they have attained so far as to date (this is
why it is very important to have a Doctor who
is 'up-to-date' and enjoys keeping up-to-date
with everything) that is working with the current
technologies that they have.

Life would be so much easier for these Doctors if
everyone was "alike" but unfortunately this is not
the case! While the brain can be an amazing thing
it can also be a major PITA to work with!

[Bernard]

... from what I understand the blood-brain barrier would stop mold and bacteria from reaching the brain.

Unfortunately, it appears that the blood-brain barrier is fragile: Scientists Shed Light on Causes of Epilepsy

[Zoe]

Right Sharon,
Could be the virus predisposes to developing gluten intolerance and vice versa.

[Zoe]

I don't know much about celiacs or gluten (I'm still reading up on it) but from what I understand the blood-brain barrier would stop mold and bacteria from reaching the brain.

Not in all cases, and like Bernard noted, it's very fragile and what you eat and poorly digest can damage your brain as the link on calcifications in temporal lobe seizures show.
Try a google search on "celiac" "blood brain barrier." It will be interesting to see what turns up.

[Zoe]

Either way, Im on top of it and made an appt with a pedi gastro and we shall see. I will naturally keep you all posted.

Thank you again
Happy and healthy 2009!!
joan*

Hi Joan,

Do keep us posted. Also, if you didn't, you may want to read more stuff on that doc's web site in the first message here. If the doc's you see are not up to date on gluten intolerance research they may mislead you or trivialize your kids symptoms. Before the appointment, you may want to do a google search on "seizures" "children" "gluten". That should give you a lot of information to take to your docs. There is no absolute "proof" for having gluten intolerance either and the definition keeps changing as this new research is being published. Seizures in children and adults are one of the symptoms of gluten intolerance. You may want to check out http://www.celiac.com and look at the posts there by Ron Hoggan.