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The Gluten Gremlins

Many people are sensitive to wheat and/or gluten, and this profoundly affecting sensitivity affects different people differently. Some may experience digestive problems like gas or bloating, while others may have mental symptoms like irritability, depression, foggy thinking or even panic attacks. Or you could be like me as I, too, am gluten intolerant and my main symptom has always been fibromyalgia, or my body aches all over in a non-specific way with pain which travels and jumps around. A secondary symptom for me has been agitation which at times (pre-GF) exploded into the compulsion to move and then right on into panic attacks if I couldn't (or shouldn't) move as in being "trapped" in a classroom, church, a concert, sitting at dinner etc. Does this remind you of an ADHD child?

Gluten intolerance often runs in families and also in ancestral lines. Wheat was first domesticated in the Middle East and gradually spread northward, reaching Nordic areas and the British Isles relatively late in terms of human evolution. As a result, people of Northern European and Nordic ancestry have the highest rates of gluten intolerance. We just haven't developed the gene which processes the gliaden (the chemical component in gluten) appropriately.

Although I can't be sure, I think that my father had undiagnosed gluten intolerance. He suffered from lifelong ataxia which means that he stumbled and was very clumsy and walked like he was drunk even though he was a teetotaler. Ataxia is yet another symptom of gluten intolerance. When he died of a stroke at an early age (74), we did an autopsy which showed a very shriveled cerebellum which is where posture, balance and movement originate. I personally think that his cerebellar dystrophy was in part due to a gluten sensitivity. That, and his occupation as a chemical engineer which exposed him to a constant barrage of chemicals and heavy metals which tend to hang out in brain tissue. You, dear reader, be careful of all of the above, please, because neurodegenerative diseases are on the rise in our very toxic world.

Gluten or gliaden and any food sensitivity can distress any and every system of the body. Most of us are keyed into expecting some sort of stomach distress to signal us when we eat foods we are "allergic" to, but this is not always the case. In fact, it's usually not the case. Gluten can affect your joints, your heart, your liver, your pancreas and your brain. While the brain can't get arthritis or feel pain, it sure can get foggy, depressed, panic-y and senile  all possible sequelae of eating your food sensitivities, - especially gluten  on a daily basis. Get this: One hundred percent (!) of schizophrenics have been shown to have severe gluten sensitivity and when gluten is removed from their diet, their symptoms improve. My cousin Johnny (my father's side) was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at the age of 17 and spent years in mental institutions - this was before the advent of Thorazine which mobilized many heretofore completely disabled schizophrenics - and I have always wondered how much of his mental disorder could have been ameliorated with a GF diet. I have found gluten intolerance in ADHD kids as well as gluten intolerance in recurrent ear infections and chronic sinusitis.

I'm sure you have heard of celiac disease. Well, this is an extreme form of gluten intolerance which has become so bad that it now interferes with the absorption of food. Your immune system actually starts attacking the gluten. The small intestine will become inflamed and stomach aches are rampant; you don't digest well and if you keep eating gluten, you will increase your risk factor for getting osteoporosis, anemia and lymphoma.

Did you know that 13% of celiacs have only brain symptoms (ataxia, schizophrenia, ADHD, shakiness) and no gut issues at all? Celiac disease can now be diagnosed via a blood test, rather than the invasive endoscopy of old. But celiac disease is quite rare and occurs in only 1% of the population, while gluten intolerance or sensitivity is quite common. But don't think that mere sensitivity isn't problematic as well: Gluten intolerance can cause exactly the same symptoms and discomfort as celiac disease. It's just not an autoimmune disorder.

Do you crave bread? Pastas? Do you get angry if I suggest that you give up these foods? Because if you do, then there is a good chance that you are sensitive to these foods. Think of your very favorite foods. The ones you could eat all day every day. I hate to tell you this, but you are probably sensitive to these foods. There is a connection between addiction and allergy. Just look at alcoholics. They are probably exquisitely sensitive to their particular "grain" of choice: rye, corn, wheat.

Did you know that a good 90% of us have difficulty digesting gluten? Grains  especially wheat - are now shadows of their former selves, adulterated into I don't know what, thanks to Monsanto et al. They pump crappy chemicals into the soil and the crops and when they are harvested, the grains sit around in huge silos for months where they get moldy. Then the grain is ground for our breads, mold and all. Sometimes, it's hard to know for sure whether a person is sensitive to the gluten in the grain or to the molds, preservative and/or additives in the grain. If we are this person who has trouble digesting gluten and if we continue to eat gluten, then we are opening ourselves up for heaps of ill health.

More next time on gluten sensitivity and good GF food sources.

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