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Gluten
Dec 13, 2008 20:32:35 GMT -5
Post by snowgirl on Dec 13, 2008 20:32:35 GMT -5
So my most recent doc wanted me to get a test for intestinal gluten antibodies, which came back positive. He seems to think that eliminating gluten from my diet could dramatically improve my hypopit symptoms and reduce or eliminate my need for HRT.
Do you have any experience with this? There is celiac in my family so I can see the value in eliminating gluten regardless, but my blood celiac test is negative and I really don't have any reaction when I eat gluten. It doesn't really make sense to me that eliminating gluten would affect the production of pit hormones, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something here.
Thanks so much.
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Gluten
Dec 15, 2008 4:08:31 GMT -5
Post by Lethal Lee on Dec 15, 2008 4:08:31 GMT -5
Hi Snowgirl,
I'm a bit confused? I thought positive Gluten Abs meant you had Coeliac? Or is it just when it is above a certain level?
I know many say blood testing is not conclusive anyway for Ceoliac. Many are negative on blood testing but prove positive on stool testing or biopsy.
I know Enterolabs do stool testing but is fairly pricey I understand.
All my family have had the blood testing which was negative.
AS regards to not having symptoms that is not always indicative of Ceoliac. I beleive that by the time you are symptomatic a lot of damage has been done.
As far as Gluten challenge. I believe it takes some months totally Gluten free to reverse damage. Then Gluten is reintroduced to see what symptoms may appear. A lot of symptoms are pretty general too & not always recognised as being Ceoliac.
Have you tested Thyroid & Thyroid Abs? I know if you have one Autoimmune condition (like Hashis, Ceoliac) have more chance of another Autoimmune condition.
If you arent aware already RTH does have a Nutrition & Ceoliac subforum there too.
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Gluten
Dec 15, 2008 13:14:57 GMT -5
Post by snowgirl on Dec 15, 2008 13:14:57 GMT -5
You're not the only one who is confused! I had the Enterolab stool tests and they came back positive for gluten antibodies but negative for intestinal damage/malabsorption. My celiac blood tests have also been negative.
Since I don't have any symptoms when I eat gluten, I'm trying to decide how aggressively I want to pursue the diet, given that avoiding all gluten means pretty basically never eating in a restaurant again since contamination is impossible to avoid unless you do all of your own cooking. I also have questions about the Enterolab test in general since they say a full 35% of their tests come back positive, which seems extraordinarily high to me.
Anyway, the doc I was talking to was giving me the impression that my fatigue issues were gluten related and could be cleared up by the diet. I'm not planning on staying with this doc because he already thinks 1 grain Armour is plenty and won't let me raise further. But he planted enough of a seed of doubt in my mind about my current treatment plan that I wanted to know if you or Chris had ever seen a gluten-hypopit connection. I know about the thyroid-celiac connection (my own Hashi's tests are negative) but I thought that was more that if you have hashi's you are more likely to have celiac, not that a gluten free diet could cure thyroid problems and make you no longer need Armour.
Thanks so much for your thoughts!
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Gluten
Dec 17, 2008 3:54:19 GMT -5
Post by Lethal Lee on Dec 17, 2008 3:54:19 GMT -5
Some think Ceoliac causes Thyroid Antibodies too as the body wide inflammation upsets the Immune sysytem.
So possibility is that Gluten free diet IF you have Ceoliac will reduce inflammtion, reduce Gluten Abs & reduce stress on the Immune system. Then maybe the Hashis Abs would reduce/disappear too.
So IF your Thyroid problems were result of Hashis only & linked to Ceoliac issues then yes your HypoThyroid may be cured. It would also depend on how long you have been HypoT too as the longer its been going on then the more is affected (like Adrenals, Sex Hormones, Mineral & Vit imbalances etc) and the more difficult to recover from.
Some make same arguments for Candida too. Dont know if I agree with that though the Ceoliac connection theory may hold some merit.
How would the Enterolab test determone if Intestinal damage has occurred? I thought only a biopsy could determine that?
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Gluten
Dec 17, 2008 17:39:39 GMT -5
Post by snowgirl on Dec 17, 2008 17:39:39 GMT -5
Thanks for explaining that, Lee. It does sound like an interesting theory, but since I'm hypopit with secondary hypothyroid and negative Hashi's tests, I suspect my doc is reaching a bit far on that one.
Enterolab has a test which checks for fat in the stool, the theory being that the more fat found in the stool, the less that is being absorbed and the greater the damage to the intestine. This is a new method they developed that they claim closely correllates with the old method. I don't know if it's been independently replicated, but it seems plausible.
Thanks again for your help.
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