The following list was taken from the Fall, 1996 Celiac Disease Foundation Newsletter.

• 1. Anemia
• 2. IBS
• 3. Psychological stress, nerves, imagination
• 4. Diarrhea
• 5. IBD
• 6. Diabetes
• 7. Spastic Colon
• 8. Ulcers
• 9. Virus (Viral Gastroenteritis)
• 10. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• 11. Weight-loss
• 12. Allergies
• 13. Amoeba, Parasites, Infection
• 14. Gallbladder Disease
• 15. Thyroid Disease
• 16. Cancer, Lymphoma, Digestive
• 17. Colitis
• 18. Cystic Fibrosis
• 19. Lactose Intolerance
• 20. Reflux

Data from an on-going Celiac Disease Foundation study of 600 Biopsy-proven celiacs.

Kerry McKenzie:  My Journey with Gluten Intolerance/Celiac

If you saw me 8 years ago, you would think I was anorexic.  I wasn’t a pretty site, believe me.  I was very pale and fragile.  I was in pain all over...but what was wrong with me? I had so many symptoms that doctors were totally perplexed and confused.  The symptoms didn’t seem to relate.

I have since found out that the many symptoms and auto immune issues are a tell-tale sign of celiac disease!   But it also makes it a difficult disease to diagnose because it looks like so many other diseases. In my case, it took ten years for a diagnosis.  Even the Mayo Clinic didn’t find it! 

I had health issues since I was about 10.   I missed a lot of school due to mono, pneumonia, the flu, etc... At age 20, I was diagnosed with Endometriosis-a pretty extreme case as my bladder was adhered to my colon from all the scarring. The pain was so extreme and the bleeding was so heavy that I stayed home from school about once a month.

I was extremely fatigued all through college and always felt like I had to push myself just to get through each day.  I used to compare myself to my friends and wonder why I couldn’t “keep up” with them...And then after the birth of my first child at 25, I experienced debilitating fatigue and muscle weakness, weight loss, major abdominal and GI pain, and many “weird” symptoms like numbness and tingling. I had days I was too weak to take care of Katie Jane (my baby at the time) or even myself.  Forget dinner and cleaning the house!!!

What an emotional roller coaster it was going from doctor to doctor. Most called it Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia.   One even suggested it was Post partum depression.   Eventually I was diagnosed by various Atlanta specialists as having Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohn’s Disease, Osteopenia and Lupus.  My audiologist found that I had lost 50% of my hearing in my left ear, but didn’t know why!    I had a rapid heart beat often and strange visual changes.

The medications they had me on just weren’t working well and I was just getting worse...So, a year later, I went to the Mayo clinic in Rochester for a month with my husband, Matt.  There they discovered thyroid disease and nodules, Raynaud’s syndrome and neuropathy, an Autonomic disease called POTS syndrome (causing near fainting, racing heart, fatigue and nerve pain), chronic gastritis, Chronic Pancreatitis, Anemia, and Malabsorption.   I was then diagnosed with Crohn’s disease & asthma in Atlanta.  Again, my question was, “Why?”  There must be an underlying reason for all these issues!  There are too many for this to be a coincidence!

So I was on 20 different medications including a morphine pain patch for these disorders and I wasn’t getting better.  In fact, I was on a speedy decline.  My family was very concerned that I would not make it through. I truly believed that there was something causing all the various diseases-I was told by one doctor to stop asking that question, because I would only make myself crazy.

Losing faith in the conventional medical community at this point, I decided to give alternative medicine a try.  I was very skeptical and afraid to get my hopes up again, but I figured it was my last shot at getting well.  I found an excellent team of “Integrative Medical Doctors” in Atlanta and tests found that I had Celiac disease/Gluten Intolerance and many food allergies, as well as Candida overgrowth and lead, mercury and arsenic toxicity.  They also told me that my blood work at that point was indicative of cancer—more specifically leukemia.  The doctor was ready to refer me out to an oncologist, but after discussing me with the other doctors she decided to wait and see if it could be treated naturally first.

I finally knew why I was so ill!!!!! My cells (building blocks of the body) were starving because of Malabsorption and the damage to my digestive system.  This is why I had anemia and Osteopenia. The Gluten from the foods I was eating caused inflammation throughout my body and caused an immune system crash! I was started on a massive amount of supplements and nutrients and made major changes in my diet. I also went through 20 three hour IV chelation treatments.

After taking their supplements for a couple months, I decided to give Shaklee supplements a try.  I knew that I could depend on their quality and their safety. 

The Shaklee supplements made all the difference in my health.  Because they are so highly absorbable, I was able to correct my deficiencies rather quickly.  I tried other health food store brands, and they didn’t make a big difference…With Shaklee supplements, I felt a difference in my energy levels in 30 minutes!  I started sleeping better and my blood work tests improved dramatically.  People started commenting on how my coloring and my skin had improved.  My body was repairing itself!  Today, I have more energy, only occasional bouts of symptoms when I am not taking care of myself, and I rarely get sick!!

What is Celiac Disease?  Celiac disease is a chronic inherited intestinal disorder in which the body cannot tolerate gluten.  Gluten is a protein in wheat and other grains. When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten, their immune systems respond by damaging the lining of the small intestine.  The small intestine is responsible for absorbing nutrients from food into the bloodstream for the body to use.  When the lining is damaged, so is the ability to absorb these nutrients.

Celiac disease was once thought to be a childhood European disease (it is the most common European genetic disease).  It is most common in women.  It can begin in infancy or childhood with GI symptoms or later in life.  Many diagnosed later in life may have no gastrointestinal symptoms. Many adults, such as myself, spend years being misdiagnosed and are commonly told that they have irritable bowel syndrome.  The typical gap between symptoms and diagnosis is 12 years.

Celiac disease affects people differently.  Some of the most common symptoms are diarrhea, constipation, bloating, cramps, gas, weight loss, weakness, fatigue, bone pain, tingling and numbness in hands and feet, even skin rash. There are many other symptoms ranging from thyroid disease to ADD & behavioral disorders, to depression, and even social withdrawal. Irritability is the most common symptom among children.   

Some doctors suggest that those with autoimmune disease or even if someone in their family has it, they should get tested for this.  The incidence of celiac disease in various autoimmune disorders is ten to thirty times more common compared to the general population.  H.R. Green, M.D. of the Columbia  University Celiac Disease Center says it, “should be shouted from the rooftops” that early diagnosis is protective because the duration of exposure to gluten determines the rate of autoimmune disease…He said that Europeans know to look for celiac disease, but that Americans doctors drastically under-diagnose the disease. 

People with celiac disease must stay on a gluten free diet for life or risk damaging their small intestine and further losing the ability to absorb nutrients. Gluten is like poison to those with Celiac Disease.

Many of my celiac friends were first diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, ADD, Lupus, Addison’s, Thyroid dysfunction, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, liver disease, diabetes, and Crohn’s Disease. It is just not well known that this reaction to gluten can cause such varied health problems.

My son was recently diagnosed as being gluten sensitive this Christmas.  Since he is off gluten, he is doing better in school, has less moodiness and fatigue, and is starting to be a happier child!

Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity are extremely undiagnosed in the United States.  The more informed our society is on this issue, the more people will be spared years of illness and pain.  It is so important that we increase awareness!

Please contact me if there is anything I can do to help you on your journey to wellness!

Kerry McKenzie

Wellness Coach

Atlanta Celiac Meetup Organizer

www.shaklee.net/optimalwellness

www.projectmahmaonline.com

kerryb_mc@yahoo.com

April 11, 2006

Dear Mrs. McKenzie,

Thank you for contacting On The Border regarding suitable menu items for guests with dietary restrictions.  At On The Border, our top priority is always the safety and health of our guests.  As part of this ongoing commitment, and in order to help our guests make informed food selections concerning allergies or food sensitivities, we are providing you with the most current allergen menu information available from our food suppliers.

We have compiled a list of suggested menu options to use when making your meal selections at On The Border.  The list is based on the most up-to-date ingredient statements available from our food suppliers and the stated absence of wheat, rye, oats and barley within these items.  This list expires on a MONTHLY basis, so please be sure to contact us for an updated version. Additionally, on your next visit to On The Border, please be sure to speak with the manager about your dietary restrictions.  The manager will ensure that proper attention is given to your dietary restrictions as your meal is being prepared.  Please be aware, however, that with normal kitchen operations involving shared preparation and cooking areas, including common fry oil, there is a small possibility for food items to come into contact with trace amounts of gluten. 

Should you have any additional concerns or inquiries regarding our menu items, please do not hesitate to ask. We hope that you are able to choose a meal to your liking and look forward to serving you soon.

Suggested Menu Options for Individuals with Wheat Allergies and Gluten Intolerant Diets - April 2006:

^*Fried food items are not prepared in a dedicated fryer and could pick-up gluten from other items.

Appetizers: Order all without Chips and only non-heated Corn Tortillas.

Guacamole Live

Queso: Order all queso without Sour Cream and/or Jalapeno Mix.

- White Chili con Queso

- Chili con Queso

- Fajita Chicken con Queso.

Salads/Soups:  Select dressings from the “Salad Dressings” list below only.

House Salad – Order without Tortilla Strips/Croutons.

Grilled/Blackened Chicken Fiesta Salad – Order without Tortillas/Croutons.

Sizzling Chicken/Beef Fajita Salad – Order without Tortillas/Croutons.

Salad Dressings:

Chipotle Balsamic Vinaigrette

Chipotle Honey Mustard

Jalapeno Caesar

Smoked Jalapeno Vinaigrette

Fajita Grill:  Order only with non-heated Corn Tortillas, No Onions and No Sour Cream

Carnita Fajitas

Beef Fajitas

Chicken Fajitas

7- Pepper Steak Fajitas

Off The Grill:  Select sides from the “Sides” list below only.          

Bandera Sirloin – Order with only Steak Rub and Relish and no Onions.

Margarita Chicken – Order without Grilled Vegetables (can sub House Vegetables).

Shrimp and Seafood:  

Mexican Shrimp Scampi

Favorites:

Ala Cart Tamales – Order without Sauce.

Sides/Extras:  

Mexican Rice, Black or Refried Beans (with or without cheese), House Veggies (not grilled veggies), Guacamole, Roasted Reds, Pico de Gallo, Salsa, Pepperjack Mashed Potatoes (with garnish)

Kids:  

Grilled Chicken – Select “Sides” from list above only.

Strawberry Sundae

* The flour tortillas for our Enchiladas are dipped in the fryer prior to being stuffed and rolled and therefore, we do not recommend this item for individuals with allergies.

Sincerely,

Christie LaRue
Guest Relations

Ref # 513260

Campbell's Brand Products
6/05

The following was sent to the listserve by Barbra on 6/05

Chunky Soup -- Chicken Broccoli Cheese, 18 oz
Select Soup -- Savory Lentil, 19 oz
Prego Pasta Sauce -- Traditional Sauce, all sizes; Three Cheese Sauce, =
26 oz; Mushroom, 4 lb 3 oz
Prego Pasta Bakes Sauce -- 3 Cheese Marinara, 27.75 oz; Tomato, Garlic, =
and Basil, 27.75 oz
Swanson Broth -- Lower Sodium Beef Broth, 14 oz; RTS Beef Broth, 14.5 =
oz; RTS Chicken Broth, 14.5 oz & 49.5 oz;
Natural Goodness Chicken Broth, all sizes; Vegetable Broth, 14 oz
Swanson Canned Poultry -- Premium Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, all =
sizes; Premium White & Dark Chunk Chicken, all sizes; Mixin Chicken, 5 =
oz
All Campbells Tomato Juice
All V8 Vegetable Juices
All V8 Splash Juice Blends
All Diet V8 Splash Juice Blends
V8 Splash Smoothies -- Orange Creme, all sizes; Peach Mango, all sizes; =
Strawberry Banana, all sizes
All Pace Red Sauces -- All Enchilada Sauces, all sizes; All Picante =
Sauces, All Thick & Chunky Sauces, All Thick & Chunky Flavored Salsas =
(chipotle, cilantro, etc.)

Click below for recent studies and info. on celiac disease and gluten senstitivity.

script language="JavaScript"src="http://www.politicalgateway.com/news.html?c=105&l=10&p=1&s=1&img=120&nw=1">>

DR. HOOK- Sprue- whew!: Celiac sufferers pooped

Published October 13, 2005 in issue 0441 of the Hook
BY JOHN HONG, MD DOC@READTHEHOOK.COM
One of my friends said I write and talk about poop better than anyone
else he knows. Is that a compliment or an insult? I learned in college
there are three sacred things in life: eat, sleep, and poop.
Let's face it: our lives revolve around bowel movements. If you don't
poop enough, you get cranky and feel gross. If you poop too much, it can
be an inconvenience. Almost all my patients tell me if they have a poop
problem-- not "pooped" as in exhausted. So when is pooping too much a
problem?
Celiac disease has been described since the 2nd Century from
Cappadochia (now Turkey). (Cappadochia sounds like a coffee drink.) Celiac
disease is often called gluten-sensitive enteropathy and nontropical sprue.
(Nontropical sprue makes me think of a Christmas tree.) Sprue occurs
mostly in white people of northern European decent: 1 in 250, which is
almost as common as cystic fibrosis!
Sprue is a condition in which gluten causes inflammation of the small
bowel which results in diarrhea. Did you just say, "Huh?"
Okay, first of all, gluten is the alcohol-soluble fraction of wheat
protein. Gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats, so if
you're into bagels, you're "poopy out of luck." If you're Italian, Mama
Mia! That's why when you go to specialty grocery stores, you see signs
galore saying, "Gluten Free," "Gluten Doesn't Live Here," "I'm Telling
You Girl, There Ain't No Gluten!"
In people with sprue, the immune system actually attacks the gliadin
component of gluten and unfortunately damages the lining of the small
intestine. This leads to malabsorption, which can make you look like Kate
Moss in the '80s.
Sprue usually presents in childhood. Normal cereals become colon blow
for these kids. However, for some, symptoms don't present until up to 40
years of age.
Because the small bowels are damaged in sprue, steatorrhea can occur--
this is stinky, fatty, floating stools, like Lake Erie in the '70s
before the fire. Flatulence (as proper Princess Diana might have said vs.
"farting") is another problem. Because of the malabsorption, nutrient
and vitamin deficiencies usually occur, which can lead to neurological
disorders, fatigue, anemia, abnormal bones, liver problems, skin rashes,
and Lord knows what else.
No bread, please! Even the spleen can die in sprue.
Many people actually present with neuropsychiatric problems like
depression, anxiety, epilepsy, and movement disorders. (Maybe that explains
why Elaine from Seinfeld danced so weird?)
In kids with uncontrolled sprue, growth failure can occur. For some
people, even diabetes, thyroid disease, infertility, and collagen vascular
diseases can result from undetected sprue. Worst-case scenario is
development of gastrointestinal cancers, in particular lymphoma. This is one
reason a gluten-free diet is so important for people with sprue.
Unfortunately, many people with sprue cheat on their diet. Pizza,
toast, cake-- yum, yum-- oh, oh. Even some medicines have preservatives that
contain gluten. A reader recently complained to me that her sister eats
bread all the time but yells at her pharmacist if her medicine contains
gluten. (I guess everyone needs one healthy rationalization a day.)
Believe it or not, the following foods contain gluten: mustard,
nondairy creamer, peanut butter (my favorite!), bullion cubes, ice cream,
cheese spreads, tomato sauce and ketchup, salad dressings, and even more!
(Is there anything left to eat?)
So a dietician consult is mandatory, and support is essential. I cannot
imagine what it must be like to live with sprue. It must be like that
mythological character who, every time he reached for fruit on a tree,
the wind blew away the branches, and every time he bent to drink from
the river, the water level dropped.
Terrible. But it beats diarrhea.
http://readthehook.com/stories/2005/10/14/drHookSprueWhewCeliacSuffe.html

Well it's been about 3 months since Jacob has been gluten free with me!  He is doing very well with the transition.  He now asks if something is gluten free before he eats it.  The other day he asked me and I told him I wasn't sure (I was going to let him eat it).  He picked it up and looked at it and then put it down and said, "no I don't want to get a stomach ache".  Did I mention that he is 5!  I was so proud of him.  I know this is really challenging for anyone, much less a five year old.

But we have found lots of goodies that he likes like Fruity Peebles (so non-nutritious, I know), Fritos, Apple slices with peanut butter in between, GF tortilla wraps with ham, mayo, lettuce, etc., gf cookies and doughnuts, Amy's gluten free pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni, Publix cheesecake, gf english muffins from Knickknick and the list goes on and on...

I keep reminding myself how blessed we are to have found this out while he is so young so that he will not have to go through the health challenges of things like Lupus, RA, and Pancreatitis like I did...

One other thing...Jacob has been taking 3 Shaklee B-complex in the morning along with his Energizing Protein shake and a few other supplements...His dexlexic symptoms of completely writing sentences backword in mirror pattern have gone away...He is only occasionaly writing letters backword, which is normal in kindergarten.  His teacher was concerned enough about his handwriting that we met with the Assistant Principal and counselor to discuss it as well as Jacob's lack of confidence...Wow!  Chalk another one up for Shaklee!

Anyway, Jacob is doing just great...he has his whole life ahead of him!  His energy and attitude are increasing--we are headed to karate this evening!

To your health and happiness!

Kerry McKenzie

After Christmas, my son, Jacob received quite a gift ...we got his test results back and he is in fact gluten sensitive.  I feel like this is a gift because now Jacob can start to feel more like himself, do better in school, and lose some of the physical symptoms he has been dealing with.

We had Jacob tested through www.enterolab.com  It was so simple...just a few swabs of his cheek and a collection of stool...The swab showed that he had the gluten sensitivity gene and the stool test showed an autoimmune reaction to both gluten and milk.

We have had him gluten free for about two weeks and wow we can see such a difference in him.  He is a happier, more energetic child.  And I am amazed at how well he is adapting to his new diet! 

Packing school lunches starts on Wednesday...we'll see how it goes...Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Kerry

Shaklee News – December 2005 – Creating Healthier Lives

Changing Brands can Change Your Life

Give the Gift of Health this Christmas!

Matt & Kerry McKenzie 678.957.1934

www.shaklee.net/optimalwellness (Our Shaklee online Catalog)

www.projectmahmaonline.com (Moms at home making a Difference & a lot of Money!)

www.cuteweblog.com/Kerry/ (Kerry’s Celiac  blog)

www.mckenzies.createmyfuture.com/ (Shaklee Business Opportunity Presentation)

McKenzies’ Happy Holidays Sale!

Order on Wednesday or Thursday, December 7th or 8^th and receive a 15% rebate check on your entire order up to $50!

Looking for the PERFECT Gift … Look Younger … REDUCE Wrinkles, Sags & Lines …  Just think of what a rubber band looks like when it loses it’s elasticity … it’s no longer firm … rather it is limp and sags.  That is what happens to your skin when you lose the COLLAGEN in your skin … wrinkles/sags/lines. 

• So what is COLLAGEN? … it is the main protein of connective tissues which are responsible for skin elasticity … it gives our face shape and form.  It is about ¼ of all of the protein in your body, which means it is a major structural protein, forming molecular cables that strengthen the tendons, skin, and internal organs. 
• What causes a wrinkle? … A wrinkle results when the collagen is destroyed which creates a void under the skin.  Skin adheres to the collagen as if it were glued on.  Therefore, the skin follows the shape that results from the void, outlining it and making it extremely visible.  Lose your collagen and you create lines/wrinkles.
• What destroys the collagen in our skin?
• Internal Enemies:  Protein / amino acid deficiencies, Vitamin C deficiency (a deficiency of Vitamin C stops the construction of new collagen), + other nutrient deficiencies
• External enemies:  iron in tap water, computer screens, tobacco smoke, fluorescent lights, halogen lights, vehicle exhaust, agricultural pollution, etc. 
• How does Shaklee’s Anti-Aging Skin Care (ENFUSELLE™) work? … it stops & reverses accelerated aging …
• It blocks enzymes that destroy collagen
• It helps stop the destruction of collagen (because it is full of anti-oxidants)
• It increases collagen production by 79% (it is externally applied “nutritional supplements” for the skin)
• It feeds skin cells; thereby causing it to produce collagen (many companies add collagen to cosmetics as a “sales gimmick”.  This does not work … your skin must make it.  Collagen, applied topically, is actually damaging to your skin … it is an insoluble fibrous protein that is too large to penetrate the skin.  This forms a layer of film that may suffocate the skin or reduce its ability to breathe.  The collagen found in most skin care or cosmetic products is derived from animal skins and ground up chicken feet!)  

If you’ve tried all the rest, now try the BEST.  Enfuselle™ Products have 8 patents and unsurpassed clinical test results in the entire skin care industry worldwide.  Clinical Tests on Enfuselle™ Deluxe Skin Care System after ONLY 4 weeks showed:  665% increase in skin firmness / 421% reduction in lines & wrinkles / 268% increase in skin smoothness.

Seizures in Children INCREASED 80% … Since aspartame was introduced to the marketplace seizures in children have increased 80%? (data from “NutraSweet … Friend or Foe”, the author, R.L. Myers, Certified Nutritional Consultant of Health Consultants Ltd.).   This artificial sweetener, also sold as NutraSweet or Equal is very prevalent in diet pops, sugarless gum, toothpaste, low calorie products, weight management meal replacement drinks, etc.  One Mom, in an effort to reduce cavities, offered her child sugarless gum (containing aspartame), thinking this was a good decision.  After a period of time of chewing gum containing aspartame, her daughter began to have seizures.  When the mother learned that seizures could be a side effect of aspartame, she immediately removed everything from her daughter’s diet that contained aspartame.  The seizures ceased.  This is just one more reason to live as close to nature as possible.  Shaklee has never used aspartame in their toothpaste, their meal replacements or their vitamins. 

FOUR Months has CHANGED my 9 year old Nephew!  “I have to share an exciting story with you.  My little nephew has just turned nine years old.  Since he was little he was always sick and on antibiotics every other month.  He was a whiney child, and always seemed very unhappy.  As he started school, the problems became worse … he became very disruptive and started having behavioral problems … he started getting suspended from school, even in kindergarten (I was speechless … I have never heard of a child in kindergarten being suspended).  The school got social services involved and they sent him to a psychologist …which he has continued to see since Grade 1.  They had no idea what was wrong with him.  A Shaklee distributor suggested he start taking Shaklee Soy Protein, Vita-Lea, Cal-Mag Chewable, Omega 3 Complex and Optiflora (since he had been on so many antibiotics).  He has been taking these products for about 4 months now.  The school wants to know what has happened to him because he has completely changed … he is now a happy little boy, gets along with everyone, gets happy faces in his books ‘every day’, and most importantly, the psychologist has discharged him, saying that there is nothing wrong with him!  Shaklee is a fabulous company.  Schools are very anxious to put kids on Ritalin … just drug them up and keep them quiet.  Shaklee products address the problem.  Good health and happiness to everyone!” (shared by Kim Beaulieu)

Don’t Worry … Be Happy!  Reach for B Complex – often nicknamed the “Happy Vitamin”.  The B Vitamins are “fuel” to the Central Nervous System (CNS), and if the CNS is experiencing a deficiency of its fuel, it will affect how you feel.  What constitutes a good B-Complex supplement?  There are some rules.  These rules will indicate whether the product you are evaluating has any value, or if it is actually creating “dis-harmony” in the body. 

• First, look at the composition … there are 8 known B Vitamins, and ALL 8 must be present in a balanced supplement.  B vitamins are competitive in the body and should be balanced “as found in nature”.
• In food, these eight B Vitamins are NEVER found in equal amounts … in other words there is not 50 mg or 100 mg of each.  Therefore, a B-50 or a B-100 supplements is a man-made ratio, and does not work in harmony with the body chemistry … these man-made ratios can actually create an imbalance in the body chemistry. 
• Consider bioavailability … this means … when a supplement is consumed, does it get passed through the system untouched, or does it get into the blood stream in the correct amount?

The following is shared by Rusty & June Ost, Registered Pharmacists & Members of the Association of Natural Medicine Pharmacists … “Shaklee scientists spend a lot of time and money making certain that the products we consume, including B-Complex, do exactly what they are supposed to do.  This is what impressed us most as pharmacists when we took a look at Shaklee when we were evaluating the company.  We were so impressed that we decided to not only begin a program of supplementation, but to also share the products with others.  A perfect example of this occurred when Shaklee presented their reformulated B-Complex to the marketplace … they tested comparable products from several other manufacturers, looking for the bioavailability of the folic acid portion.  What they found was that in all other products the folic acid was not available at the labeled amount.  Some had no folic acid at all, even though the label indicated they did.  Folic acid is hard to get into the blood stream, but Shaklee found a way to overcome this obstacle … they put the folic acid in the coating.  Now when you take a Shaklee B-Complex, you are assured of getting what the label says you should get.”

Upcoming Events

Ann K. White, M.D., F.A.CS., F.A.A.P.  seminar on a Natural Approach to Woman’s Health

Thursday, December 15^th at 6:45 pm at Central Park Recreation Center in Cumming

Happy 50^th Shaklee!  Billionaire and Shaklee Owner, Roger Barnett speaks about the Shaklee Business Opportunity on January 7^th    from 9am until noon at Perimeter Center.

Five Reasons to look at this Business

1.      The health and wellness industry is projected to quadruple over the next six years to $1 trillion.

2.       Shaklee is the pioneer of natural nutrition with a 50 year history.

3.       Shaklee Corp. has invested $250 million to have the best natural products in this industry.

4.      That gives Shaklee the inside pole position for growth!

5.      Roger shares that, “Our plan is to take advantage of this on a global basis. We are now a $500 million company in five countries and we intend to go into 50 countries over the next ten years, which should allow us to achieve a $5 billion market."  Shaklee’s current expansion plans include entering into Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, India and the European Union.  Building a Shaklee business today means owning a Global business!

RSVP Kerry or Matt at kerryb_mc@yahoo.com or 678.957.1934                                         Happy Holidays!  To your Health and Happiness!!!  Matt and Kerry McKenzie

Below is an excerpt from Dr. Kenneth Fine, an expert in Celiac and gluten sensitivity testing...He tells of the testing intricacies much better than I ever could!

"Gluten sensitivity" is the process by which the immune system reacts to gluten contained in wheat, barley, rye, and oats. The reaction begins in the intestine because that is where the inciting antigen, gluten, is present (from food). When this immunologic reaction damages the finger-like surface projections, the villi, in the small intestine (a process called villous atrophy), it is called celiac disease (or sometimes celiac sprue or gluten-sensitive enteropathy). The clinical focus of gluten-induced disease has always been on the intestine because that is the only way the syndrome was recognized before screening tests were developed. The intestinal syndrome consists mainly of diarrhea, gas, bloating, nausea, vomiting, fat in the stool, nutrient malabsorption, and even constipation. Although the small intestine is always the portal of the immune response to dietary gluten, it is not always affected in a way that results in villous atrophy. Even though recent research has shown that celiac disease is much more common than previously suspected, affecting 1 in 100-200 Americans and Europeans, past and emerging evidence indicates that it accounts for only a small portion of the broader gluten sensitive clinical spectrum (often referred to as the "Tip of the Gluten Sensitive Iceberg"). With better understanding of how gluten triggers immune and autoimmune reactions in the body under the control of various genes, and advancing techniques of detecting these reactions, it is becoming apparent that the majority of the gluten sensitive population (the submerged “mass of the iceberg”) do not manifest villous atrophy in its classic, complete form and therefore do not have celiac disease. In these non-celiac, gluten sensitive individuals, the brunt of the immune reaction either affects the function of the intestine, causing symptoms without structural damage, affects other tissues of the body (and virtually all tissues have been affected in different individuals), or both. This is important because the commonly used diagnostic tests of clinically important gluten sensitivity (blood tests for certain antibodies and intestinal biopsies) are only positive when villous atrophy of the small intestine is present. But if only a small minority of gluten sensitive individuals actually develop celiac disease, the majority, who have not yet or may never develop villous atrophy, with or without symptoms, can remain undiagnosed and untreated for years. This can result in significant immune and nutritional consequences, many of which are irreversible even after treatment with a gluten-free diet. Some of these disorders include loss of hormone secretion by glands (hypothyroidism, diabetes, pancreatic insufficiency, etc), osteoporosis, short stature, cognitive impairment, and other inflammatory bowel, liver, and skin diseases, among others. Only with early diagnosis, can these problems be prevented or reversed.

I am here to report on a scientific paradigm shift regarding early diagnosis of gluten sensitivity based on about 30 years of medical research by myself and others. My message is that earlier and more inclusive diagnosis of gluten sensitivity than has been allowed by blood tests and intestinal biopsies must be developed to prevent the nutritional and immune consequences of long-standing gluten sensitivity. Imagine going to a cardiologist because your blood pressure is high or you’re having chest pain, and the doctor says he is going to do a biopsy of your heart to see what is wrong. If it ‘looks’ O.K., you are told you have no problem and no treatment is prescribed because you have not yet had a heart attack showing on the biopsy. You would not think very highly of the doctor utilizing this approach because, after all, isn’t it damage to the heart that you would want to prevent? But for the intestine and gluten sensitivity, current practice embraces this fallacious idea that until an intestinal biopsy shows structural damage, no diagnosis or therapeutic intervention is offered. This has to change now because with newly developed diagnostic tests, we can diagnose the problem before the end stage tissue damage has occurred, that is "before the villi are gone," with the idea of preventing all the nutritional and immune consequences that go with it.

There are many misconceptions regarding the clinical presentation of gluten sensitivity or celiac disease: For example, that you cannot be gluten sensitive if you have not lost weight, are obese, have no intestinal symptoms, or are an adult or elderly. However, the most widely held and clinically troublesome misconception is that a negative screening blood test, or one only showing antigliadin antibodies (without the autoimmune antiendomysial or antitissue transglutaminase antibody) rules out any problem caused by gluten at that time or permanently. For some reason, the high “specificity” of these blood tests has been tightly embraced. Specificity means if the test is positive, you surely have the disease being tested for with little chance that the positive is a "false positive." But sadly, a negative test does not mean you do not have the problem. This is the biggest pitfall of all because the only thing a very specific test, like blood testing for celiac disease, can do is "rule in" the disease; it can not "rule it out." If you’ve got very far advanced and/or long-standing celiac disease, it is likely that the test will be positive. However, several studies have now revealed that it is only those with significant villous atrophy of the small intestine who regularly show a positive antiendomysial or antitissue transglutaminase antibody, the specific tests relied upon most heavily for diagnosis of gluten-induced disease. When there was only partial villous atrophy, only 30% had a positive test. More disturbing perhaps, were the results with respect to screening first degree relatives of celiacs with blood tests. Despite some biopsy-proven early inflammatory changes in the small intestine but without villi damage, all blood tests were negative.

For some reason, it’s been perfectly acceptable to celiac diagnosticians that a patient must have far advanced intestinal gluten sensitivity, i.e., villous atrophy, to be diagnosed and a candidate for treatment with a gluten-free diet. That means from the specific testing standpoint, there’s never (or rarely) a false positive. But what about the larger majority of gluten-affected people who do not presently have or may never get this end stage, villous atrophic presentation? They are out of luck as far as blood testing is concerned. So the fact is that we have erroneously relied on specificity (always picks up gluten sensitivity after it has caused villous atrophy, never having a false positive) instead of sensitivity (doesn’t miss gluten sensitive people even though they might be picked up early, even before full-blown celiac disease develops). Would a test relying on specificity rather than sensitivity be good enough for you, or your children? Consider the risk of not getting an early diagnosis versus going on a gluten free diet a few months or years prematurely. While I do not recommend anyone to have a biopsy (especially children) for diagnosis because of the shortcomings and invasive nature of this technique, I particularly do not want someone to have a biopsy showing villous atrophy, since by that time, associated bone, brain, growth, and/or gland problems are all but guaranteed. And here is another related problem: you have a positive blood test, but, if a small bowel biopsy comes back normal or nearly normal, you are told that the blood test must have been a “false positive” and that gluten is not your problem. Would you believe that, especially in light of the fact that most such people would have gotten the blood test in the first place because of a specific symptom or problem? Let’s hope not. All that means (positive blood test, negative biopsy) is that the gluten sensitivity (evidenced by antibodies to gliadin in the blood) has not yet damaged your intestines severely.

Evidence of this comes from a study that I performed. We tested 227 normal volunteers with blood tests for celiac disease. Twenty-five of these people (11%) had either antigliadin IgG or IgA in their blood versus only one (0.4%) that had antiendomysial, antitissue transglutaminase, and antigliadin IgA in the blood. So for every one person in a population that has the antibodies that have 100% specificity for celiac disease of the intestine (antiendomysial and antitissue transglutaminase), there are 24 that have antibodies to gliadin that may not have celiac disease. So what is going on with the 11% with antigliadin antibodies in blood? Are these false positives (rhetorically)? You’re telling me that there is a disease called celiac disease and it is associated with antibodies to gliadin in the blood and sometimes it damages the intestine? But people with antigliadin antibody in their blood but no other antibodies do not have a clinically significant immunologic reaction to gluten? Do you see the problem? How can 11% be false positives? What about the 89% with none of these antibodies? You cannot equate having no antibodies at all (a negative test) with having antigliadin antibodies alone. If you have antibodies to gliadin, something is going on here. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. The purpose of this study was to test this hypothesis: that an antigliadin antibody alone does indicate the presence of an immune reaction to gluten that may be clinically important. Using tests for intestinal malabsorption and abnormal permeability (i.e., tests of small bowel function, unlike a biopsy which says nothing about function), we found that 45% of people with only an antigliadin IgG or IgA antibody in blood (without either antiendomysial or antitissue transglutaminase antibody) already had measurable intestinal dysfunction, compared to only 5% of people with no antibodies to gliadin in their blood. When we did biopsies of these people’s intestines, none had villous atrophy with only a few showing some early inflammation. Thus, having an antigliadin antibody in your blood does mean something: that there is nearly a 1 in 2 chance that functional intestinal damage is already present even though it may not be visible structurally at the resolution attained by a light microscope assessment of a biopsy.

As mentioned at the outset, not all gluten sensitive individuals develop villous atrophy. Evidence for this has been around for a long time. In 1980, a medical publication titled "Gluten-Sensitive Diarrhea" reported that 8 people with chronic diarrhea, sometimes for as long as 20 years, that resolved completely when treated with a gluten-free diet, had mild small bowel inflammation but no villous atrophy. In 1996 in a paper called “Gluten Sensitivity with Mild Enteropathy,” ten patients, who were thought to have celiac disease because of a positive antiendomysial antibody blood test, had small bowel biopsies showing no villous atrophy. But amazingly, these biopsies were shown to react to gluten when put in a Petri dish, proving the tissue immunologically reacted to gluten (which was likely anyway from their positive blood tests). Two other reports from Europe published in 2001 showed gluten sensitivity without villous atrophy (and hence without celiac disease). In one of these studies, 30% of patients with abdominal symptoms suggestive of irritable bowel syndrome having the celiac-like HLA-DQ2 gene but no antibodies to gliadin in their blood, had these antibodies detected in intestinal fluid (obtained by placing a tube down into the small intestine). Thus, in these people with intestinal symptoms, but normal blood tests and biopsies, the antigliadin antibodies were only inside the intestine (where they belong if you consider that the immune stimulating gluten also is inside the intestine), not in the blood. This is the theme we have followed in my research, as we are about to see.

More proof that patients in these studies were gluten sensitivity came from the fact that they all got better on a gluten-free diet, and developed recurrent symptoms when "challenged" with gluten. Although the gluten-sensitive patients in these studies did not have the villous atrophy that would yield a diagnosis of celiac disease, small bowel biopsies in many of them showed some, albeit minimal, inflammatory abnormalities. Yet, when a symptomatic patient in clinical practice is biopsied and found to have only minimal abnormalities on small bowel biopsy, clinicians do not put any stock in the possibility of their having gluten sensitivity. As much as I would like to take credit for the concept, you can see from these studies that I did not invent the idea that not all gluten sensitive patients have villous atrophy. It has been around for at least 23 years, and reported from different parts of the world.

For many years there has also been proof that the intestine is not the only tissue targeted by the immune reaction to gluten. The prime example of this a disease called dermatitis herpetiformis where the gluten sensitivity manifests primarily in skin, with only mild or no intestinal involvement. Now from more recent research it seems that the almost endless number of autoimmune diseases of various tissues of the body also may have the immune response to dietary gluten and its consequent autoimmune reaction to tissue transglutaminase as the main immunologic cause. A study from Italy showed that the longer gluten sensitive people eat gluten, the more likely they are to develop autoimmune diseases. They found that in childhood celiacs, the prevalence of autoimmune disease rose from a baseline of 5% at age 2 to almost 35% by age 20. This is a big deal if you think how much more complicated one’s life is being gluten sensitive AND having an autoimmune disease.

So preventing autoimmune disease is one very important reason why early diagnosis and treatment of gluten sensitivity is important. Early diagnosis before celiac disease develops also holds the potential of preventing other clinical problems such as malnutrition, osteoporosis, infertility, neurologic and psychiatric disorders, neurotube defects (like spina bifida) in your children, and various forms of gastrointestinal cancer. Another reason for early diagnosis and treatment is very straightforward and that is because many gluten sensitive individuals, even if they have not yet developed celiac disease (villous atrophy), have symptoms that abate when gluten is removed from their diet. Furthermore, from a study done in Finland, a gluten sensitive individual who reports no symptoms at the time of diagnosis can improve both psychological and physical well-being after treatment for one year with a gluten-free diet.

Despite the common sense and research evidence that early diagnosis of gluten sensitivity offers many health advantages over a diagnostic scheme that can only detect the minority and end-stage patients, until now, the limitation was still in the tests being employed. As mentioned above, the main test used for primary (before symptoms develop) and secondary (after symptoms develop) screening for celiac disease, blood tests for antigliadin and antiendomysial/antitissue transglutaminase antibodies, are only routinely positive after damage to intestinal villi is extensive. As shown in a 1990 publication, this is because unless you have full blown, untreated celiac disease, the IgA antibodies to gliadin are only INSIDE the intestine not in the blood. Measuring antigliadin antibody in blood and intestinal fluid (obtained by the laborious technique of having research subjects swallow a long tube that migrates into the upper small intestine), researchers found that in untreated celiacs, antigliadin antibody was present in the blood and inside the intestine, whereas after villous atrophy healed following a year on a gluten-free diet, the antigliadin antibody was no longer in the blood but was still measurable inside the intestine in those with ongoing mild inflammation.

An important conclusion can be drawn from these results, as these researchers and myself have done: gluten sensitive individuals who do not have villous atrophy (the mass of the iceberg), will only have evidence of their immunologic reaction to gluten by a test that assesses for antigliadin IgA antibodies where that foodstuff is located, inside the intestinal tract, not the blood. This makes sense anyway, because the immune system of the intestine, when fighting an antigen or infection inside the intestine, wages the fight right in that location in an attempt to neutralize the invading antigen, thereby preventing its penetration into the body. It does this with T cells on the surface of the epithelium, the intraepithelial lymphocytes, and with secretory IgA made with a special component called secretory piece that allows its secretion into the intestine.

The excellent English researchers that made the discovery that they could detect the immunologic reaction to gluten inside the intestine before it was evident on blood tests or biopsies knew it was a breakthrough, testing it many times over in different ways, and further extending the clinical spectrum of gluten-induced disease to include a phase before the villi are damaged, so-called "latent celiac sprue". Furthermore, they developed this technique of assessing the intestinal contents for antigliadin antibodies into what they viewed as a "noninvasive screening test for early or latent celiac sprue" (what others and I would simply call "gluten sensitivity"). However, this was not exactly noninvasive, nor was it simple. It still required the patient to swallow a tube, followed by a complete lavage of all their gastrointestinal contents with many gallons of nonabsorbable fluid that had to be passed by rectum and collected into a large vat to be analyzed for the presence of antigliadin antibodies.

While this was indeed a conceptual breakthrough, it practically went unnoticed by the medical community because the cumbersome procedure of washing out the intestine just could not be done in a normal clinical setting. To this day, I am not sure how many people even know that it was not me, but rather this well known celiac research group, led by the late Dr. Anne Ferguson, who pioneered the assessment of the intestinal contents as a viable and more sensitive source of testing material for the early reactions of the immune system to gluten. What we did in my research, is to refine and simplify the method of collecting and measuring these intestinal IgA antigliadin antibodies before they can be detected in blood. That is, instead of washing out the antibodies from the intestine, we allow them to be excreted naturally in the stool (feces). And so with that idea, and our ability to measure these antibodies in stool, as others before us had done for fecal IgE antibodies directed to food antigens, our new gluten (and other food) sensitivity stool testing method was born.

It was actually my research of microscopic colitis that led me to discover that stool analysis was the best way of assessing for gluten sensitivity before celiac disease develops. Microscopic colitis is a very common chronic diarrheal syndrome, accounting for 10% of all causes of chronic diarrhea in all patients, and is the most common cause of ongoing chronic diarrhea in a treated celiac, affecting 4% of all celiac patients. However, from my published research, despite the presence of the celiac HLA-DQ2 gene in 64% of patients with microscopic colitis, very few get positive blood tests or biopsies consistent with celiac disease. Yet, small bowel biopsies revealed some degree of inflammation sometimes with mild villous blunting in 70%. According to the facts and previously discussed shortcomings of celiac blood tests, antibodies to gliadin are unlikely to be detected in the blood in these patients because they lack villous atrophy. So negative blood tests for antigliadin antibodies per se did not, in my mind, rule out the possibility that these patients with microscopic colitis, a disease that under the microscope looks like celiac disease but of the colon, and that affects many celiac patients, were not gluten sensitive themselves. But as Dr. Ferguson’s research revealed, these antibodies might be detectable inside the intestine. And since we surely were not going to perform that cumbersome intestinal lavage test in my patients, we decided to see if we could find these antibodies in the stool as a reflection of what is coming through the intestine.

Here’s the first set of data that we found showing the superior sensitivity of stool testing versus blood tests for antigliadin IgA antibodies. In untreated celiac disease patients, we found a 100% positivity in the stool versus only 76% in blood. In hundreds of microscopic colitis patients since tested, only 9% have antigliadin antibody in blood but 76% have it in stool. And the same is true of 79% of family members of patients with celiac disease; 77% of patients with any autoimmune disease; 57% of people with irritable bowel syndrome-like abdominal symptoms; and 50% of people with chronic diarrhea of unknown origin, all of whom have only about a 10-12% positivity rate for blood tests (like normal volunteers). Thus, when you go to the source of production of these antibodies for testing, the intestine, the percentage of any population at a higher than normal genetic and/or clinical risk of gluten sensitivity showing a positive antigliadin stool test is 5 to 7.5 times higher than would be detected using blood tests. In normal people without specific symptoms or syndromes, the stool test is just under 3 times more likely to be positive than blood (29% vs. 11%, respectively). That’s a lot more people reacting to gluten than 1 in 150 who have celiac disease. 29% of the normal population of this country, almost all of whom eat gluten, showing an intestinal immunologic reaction to the most immune-stimulating of dietary proteins really is not so high or far fetched a percentage, especially in light of the facts that 11% of them display this reaction in blood, and 42% carry the HLA-DQ2 or DQ8 celiac genes.

Why is this so important? Because some people with microscopic colitis never get better when they're treated, and most autoimmune syndrome syndromes only progress with time, requiring harsh and sometimes dangerous immunosuppressive drugs just for disease control. If the immune reaction to gluten is in any way at the cause of these diseases as research suggests, and if we had at our disposal a sensitive test that can diagnose this gluten sensitivity without having to wait for the intestinal villi to be damaged, then treatment with a gluten free diet might allow the affected tissues to return to normal or at least, prevent progression. We now have that test in fecal antigliadin antibody. Just a few weeks ago we completed the first follow-up phase of our study: what happens when a gluten sensitive person without villous atrophy goes on a gluten-free diet for one or two years. While I am still gathering and analyzing the data, most of the subjects reported a much improved clinical status (utilizing an objective measure of symptoms and well being). Not everybody gets well, because sadly not everyone stays on a gluten-free diet (as they sometimes admit on the surveys). Some people have the misconception that if they don’t have celiac disease, but "I just have gluten sensitivity" then maybe they do not have to be strict with their gluten elimination from the diet. I do not think that is the case. Although a gluten free diet is like anything: less gluten is not as damaging as more gluten, but certainly no gluten is optimal if a gluten sensitive person desires optimal health.

Of the first 25 people with refractory or relapsing microscopic colitis treated with a gluten-free diet, 19 resolved diarrhea completely, and another 5 were notably improved. Thus, a gluten-free diet helped these patients with a chronic immune disease of a tissue other than small bowel (in this case the colon), who have been shown to be gluten sensitive by a positive stool test in my lab. The same may be true of patients with chronic autoimmune diseases of any other tissue, but who do not have full-blown celiac disease. Gluten-free dietary treatment, sometimes combined with dairy-free diet as well, has been shown to help diabetes, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, eczema, autism, and others.

Thus, my approach, and I believe the most sensitive and most complete approach, for screening for early diagnosis and preventive diagnosis for clinically important gluten sensitivity is a stool test for antigliadin and antitissue transglutaminase IgA antibodies (IgG is not detectable in the intestine) and a malabsorption test. The malabsorption test we developed is special, because you no longer have to collect your stool for three days; we can find the same information with just one stool specimen. Combining this stool testing with HLA gene testing, which we do with a cotton-tipped swab rubbed inside the mouth, is the best diagnostic approach available.

Who should be screened for gluten sensitivity? Certainly family members of celiacs or gluten sensitive people being at the highest genetic risk. For the most part, all of the following patient groups have been shown to be at higher risk than normal to be gluten sensitive: chronic diarrhea; microscopic colitis; dermatitis herpetiformis; diabetes mellitus; any autoimmune syndrome (of which there is an almost end-less number like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, dermatomyositis, psoriasis, thyroiditis, alopecia areata, hepatitis, etc.); Hepatitis C; asthma; chronic liver disease; osteoporosis; iron deficiency anemia; short stature in children; Down’s syndrome; female infertility; peripheral neuropathy, seizures, and other neurologic syndromes; depression and other psychiatric syndromes; irritable bowel syndrome; Crohn’s Disease; and people with severe gastroesophageal reflux (GERD). Autism and possibly the attention deficit disorders are emerging as syndromes that may improve with a gluten- free (and additionally casein-free) diet. A diagnosed celiac might be interested in our testing to know (after some treatment period no shorter than a year) that there is no on-going damage from malabsorption, for which we have a test. If a celiac is having ongoing symptoms or other problems, a follow-up test should be done just to be sure there’s no hidden gluten in the diet, or something else that could be present, like pancreatic enzyme deficiency which often accompanies celiac disease, especially in its early stages of treatment.

Historically, with respects to diagnostic methods for celiac disease, from 100 A.D., when celiac disease was first described as an emaciating, incapacitating, intestinal symptom-causing syndrome, to 1950, we had just one diagnostic test: clinical observation for development of the end stage of the disease. Then in 1940 to 1960, when the discovery of gluten as the cause of celiac disease occurred, the best diagnostic test was removing gluten from the diet watching for clinical improvement. It was during this period that the 72-hour fecal fat and D-xylose absorption tests were developed as measures of gluten-induced intestinal dysfunction/damage. In the mid- to late1950’s, various intestinal biopsy methods were pioneered and utilized, showing total villous atrophy as the diagnostic hallmark of celiac disease. You’ve heard the intestinal biopsy called the “gold standard”; well as you can see, it is a 50 year-old test, and thus, the "old" standard. It was not until the 1970’s and 80’s (and improved upon in the 1990’s) that blood tests for antigliadin and antiendomysial/antitissue transglutaminase were developed, but again these tests like all methods before, can reliably reveal only the “heart attack” equivalent of the intestinal celiac syndrome: significant villous atrophy, bad celiac disease.

We are in a new century, a new millennium, and I have built upon what my research predecessors have started; mostly on the work of researchers who laboriously put down tubes and sucked out intestinal fluid for testing for antigliadin antibody when it was not present in blood. We now know that a stool test for antigliadin antibody is just as good and much simpler. The wide-reaching ramifications of knowing that so many more people and patients are gluten sensitive than have ever been previously known has led me to assume a professional life of medical public service. To do so, I started a 501(c)3 not-for-profit institute called the Intestinal Health Institute, have brought these new diagnostic tests to the public on the internet (at http://www.enterolab.com), and volunteer my time helping people with health problems by email and by lecturing. With greater awareness and education of both the public and medical community that early diagnosis of gluten sensitivity can be achieved before the villi are gone, more of the gluten sensitive iceberg will be diagnosed and treated early, leading to far fewer gluten-related symptoms and diseases than has ever been experienced before.

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Well, my Thanksgiving holiday in Ohio was wonderful...We even saw some snow, which is a rare occurance here in GA! 

I went into the whole Thanksgiving experience not expecting to enjoy the food much as I thought I would be eating salad alone!  But it turns out, I had turkey, cranberry dressing, mashed potatoes, green beens with ham hock...yum, sweet potato casserole and an awesome salad that my aunt made!  For dessert, I had banana pudding that my aunt made just for me with out the cookies!  It was a feast!  I didn't feel deprived at all not eating the stuffing or bread...I had so many other carbs to take it's place!

I do think that I may have gotten some gluten from the turkey.  I had a slight reaction about 15 minutes after dinner.(or maybe it was just that I over-ate!).  Evidently, turkey is sometimes injected with broth that contains gluten...

I also got the opportunity to share with my aunts, uncles, and cousins about Celiac disease and Gluten sensitivity.  I didn't realize that they didn't know what it was or that they may want to be tested for it, as it is hereditary! 

Anyway, my gluten-free(almost) Thanksgiving was a joy. The only bummer was that after driving 9 hours back to GA, my son Jacob was so excited to be home that he ran down the wood floor, fell, hit his head, and required 8 stitiches!  That was a loooong day! Ugh! 

Kerry

Symptoms In children:

Failure to thrive
Irritability
Paleness
Fretfulness
Inability to concentrate (ADD/ADHD)
Emotional withdrawal or excessive dependence
Nausea
Pale, malodorous, bulky stools
Frequent, foamy diarrhea
Wasted buttocks
Anorexia
Malnutrition:
*With protuberant abdomen (with or without painful bloating)
*Muscle wasting of buttocks, thighs, and proximal arms
*With or without diarrhea
(as well as any number of the above diseases and disorders)

Celiac disease is a chronic inherited intestinal disorder in which the body cannot tolerate gluten.  Gluten is a protein in wheat, and other grains. When people with celiac eat foods containing gluten, their immune systems respond by damaging the lining of the small intestine.  The small intestine is responsible for absorbing nutrients from food into the bloodstream for the body to use.  When the lining is damaged, so is the ability to absorb these nutrients.

     Symptoms: tiredness, weakness or exhaustion), exhaustion, Depression, Irritability, Fuzzy-mindedness after gluten ingestion , Dental enamel defects (lots of dental cavities due to weak enamel), General malnutrition with or without weight loss,  vitamin deficiencies, Diarrhea, Constipation, Lactose intolerance, Flatulence, Anorexia, Nausea, Vomiting, Burning sensation in the throat, Abdominal pain and bloating , audible bowel sounds, Abdominal distention, Steatorrhea (fatty stools that float rather than sink), Foul smelling stools, Bulky, greasy stools, Anemia (iron deficiency , Osteoporosis/Osteopenia, Bone pain (especially nocturnal), White flecks on fingernails, Short stature (due to slow growth), Arthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Arthralgia (pain in the joints) , spasms and twitching of the muscles, abnormal skin sensations including burning, prickling, itching, or tingling, Amenorrhea (absence of menstrual bleeding), Delayed puberty ,Infertility, Impotence, inflammation, cracking and dryness of the lips, *Angular cheilosis (specifically cracking in the corners of the lips), swollen tongue, Stomatitis (any form of inflammation or ulceration of the mouth, such as mouth ulcers, cold sores, thrush, etc.) ,Purpura (purple or red spots on your skin caused by bleeding under the skin, more common in elderly), corns, calluses, plantar warts, psoriasis, nail fungus) ,Atopic dermatitis (a tendency towards allergies and a predisposition to various allergic reactions), *Scaly dermatitis (inflammation of the skin, includes dandruff and topical allergic reactions), loss or absence of hair, leaving the skin looking and feeling normal Edema (accumulation of serum-like fluid in the body tissues), Ascites (accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity-the space between the abdominal wall and the organs), Selective IgA deficiency, Seizures, with or without occipital calcification, Hepatitis (inflammation of the liver, may be acute or chronic), Dermatitis herpetiformis (skin rash characterized as intensely itchy skin eruptions like red bumps and blisters. Burning, stinging and itching is very bad. It appears in groups around the body, most often on the head, elbows, knees, and buttocks, much like the lesions of Herpes which is why the name is herpetiformis-meaning "like herpes". Must be diagnosed by a doctor. Only occurs in celiac patients.), Liver disease, Xerophthalmia (an eye disorder which causes the conjunctiva and cornea to become abnormally dry), Night blindness,Thyroid disease, Unexplained neuropathic illnesses, including ataxia and peripheral neuropathy, may cause numbness, tingling, sensations of cold, or pain, often starting at the hands or feet and moving toward the body center. Damage to the nerves of the autonomic nervous system may lead to blurred vision, impaired or absent sweating, headaches, episodes of faintness associated with falls in blood pressure, disturbance of gastric, intestinal, bladder or sexual functioning, including incontinence and impotence. In some cases there is no obvious or detectable cause), *Ataxia (incoordination and clumsiness, affecting balance and gait, limb or eye movements and/or speech, making one appear as if they were drunk), Dementia ,Diabetes mellitus type 1, Sjogren's syndrome (eyes, mouth, and vagina become extremely dry), Collagen disorders, Down syndrome, IgA neuropathy, Fibrosing alveolitis of the lung (body produces antibodies against its own lung tissue, creates a dry cough and breathing difficulty upon exertion), Hyposplenism, with atrophy of the spleen (underactive spleen), Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), Lymphoma (any group of cancers in which the cells of the lymphoid tissue multiply unchecked), Leukopenia (abnormal decrease in white blood cells, often reducing immune system function)
Coagulopathy (blood clotting disorder), Thrombocytosis (low blood platelets/damaged platelets, causing large amounts of bruises due to uncontrolled bleeding under the skin)
Melanosis (black or brown discoloration of the colon, usually due to chronic constipation) , Erythema nodosum (red-purple swellings on the legs and sometimes arms, with fever and joint pain)


Reactions to ingestion of gluten can be immediate, or delayed for days, weeks or even months. The amazing thing about celiac disease is that no two individuals who have it seem to have the same set of symptoms or reactions. A person might have several of the symptoms listed above, a few of them, one, or none. There are even cases in which obesity turned out to be a symptom of celiac disease.  This list was  taken from celiac.com message board.

If one has an Autoimmune disease or even if someone in their family has it, some doctors suggest that they should get tested for this.  The incidence of celiac disease in various autoimmune disorders is ten to thirty times more common compared to the general population.  H.R. Green, M.D. of the Columbia  University Celiac Disease Center says,

“it should be shouted from the rooftops” that early diagnosis is protective because the duration of exposure to gluten determines the rate of autoimmune disease…He said that Europeans know to look for celiac disease, but that Americans doctors drastically under-diagnose the disease. 

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