intfiction.org

Update: The Ear, Nose and Throat specialist didn't find the cause of the problem, so I had to go back to my GP and I've been referred to a neurologist. Hopefully he can find out why I have daily headaches and loss of balance. Not good.

Crap! I hope they can figure out what it is - and I hope it's fixable.

I used to have a lot of headaches and "ataxia" - bad balance and coordination. Turned out I was gluten intolerant. I never got a positive diagnosis, but going gluten-free solved the problem. I'm not trying to diagnose anything, but it might be something to rule out. Fortunately, doctors are more aware of that than they used to be.

Gluten intolerant!? Please tell me more!! I do have a wheat allergy. Maybe it's more than just that. I haven't altered my diet any time recently, but there might be something I'm overlooking or just not aware of. Anything's worth considering at this stage; I feel utterly wretched in the evenings.

If you have a true allergy, I assume you are already extremely careful about avoiding all gluten. It's found not only in obvious wheat-containing things like bread but also in soy sauce, barley malt (the main ingredient of beer and a common flavor enhancer in everything from breakfast cereal to ersatz coffee), and rye flour.

Once I discovered that eliminating gluten helped with many health issues, I went looking for other things I could give up. I had good results from quitting dairy, alcohol, sugar and caffeine. I eventually gave up all grains and beans and most nuts. By the time I'd heard of the Paleo diet, I was already doing it.

I'd recommend a book called "The GAPS Diet." It has some not-so-good science in it, and it's written in a somewhat flaky style, but I think the underlying principle is sound: A host of health problems, including many neurological issues, can be traced to leaky gut and other gut malfunctions. Eliminating gluten or dairy can help for a while, but a comprehensive shift to a diet that focuses on broth made with bones, homemade probiotics (e.g. sauerkraut), and organ meats can heal the gut to the point where you can tolerate a little of what used to wreck you. I can't say I've had perfect success with it, but it's helped - and it has a bit more of a practical focus that the various flavors of paleo.

Evolution: the older you get, the less it gives a damn about you.

Oddly enough I'd already been avoiding many of the abovementioned foodstuffs for various reasons. I don't drink beer; I'm a teetotaller. I first found out about my wheat allergy because my stomach rejected wheat-based breakfast cereals, so instead I eat salad for breakfast, and I rarely eat bread.. My siblings and I found that we react badly to milk, so I substitute soy milk on the few occasions I want something milk-like. My diet is already fairly regulated and not changed any time recently, so I'm stumped if I can find a contributing dietary factor.

What can you tell me about the symptoms of gluten intolerance? After the ENT was unable to find evidence of an ear infection I've been grasping at straws trying to find a reason for this problem, because it's showing no signs of abating. One of my colleagues suggested that my reading glasses need replacing, so I went three days without using them and there was no improvement. I cut out soft drinks and tea, that didn't work. I've looked for something I might be having an alergic reaction to, but nothing obvious comes up. Worse yet this thing seems to defy Panadol and even Panadene Forte, so I'm not getting much relief. Plus I'm having to turn in to bed as early as 9:30pm on some nights because I can't put up with the ache or dizzyness.

Too right.

I'd try giving up soy. Wheat, soy, dairy, and corn have very "sticky" proteins - they're all used to make industrial adhesives - and they're all common problems for the guts of humans and dogs. You probably know that along with wheat and peanuts, soy is one of the top allergens. Beans are also a common source of problematic lectins, which are proteins that bind to sugar (i.e. other sticky things!) Some lectins are believed to bind to specific cells and cause problems like rheumatoid arthritis. In our house we use almond milk and coconut milk. Personally, I avoid almonds because I find them addictive, but I'm not strict about it like I am with gluten and dairy.

There's a million symptoms of gluten intolerance. Mine included:

headaches
diarrhea
constipation
eczema and skin rashes
dizziness
poor coordination
"brain fog"
fatigue
acne
canker sores
weight gain
failure to gain weight (not me, but it's a common sign of celiac in kids)

I also get "drunk" off of anything made with yeast - especially red wine but also vinegar, and even so-called "superfoods" like kombucha and kefir. And not in a good way. It mostly means 48 hours of crankiness, bad digestion, and inability to focus. Interestingly, distilled ethyls don't seem to be a problem, which makes me think it's not the alcohol (or the acetate) but something else.

On the positive side, there are a few foods that improve the way I feel a whole bunch. #1 is liver, which I eat raw and frozen, or fried. Sauerkraut is important too - I'm going through a tough time right now because my winter supply ran out. I eat mostly homemade but I'm not a stickler - I think pasteurized commercial sauerkraut is good too. I also use a lot of bones to make stock, and eating the marrow tends to improve certain things for me, like dry or itchy skin. Anchovies are good for that too. Also, ghee is a big factor in our house - it's the only dairy we can tolerate (it's 100% casein and lactose free, at least the brand we get). Saturated fat gets a bad rap, but it's beneficial for the gut (especially butyric acid, which is found in butterfat), anti-microbial, and protects the liver. As for staples, I mostly live off grass-fed chuck roast and grass-fed ground beef, which are the cheapest cuts of muscle meat.

It might not be diet at all, or at least diet might not be the only factor - I've come to pretty much the end of the line with things I can do to my diet for health - but making sure of that can take time. If I get "glutened," it affects me for about 2 weeks. And if I get hooked on a food (right now it's plantain chips), it can take about 3 days of withdrawal before I don't crave it any more.

If you're up for more online reading, I'll tell you about my favorite blogger, Chris Kresser. He's an acupuncturist and he has a very holistic approach which includes not only diet but also sleep, exercise and stress management.

Good luck, and I hope you can find something that helps!

Whoa and damn! Fully eight of those symptoms match. Having had no solid leads at all until now I'd say we have at least a strong possibility.

What a revelation, and after spending several hundred dollars on doctors and getting nowhere. To get the facts I should have come straight to a forum about interactive fiction!

The next problem is how to deal with it. I'm an emphatic vegetarian, and for protein I use a lot of health products derived from gluten and soy. I'll have to start looking into alternatives. My breakfasts should be OK; every morning I eat celery, cucumber, tomato, olives and cashew nuts. On rare occasions that I've been running late I have corn flakes with soy milk, so I'll have to avoid those. Porridge I hate, but it might be necessary to force feed it to myself. Lunch and dinner will be the problem. Looks like I'll be brewing up lentils a lot more often, and they're a pain to cook.

How this happened to me is still a mystery. I've eaten those same soy & gluten products for the past four decades, and I haven't added anything new to my diet recently. The only thing that has happened within the last few months is that I underwent a colonoscopy earlier this year. Right away afterward I was finding problems with my stomach. I have a horrible feeling that something has been disrupted in my guts. I just hope it's not permanent.

I really hope your right. Then, even if there is no cure, there is at least an effective treatment (not eating gluten). The fact that you haven't felt any symptoms until recently probably means nothing.

I would recommend that you talk to a doctor to confirm the diagnosis, though – even before starting on a gluten-free diet, actually.
*Not that I'm a physician or anything*, but from what I've read, a gluten-free diet can have temporary effects on other ailments, too, whereas if you are indeed sensitive to gluten, then going on a gluten-free diet can make it harder to confirm the diagnosis.

All the best,
Felix

_________________
Man ska inte tro allt man tänker.

You say "emphatic," but maybe it's time to look at your reasons for being vegetarian? At this point I assume you're not doing it for health, so I'm guessing it's for moral or environmental reasons. Grass-fed beef is pretty good environmentally, and it's certainly better than feedlot beef morally, although of course it's up to you where to draw the line. But as I suggested about the GAPS diet, meat/bone broth and organ meats are pretty important for healing the gut. If you're not comfortable with that but you'd be ok with pescatarianism, fish can supply pretty much everything you need - cod liver oil has many of the same vitamins as beef liver (and more of some), and fish broth or bonito flakes have many of the same benefits as beef and chicken broth. And wild salmon does a lot to deserve its reputation as a "superfood."

Even so, you can do a lot with vegetarian foods, especially if you include ovo-lacto. Coconut oil is a good source of saturated fats for those who can't get them from animals. Coconut milk and almond milk are good soymilk alternatives. Avocadoes are another good way to get some of the fats and nutrients you might be missing. Eggs are an excellent source of protein and pretty much all of the nutrients that you can get from organ meats, as long as you don't skimp on the yolks.

But someone with a wheat allergy should not be eating seitan or any processed foods containing added gluten (or casein, or soy protein)! Watch out for that one!


My stepmom used to make an awesome "cereal" with just fruit and nuts - pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, cashews, peanuts, almonds, etc. My wife also loves a modified "muesli" made with just blueberries, almonds, and almond milk. The olives sound like a nice touch - also a good source of healthy fats, of course.


Out of all the plant seeds, lentils and rice are about the least harmful. Have you ever made congee? I think it's macrobiotic, and at any rate it goes well with umeboshi (and pickled eggs, if you do that sort of thing). But I have to warn you, lentils were one of my last holdouts when my health was plummeting, and they did not make me feel good in the end. And rice just made me hungry.


Ugh. I've never heard of that happening, but I would not be the least bit surprised if your horrible feeling was dead on the mark. It reminds me of a bizarre cure I've heard about, though... ever heard of "fecal transplants?"