How a gluten free diet helped clear symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis

Here is a letter a patient wrote us with her experience using a gluten free diet to help her with symptoms related to Multiple Sclerosis.  Based on the medical literature we instituted a gluten free diet as part of this patient’s Integrative Manual Therapy program.  Her resutls were consistent with the results found in the medical literature.  For more information visit a great research site www.TheBurnhamReview.com and search for gluten sensitivity research.  After reading it, I would ask, “which Multiple Sclerosis patient are you not going to tell about a gluten free program?  More info can be found at our site www.missionhillspt.com and at www.metagenics.com/webinars ( go to page two and look for Dr. O’Bryan’s gluten sensitivity power point)

————————Here is E.J.’s story…
I can admit that in the past I have been sold snake oil. I have a whole cabinet full of “miracle cures” and another spilling over with various prescriptions from doctors.  I gave up on both a long time ago, especially about 3 years ago when my MS was constantly flaring up, each time robbing me of the use of my legs and landing me in the hospital for months.  Ralph and company were able to ease the pain in my lower back, which in the hospital required IV pain meds.  This was tremendous, but the most progress came 5 months ago when I eliminated gluten from my diet.  Ralph provided me with a wealth of information and research from highly regarded medical journals.  This eased my neuroscience-oriented mind, and the snake oil alarm in my head never went off, there were no red flags, and instead of the fake hope I’d experienced before, I felt real hope.

My life began 26 years ago, took a turn at 20 with my MS diagnosis, stalled completely 3 years ago, and began again 5 months ago.  I remember telling Ralph after being gluten free 2-3 months that I felt I had already made up for the 2 1/2 – 3 years I was in and out of the hospital.  Within a month of going gluten free, I knew something wonderful was happening – life was livable again, constant fatigue replaced by constant energy, and the spasticity in my legs I had experienced daily was gone.  Even my neurologist, who does not speak in non-pharmaceutical terms, could not find any trace of it.  His response to all of these positive changes after gluten-free: “You can’t argue with results like this!”.

Doctors and MS groups look at me with jaws dropped to the floor.  I make sure and tell them about having gone gluten-free. I see such a high likelihood for fast improvement that I recommend at least trying a gluten-free diet to all my friends with MS, other neurological problems, and even those who are healthy but say they “could be better.”  It can’t hurt to try, and you never know just how amazing the results might be.

E.J. April 2009

stories from the gluten free front

Interesting stories  from the gluten free world.
First are two stories of people who we helped without even seeing them in the clinic.  Two people who never had to make an appointment and never even paid us for any treatment!

First is a friend and runner who asked me to help him with his leg/back pain.  He is a runner who has over 75 marathons to his credit!  I assessed him in a parking lot in Encinitas and found signs of gluten sensitivity; namely positive signs at his cecum and iliocecal valve indicative of inflammation; this is a clear sign in Integrative Manual Therapy of Gluten Sensitivity.  So I gave him some research sites on gluten sensitivity and left it at that.  I knew we were busy in the clinic and if he did do the gluten free program he would at least be helped some and might not even need us.

The following week at the run, my friend unsolicited told me he was going to buy me breakfast!  I asked why and he said being gluten free for a week, he not only cleared his back and leg pain but his arthritis pains in his hands were no longer present and most surprising to him ( not to me) was his blood pressure which dropped from 140/90 to 120/80.  I saw him a week later and he continues to feel great.

The other one is a story of an acquaintence I run with who asked me to look at his leg/back.  He had been having a 6 month history of IT band pain.  Upon questioning him, I found that he also had a perplexing eye problem; he was unable to read or watch TV or computer at night due to severe eye strain/pain.  Again, I found signs indicative of gluten sensitivity.  Is anyone out there not sensitive to gluten????  It is apparently very common; at least in the people who come to me for help with pain.

Anyway, long story/short, he had complete resolution of his back and leg pain in 2 weeks and complete resolution of his eye symptoms in about 2 months!  He even noticed an improvement in his gastric reflux and he no longer felt depressed.  He had not even known he was depressed until it cleared and he noticed how much clearer he felt.

What these stories tell me is that if you have chronic pains, conditions, or other inflammatory conditions, you may have good results trying a gluten free diet.  Just try it for 3 months; but you have to do it 100% or it won’t work.  99% gives no results; 100% is what works.  Sad but true from our clinical experience and from the research findings.  The Mayo clinic now says the gold standard to test for gluten sensitivity is 3 months gluten free; this is due to the large number of false negatives with blood tests.

Please look throughout this blog for resources on how to go gluten free; From the www.missionhillspt.com site you can link to the articles to find gluten free how to program.

email me your successes at ralph@missionhillspt.com

it would be awesome to see some successes from people who just read this!

Ralph Havens, PT, OCS, IMTC

619.543.1470

Summary of gluten research

Gluten Sensivity – summary of the latest research

www.missionhillspt.com

www.theburnhamreview.com

www.kimberlyburnhamPhD.com

www.thedr.com

November 16, 2008

I recently attended a seminar on gluten sensitivity… a “quickie” 6 hour overview based on 14,000 medically published research articles.  I’m still compiling all of the new research, but basically if you have a gluten sensitivity, it just wreaks havoc on your system.
THE BASICS:
If gluten sensitive, gluten initiates the inflammation response, and the body starts attacking itself, which is why it is associated with a myriad of auto-immune diseases.

If it affects the small intestine (which it does in some, but certainly not all cases), it also affects absorption in two major ways:
1)      Villous Atrophy – the “shag carpet” lining of your small intestine increases surface area for absorption of nutrients. Each shag is nutrient-specific. This can become “Berber carpeting,” decreasing your ability to absorb vital nutrients (ex. calcium, mal-absorption of which can lead to osteoporosis).
2)      Increased Intestinal Permeability – “leaky gut”… your intestinal walls end up with micro-holes that allow macromolecules and antigens, including microbial antigens, usually too large to enter the bloodstream, into the bloodstream.  Not good.  One consequence can be increased reactivity to other foods (ex. a new food allergy to tomatoes).

To hear a great webinar (1 hour long) by Dr. O’Bryan (the chiropractor who compiled the research and is educating the medical community on gluten sensitivity), go to http://www.metagenics.com/webinars/ <http://www.metagenics.com/webinars/&gt;.
June 10th by Dr. O’Bryan is the best place to start.  Additional webinars are on July 15th and August 12th.
You have to give your name and email address to view, but no worries, they won’t spam you.

ASSOCIATED DISEASES:
These include, but are not limited to, thyroid problems , fibromyalgia, chronic pain, muscle atrophy, Lou Gehrig’s disease, heart disease, osteoporosis, brain lesions, neurological problems, Alzheimer’s, liver disease, cancer, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), mal-absorption issues, psychological disorders (including schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa), and Type I diabetes.

To date, research indicates not that gluten sensitivity is the cause every time, but that it is a cause enough of the time to warrant testing, or even better, (complete) abstinence from gluten for at least a month to see how the body reacts to the non-exposure.  Improvement during the month indicates a gluten sensitivity.  (Non-improvement does NOT, however, rule out gluten sensitivity.)

HISTORICAL AND STILL COMMON MISCONCEPTION:
A common misconception is that someone with a gluten sensitivity will have outward signs and symptoms (many times they DO NOT) or that he/she will have dysfunction in the small intestine or bowels and will show villous atrophy in a biopsy of the small intestine. This is true in some cases, but again, many times the sensitivity will not even affect the small intestine, OR it will show up much sooner as an increased number of lymphocytes in the tissue (up to 7 years before villous atrophy takes place).

TESTING:
Still getting the ins and outs of this down.  However, from what I understand, the best course seems to be to take a few months off of gluten and see how your body likes it.  Dr. O’Bryan has all of his patients start with a month off of gluten, sugar, caffeine (except for green tea), and dairy.  Of course, it’s best to work with a trained nutritionist, knowledgeable chiropractor, naturopath, or integrative manual therapist who can monitor lab results and other changes in your body, such as body mass index, to make sure you are still getting the proper nutrition while abstaining.

There are two major tricky parts to a month gluten free.
1)      20-30% of patients will not show improvement or will show decreased improvement due to still having mal-absorption issues.  This is where it’s especially important to work with someone who can do some testing and monitor vitamin and nutrient absorption, etc.

2)      The other tricky part is the “COMPLETE.”  A few mg of gluten in a month can prevent improvement, and it has lots of sneaky ways of being in your food.  (Ex. Gluten is in wheat, rye, barley, and soy sauce and can be in vinegars (red wine or apple cider is OK), natural flavors, maltodextrin, corn syrup, etc.)  See below for some references.  Easiest to stick to non-processed whole foods as much as possible.

Other Testing:
At this point most of the testing has not fully caught up with the most recent research.  Much of the medical community is still unaware of the research and latest findings also.  A brand new saliva test exists that is supposed to be more in-line with newer findings, but I was unable to find it on the site he referenced. (The test may have not been officially released yet).

GLUTEN FREE REFERENCES:
http://www.missionhillspt.com <http://www.missionhillspt.com>  – Ralph Havens PT, OCS, IMTC recommends eliminating gluten and artificial sweeteners to ALL patients as he finds it produces such great clinical results and due to the research above. He does various detoxes and supplements also and is starting a series of weekly classes and community evenings addressing nutrition and how to go gluten-free.  Let me know if you’d like to be on the info list.

(For more info on artificial sweeteners, see documentary “sweet misery” http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-566922170441334340)

glutenfreegirl.com – Personal story of one gluten-free girl – her journey going gluten free, the results, and resources for anyone going GF.

celiac.com – of course, has lists of “safe” and “non-safe” ingredients.

http://www.metagenics.com/webinars/ <http://www.metagenics.com/webinars/>  – again, to view some of Dr. O’Bryan’s work… June 10th is where to start.

Alright!  Hope that was helpful… of course let me know if you have any questions – I’ll certainly help anyway I can!!!

Take care and stay in touch…
Jen Toussant
MHPT Field Consultant
http://www.missionhillspt.com   619.543.1470

Living a Detox Lifestyle *Part II* Guide to Organic Produce

Veggies and Fruits that are Highest in Pesticides
***BUY THESE ORGANIC***

Apples

Bell Peppers

Celery

Cherries

Grapes (imported)

Nectarines

Peaches

Pears

Potatoes

Red Raspberries

Spinach

Strawberries

Fruits and Veggies that are Lowest in Pesticides.
If organic varieties are not available, these fresh fruits and vegetables consistently have the lowest levels of pesticides. These are the safest choices for conventionally grown produce.

Asparagus

Avocado

Bananas

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Corn (sweet)

Kiwi

Mangos

Onions

Papaya

Pineapple

Peas (sweet)

Chronic pain and nutrition! Get rid of your chronic pain through Detox!

Hi everyone,

I want to write a few thoughts about detox and diet and how we as physical therapists came to be doing so much detox and dietary work with our patients.

Over the years, we’ve been able to help chronic pain sufferers actually clear their pains and return to normal lives; and by normal I mean painfree and able to do what they want to do in life such as return to work after long disability or write a book and do book tours.  Both actual past patient stories.

What we did to help these people is Integrative Manual Therapy and we can write more about that later.  But what we  found helped besides our hands on therapy was paying attention to our patient’s diets.  We found that by eliminating some allergenic type foods, and getting people off processed foods and on to a diet high in vegetables, we were able to fix up their problem permanently.

As we studied more and more about diet and toxins we started our patients on detox diets to “jump start” their bodies back to health; and we noticed that they improved even faster; much faster.

Years of studying and working with patients has resulted in us having a good grasp of how eliminating toxins and implementing good diets are vital to help a patient.

It all goes back to Hippocrates 2500 years ago, who said “First make food your medicine” or the Ancient Chinese Medicine principles where Mindfulness and Diet are #1 and #2 in how to help a patient and supplements, herbs, and medicines are last resorts.

We have found this to be true as well.  I’m confident, based on years of clinical research ( i.e. working with and finding out what actually works for patients) that if a patient with chronic conditions, including fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic headaches and many others does what we say regarding their treatment plan we can make permanent and quick changes in their health and function.  This means doing the simple but effective dietary changes, doing the individualized detox program, getting some integrative manual therapy and doing the home program; Even conditions un-helped in the past, have been turned around and a return to a normal life achieved.  There are many testimonials on our web site.

I hope this helps ,

my best to you,

Ralph Havens, PT, OCS, IMTC

What is a Detox Diet? The “BIG DEAL” about Detoxification.

Detox, short for detoxification, is the removal of potentially toxic substances from the body. Although detox can be thought of as a treatment for alcohol or drug dependence, the definition I am using refers to the use of diets, supplements, and other methods of removing environmental and dietary toxins from the body for general health.

The detox process in one form or another has been used to promote health in cultures around the world for thousands of years. Many health problems may be associated with prolonged exposure to various toxic agents that our bodies may not be able to cleanse completely. Some conditions with links to toxins include:

• Frequent fatigue and low energy
• Food allergies
• Irritability and mood swings
• Headaches/Migraines
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Skin rashes and conditions
• Hemorrhoids
• Candida infections
• Neurological conditions
• Joint and muscle pains
• Chronic health conditions

There are various ways that have been developed by doctors, naturopaths, acupuncturists, physical therapists and others to detox the body. Some examples include saunas, ion foot baths, clay baths, supplements, dietary methods, manual lymph massage, and manual therapies. While these can be useful, the methods I will be describing involve detox through the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract and the urinary system with help of a specialized diet, supplements and Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT).

The reason I use the combination of diet, supplements and IMT for the Detox program is that it is a natural way for the body to detoxify itself. The urinary system, consisting of the kidneys, ureters and bladder help the body eliminate toxins through urine. The GI tract uses the small and large colon to help the body eliminate toxins through bowel movements. These routes of elimination are a way for the body to clear large amounts of toxins. Therefore, helping the body with this process can result in a significant amount of detoxification.

Essentially, as we are all exposed to toxins through our diets, in the air we breathe, and the water we drink, it is vital to reduce the toxins we put in our bodies by eating a nutritious diet, avoiding polluted areas, and drinking clean water. Some of us may be experiencing chronic conditions due to the many toxins that we have accumulated over the years. The toxins are stored in our fat, liver, bone, nevous system and other areas. Detoxification is not only a way to rid the body of toxins, but to give the body a fresh start and regain optimal health.