Celiac sprue

[Rene89]

About 2 years ago I had a positive serum anti-glaiden and instead of having the biopsy and other tests done I opted for DNA tests at enterolab.com. It showed that I carry genetic markers for both Celiac Disease and for Gluten Intolerance. I have been on a gluten and casien free diet for almost 2 years and quite a few of the problems I was having are gone or much better. Since I am older and have had considerable damage to my small intestine I developed sprue and have not been able to make much progess with that although it has gotten a little less pronounced  by my doing liver cleanses which helped my digestion generally. The Dr who diagnosed the problem has not offered any suggestions and I wonder if there are other things that I could be doing. I'll appreicate any information or suggestions.

[CalGal]

There may be a couple of other things you could look at since other 'sensitivities' could be present. Are you careful with lactose, too? For some lactose in any form can be extremely problematic. And as you probably know it's as 'hidden' in other foods as gluten is.

Some with celiac also appear to have a problem with food and air-borne molds. So take a look at mushrooms, yeast and yeast products. Unfortunately if this is present, I've also heard that xanthan, which may be used as a binder, can also cause problems. To a a lesser degree in some with gluten intolerance there can also be other food issues - to soy, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, and peanuts.



  

[Rene89]

Thank you for your commments. I do have a limited diet and am allergic to casein, so no cow's milk. Gluten creeps in occasionally usually now  as a contamination or unlisted ingredient. Mostly I prepare my own food from the basic ingredients. My diet is mostly vegetables, greens, fruits, roots and have been able to add back meat after many years of avoiding flesh. I think what I'm doing is a Paleolithic Diet  - rice occasionally and red or purple potatoes but no beans. I don't eat soy, fish, shellfish or peanuts but can eat some other tree nuts.

When I wrote the message about sprue - just a week ago -  almost all of the fat was passing right through me. I had started doing a kidney cleanse but had noticed no change but soon I noticed that I had less gas and less constipation. The cleanse I use has 3 herbs, marshmallow root, hydrangia root and gravel root. A tea of the herbs is mixed with parsley tea and I also take magnesium, Vit. B6 and Uva Ursi. I have used this occasionly for years and have found it to be very helpful in keeping my joints flexable, improving my digestion of foods and reducing the general puffiness or edema in my body. Sometime during the last week I felt ill for a few days but when that cleared up the obvious sprue -  fatty, floating stools -  mostly cleared up too. I'm also producing more bile - my stools are darker and I'm not getting as much gas and bloating a few hours after I eat.
     I don't know exactly how the herbs work but have read that marshmallow root is often used by people with digestive problems. Gravel root is a herb well known to dissolve "gravel" which are small kidney stones which conain calcium. Uva Ursi is a diuretic as is parsley. The magnesiun needs to be present for disolving the calcium in kidney and gall stones.
     The improvement I'm seeing may not mean that I'm actually adsorbing more of the fats and oils in my diet. I seem to be producing more bile which breaks up the fats and oils so that the digestive enzymes can get at them to digest them. I guess I'll know if I start to gain weight.