Leaky Gut Syndrom(syndrome), Celiac?

[craig134]

Hi,
  I had a tapeworm for about three years until it was diagnosed. During that period I would suffer from extreme stress, and anxiety due to the neurotoxins released. I believe that the candida in my gut suffered overgrowth as well due to poor conditions resulting from the tapeworm, I.E constipation, etc.

In June 2009 I finally was free of the candida, and tapeworm as a result of using garlic, coconut oil, etc to purge my system. However, now when I eat wheat I suffer from relatively severe reactions. I.E all of my joints ache, chronic fatigue, I just basically want to sleep all day, and  my mental capabilities become severely compromised.

When I take the digestive enzyme bromelain, symptoms generally clear up within an hour or so. From what I've read it seems like this would indicate that I have leaky gut syndrome, as bromelain stops allergic inflammation, etc which would help leaky gut syndrome?

As having celiac on top of these three years of parasitic infection would really suck. Is it possible that bromelain would cause me to feel so dramatically better in a short time frame if I had celiac?

   Best,
         -Craig

[Matthew007]

How long have you been off wheat?  I've heard usually it takes a few weeks before you feel better.

I've had some people tell me about candidiasis and I went on that diet for a few weeks, I know it takes months but I did probiotics (threelac) and that diet and finally gave up on it.. there's another test maybe you should test.  Doesn't usually affect men but the symptoms are very close and they can cause food intolerances..but anyway not a bad idea to check out your thyroid levels and make sure they're ok.  I've heard people suggest if you're celiac to double check and make sure you're not having thyroid issues.  Causes joint pain/tiredness/metal fog...but so does celiac.  You could also test (blood) for celiac too although you have to be eating gluten and sick at the same time when doing the test, or be eating wheat for a period of time before you get tested.

Anyway just some thoughts..least you have some leads or answers.  If it was only days..I don't think you'd feel wonderful if you were celiac.  Usually it takes a decent amount of time to repair the small intestine.

[craig134]

I was on wheat for about a week and I basically began to starve. Once I started taking bromelain and eating meat I basically perked up, not instantly, but within about a day or two. Yesterday and today I had brownies and I felt horrible for most of yesterday and until the early afternoon. I took some bromelain and while I don't feel wonderful, I definitely feel significantly better. So it would seem to strongly suggest leaky gut. I've only been off wheat for like a few days, and I have it occasionally with my meals. Like if I have a hamburger, or hot-dog, I would assume the bread is a wheat based derivative.

Is it possible that I'm gluten intolerant, but not celiac? Would that lead to bromelain resolving my symptoms so quickly? Though, as a kid I would be able to eat pasta fine and so-forth. Unless gluten-tolerance is something that can spontaneously present.

[CalGal]

There are people who have adult-onset celiac. My husband is one of them. He had had vague symptoms for years - not bad at all - but a few years ago he would eat something and suddenly have severe fatigue. He also got blotches that couldn't be described as a celiac rash, but the blotches were there. He went gluten-free and felt one heck of a lot better. We had him tested via Enterolab and found he carried the genes and was showing fecal antibodies to gliadin.

He ate pasta and bread, etc., for years with seemingly no problems. Get yourself tested. Or stay off of wheat, rye, barley, malt and probably oats, too. No matter what you take that may make you feel better temporarily, if you're celiac, you're putting out antibodies and you're probably trashing you GI system - as well as other systems in your body. It just not worth showing up with neuropathy symptoms or other issues that are caused by this very misunderstood disease. Celiac isn't just an allergy. It's an autoimmune response that is much more far-reaching than than some of the early symptoms indicate.

[craig134]

The one thing that suggests to me that it is leaky gut is that I'll eat bread like with hamburgers or hot-dogs which I highly doubt is gluten free, and I'll have no symptoms whatsoever. While with certain foods that contain gluten, like brownies, and certain pastas I'll be completely incapacitated. Which would seem to suggest that certain food particles are being allowed to pass through my gut and are triggering an immunological response.

As If I did have celiac, eating any food with gluten should trigger the same severity of symptoms, if that is my body's response to finding gluten in my digestive system? As all of the signs seem to point towards leaky gut, as I did have a rather severe parasitic infection, and a candida overgrowth which can poke holes through your gut.
I'm going to see a specialist this week or next to be sure, though I'm praying that it's not celiac. As trying to base my diet around gluten-free will be hell if that's the case.

[craig134]

So can anyone answer for me the question of, if I did have celiac, then different gluten-containing foods wouldn't cause such varying reactions, would they? I.E brownies and pasta causing incapacitation, and then bread causing no(discernible at least) symptoms?

[CalGal]

With food intolerance issues there's no one-to-one response. You can eat something one day and the symptoms can be severe. Other days you can eat the same thing and won't feel that rotten. It's the same for gluten containing foods. For most people, until they're 'full-blown' it may be an up-and-down issue.

As far as trying to change to a GF diet? It can be difficult at first. But when you start feeling consistently better and you get you energy back, it really doesn't seem to be that big of a problem. Brownies can be made GF and so can pasta.