era
07-03-2008, 12:45 AM
I've previously posted here about my long-term illness that included sleep disorder, which all started with gluten intolerance. How does gluten do this?
The most basic thing gluten does, in gluten intolerant people, is gluten enteropathy. This is nothing more than a fancy term for gut destruction. Once destruction is underway, there are two major effects:
1) The gut can no longer keep things out of the bloodstream, that don't belong there. Foreign materials in the bloodstream are going to set off the immune system. In my case, the result was autoimmune thyroiditis, or Hashimoto's. HAIT is a common effect of gluten enteropathy. However other autoimmune disorders can be caused by gluten enteropathy. In many people, the symptoms of enteropathy won't be obvious, so it can go on a long time before discovery. Sadly, American doctors are so poor at diagnosing gluten problems (as well as other food allergies), that the patient too often dies first.
2) The gut can no longer absorb the nutrients that your body needs to work correctly. Gluten enteropathy will lead to many deficiencies - so many, that it is bewildering to the patient, and the doctor. In my case, key among those deficiencies were B6 and zinc (diagnosed by a pyroluria test), vitamin D (discovered by experimentation), and magnesium (discovered by experimentation). I undoubtedly had other deficiencies too, but got onto massive supplementation quite a while back (i.e. a shotgun approach) to try to head off the things I couldn't figure out.
My regimen currently includes:TMG, probiotics, flaxseed, Glutagenics, fishoil, high-quality multivitamins, bilberry, Bone-Up, amino acid blend, magnesium aspartate, additional B-6 and zinc picolinate, huge amounts of additional vitamin C, D, and E.
All these nutrients have a relation to sleep disorder. Particularly important are the B vitamins and zinc, to suppress the anxiety caused by the pyroluria syndrome. Vitamin D is huge; it's known to be a potent anti-depressant and, in my case, it caused a huge rise in thyroid output. Magnesium is very important; it improved my sleep quality greatly, probably because Mg is required as a precursor to making melatonin.
Any hormone whose levels are affected by the loss of nutrients, or autoimmune activity, will also be important in dealing with sleep disorder. In my case, thyroid hormone AT THE PROPER DOSE is key. Also key is adrenal support; I was on biologic doses of DHEA and hydrocortisone for short periods, to support my adrenal insufficiency (diagnosed via saliva test).
For many years, I depended on drugs like doxepin, Lunesta, Sonata, lorazepam, Ambien, etc. etc. to try to get some sleep. These were all pushed on me by misinformed M.D.s who couldn't find the real problem. Thank goodness I'm off them, because they are a very poor subsitute for real sleep.
The most basic thing gluten does, in gluten intolerant people, is gluten enteropathy. This is nothing more than a fancy term for gut destruction. Once destruction is underway, there are two major effects:
1) The gut can no longer keep things out of the bloodstream, that don't belong there. Foreign materials in the bloodstream are going to set off the immune system. In my case, the result was autoimmune thyroiditis, or Hashimoto's. HAIT is a common effect of gluten enteropathy. However other autoimmune disorders can be caused by gluten enteropathy. In many people, the symptoms of enteropathy won't be obvious, so it can go on a long time before discovery. Sadly, American doctors are so poor at diagnosing gluten problems (as well as other food allergies), that the patient too often dies first.
2) The gut can no longer absorb the nutrients that your body needs to work correctly. Gluten enteropathy will lead to many deficiencies - so many, that it is bewildering to the patient, and the doctor. In my case, key among those deficiencies were B6 and zinc (diagnosed by a pyroluria test), vitamin D (discovered by experimentation), and magnesium (discovered by experimentation). I undoubtedly had other deficiencies too, but got onto massive supplementation quite a while back (i.e. a shotgun approach) to try to head off the things I couldn't figure out.
My regimen currently includes:TMG, probiotics, flaxseed, Glutagenics, fishoil, high-quality multivitamins, bilberry, Bone-Up, amino acid blend, magnesium aspartate, additional B-6 and zinc picolinate, huge amounts of additional vitamin C, D, and E.
All these nutrients have a relation to sleep disorder. Particularly important are the B vitamins and zinc, to suppress the anxiety caused by the pyroluria syndrome. Vitamin D is huge; it's known to be a potent anti-depressant and, in my case, it caused a huge rise in thyroid output. Magnesium is very important; it improved my sleep quality greatly, probably because Mg is required as a precursor to making melatonin.
Any hormone whose levels are affected by the loss of nutrients, or autoimmune activity, will also be important in dealing with sleep disorder. In my case, thyroid hormone AT THE PROPER DOSE is key. Also key is adrenal support; I was on biologic doses of DHEA and hydrocortisone for short periods, to support my adrenal insufficiency (diagnosed via saliva test).
For many years, I depended on drugs like doxepin, Lunesta, Sonata, lorazepam, Ambien, etc. etc. to try to get some sleep. These were all pushed on me by misinformed M.D.s who couldn't find the real problem. Thank goodness I'm off them, because they are a very poor subsitute for real sleep.