Dr. Clark's Brain Based Blog

Gluten-Free Diet Mistake #1

Dr. David Clark, DC - helps you avoid a common and frustrating mistake when you start a gluten-free diet.

DoctorDavidClark.com

Today I'm going to share with you the first big gluten-free diet mistake that everyone seems to make.  And that is, when they stop eating gluten they immediately start eating gluten-free grains like quinoa, millet, and other alternative grains.

The reason you shouldn't stop eating gluten then immediately start eating gluten-free grains like quinoa, millet, and other alternative grains is that...

You will quickly and easily develop NEW food sensitivities to those gluten-free grains because you have a leaky gut that has not been healed.

So here's what you want to understand about this....

When you develop gluten sensitivity, almost 100% of the time you will develop a leaky gut.

Think of  the Great Wall of China lining your intestines, protecting them like a brick wall. Not much is supposed to get across the wall.  Some things can get across like small peptides, amino acids, fats, vitamins, minerals etc....but BIG things like proteins are not supposed to get across easily

Now, imagine a hole being punched in the wall or  some mortar falling out between the bricks....some things that are traveling through your GI tract now can easily pass through to the other side of the wall

Who's waiting on the other side of the wall?  Your immune system--your army, your SWAT team.  And they are not going to like these BIG things (proteins) coming through the wall. 

An alarm will go off. They're going to see whatever that big thing is that’s not supposed to come through normally--but is coming through now--as an invader and they're gonna try to attack it.

I'm describing a "leaky gut" or increased intestinal impermeability. A leaky gut is a huge source of inflammation. 

What causes a leaky gut?  Here's a partial list:

• Antibiotics
• Autoimmunity -- Hashimoto's, Celiac, Multiple Sclerosis, Vitligo, Rheumatoid Arthrtitis, Type 1 Diabetes, Antiphospholipid Syndrome, Ulcerative Colitis, Psoriasis etc.
• Hormone Deficiencies
• Alcohol
• Xenobiotics
• Low Glutathione Levels
• High blood sugar
• Low blood sugar
• Food sensitivity
• Stress
  

And simply having gluten sensitivity very often leads to leaky gut.  Now how do you know if you've got a gluten sensitivity problem?  You can NOT rely on the presence or lack of Gastrointestinal symptoms like bloating, cramping, pain, diarrhea or

Gastrointestinal symptoms are the least common sign of gluten sensitivity. 

It doesn’t matter if you've been "tested for Celiac" or not because Celiac disease is only one kind of gluten sensitivity -- not the only kind. (Medical doctors seem to be over-focused on celiac disease).

The best way to get tested for gluten sensitivity is through Cyrex labs.

But beyond that....what I'm talking about is the mistake you make when you think,

"I'll just switch from eating gluten (bad) to eating gluten-free (good)." 

When you do that there's a really good chance you have this persisting leaky gut. 
And when you have a leaky gut....and you eat these gluten-free grains....and you've still got these holes in your wall, it’s easy to develop new sensitivities to quinoa or teff or millet or potato or rice.

So what do you do? 

When you go on a gluten-free diet, do NOT immediately start eating all these gluten-free alternatives.  What you should do is completely avoid those grains for 30 days.  And you should be working with someone that can help you make sure you've got a handle on the leaky gut.

You do not want to go from eating gluten... to now eating gluten-free pasta or gluten-free bread.  You don't want to do that because there's a very good chance that over the course of a month or two you'll develop  new inflammatory food sensitivities.

...and then you might think, "You know, I don't really feel that much different on a gluten-free diet.  I'm gonna go back to eating gluten." 

You don't feel better because you still had a leaky gut and you developed an inflammatory problem with these new things.

You traded one inflammation for another inflammation---and those two weren’t that much different. 

For those of you that have already gone on a gluten-free diet and it was a huge improvement....a totally new world....honestly, you probably got lucky and didn’t develop too many sensitivities.

But---there's a very good chance you did develop sensitivities and just don't know it. 

I come across people in my practice every day that have autoimmune diseases that have already eliminated gluten---but they're still eating dairy, or they're still eating some other inflammatory  foods.

Usually, when those people start back at zero they end up feeling much, much better. 

So, the first mistake that people make - and you’re not going make this mistake because I'm telling you now - when they go on a gluten-free diet is immediately start eating gluten-free grains.

That’s not a good idea.  You want to make sure you've got a leaky gut handled BEFORE eating alternative grains.

To make transition even smoother, work with someone who's trained in all this stuff I've been talking about, work with someone who understands leaky gut and gluten sensitivity.

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© 2012 David Clark. All Rights Reserved.

Dr. David Clark, DC
Functional Neurologist (FACFN)
Diplomate College of Clinical Nutrition
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist (ACNB)
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

Disclaimer: The contents of this site are for educational purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical advice. Nothing here is a substitute for actual medical care. Consult a qualified healthcare professional.

Women with PCOS May Have Hidden Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroiditis

Dr. David Clark, DC reveals the scary connection between PCOS and Hashimoto's--two conditions that cause infertility, fatigue, weight gain and depression.

http://dallasthyroiddoctor.com

Today I'm going to be sharing with you a scary study that shows how many women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) have a Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroidits (causes low thyroid).

Relased in 2011, this study makes some crucial points for women with PCOS to notice.  And they didn’t even know they were making some of these points but I'm going to share them with you.

 Over 12 months they took 78 women that were diagnosed with PCOS.  If you don't know, PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It is the most common endocrine (hormone) disorder that affects women.
PCOS typically causes infertility.

In tradtiional medical thinking, PCOS is thought of as mainly a "blood sugar problem" or a "hormone problem."  But what a lot of people don't know is that...

PCOS is linked with autoimmunity and, specifically, Hashimoto's.

I see this connection in my practice every week.  A woman will come in with a history of PCOS and a history of infertility but she's never been tested for Hashimoto's.

And, when the right tests are done--TPO antibodies and TGB antibodies--- she finds out she has Hashimoto's. But if she does the right things to manage the Hashimoto's and low thyroid function, she's able to get pregnant.

So, they took these 78 women diagnosed with PCOS and they compared them to a control group of  300 women.  And they set the parameters.

• What would count as a positive TPO value? 
• What would be "abnormal"? 
• What would count as a positive TGB antibody? 

TPO antibodies are what you test to see if you've got Hashimoto's.  TPO stands for thyroid peroxidase; it’s inside your thyroid gland. TGB stands for thyroglobulin; it's inside your thyroid gland. The other antibody that you can test is called antithyroglobulin antibodies.  If you've got elevated antibodies above a certain numerical cutoff, you've got Hashimoto's. 

The study's  cutoff was greater than 100.  Higher than 100 would be "positive" for TGB and greater than 75 would be positive for TPO.

(They also physically examined all these women to see what was the rate of goiter.  How many of these women have goiter?)

Here's the surprising results...

First scary finding...

Goiter was linked  with having PCOS -- specifically,  24% of the 77 PCOS patients had a goiter that no doctor had found before. 

Apparently, no doctor thought it possible that these PCOS patients might have a thyroid problem.  For me, this fact in itself is troubling finding.

Second scary finding...

Seventy-two of the PCOS patients had their TPO antibody levels tested. And the mean level of TPO antibodies was 216.  That’s two times the limit of 100. 2X the cut-off they established to say, "You've got Hashimoto's."

Thirty percent of PCOS  patients had positive Hashimoto's antibodies. They met that criteria for Hashimoto's. 30% of those PCOS patients had Hashimoto's but no one knew it.

Why does this connection between PCOS and Hashimoto's matter?

Hashimoto's will complicate you being able to get pregnant. Hashimoto's is going to complicate you being able to maintain a pregnancy...

 ...Just like PCOS will make it difficulty to get pregnant. But---PCOS and Hashimoto's must be handled differently.

Third scary finding....

Of the control group,  27% of those women had positive TPO antibodies.  The control group is supposed to be lthe "normal, healthy" people - but 27% of them had TPO antibodies above the cutoff!

This tells you that Hashimoto's is really, really, really common. (But totally overlooked.)

The authors didn't comment on this fact,  but I thought it was critical for you to understand. 

What about the thyroglobulin antibodies?

Fourth scary finding....

In the control group, 30%of the women in the control group had positive antibodies for thyroglobulin!
 

30% these "healthy" women had Hashimoto's. 

In the PCOS, group 37% - and I'm rounding up - 37% of the women in the PCOS group had thyroglobulin antibodies. 

Here's what we know:

PCOS is associated with Hashimoto's

and Hashimoto's is associated with PCOS.

So if you’ve got PCOS symptoms such as:

• weight gain
• infertility
• low libido
• fatigue
• depression
  

Or if you've got Hashimoto's symptoms like these:

• weight gain
• infertility
• low libido
• fatigue
• depression
  

...now you can understand the connection between the two. 

What do you do about it? 

Well, number one, you can’t really take this study to your doctor because if they read at all  they would have already known about it. All they're probably going going to do is try to give you some medication--either Metformin® for PCOS or Synthroid®, Armour®, Cytomel® or Levothyroxine for the Hashimoto's...without really addressing the underlying problem.

You're going to have to find someone that knows how to look at Hashimoto's from a functional perspective, and not just get blinded by this label that you've been given that says PCOS. 

The doctor needs to look beyond the label and do some detective work.

Now one last thing I want to point out...

The TSH levels (thyroid stimulating hormone) in the PCOS group-- including all these people that meet the criteria for Hashimoto's attack on the thyroid-- and the TSH levels in the "control" group were not different. 

So what's that tell you about TSH?

TSH levels may not be very important....may not be very reliable when you’re trying to find out if someone has Hashimoto's.

If you've got PCOS, find someone who understands Hashimoto's.  And if you've got Hashimoto's you need to find somebody who understands infertility and what to do about it from a functional perspective.

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© 2012 David Clark. All Rights Reserved.

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS
Dr. David Clark, DC
Functional Neurologist (FACFN)
Diplomate College of Clinical Nutrition
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist (ACNB)
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

Disclaimer: The contents of this site are for educational purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical advice. Nothing here is a substitute for actual medical care. Consult a qualified healthcare professional.

Is A Gluten-Free Diet Just A Temporay Trendy Fad?

 Dr. David Clark, DC - Functional Neurologist in Dallas, TX - helps you see beyond the hype and shares the truth about a gluten-free diet, it's power and limitations.

DoctorDavidClark.com

Is a gluten-free diet just a temporary trendy fad? 

The short answer:

Being gluten-free is probably the single most important thing you can do to improve your health, especially if you're suffering from any number of autoimmune conditions, but especially Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis. 

I'm sick of hearing "it's just a trend, it's just a fad."

Let me tell you a quick story...

Righ before Thanksgiving I had a patient come in with Wegener's Granulomatosis, which is an autoimmune condition. She was recounting to me a story where she was talking to their big University specialist about if foods she was eating could have an impact on her Wegener's.

She asked him "Could gluten have anything to do with this autoimmune condition?" 

This big time expert doctor  pooh-pooh'd that idea right away and said,

"Oh, that's just a fad. That's just a trend." 

That doctor doesn't know what he's talking about.

(There's really no other way to put it.  He clearly hasn't read much.) 

Pretty much no matter what autoimmune conditions you think of, I can pull out of the research literature some information connecting gluten sensitivity with that autoimmune condition.

Just to follow up: The lady suffering with Wegener's Granulomatosis did fantastic on a gluten-free, milk products free, soy free diet -- plust some other things to dampen her autoimmunity.

Gluten is certainly not the cause of all disease or the cause of all autoimmune diseases, but man, it is linked to darn near every one of them (if not all of them.) 

Most of the people I talk to I tell them "Hey, just go gluten-free."  You'll probably lose weight....you'll probably feel better. 

So, is being gluten-free just a trend?  Of course it's trendy.  People have figured out a way to make money off of it.

That lady from "The View" has written a book... Seems lik everybody and their dog is talking about going gluten-free and how much better they felt and blah, blah, blah, blah. Like it's some kind of Infomercial miracle product. It slices, it dices....

The gluten-free diet has been around a lot longer than these fleeting media stars.  The gluten-free diet is a  powerful force that you can use to improve your health. I'm really sick of doctors of all kinds  dismissing it without understanding it.

The doctors that are saying a GF is a fad...they don't read. That is a common problem that you'll find with doctors in any field. They stopped reading once they got their diploma, once they got their license they stopped reading. What they do read is pretty much supplied by pharmaceutical companies. 

Now, by the way, I'm not letting all of our alternative practitioners off the hook because pretty much what they read is what the supplement company reps give them. (similar?)

You may have heard me tell the story of a couple years ago when I sat in a Continuing Education seminar.

A revered, famous supplement company had a speaker up there telling a room full of healthcare providers that , "Gluten is no big deal.  Yeah, there's some in our products, but there's not enough to be a problem.  All my gluten-sensitive patients don't have a problem with it,"

That guy was a moron.  He either assumes that a lack of obvious symptoms = okay. Or, he was trying to CYA. I think a bit of both.

A lot of people eat bread and if they don't have a GI symptom then they think, "Well, I don't have a gluten problem." Bad conclusion.

Gastrointestinal symptoms are the least common manifestation--the least common presentation of gluten sensitivity.  Neurologic and endocrine symptoms  are much more common presentations.

• Migraines
• Epilepsy
• Ataxia
• Peripheral Neuropathy
  
• Low Thyroid
• Infertility
• Miscarriages.  

They don't necessarily present with GI symptoms. 

When I hear hundreds of patients say, "Well no one ever told me that gluten could be a problem for me."  It makes me mad.

It makes me angry that no doctor is reading, because all you have to do is read a little bit and you'll see the connection. 

Having a gluten problem is not the same thing as Celiac, by the way.  I'm gonna do a post on that here probably next.

Celiac is one kind of gluten sensitive, not the only kind.  However, that seems to be the only thing that any doctor wants to test for.  "Well, you don't have Celiac disease so gluten can't be a problem."  Wrong.  Again, they don't understand.  I give them kudos, a little bit of credit for trying to do the test, but they don't understand.

So is gluten-free a trend?  Sure, it's a trend.  It's a trend because people can write books about it, and have magazines about it.  And they can make some money. 

But the high public awareness of the gluten-free diet does not make it "stupid" or invalid.

I always tell people, if I was on a deserted island and I only had one thing to tell all the sick people in the world, it would be, "Get off of gluten forever." 

Gluten is not the cause of all disease... and going gluten-free is not necessarily going to cure any disease. And a gluten-free diet may not make you feel better. Why?

Sometimes a gluten-free diet is not enough.

Things get complicated, especially when you have autoimmune diseases.  There's so many other things you have to look at...

• Vitamin D (definitely NOT as simple as simply supplementing. The wrong dose can make you worse).
  
• GI infections --whether you know it or know, or have GI symptoms or not.
  
• Functional brain weakness (many cases of malabsorption are brain-based)
• And 50 other factors...
  

The best place you could start is by going gluten-free.  It's actually pretty cheap, just don't start trying to replace all your regular gluten-y foods with gluten-free foods.  That's how you save some money.

Gluten sensitivity is definitley on the rise---not just better detected (much like Autism).  A gluten-free diet is going to be here forever because it's so simple and powerful. People will live the gluten-free lifestyle and they'll experience first-hand just how much better they can feel. 

Watch on YouTube

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© 2012 David Clark. All Rights Reserved.

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS™
Dr. David Clark, DC
Functional Neurologist (FACFN)
Diplomate College of Clinical Nutrition 
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist (ACNB)
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

Disclaimer: The contents of this site are for educational purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical advice. Nothing here is a substitute for actual medical care. Consult a qualified healthcare professional.