Gluten Free Diet Successfully Handles IBS Symptoms

The Truth About IBS 

Have you been diagnosed with or know anyone with IBS? 

Then you know miserable it is to have much of your life dictated by looking for restrooms. We live in a society which is very disease oriented. Our body gets to a point where it is malfunctioning to such a degree that we are given the diagnosis of a disease, which is accompanied by a recommendation for some kind of medication. Does that medication get to the underlying root cause of why the malfunction occurred initially? No. And suggesting that that should be the approach is usually met with a disapproving look from our doctor.

I disagree with that approach. And having over 30 years of treating patients has only supported my belief that getting to the underlying root cause of why the body is malfunctioning is the only true route to optimal health. Masking a symptom with a medication does nothing to isolate and treat the real reason the problem occurred in the first place.

IBS is a classic example of the failure of the traditional approach of addressing the symptom only. Patients that have IBS are told that there is no cure for their condition. They are frequently given drugs which offer temporary relief only and dietary advice which, in my opinion and experience, is extremely off the mark.

Since this is a gluten blog, you probably know where I’m headed. But that makes it no less exciting to share with you that I can not recall a single patient with IBS whose condition wasn’t eradicated when he or she followed our program. That’s not bad for a supposedly incurable condition!

IBS Program

The program entails these few key steps:

1. Isolate and eliminate any foods the patient is reacting to.
2. Diagnose and treat any infections which may exist in the digestive tract.
3. Heal the damage to the intestine which has resulted from 1 and 2.

That is the overview of the program. Yes, it does require you to change your lifestyle and yes, it does frequently entail patients removing gluten from their diets. But the response from my patients is that it is more than worth it when the results are no more IBS and feeling great.

Below is a success story written by one of my patients. You’ll notice that he mentions getting off an anti-anxiety medication. Patients with IBS are frequently diagnosed with depression and anxiety and given dangerous drugs to “treat” these symptoms. Getting to the root cause of the problem as mentioned above is usually all that’s needed to eliminate such symptoms of anxiety or depression. 

Enjoy and please let me know if I can help you to achieve your health care goals! We will get to the root cause of your IBS. 

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Patient Testimonial

IBS ruled my life. I could not go anywhere where I was not absolutely sure that there was a close bathroom. I tried to take over the counter and prescription diarrhea medicine, but it would only last a few hours. Because of my symptoms, I was also on depression medication on a daily basis to "help" me deal with the anxiety that was caused by my IBS. I also suffered from extreme claustrophobia, and could not travel in my car without stopping to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so. On a good day I had 6-7 bowel movements and on a bad day 8-9 - every day. I have had IBS for the last 20 years, but this bad, only for the last 2-3 years.

I could not go skiing, running or walking outdoors. Traveling was a nightmare for my family and I. I was stressed about when I would have to next go to the restroom.

I remember at our first meeting Dr. Petersen told me that she could help me, not with arrogance, but with confidence. She showed me pictures of what my insides probably looked like, but explained it in an easy to understand, matter of fact way. Dr Petersen told me I would have to give up eating like I was (eating myself to death, or a certain heart attack), but I could do it gradually.

I was given a diet that included none of the things I had been eating or drinking. It included giving up caffeine and gluten and sugar and aspartame. I had come to the clinic willing to try anything and I knew it would be hard but nothing could have prepared me for the withdrawal from caffeine and sugar. I thought that during the first week I was getting sicker, but I made it through. No real progress on my IBS, but I felt different. We went through blood tests and saliva tests and stool samples. It turned out I had 2 infections in my intestines that were affecting my ability to digest food. 

The antibiotics at first made me feel even worse, but I was in this for the long haul. I knew I was on the right track because soon I started to feel better. Maybe the IBS was not cured yet, but I had more good days than bad, and I felt better emotionally and physically than I had in a long time. About one week after I finished the antibiotics, I began to lead a normal life. I was only going to the bathroom 3-4 times a day, and the experience was much better. Two weeks later, I had a few days in a row with only 2-3 bowel movements per day. In three days, I had what would have been one of my bad days, but with no anxiety or discomfort.

The side benefit of my gluten free diet is that I am off of my "maintenance anxiety drug". This did not happen because my new doctors told me not to take it, I just forgot to about two weeks ago, and have not had the need for it. Today I got in a car w/ 4 other men and I wasn’t doing the driving. It suddenly dawned on me that I would never have done that before. The anxiety would have prevented me.

I have additionally lost 18 pounds, which was not why I came here, but it's definitely a benefit.

It is very difficult to explain the pain and suffering that I went through and that I put my family through with my panic attacks and IBS. I am lucky that they supported me and did not leave me. I feel that I can start to be the person that I am meant to be. My life gets better every day. Maybe everyone is not as sensitive to gluten as I am, but for me it is poison. It is easy to pass up gluten with the great results I am seeing. I asked Dr. Petersen if it was just the caffeine that made me so irritable. She explained that for some people gluten is neurotoxic. This was definitely the case for me and understanding that makes it easy to stay on a gluten free diet. I came to realize that all of the food that made me sick has gluten in it....bagels, bread, pizza, pasta, sandwiches......I was killing myself while trying to eat healthy. When I had a salad with bread and croutons, it defeated the purpose.

That is my story so far. I feel better everyday. I can not thank Dr. Petersen enough for helping me change my life.

- E.B. 

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

Gluten Free Diet Handles Sugar Cravings

Root Cause Medical Clinic 

Patient Testimonial 

Since the doctors discovered I shouldn't be eating gluten the changes in my health have been dramatic. First of all my sweet tooth is gone. This is big because I always needed some sugar in the afternoon. Now I have more energy and no desire for sugar, breads or other starch.

I am also sleeping through the night. When I came to the clinic I was waking up every hour all night long. I am so happy with how I feel now. 

C.C.

_______________________________________________________________

I hope you found this helpful. I am here to assist you to improve your health. Our destination clinic treats patients from across the country and internationally. 

If you’d like assistance I’m happy to offer you a free health analysis. Call 408-733-0400.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Best Blood Test to Diagnose Gluten Sensitivity

New Research Argues There IS a Test for Gluten Sensitivity

Mainstream literature continues to state there is no blood test for gluten sensitivity. While it may not be perfect (but what tests are?) some researchers offer a differing opinion, and I wanted to share their results with you.

While there is no further argument of the existence of gluten sensitivity, having a blood test that everyone can agree on has not yet occurred. In a 2012 study published in Clinical Reviews in Allergy & Immunology entitled “Serological Tests in Gluten Sensitivity”, the authors set out to characterize a potential pattern in blood testing that would be helpful in diagnosing gluten sensitivity as compared with celiac disease. They took 78 patients with gluten sensitivity and 80 patients with celiac disease, and retrospectively tested their blood for four standard tests, three of which are classically used for celiac disease, and one that is more commonly thought to be accurate for gluten sensitivity.

For those of you who like the specifics, the tests used were: 

1) IgG DGP-AGA (deamidated gliadin peptide antibodies)

2) IgA tTGA (tissue transglutaminase antibodies)

3) IgA EmA (endomysial antibodies)

4) IgG/IgA AGA (anti-gliadin antibodies)

And the Winner Is...

Here are the findings: The  IgG AGA test was the winner in detecting gluten sensitive patients—56.4% were positive. The test doesn’t rule out the presence of celiac disease however. 81.2% of celiac patients were also positive. The IgA version of the same AGA test yielded vastly different, although not unexpected, results. The test was elevated in only 7% of gluten sensitive patients while 75% of those with celiac disease were positive. Why is that not a surprise?

IgA is found on the mucous membranes of the body where it is exposed to outside foreign substances: nose, lungs, GI tract, ears, eyes, etc. 

Since celiac disease mostly affects the lining of the GI tract, it isn’t unexpected that the IgA part of the immune system might be most affected. But when you compared the "classic" celiac tests against the gluten sensitive patients, the results were rather definitive—only one gluten sensitive patient was positive for DGP-AGA and zero gluten sensitive patients demonstrated a positivity for tTGA or EmA. But the celiacs showed a positivity rate of 88.7%, 98.7% and 95% respectively for these three tests.

What Do We Know From This?

A couple of things: 1) Ensure that when you are tested you receive a complete panel of tests, including all those mentioned above. Additionally both the IgA and IgG versions should be included, especially for the AGA test. 2) When interpreting the tests, remember that you are doing more than just ruling out celiac disease.

For many doctors that is their goal. Despite international research knowledge to the contrary, many doctors still don’t appreciate the existence of gluten sensitivity. While no single test is perfect, if you’re suspecting celiac and you test positive for the classic celiac panel of tTGA, EmA and DGP-AGA, then you’ve likely identified your condition. If you know that you do poorly with gluten and test positive for AGA, especially the IgG version, and negative for the rest of the celiac panel, you can feel more assured of a gluten sensitive diagnosis.

Some other tell-tale signs of gluten sensitivity, according to the researchers, are a varied clinical picture, meaning many symptoms occurring at the same time. And while many of these symptoms are similar to another disease, IBS, the authors warn against considering gluten sensitivity as a subtype of IBS. The "extraintestinal" symptoms so common with gluten sensitivity are not typically seen in those patients suffering with IBS, making the distinction clear, in these researchers’ opinion.

The common complaints associated with gluten sensitivity include:

• abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation

• foggy mind, tiredness

• eczema/skin rash

• headache

• joint/muscle pain

• numbness of legs/arms

• depression

• anemia

• together with a normal or mildly abnormal lining of the small intestine

In conclusion, when you’re building a case for gluten sensitivity, you need to look at several factors: blood testing, symptoms, and reactions to eating and eliminating gluten.


New Information on Celiac Genes

In the past, the rule of thumb was that "you could never have celiac disease if you didn’t carry the genes for it". That remains true, but these researchers cited findings from 2010 that demonstrated a full 40-50% of gluten sensitive patients possess the same genetic profile as those with celiac disease—HLA DQ2 or DQ8. And with that we watch another stable datum ‘bite the dust’. This opens the door to a new interpretation of genetic testing that doctors should be aware of. Instead of being too quick to tell a patient that while they may have the genes for celiac disease, considering that their blood tests are negative for the disease they’re fine to eat gluten; we now understand that such genes can be present in a case of gluten sensitivity as well. And as we now know, the classic celiac blood tests would be negative in such a case.

I believe we’ll be seeing a wide array of genes responsible for these diseases in the future. But knowing that almost half of those with gluten sensitivity demonstrate the exact same genetic profile as someone with celiac disease is important to know when a patient or their doctor is trying to make an accurate diagnosis. Based on this common gene profile, it is then not surprising to learn that gluten sensitivity can be found in celiac disease family members. In this study almost 13% of the gluten sensitive patients were first degree relatives of celiac patients.

What Might the Future Hold?

As a clinical nutritionist, I have been speaking of celiac disease and claiming the existence of gluten sensitivity for over two decades now. We continue to discover more and more about these conditions. One day there will be a near perfect test and one day we will readily and easily diagnose most all of those suffering. And that my friends, will be a good day! I hope you found this informative.

Find Out Your Gluten Sensitivity Level!

Get diagnosed!—contact us for a FREE CONSULTATION. 

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

To your good health,
Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Gluten Awareness is on the Rise – But is it helping or hurting Americans?

Times are definitely changing when it comes to awareness of gluten intolerance. [Please note that I use the term ‘gluten intolerance’ as an umbrella term that embraces both celiac disease and gluten sensitivity – more on each of those later.]

While I have been committed to increasing awareness of gluten intolerance for the past 15 years, the increased ‘awareness’ occurring is a bit altered from what I hoped it would be. That ‘awareness’ currently means that people have heard the word ‘gluten’, but unfortunately they really don’t know much about how it can affect their health or if there is any reason for them to learn more about it. Due to a lot of publicity about gluten and weight loss, many people mistakenly put it into the category of just another weight loss strategy or fad.

This type of publicity is doing Americans a great disservice because, while gluten intolerance certainly can cause issues with both weight gain and weight loss, categorizing it within such narrow confines misses the fact that it is responsible for over 300 diseases and conditions ranging from diabetes to depression, from ADHD to eczema, and from infertility to liver disease.

The biggest ‘venue’ for gluten awareness is in the area of food consumption. Gluten-free food products have increased astronomically in the past 8 years or so, making their presence on grocery store shelves quite common. General Mills even has a prime time commercial touting that five of its Chex cereals are now gluten-free.

While that seems to be a positive change and a ‘plus’ in the increased awareness column, I find that most lay people have a distorted idea of what gluten intolerance really means.

Celiac disease was originally described in 250 AD but it wasn’t until 1888 that an astute clinician named Gee described it scientifically. Yet over a century later the vast majority of the cases are still unidentified – specifically we only diagnose 3 – 5% of all those who suffer. 

Why is our ability to diagnose this disease so poor?

Is it because something that’s considered “rare” is not often looked for? 

Is it because there’s no drug to treat it and we live in a ‘drug driven’ health system? 

Is it because celiac patients are thought to fit into a narrow symptomatic category of unrelenting diarrhea along with extreme weight loss and abdominal pain?

“Yes” is no doubt the answer to most of those questions.

The facts today are that an estimated 1- 4% of our population has celiac disease with 95 to 97% of them remaining undiagnosed. 

Unfortunately it also means that the undiagnosed group is being treated for something that gluten has created rather than for the gluten intolerance itself. In other words, if gluten intolerance is the underlying root cause for someone’s depression and that is undiscovered, the individual is likely, instead, to receive a dangerous antidepressant drug. Such drugs not only have life threatening side effects, but they do not address the reason why the individual suffers from depression.

I cannot tell you how many individuals suffer health problems that, once gluten intolerance is identified, enjoy complete resolution of their symptoms. It’s can be truly miraculous.

If only 3-5% of those suffering with celiac disease are diagnosed, I guarantee you that our ability to diagnose gluten sensitivity is even worse.

Why?

Gluten sensitivity has only very recently been recognized as a ‘real’ disorder. Research is just starting to occur but early estimates place its incidence at 9 to 15% of our population. Obviously that is much more impactful to our society than the 1-4% afflicted by celiac disease due to the increased number of people affected. Personally, based on my clinical experience, I anticipate that further research will find the incidence of gluten sensitivity to be much higher. But time will tell.

Gluten sensitivity affects individuals in much the same way that celiac does – its ability to negatively affect most organs and systems of the human body is well documented. And the treatment is the same as well:

1.    Eliminate all gluten from the diet for life

2.    Treat the secondary effects of gluten – this includes such things as infections, cross-reactive foods, probiotic imbalance, hormonal imbalance, nutritional deficiencies and more.

Yet I’ve been noticing a trend in some of the language associated with gluten sensitivity that concerns me. In articles written by reporters or bloggers or simply questions posed by laypeople, there is a false datum that gluten sensitivity is not a serious disorder.

I’ve heard people say “I only have a sensitivity, it’s not celiac disease.” Or a reporter might state say: “gluten sensitivity, not the serious form of gluten intolerance known as celiac disease…”

What’s the problem with these statements?

If your immune system reacts to gluten then eating it will cause you potentially life threatening problems. The immune system reaction in celiac disease is different as compared to that of gluten sensitivity, but it is still a reaction that creates health problems on a far reaching scale.

In close to two decades of working with both celiac and gluten sensitive patients, I can tell you that patients with gluten sensitivity can experience reactions that impact their health quite severely.

Nobody likes to be told that they can ‘never’ do something. So I completely understand that it’s not fun to be told that you can never eat gluten ever again. Plus it is human nature to look for the ‘loopholes’ and ways you might be able to ‘get away with it’.

But I promise you that cheating on a gluten-free diet is akin to playing Russian roulette – and that’s a very dangerous game to play with this one body that you have. And that is true whether you have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

At this writing there are no ‘officially’ sanctioned lab tests available to discover if you’re gluten sensitive, but there is one that a recent consensus of fifteen researchers stated ‘could be’ indicative of the problem once celiac disease has essentially been ruled out.

It’s a test that I’ve been using for several years and I do believe it has validity. It’s called an AGA test – that stands for anti-gliadin antibody. Basically the test ‘asks’ your immune system if it considers gluten to be a good guy or a bad guy.

Cyrex Labs also offers a comprehensive panel that embraces about ten different measurements that can be utilized to see if the immune system is having a negative reaction to gluten, inclusive of the above test AGA. This is a blood test.

Such testing must be backed up with an elimination diet lasting a minimum of 30 days. Why? No test is perfect and the elimination diet is still considered the ‘gold standard’ when evaluating food reactions. The most scientifically accurate follow-up to the elimination diet is a reintroduction of gluten to assess a return of symptoms. Optimally this would be done ‘blindly’ meaning that the patient would receive food with gluten and some without but they wouldn’t know when they were receiving the gluten.

Some patients, depending on the seriousness of their condition, are unwilling to take that chance with a reintroduction as they are convinced that gluten is a culprit. I wouldn’t insist upon it in such a case and in fact would never encourage someone to reintroduce gluten if they were convinced it was a problem for them.

Yet, try as we might to be perfect, life tends to ‘create’ a reintroduction when we least expect it in the form of a mistake or a contamination. Eating a food one thought was safe, only to have a reaction, and later discover the presence of gluten, is often how such unplanned ‘reintroductions’ take place.

In Italy they screen children for celiac disease the way we screen our children for scoliosis – every child is evaluated. Is it possible that screening for gluten sensitivity might someday occur in this country? Even if it was for a percentage of the population who, based on family history or symptoms, were at an increased risk, I believe that we could greatly reduce the incidence of many of the serious diseases of which we are plagued as a society.

I hope this was helpful. If you think gluten intolerance could be affecting your health or that of a loved one, I am happy to offer you a free health analysis.

If you don’t live locally that’s not a problem. Our destination clinic treats patients from across the country and internationally.

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”

Celiac Disease Risk: Why an Emergency C-section is Healthier than an Elective One

When it comes to celiac disease risk, an elective or planned C-section creates a much greater incidence of celiac disease than an emergency one.

A natural, vaginal birth is probably every mother’s plan, but C-sections, at an increased rate, have become a fact of life.

In a recent study (October 2011) published in Gastroenterology, titled “Pregnancy outcome and risk of celiac disease in offspring: A nation-wide case-control study”, Dr Ludvigsson, an avid researcher in the field discovered a rather unexpected result associated with children delivered by cesarean section.

The study of over 11,000 patients with biopsy-proven celiac disease and close to 54,000 controls, were examined based on the type of birth they experienced. The study showed an outstanding 15% increase risk in those born through elective or planned C-section over those born via an emergency cesarean.

In fact there was no increased risk found for those individuals born from an emergency C-section.

Why the vast difference? The reason for the disparity lies in the vital exposure to the health-promoting probiotic organisms present in the birth canal that occurs in vaginal births as well as those who experience emergency C-sections.

Babies born after an emergency C-section typically reside in the birth canal for some time prior to the decision being made to perform the surgery.

Elective or planned C-sections afford the baby no time in the birth canal, in fact they are designed to occur before any major progression of labor has occurred. Therefore these babies are given no exposure to the healthy probiotic population that has recently been appreciated to be capable of keeping the celiac disease gene from expressing itself.

It is as if there is a switch for a disease that one is genetically programmed to be susceptible to, and it has an on and off position. Healthy probiotics can keep that switch in the ‘off’ position, despite the genetic tendency. Conversely, a lack of healthy probiotics allow that switch to move to the ‘on’ position, thereby allowing the disease to be expressed.

Let’s compare two children who both:

1.       Possess the genes for celiac disease

2.       Are exposed to gluten in their diet

The child born with exposure to the good probiotics in the birth canal won’t necessarily develop celiac disease, despite their genetic predisposition. The probiotics, if healthy and abundant, will suppress the expression of the celiac disease genes.

On the contrary, the child born via elective C-section and having no exposure to the probiotics, will not have the defense against the genetic predisposition to develop celiac due and will, therefore, be 15% more likely to develop the disease.

While avoiding a planned C-section is perhaps not a viable alternative for every expectant mother, this knowledge does seem vitally important for any expectant mother, who has celiac disease or any other autoimmune diseases present in their family.

If there is absolutely no recourse to a planned C-section due to whatever circumstance, I would strongly suggest that the mother takes all steps to optimize the health of their digestive tract and probiotic population such that when they nurse their newborn they can at least share their good bacteria through breast milk. This is, I believe, an extremely important practice for all newborns, but most especially in this circumstance.

If you need assistance in determining the best course of action to take to improve the health of your own small intestine such that your probiotic population provides the optimal health benefits to your future unborn children, or if you already have a child and want to ensure that their probiotic level is optimized, please feel free to contact me for a complimentary health analysis – call 408-733-0400.

The benefits to be obtained from keeping the 100 trillion probiotics (also known as the microbiome) in your small intestine healthy are quite remarkable. This is an emerging science, but one we know quite a bit about already.

Ensuring a healthy microbiome in yourself and your children is not difficult and the program is a natural  one. But each individual is unique and therefore the program must be designed on a personalized basis in order to achieve the greatest success.

I hope this was informative. We are here to help you, your children and family. Our destination clinic treats patients from across the country and internationally.

To your good health,

Visit us at www.RootCauseMedicalClinic.com. If you have questions or need any help, I’m here for you! Call 408-733-0400.

I look forward to hearing from you.

To your good health,

Dr Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, CFMP


IFM Certified Practitioner

Founder of Root Cause Medical Clinic
Co-author of “The Gluten Effect”

Author of the eBook: “Gluten Intolerance – What You Don’t Know May Be Killing You!”