Gluten Sensitivity And Epilepsy: A Systematic Review
Yesterday, The Times published this article, which was entitled ‘Game-Changing’ NHS Laser Therapy To Prevent Epileptic Seizures.
One reader had made this comment.
Be ace too if they can tweak to help migraine.
I used to suffer from something like migraine about thirty years ago. But after being found to be coeliac and going gluten-free, what ever it was seemed to disappear from my life.
Type “Coeliac Disease and Migraine” into Dr. Google and there are lots of references.
This indicates to me that serious scientists and doctors, must believe there could be a link.
There certainly is with me and going gluten-free eased my migraine-like symptoms.
I then typed “Coeliac Disease and Epilepsy” into Dr. Google and found this paper, which was entitled Gluten Sensitivity And Epilepsy: A Systematic Review.
This information is from the Abstract of the paper
Objective
The aim of this systematic review was to establish the prevalence of epilepsy in patients with coeliac disease (CD) or gluten sensitivity (GS) and vice versa and to characterise the phenomenology of the epileptic syndromes that these patients present with.
Methodology
A systematic computer-based literature search was conducted on the PubMed database. Information regarding prevalence, demographics and epilepsy phenomenology was extracted.
Results
Epilepsy is 1.8 times more prevalent in patients with CD, compared to the general population. CD is over 2 times more prevalent in patients with epilepsy compared to the general population. Further studies are necessary to assess the prevalence of GS in epilepsy. The data indicate that the prevalence of CD or GS is higher amongst particular epileptic presentations including in childhood partial epilepsy with occipital paroxysms, in adult patients with fixation off sensitivity (FOS) and in those with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with hippocampal sclerosis. A particularly interesting presentation of epilepsy in the context of gluten-related disorders is a syndrome of coeliac disease, epilepsy and cerebral calcification (CEC syndrome) which is frequently described in the literature. Gluten-free diet (GFD) is effective in the management of epilepsy in 53% of cases, either reducing seizure frequency, enabling reduced doses of antiepileptic drugs or even stopping antiepileptic drugs.
Conclusion
Patients with epilepsy of unknown aetiology should be investigated for serological markers of gluten sensitivity as such patients may benefit from a GFD.
My Thoughts
These are my thoughts.
Coeliacs Prior To 1960
Consider.
- Even if my excellent GP; Doctor Egerton White, felt I was coeliac, there was no test until 1960 for coeliac disease.
- And the test that was developed using endoscopy wasn’t anywhere near to the endoscopies of the present day.
- My late wife, who was a family barrister, likened the test to child abuse on a young child.
- I have heard some terrible horror stories of doctors looking for coeliac disease in young children in the 1950s.
- But there were some successes. A friend of mine, who is in her eighties, was successfully diagnosed by her parents using food elimination. But they were both GPs.
- Recently, I’ve met two elderly ladies, who only in the last couple of years have been diagnosed as coeliacs.
Luckily, I was never tested until 1997 and I was diagnosed in 48 hours, by gene testing.
Methodology
The methodology was based on a systematic computer-based literature search of the PubMed database.
This has these advantages.
- The rules for the search can be published and peer-reviewed.
- Its Wikipedia entry says PubMed is a free database including primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics.
- The technique can surely be applied repeatedly, to see how results are changing with time.
- The search can be modified to analyse any topic, drug or condition, that appears in the PubMed database.
- The analysis could surely be applied to other databases.
As a writer of data analysis software, developing this sort of software, would be really enjoyable.
AstraZeneca Withdraws Covid Vaccine After Drop In Demand
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the first paragraph.
AstraZeneca is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine worldwide, citing a “surplus of available updated vaccines” since the pandemic that target newer variants of the virus.
This was my experience of the vaccine.
I am coeliac and have a very strong immune system, as it gets all the fuel it needs.
When I had my first AZ vaccine, my immune system started to attack the chimpanzee adenovirus-based viral vector vaccine.
I felt dreadful and I’ve now been advised by doctors, not to have any more viral vector vaccines.
Interestingly, I had no reaction to the second dose, so my immune system had probably decided it was a friend.
When I had that second dose, there was all the controversy raging, about whether the AZ vaccine causes blood clots.
So I did an experiment, which I described in My INR Readings Before And After My Second AstraZeneca Jab.
I found that my INT bounced all over place, just as when a wheel hits a pothole.
Conclusion
I shall not be taking the AstraZeneca Vaccine for COVID-19 again and would think twice before allowing myself to be injected with a viral vector vaccine.
Study Highlights Increased Risk Of Second Cancers Among Breast Cancer Survivors
The title of this post, is the same as that of this news story from the Cambridge University.
This is the sub-heading.
Survivors of breast cancer are at significantly higher risk of developing second cancers, including endometrial and ovarian cancer for women and prostate cancer for men, according to new research studying data from almost 600,000 patients in England.
These are the first three paragraphs of the story.
For the first time, the research has shown that this risk is higher in people living in areas of greater socioeconomic deprivation.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. Around 56,000 people in the UK are diagnosed each year, the vast majority (over 99%) of whom are women. Improvements in earlier diagnosis and in treatments mean that five year survival rates have been increasing over time, reaching 87% by 2017 in England.
People who survive breast cancer are at risk of second primary cancer, but until now the exact risk has been unclear. Previously published research suggested that women and men who survive breast cancer are at a 24% and 27% greater risk of a non-breast second primary cancer than the wider population respectively. There have been also suggestions that second primary cancer risks differ by the age at breast cancer diagnosis.
I have a few thoughts.
The Data
The story says this about the data.
To provide more accurate estimates, a team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge analysed data from over 580,000 female and over 3,500 male breast cancer survivors diagnosed between 1995 and 2019 using the National Cancer Registration Dataset. The results of their analysis are published today in Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
A large number of cases were analysed and with these types of analysis, more is definitely better.
I would hope that this study will be repeated in a few years, when more data is available.
The Death Of My Wife
This happened to my late wife.
At about 55 in 2004, my wife developed breast cancer. Strangely, it was in the same position, where a car air-bag had bruised her breast, when it went off in an accident, a few years before.
Chemotherapy was recommended and she tried one round at home, but she couldn’t get on with it.
So she eventually had a long course of radiotherapy in Harley Street going up every day on the train. She was also doing as many court cases as she could to pay for it all.
It appeared everything had worked well and in the Autumn of 2007, she was given the all clear for the breast cancer.
But in October 2007, she was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma of the heart.
She died in December 2007 at just 59.
My wife’s second cancer and her death seems to fit the pattern of the patients in the news story.
My Wife’s Genetic Background
This is rather bare, as she was adopted. Although, I do have her plaits from, when the cut them off at 18, as she’d kept them and I found them after she died.
But she didn’t come from a deprived background.
I Am Coeliac
If I have one regret, it’s that I didn’t encourage her to go gluten-free after the first cancer.
It might have boosted her immune system to help.
Conclusion
Anybody, who has breast cancer must beware a second attack of cancer.
Uf it can kill my fit 59-year-old wife, it can kill anyone.
ICE Report Shows Majority Open To Net Zero Changes
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Engineer.
This is the sub-heading.
A new report has found that a majority of the UK public is amenable to the behavioural changes needed to hit the country’s net zero targets.
These two paragraphs summarise the findings of the report.
Published by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Infrastructure (APPGI), the report was based on a survey of 1,000 respondents. It found that 57 per cent were open to change, with 23 per cent described as net zero enthusiasts who were likely to have already altered their behaviours, and 34 per cent wanting change, but feeling they needed further empowerment to achieve it.
However, there is far from universal agreement when it comes to behavioural change around climate action. The report found that 30 per cent of people were ‘reluctant followers’, largely acknowledging that the UK must act on emissions, but not feeling personal responsibility for that action. This segment will likely only change their behaviours if forced to do so or seeing a majority of others doing it first. Finally, 13 per cent of those surveyed were classed as ‘net zero resistors’, people who don’t believe action is necessary and have no intention of doing so.
Summing the figures up gives us.
- Net-Zero Enthusiasts – 23 %
- Wanting Change – 34 %
- Reluctant Followers – 30 %
- Net-Zero Resistors – 13 %
All politicians should be forced to read the full report.
What Would I Need To Do To Achieve a Personal Net-Zero?
My circumstances probably cover a lot of people.
- I am a widow living alone.
- My house is well-insulated with solar-panels on the roof, but heated by gas.
- I don’t have or need a car.
- I do nearly all my shopping by public transport and carry it home.
- When I go away in the UK I use trains.
- If I go to Europe, I either go or come back by train.
- I am coeliac, which means I need to eat some meat to stay healthy.
My largest carbon-emitted is probably my house, but it would be unsuitable for most current solutions.
I would put myself in the Wanting Change group, but I could move to a Net-Zero Enthusiast, if the right technology came along.
- I have seen one bolt-in electric replacement for by boiler and when the right one arrives, I’ll probably fit one.
- An affordable battery to work to with my solar panels and also allow me to use Off Peak electricity would be nice.
- As I’m coeliac, I tend to buy in the same food each week from Marks and Spencer to eat in. I might be able to cut my carbon footprint by getting Ocado to deliver. Especially, as some deliveries seem to be bike.
- If TfL decarbonised the bus, that I use most days to and from Moorgate would that lower my carbon footprint?
I suspect the largest amount of carbon outside of my house’s heating, that I’ll emit, will be tomorrow, when I take a train to Newquay.
How Do We Convert The 13 % Net-Zero Resistors?
The recent protests by French and Belgian farmers indicate, that these farmers are probably in this group. And there are other forthright groups!
The only way, that they’ll be converted, is if technology allows them to earn the same amount of money and have the same outgoings, as they do now!
Binge Drinking And Obesity Behind Bowel Cancer Surge In Under-50s
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Deaths this year are set to be a third higher than in 2018 with biggest increase among young women
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
Obesity and binge drinking are causing a surge in bowel cancer among young British adults, research shows.
Deaths in those aged under 50 are set to be about a third higher this year than in 2018, with the highest increase in young women.
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, after breast and prostate cancers, and there are 43,000 new cases and 16,000 deaths a year. More than nine in ten cases are in those over 50, but the disease is increasingly being diagnosed in those under 50, in whom it is more likely to be aggressive and deadly.
I am coeliac and whenever, I see some illness that is more common in females, I wonder, if this is down to the fact, that female coeliacs are more common than males. This page on the NHS web site flags it up with this sentence.
Reported cases of coeliac disease are higher in women than men.
This could be because coeliac disease can cause complications in pregnancy, so more women get tested.
The NHS web site also links coeliacs with bowel cancer, but it does say this.
Once you’ve been following a gluten-free diet for some time, your risk of developing these types of cancer is the same as that of the general population.
My son was an undiagnosed coeliac, who worked in the music business. He lived on a diet of ciggies, cannabis and Subways and contracted pancreatic cancer, which killed him at just 37.
He should have got himself tested, as the NHS says, that if you have a first degree relative (Me!), who has coeliac disease, then you should get tested.
So if you think, you have a problem with gluten, get yourself tested!
If not for yourself for your family!
I am surprised that the Italian lead researcher doesn’t mention coeliac disease as Italy has lots of it! All that pasta and pizza!
The Biggest Strawberry In The World
I eat a lot of strawberries, either as fruit or as jam on a scone or bread.
- I always have done since I left home to go to Liverpool University.
- I do wonder, if it was a subconscious decision on my part, as my body reacted to all the alternatives like puddings with all their gluten.
- Certainly, by the time, I was married, I know that I always annoyed my mother-in-law by never eating her gluten-rich puddings.
- Strawberries were also my wife’s passion, when she was pregnant.
Have other coeliacs avoided gluten before diagnosis. I certainly did.
Today, I bought a punnet of strawberries in Marks & Spencer.
Note.
- They were Spanish strawberries.
- To say they were large would be an understatement.
- One weighed in at a massive 64 grammes.
But they all tasted fine with a good texture!
An Excursion To Retford And Worksop
Today’s excursion was designed to be simple.
- Take an LNER train or a Hull Train to Retford station.
- Travel to Worksop station, have a look and take a few pictures.
- Travel back to Retford and take the first train back to London.
- In one if my two visits to Retford, have a look and take a few pictures.
- Talk to passengers and railway staff about what they felt about FirstGroup’s Proposed Sheffield Service, that I wrote about in FirstGroup Applies To Run New London To Sheffield Rail Service.
These were my thoughts and observations.
LNER’s Improved Ticketing
These pictures show the tickets that I bought.
Note.
- I bought my ticket to Retford from the Ticket Office at King’s Cross station.
- The ticket seller gave me a well-designed folder for the tickets.
- I was also able to buy my return ticket between Retford and Worksop on the LNER train to Retford. I’ve tried doing that before and it wasn’t allowed.
Making ticketing easier must be a good thing for passengers, staff and LNER.
£24.75 With A Railcard From King’s Cross to Retford
- The second picture shows my ticket to Retford.
- It cost me just £24,75 with my Senior Railcard.
- I also bought it about half-an-hour before the train left.
- I bought the ticket in the Ticket Office.
- I got a forward-facing window seat with an unrestricted view.
How much would the 145 mile and nearly three-hour journey have cost in a car?
I Missed My Connection At Retford Station
These pictures show my train to Worksop station in Platform 3 at Retford station, as I approached from the South.
Note.
The Northern Trains’s Class 195 train arriving on Platform 3 on the Sheffield and Lincoln Line.
- I arrived in Platform 2 at Retford station at 12:50
- There were three lifts or sets of stairs to negotiate between Platform 2 and Platform 3.
- It must take at least five minutes between the two platforms.
- One of the lifts was out of order and was being serviced by an engineer.
- There was no way, I could have caught the connection, which left at 12:51.
- At least one other passenger, had to wait the one hour and fifteen minutes I waited for the next train, which arrived at 14:03.
I feel that there needs to be a timetable adjustment here, so that as many passengers as possible avoid the long wait.
Retford Station
At least the long wait allowed me to take a lot of pictures and have a cup of coffee in the Costa Coffee on Platform 1.
Note.
- The toilets were immaculate.
- The Costa Coffee had friendly and professional staff, but only rudimentary gluten-free options.
- The station is fully step-free with four lifts.
- Platforms 1 and 2 on the East Coast Main Line can take a pair of five-car Class 802 trains, as Hull Train demonstrated.
- The Hull Train in Platform 2 was using the electrification.
- The station is in very good condition.
- The station is Grade II Listed.
This Google Map shows the station.
Note.
- The red arrow in the South-East corner are the low-level Platforms 3 and 4.
- The red arrow in the middle marks the low-level Platforms 1 and 2.
- Network Rail’s yellow Mobile Maintenance Train is visible in the siding opposite Platform 2.
- There is space around the platforms.
The station may have development possibilities. Especially, as there are signs of To Let over some of the buildings.
Ambitious Renewable Energy
Retford and Worksop are only eleven minutes away but there were a large wind farm and solar farms between the two stations.
Note.
- I was a bit slow on the uptake and missed the large wind farm.
- The strong sun was reflecting on the windows.
- They weren’t the best of photographs.
I had intended to take more and better pictures on the way back, but circumstances intervened.
This Google Map shows the wind and solar farms.
Note.
- The Sheffield and Lincoln Line going across the map.
- There are solar panels North and South of the railway.
- This is the Walkers Wood Solar Farm, which has a nameplate capacity of 27 MW.
- H M Prison Ranby is at the top of the map.
- The scars of the wind turbines are to the West of Babworth and the crematorium.
- At the moment, I can’t find any reference to the wind farm.
These wind and solar farms are probably a classic place to position a battery.
Prisons And Recycling
Worksop Station
I took these pictures during the time I spent at Worksop station.
Note.
- The station is not step-free, although you can cross the tracks using the level-crossing.
- The station has a pub and a cafe.
- There are train services to Leeds, Lincoln, Nottingham and Sheffield.
- The station is in very good condition.
- The station is Grade II Listed.
- The platforms are long enough to handle a Class 802 train without any modification.
- Hull Trains could run their Sheffield service to Worksop station without any new infrastructure.
- Lidl are developing a site on the other side of the level crossing.
- There are 100 car parking spaces.
The station may have development possibilities.
Worksop Station Cafe
These pictures show the Worksop station cafe.
Note.
- It is run by two ladies; Jo and Lyndsey.
- As one is coeliac, there were lots of gluten-free cakes.
- It was cosy and warm on a cold day.
This is definitely one of the better station cafes.
A Double Incident
My journey back to the capital was I suspect untypical.
- I’d arrived at Worksop at 14:14 and finally left at 16:38 on a train for Retford and Lincoln.
- The delay was because someone had been hit by a train between Barnsley and Sheffield, which resulted in cancelled trains.
- When I arrived at Retford at 16:49, there was an LNER train in the platform.
- It was the 15:15 from Leeds and I was told by LNER staff to catch it and get my ticket on the train.
- The train finally left Retford for London 69 minutes late at 17:07.
- We arrived in Peterborough at 19:27, where the train was now 170 minutes late.
- The delay was because someone had been hit by a train at Newark, which results in delays everywhere.
- LNER decided to give up on the train and all passengers were put on other trains.
- I got on the 14:30 from Edinburgh, which arrived in King’s Cross at 20:22, which was 96 minutes late.
Worse things happen at sea.
I am adding this a day after my trip to the North.
This article on the BBC is entitled ‘Major Disruption’ After Person Hit By A Train.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Train services on the East Coast Main Line have been seriously disrupted after a person was hit by a train in North Yorkshire.
Network Rail said the incident happened just before 07:00 GMT between York and Thirsk, with emergency services attending the scene shortly afterwards.
The line was blocked, resulting in delays and cancellations.
Three in two days us three too many.
‘Breakthrough’ Blood Test For Sepsis To Save Lives
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in the Sunday Times.
This is the sub-heading.
If the trial is a success it could allow speedy diagnosis for a condition that kills 48,000 people a year
These two paragraphs introduce the story.
A blood test is being trialled that can rapidly detect whether a patient has sepsis, in what could be a breakthrough for a condition that is notoriously difficult to diagnose.
Sepsis, which occurs when the immune system overreacts to an infection, kills about 48,000 people each year in the UK. More people die of it annually than of breast, prostate and bowel cancer put together. In severe cases, it can kill within hours.
A friend had sepsis and it nearly killed her. A test like this would probably have shortened her time in hospital.
I am coeliac and also a mathematical modeller and statistician.
- If you are coeliac and stick to your gluten-free diet, which now includes delicious real ale, you are 25 % less likely to suffer from cancer than the general population, according to research at Nottingham University.
- The reverse of this means that an undiagnosed coeliac living a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle with lots of smoking, cannabis and a diet of gluten-rich junk food, you will have a higher chance of contracting cancer. Just as my undiagnosed coeliac son did, who died of pancreatic cancer at just 37.
- Coeliac testing was difficult until around 1960, when a method using endoscopy was developed. Then in the 1990s, a general test using blood was developed.
I have analysed NHS cancer statistics and there is a step-reduction in cancer rate for those born after 1960 and 1990.
A simple blood test for coeliac disease has found a lot more coeliacs and saved a lot of lives.
My analysis is shown in detail in Hospital Pioneers Cancer Service For Over 70s That Saves Lives And Money.
For that reason, I believe that this new sepsis test could also save a lot of lives.
Coeliac Disease And Risk Of Sepsis
The title of this section, is the same as that of this paper on the British Medical Journal.
This is the conclusion of the paper.
This study showed a modestly increased risk of sepsis in patients with coeliac disease with the highest risk for pneumococcal sepsis. This risk increase was limited to those with coeliac disease diagnosed in adulthood. Potential explanations include hyposplenism, increased mucosal permeability and an altered composition of the intestinal glycocalyx in individuals with coeliac disease.
Perhaps anyone, who goes into hospital, should also be tested for coeliac disease?
My Alcohol-Free And Gluten-Free Real Ale Has Arrived
I have been drinking Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5% beer for some years now.
It should be noted that as a coeliac, I have to drink gluten-free beer and because I am on Warfarin, I can’t drink much alcohol.
My body has certified the beer as gluten-free, ever since it was released a few years ago.
On Saturday, my first consignment of the new Ghost Ship 0.5% beer arrived, which is properly certified as gluten-free.
This paragraph from this page on Adnams web site describes what they mean by gluten-free.
Ghost Ship is inspired by tall tales of the ghostly ships that haunted the shores of Walberswick. The seeds of these stories were likely sown by smugglers in a plot to keep the Suffolk coast clear. In contrast, Ghost Ship 0.5%’s creative new look invites you in, flying the flag for low-alcohol beer. It has been painted by a talented local artist with a love of that very same coastline. Adnams invested in a de-alcoholiser specifically to craft Ghost Ship 0.5%. This reverse osmosis plant allows the team to brew and ferment Ghost Ship 0.5% like all our other beers and then, at cold temperatures, remove the alcohol. It leaves all the lovely flavours from a full fermentation in the beer, allowing it to sail away with those original characteristics. Our Ghost Ship 0.5% 330ml cans are validated as gluten free. When producing Ghost Ship 0.5%, we use an enzyme to help with filtration when using our de-alcoholiser. This breaks down gluten-type molecules which helps with the process, reducing gluten content to below 20 parts per million (ppm). Only foods that contain 20ppm or less can be labelled as ‘gluten-free.’
I’ll go along with that!
But then I’ve been drinking Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5% beer for at least five years and I’ve never had a reaction.
The Anonymous Widower 