Why Am I Sleeping So Much?
Since I glutened myself after coming out of hospital with the stroke, I’ve been sleeping a lot. My stroke doctor thinks I should have problems sleeping, but I don’t. I’m also suffering badly from hay fever, but that is the weather and the pollen. Is this just a normal healing process or am I still feeling the effects of the gluten? Surely, as my body recovers, it will be using up what B12 I have in my body. My nails are soft, which indicates to me I’m low on B12.
Another Paper
This paper has the title of “Effect of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine levels in celiac disease”. It sounds boring, but I think it says that if you have low B6 and folate levels, then you might be more likely to get a stroke.
In any case I’m going to get my homocysteine, folate and B6 levels checked. I know the B12 are OK.
Eat Breakfast, Lose Weight
I had my B12 injection on Friday. The nurse took my blood pressure and it was 120/70, which I’m told is good for a man of my age. This chart says that I’m in the right area. But she also said that I looked thin and when she weighed me, I had lost a couple of kilos since August.
Strangely, I am not eating less, but I have changed what I eat. I used to skip breakfast and now I usually eat the same mixture of gluten-free Eat Natural for Breakfast, with yoghurt and two teaspoonfuls of clear honey. I prefer the raisins, almonds, mixed seeds and crispy rice version of Eat Natural.
Eat Natural for Breakfast
Perhaps what they say is right. Eat breakfast and you lose weight. I may be snacking less.
Alzheimer’s Disease and Mobile Phones
I was sent an article about gluten-free food and this unrelated extract stood out.
Mobile phones and Alzheimer’s disease – Recent research suggests that mobile phone radiation may halt the progression of Alzheimer’s in mice but experts take issue with both the research methods and the report’s conclusions.
A summary of the research offers this explanation.
The researchers showed that exposing old Alzheimer’s mice to the electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones erased brain deposits of beta-amyloid, a protein strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Clumps of beta-amyloid form so-called brain plaques that are a hallmark of the disease.
As an engineer, I’m not surprised if this happens. Irradiating things has all sorts of effects. Some are positive and some are downright dangerous.
Now, it has also been shown that low-levels of B12 may lead to Azheimer’s and other brain problems.
It would strike me as an engineer that these two areas of research are perhaps some of first pieces of a jigsaw, that if we can solve it, will lead to ways of possibly delaying the onset of what is a very nasty disease.
I hope so.
Keeping Your Brain Healthy
Look at any list of symptoms for coeliac disease and you’ll find a lot of them are concerned with brain or mental problems.
- Mild Depression
- Feelings of Inadequacy
- Gait Ataxia/Apraxia
- Lightheadness and Fainting
- Migraine or Persistent Headaches
- Mood Swings
- Sleep Disturbance
I used to suffer from most of these except for sleep disturbance.
Once I went on a gluten-free diet all of these symptoms cleared up. Now I know that I am a special case in that I’m a coeliac, but once the B12 levels were back up to normal, all of the symptoms disappeared. Research at Oxford University has indicated that higher B12 levels may help brain health.
It would be interesting to repeat their experiments with coeliacs. When a hospital diagnoses a coeliac, they should immediately undergo the tests before starting a gluten-free diet. And then they should be tested at intervals after starting the diet. My body actually reacted quite quickly in that my dandruff cleared up after about two weeks.
Now I know several people who have MS. One has sent me a link to an article about a new treatment for the disease called The Liberation Treatment. Here are the first couple of paragraphs.
Amid the centuries-old castles of the ancient city of Ferrara is a doctor who has come upon an entirely new idea about how to treat multiple sclerosis, one that may profoundly change the lives of patients.
Dr. Paolo Zamboni, a former vascular surgeon and professor at the University of Ferrara in northern Italy, began asking questions about the debilitating condition a decade ago, when his wife Elena, now 51, was diagnosed with MS.
He found that in some patients, the blood flow to the head was restricted and by improving this using standard surgical procedures, their health improved. Here’s a couple of paragraphs from the article.
One of those patients was Buffalo resident Kevin Lipp. Lipp had MS for over a decade, and as part of the study, discovered he had five blocked veins in his neck. After undergoing the Liberation Treatment 10 months ago, he says he hasn’t had a single new MS attack.
Zamboni emphasizes that the Liberation Treatment does not make people in wheelchairs walk again. Rather, it seems to stop the development of further MS attacks, and in some cases, improves movement and decreases the debilitating fatigue that are the hallmarks of MS.
It may not cure MS, but it is all very interesting.
I tend to look on the body, as an engineer would look on a machine or a car. Machines don’t work well if they don’t have all of the things they need like fuel, electric power, oil, water and all the other necessities.
Is the body any different to my car in that respect?
And now today, it has been reported that those who develop Alzheimer’s are less likely to get cancer.
This would appear to push things in another direction, as research at Nottingham University has shown that coeliacs are less likely to get breast cancer. Diagnosed coeliacs have on the whole healthy brains because they eat well, so this research might show the opposite.
We need to do a lot more research to find all of these links.
Blood Test for IVF Success
The Times today reports that a blood test has been developed that helps to predict IVF success.
I hope that the blood test looks for problems of coeliac disease.
Here’s why!
I am a coeliac and used to suffer from very low vitamin-b12 levels until I was diagnosed as a coeliac at 54 or so. Now on a gluten-free diet, my b12 levels are fine.
As a man, that doesn’t matter, but I can trace my coeliac ancestors back through my family tree. The men died young and the women never had any children. My sister didn’t and was never diagnosed as a coeliac, whilst of child-bearing age.
I also moderate a list on the Internet for coeliacs. Over the last few years, three women have joined in their mid-thirties who have just been diagnosed. All were childless, but wanted children and within months they became pregnant and successfully gave birth.
Are questions about coeliac symptoms asked when people are looking to conceive with IVF? After all, amenorrhea is a common coeliac symptom.
As an engineer/scientist these notes are not good research, as they are personal and a rather small sample, but serious research needs to be done in this area.
Coeliacs and Mental Problems
Just listening to the twins, Will and Rupert Young, on the radio as I write. Will is the well-known singer and his twin brother, Rupert, has a history of mental problems. He’s just set up the Mood Foundation to help people with their problems.
It’s just a small point, but I moderate a list on the Internet for coeliacs. We are all allergic to the gluten, found in wheat, barley and rye. What keeps coming up is those with this allergy are often diagnosed as suffering for depression, bi-polar disorder and other mental problems. When they go on a gluten-free diet, the symptoms disappear.
Obviously, this is only likely to help in the cases of the 1-in-100 of the UK population who are coeliacs, but to test for the allergy is now a simple blood test.
Taking a scientist’s view of the body, undiagnosed coeliacs are often low in vitamin b12 and guess what? This is absolutely essential for healthy functioning of the brain.
But perhaps more importantly, we need to have a totally open view to mental illness and not rule out ANY cause of a person’s problems. After all a cured patient can become a valuable member of society.
Rupert has just said that he was helped by equine assisted therapy. As someone who breeds racehorses, I know that horses can help in mental problems. To relate to say a mare and a skitty foal, you have to be calm, just to get them to take a tidbit. And so you learn how to calm your emotions. Also for people who have problems with violence and losing their temper, they don’t want to try anything remotely like that with a horse. They’ll get a good kicking. So you learn to control yourself.
For IVF go to Europe
This article about IVF in The Times caught my attention.
Whatever your views on the subject and I don’t have particular ones either way, this is a subject we should take seriously, as it seems being childless is for some a disaster. I can’t comment, as I am the father of three and didn’t have to make the decision.
But we have to bear in mind that everyone’s pregnancy is a cost to the NHS. This is not a problem with a single birth, but who pays for multiple births, which often have complications.
I would also throw in the fact that as a coeliac, if I was a woman I might have problems in conceiving. I know of women who on being diagnosed have quite quickly got pregnant and successfully had a child. I also know that no women in the coeliac line of my family have given birth in over a hundred years. I’m no doctor, but could it be that if your vitamin-B12 and folates are low, you’re not going to conceive a healthy baby.
This is yet another reason for everybody to be checked for coeliac disease.
The Anonymous Widower 