Well, I answered this once, but got interrupted several times (on my lunch hour at work...but it's so nutty here all of a sudden I keep getting called away and having to reheat my soup...try to pick up my thoughts where I'd left off, etc.)---then it got lost in cyberspace when I tried to post...so...you'll have to settle for the condensed version now while I eat my thrice heated lentil stew
--
In a nutshell, what I said was I think these things, gluten intolerance, candida overgrowth, possibly parasites of some sort, are somehow instrumental in leaky gut, and whole body issues related to leaky gut.
I've read, for instance, that you produce a protein called zonulin to open up the holes in the intestines that allow digested food's nutrients to pass through into the bloodstream...however...you can make too much zonulin, for whatever reason (seems digesting gluten increases people's zonulin production...going without gluten or fasting decrease zonulin---I don't know if other factors related to zonulin output are even known by researchers, but there are proabably various factors that cause an unwanted increase in this protein, and of course other ways to decrease the output)...jsut what all makes us have too much of the stuff sometimes or how to get it just right so that large proteins, yeasts, or other foreign things...viruses or maybe even other bugs and stuff...to protect our bloodstreams form these things and only allow properly digested nutritent to enter).
So, yep, I do think somehow this is all related...there is some notion that Lyme Disease may somehow instigate celiac and leaky gut and all of that...so...most of our immunity protection lies within the gut and anything allowing the wrong "guy" to pass through the gut wall and into the body, which can include intolerances, certain viruses/bacteria, toxins, allergies, etc., cause virtually the same sets of symptoms which would receive differing names/diagnoses and band-aid treatments from regular ol' allopathic doctors.
As far as parasites...well, they might be more common than thought...but they might also be somewhat symbiotic--MAYBE...just my own musings here...because I've read reports that children who grew up with intestinal worm infestations here and there seem to be less susceptible to certain autoimmune disorders...asthma, allergy, etc. And that in a study in England in which Crohn's patients were given whipworm eggs and studied for a couple of months were relieved of all of their symptoms until their immune systems had eradicated the whip worms...the relief was reportedly so great that the particpants asked if they could have more whipworm eggs...
Of course, it must've been some fragile form of whipworm, if they were that easily destroyed by the particpants' immune systems...I'm guessing...or else that the gut-gone-awry of Crohn's Disease may kill parasites off faster than a healthy gut???? Of course, having worms is undesirable and known to cause illness...but I'm just guessing that, like yeasts, perhaps our bodies might live in symbiosis with certain bugs, yeasts, worms, etc., as long as things are in balance and everybody behaves themselves...when something goes wrong (too much zonulin could be the big instigator????? AGain...no facts, just guessing!!!)--everybody else falls outta line and the person gets sick
--
Just a lot of guesses...to answer your question...I do believe it is all somehow related...but I don't pretend to understand any of it. It is fascinating to think about though. What do you think???? I know you've read up on many, many theories about this sort of thing...your thoughts for a penny?????? Or do thougthts cost more these days?
Login
Register
FAQ
Search