Natural remedies for Celiac disease.

SYMPTOMS

Diarrhea, weight loss, and nutritional deficiencies (such as anemia). Other symptoms include frequently pale and/or light-yellow, foul-smelling stools that float. Fatigue, depression, abdominal swelling, muscle cramps, wasting and bone and/or joint pain.

Diarrhea is the most commonly observed symptom.

   Infants and children may show vomiting, stunted growth, intense burning sensation of the skin, and a red itchy skin rash. Ulcers may develop in the mouth. The child may look anemic and undernourished.

   Some children develop blisters and sores all over their body from celiac disease. Symptoms vary, but can include fatigue, irritability, and/or behavior changes.

   Babies may lose weight or gain it more slowly, and do not seem to be thriving well. The disease can begin in the first few months of life.

CAUSES

Celiac disease affects the small intestine. There are abnormalities in the intestinal lining, due to a permanent intolerance to gluten. Gluten is in wheat, rye, barley, and oats. (Corn, rice, millet, soybeans, seems to be a little uncertainty about buckwheat.) The protein, gliadin, is thought to be the toxic part of the gluten. It interacts with the lining of the intestine, causing the tiny absorptive fingers which jut from it (the villi) to flatten and atrophy. As a result, nutrients are not absorbed (including vitamins A, D and K) and the disease symptoms appear.

   Unfortunately, many physicians and the food industries recommend that grains be introduced into the diet of the infant when they are less than a year old. This can prompt celiac disease to first appear then or even decades later.

   This is important! Tell every expectant mother not to feed her child grains until it is at least a year old.

   Celiac disease tends to start between 9 and 18 months, immediately after wheat, rye, barley, and/or oats is given to the child. Those are often the first solid foods given to infants. (Breast-fed infants first show the symptoms at 16 months while the bottle-fed ones first develop them at 10 months.) The disorder is rare in blacks and Asians, and tends to run in families.

   Removing gluten from the diet of a celiac produces a marked change; whether an infant, child, or adult, the person starts feeling better again. But he must not return to gluten foods.

   Some infants do not tolerate cow’s milk protein; they react to it with celiac symptoms, even before gluten is given to them. So remove that also from them.

   Celiac disease is often misdiagnosed as spastic colon, irritable bowel syndrome, or something else which affects the intestine.

   Yet, if left untreated, celiac disease can be quite serious. It can lead to pancreatic disease, infertility, miscarriage, internal hemorrhaging, bone disease, gynecological lymphoma, and many more problems. For example, anemia is common, due to poor absorption of folic acid, iron and vitamins B₁₂ and K.

   Scarring of the intestinal lining can progress so far that, by the ages of 45 to 50, 90% of the intestine can be damaged, resulting in a significant reduction (as much as 70%) of the absorptive surfaces.

   But there is evidence that partial repair to those walls can be made within several months – if you permanently part company with the offending foods.

NATURAL REMEDIES

AVOID

·         You will want to avoid gluten foods, which are wheat, oats, rye, and barley.

·         Do not eat products containing cow’s milk. Breast feed the child, to avoid using cow’s milk.

·         Some celiac must also exclude soybeans products. Eggs are also a problem for some.

·         Do not overeat sugar or white-flour products.

·         Avoid processed, fried, and junk food. Do not eat sugary foods, chocolate, and processed foods. Do not eat meat. Avoid tobacco, tea, coffee, and alcohol.

·         Read the labels and watch for “hidden” gluten or cow’s milk ingredients in bottles and packages. Some of these are malt, modified food starch, some soy sauces, grain vinegar, binders, fillers, excipients, and “natural flavorings.” Almost all commercial breads, bread mixes, crackers, cereals, pastas, and processed foods contain gluten. It is often found in commercially prepared puddings, candies, cookies, cakes, ice cream, salad dressings, luncheon meats, non-dairy creamer, beer, bouillon cubes, chocolate, frankfurters, canned chili, macaroni, noodles, spaghetti, brad stuffings, and anything thickened with flour (soups, vegetables, bottled meat sauce, gravies, flavoring syrups, sauces, bottled salad dressing, cocoa mixes, curry powder or seasonings, or mustard.

GOOD FOODS

·         The follow grains do not gluten: corn, millet, and rice soybeans, quince, potato starch, and amaranth are also okay. Breads and cereals made from any of these do well. Buckwheat is all right for some celiac, but not for others. Oats should be okay, but some oat preparations include gluten.

·         All grains fed to babies or adults should be cooked for 2-3 hours, if the preparation is done by boiling at 212^o F.

·         Eat a nourishing diet, including fresh fruit, vegetables, and fresh vegetable juices. Fiber is important in the diet of celiac.

·         Take a complete vitamin-mineral supplement. But everything should be wheat-free, yeast-free, and hypoallergenic.

·         Allisatin, found in garlic, is said to help treat celiac disease.

·         Ripe bananas are tolerated well and help control the diarrhea. Only eat homemade desserts.

·         Frozen, fresh, canned vegetables and vegetable juices are all right.

·         A lactose intolerance frequently exists, requiring that milk products be excluded. Vitamin K deficiency frequently occurs. Therefore, be sure to include acidophilus in the diet.

·         Helpful herbs include aloe Vera, burdock, pau d’arco, psyllium, saffron, slippery elm, and alfalfa.

Infections and stress worsen the symptoms; sunlight and garlic (raw or cooked) tend to improve them.