Issue Three
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Issue Three
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WHEAT INTOLERANCE: It's worse than doctors thought
Wheat intolerance and autoimmune diseases like MS often go hand-in-hand, so I thought this was worthwhile to include here.
Now here's a funny thing. Many people we know seem to have wheat or gluten intolerance (although fewer have a full-blown allergy), but if you talk to doctors you'd think that almost nobody had it. Instead, doctors have tended to put its prevalence down to hysteria or attention seeking, especially if the patient happens to be female.
But it's something that even the family doctor may now have to take seriously after scientists in Finland discovered that it's a problem that has been dramatically under-diagnosed.
They were searching for the more rare celiac disease, an autoimmune response to wheat, rye and barley that, in children, can affect their development. The scientists discovered the disease in 1 in 67 of the 3,654 students, aged from 7 to 16 years, whose blood they tested.
The condition was far more prevalent than the scientists expected and, even allowing for dubious sampling, they conclude that 1 in 99 schoolchildren have celiac disease, and in most of these cases it's probably undetected.
So if celiac disease is at the farther end of a spectrum of gluten-related problems, wheat intolerance must affect many more than 1 in 99 children or adults. This suggests that most of our friends do indeed have a gluten problem, and that they're not, after all, hysterical or attention seeking.
(Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 2003; 348: 2517-24).
E-Mail Discussion:
Question:
Do you guys have any helpful tips for the day-to-day living with MS? What do you do to make life easier for you?
Answers:
These are my Tips:
Here's some of mine:
The best purchases I have ever made have been:
The Root Cause Of MS? - Duncan's View
Duncan McDowell's wife Janie has MS, and he shares his enlightening views about it…
Sometimes I wonder what the real root cause of MS is. In the past I have read that some researchers think that a childhood viral infection has remained dormant for many years and it recurs after a period of stress and triggers the onset of MS. I have read other totally different theories written by other MS researchers. Some people have suggested mercury as a cause, but others refute that claiming that they have MS but have never had any exposure to mercury. Some people think that severe emotional stress can trigger MS, while others think it is caused by food allergies, especially gluten intolerance.
It seems to me that specific symptoms vary so much between individual patients that maybe the root cause is different for different people, and maybe even the actual disease is different. Maybe MS is a catch-all term for a group of similar diseases with symptoms so similar that they are hard to tell apart.
Maybe some types of MS are caused by the cumulative effects from a total body overload of various toxins that add together to upset the immune system. If the body is carrying a burden of several different toxins such as some mercury, some aspartame, some toluene and enzyme from inhaling insecticides or paint fumes or auto exhaust, some food preservatives and chemicals from the air we breathe and the water we drink, etc. then maybe it could cause the immune system to crash.
Maybe other types of MS are caused by stress on the nervous system brought on by problems in everyday living related to ones job or family members.
Other types of MS might be related to viruses. I read someplace that viruses can be so small that they can hide in among the nerve bundles and when the white cells try to attack and kill the virus they eat holes in the myelin to get to the virus.
I read one theory that when the immune system locates a mercury molecule it sees it as an enemy and sends white cells to kill it, but they are in turn killed by the mercury. Then eventually the immune system becomes confused and attacks in the wrong direction, sometimes eating up the myelin causing MS, and sometimes eating up cartilage causing arthritis.
Some of the theories that link food allergies to things like gluten seem very plausible, too. I know the gluten free Best Bet Diet has helped many MS patients tremendously. Some people are getting good results following the "Eat-Right-For-Your-Type" diet, based on your blood type. Another diet that has helped some is to eat a mostly raw vegetarian type diet with essential fatty acids added.
Maybe each of these theories are right for some of us, but none of them will fit everyone with MS. I know some people with MS have had no mercury exposure, but doing a mercury detox program really helped Janie a lot. I know some people who have had great success with the Best Bet Diet, but it didn't seem to help others at all.
Maybe the key to treating MS is to keep trying different things until you find what works for you. Don't get discouraged and give up. And one thing to remember is that with alternatives, whether you are trying to improve your health by using colon and liver cleanses, diet and nutritional therapy, detoxing, or whatever, give it plenty of time to work before you give up on it and decide it isn't working. Many of the things that Janie has done that helped her the most took quite some time before noticeable improvements showed up, and then the improvements started coming faster. This natural healing is not an overnight thing. It takes months or years of persistence with a program you have faith in to be successful, but it is worth it in the long run.
- Duncan
Thought For A Lifetime
A 159-year-old man was being interviewed on TV and was asked a predictable question: "How did you manage to live for so long?"
He answered, "I never, ever, argue with anyone."
The interviewer did not believe this, and pressed him about it. "Surely there was something else that you did: lifestyle, stress reduction, diet, or exercise!"
The old man listened, and then said, "Maybe you're right."
Recommended Reading
Title: You Can Heal Your Life
It has been a crazy month, and I didn't even get a chance to finish the book I wanted to
review for this newsletter! However, I have read enough to get a very good idea of what
it is about and what Louise Hay is telling us.
When I first started reading this book, it made me uncomfortable. I didn't like what
I was hearing… I am responsible for EVERYTHING in my life, good and bad? That I create
EVERY situation in my life, good and bad? I chose my parents, I am responsible for
every experience I've ever had, I created MS in my body??? Hmmmm that's not so easy
to swallow.
But hear her out. She makes some very good points. One of her many philosophies
is that every thought we think is creating our future, and that it's only a thought…
and a thought can be changed. She believes we must release the past, forgive, and be
willing to learn to love ourselves. That releasing resentment will dissolve even
cancer in our bodies. Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the keys to positive
change.
She believes that all dis-ease comes from a state of unforgiveness. Could it really
be that easy? That if we release our past hurts, let go, and forgive, that we can be healed
from MS? Well… it's worth a shot, I say. It certainly can't hurt, and will most likely
make us happier people in the long run.
The mind is a very strong and powerful tool. Having a positive attitude is wonderful…
but it's only the beginning. If whatever we believe comes true, then our thought patterns
and self-talk must change. Limiting beliefs that began developing in our childhood
can be turned around by thinking new thoughts and forming new beliefs. Positive affirmations
and journaling exercises are recommended for this. Each chapter of the book ends with
an exercise and an affirmation to assist you with your "mental housecleaning"
and releasing old thoughts.
One of my favourite exercises is called "Releasing The Need". Think for a moment about
something in your life that you want to change. Go to the mirror and look into your
eyes and say out loud "I now realize that I have created this condition, and I am now
willing to release the pattern in my consciousness that is responsible for this condition".
Very freeing.
"You Can Heal Your Life" is a very soulful, inspirational book. I think it will help me
with many areas of my life, not just my state of dis-ease… and if what Louise says
is true, these "other areas" of my life may be one of the reasons I am in a state
of dis-ease in the first place! This is a book to help us find self-esteem and self-love.
That may not be a cure for MS, but if our insides are healed, our outsides have
a better chance of improving. That much I believe!
For your book purchases: Please note that when you purchase anything through Amazon.ca
on the Internet, if you'll use
this link, you will be helping support us! Shopping online... what could be more
convenient and simple?? Visit our
Recommended Reading page for great suggestions!
Thought For The Day - The Next Hour
In just one hour from now, your world can be an entirely different place than it is
this moment. You can make it a better place as a result of what you do with this time
that you now have.
One hour from now, you can be well on your way toward your most treasured dream. One
hour from now, you can experience the exhilarating freedom of moving surely and steadily
beyond your most difficult challenge.
In just one hour from now, you can be looking back with satisfaction at how much you've
been able to accomplish. In just one hour's time, your whole attitude can be a thousand
times more positive and productive than it is even now.
Yes, you could spend the next hour wandering aimlessly through a fog of anger, despair
or frustration, and if you wish you'll find plenty of excuses for doing so. Or you
can really and truly live the next hour with energy and vitality, looking positively forward
with the very best you have to give.
The next hour is absolutely critical, for it is the one over which you now have control.
You have every reason, every resource and every ability to make it the very best you've
ever lived.
-- Ralph Marston
Author: Louise Hay
Review By: Donna DeLorme
