Interesting Things

Now that I have been wheat free for 7 months, not only do I feel so much better, but I am noticing some other things as well.  One of the strangest things that I have had for sometime has to do with my thumb nails.  When they grow, they have deep grooves that grow horizontally on them.  They are very painful when they grow out and for years I have asked doctors if they know what causes this and what I can do to fix it because it is so painful.  Nobody ever had an answer for me.  Until now...

Ever since going off the wheat, my thumb nails grow out 95% smoother now.  The horizontal bumps are so minimal now and it no longer hurts me.  It is one of the craziest things.  Was it wheat that was causing my thumb nails to grow all weird like that?  I have to kind of believe that it did as they are almost completely normal now.  Who knew that it could have that effect on my body as well.  But for now, I am happy to have them looking normal and to not have to deal with the pain of them growing out.

I found this article the other day and I wanted to include it here as it describes so many things that I went through.  Again, I am not celiac, but there are many similarities with celiac and wheat allergies that cause many of the same symptoms.  I can eat gluten, though many times I do not as it is just easier to look for gluten free foods than wheat free foods.  Here is the article.  Maybe it will help someone else out as well.  I know when I was having my neurological symptoms and there were no easy answers it was so frustrating.  Why was I having them?  Well, we know why now, but how many other people are suffering and don't know why?

Although the small bowel is one of the main targets of the disease, increasing evidence indicates that celiac disease can affect other organs, including the nervous system, thus changing the clinical scenario from what was once thought of as an intestinal disorder to a broader systemic disease...The most frequent manifestations of such an association are cerebellar ataxia and peripheral neuropathy. Gluten can also be involved in the pathogenesis of epilepsy, as there is robust evidence that drug-resistant seizures (mostly of the complex partial type) and epilepsy with cerebral calcifications are pathogenetically linked to a gluten-dependent mechanism, as indicated by data from our group and others. Other neurological syndromes, including multifocal leukoencephalopathy, dementia, myoclonus, myopathy, myelopathy, stiff -man syndrome, and multiple sclerosis, have been occasionally reported in association with coeliac disease and gluten sensitivity. To better establish the role of gluten sensitivity in neurological impairment, three areas serology, genetics, and clinical response to gluten withdrawal-should be considered...In patients diagnosed with cerebellar ataxia or peripheral neuropathy of recent onset, a strict gluten-free diet is often followed by a notable improvement of neurological symptoms, thus confirming the link between gluten and neurological abnormalities.
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Volta U., De Giorgio R., www.thelancet.com/neurology Vol 9 March 2010