Hi Everyone - I just had follow up labs after going gluten free and beginning a vitamin regimen that includes cinnamon and fish oil. After only 6 weeks, and barely taking half of the supplement "prescript
ion", because I started having reflux, etc. along with flare and had to back off the vitamins numerous times - nevertheless my cholesterol profile improved tremendously (triglycerides alone came down a whopping 400 points!) My Vit D improved from 17 to 26 (I barely took any Vit D) a high parathyroid level returned to a normal range, and my ANA was negative for the first time in 3 years. In May it was still considerably elevated. Was it the gluten free diet? The vitamins? Not entirely sure yet, and to be fair - I've been on Plaquenil since last December.
The doctor cites the malabsorption due to the celiac as the main reason for my osteoporosis and what he called "adult rickets", and my bad cholesterol profile, especially triglycerides comes from Vit B deficiency. I've never been able to stay on a statin drug - all caused major side effects. I've had less aches and pains since taking triple strength fish oil. Cognition is slightly better. Still get fatigued and seem to have flares involving my stomach every 1 - 2 weeks since starting all of this, so I'm investigating and trying to rule out possible causes of that (one of which might be the pharmacy's switch to a different manufacturer of my generic Plaquenil that occurred at the same time). But in general I am really encouraged. I've been doing a lot of reading and information gathering regarding celiac disease and autoimmune disease and there are so many links! I'm actually shocked that in 3 years my rheumatologist never explored this possibility.
This doctor also cites the overabundance of Omega 6 in our diets, especially in relation to the low Omega 3's. So he encourages no vegetable oils, (butter is preferable), nuts, or chicken (they break down the corn diet in such a way that it loads us up with Omega 6) for starters. Fish and beef are preferred. I won't get into it any further - but I did want to say that it seems diet may play a bigger role than previously considered by most doctors in the formation and progression of autoimmune disease. At least it's something I'm going to continue to pursue. Maybe my ANA went negative because of the Plaquenil.....but with the other changes, I'm inclined to believe it had quite a lot, if not everything to do with the dietary changes.
There was one negative to all the improved bloodwork, and that is that my CRP actually increased (doubled, really). Will be checking with the doc on that. If you google "nutrigenomic medicine" - or just "Celiac and autoimmune disease" you'll have quite a lot of reading to do. I would encourage anyone with autoimmune issues (or diagnosed children) to pursue the possible connections. All this is just MHO -
Lucy