If you have gluten intolerance like I do, you will have nutritional deficiencies. Nutritional deficiencies can lead to a wind up of the immune system thereby worsening autoimmunity and/or the devlopment of additional diseases. Often only iron, sodium and postasium levels are checked on routine blood tests.
You Owe It To Yourself To Get Your Nutrient Levels Checked
Many researchers feel this paltry testing is not comprehensive enough. 
Deficiencies of magnesium, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin K, omega 3 fats, amino acids, glutathione and other important micronutrients are typically lowered with gluten intolerance. This is mainily due initially to increased systemic inflammation, which places a greater burden on the enzymes of detoxification as well as other enzymes.
Chemical reactions in our body are catalyzed by enzymes, and vitamins and minerals are the co-factors that allow enzymes to work. Enzymes cannot function without adequate vitamins. Just as your car cannot work without the ignition key or tires, enzymes are stalled without minerals and vitamins.
One of the best ways to measure vitamins and other micronutrients is through SpectraCell Micronutrient Testing. This patented process resulted from 18 years of research at the University of Texas. The micronutrient test measures the biochemical function of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants, providing me a powerful clinical assessment tool in order to help you recover your health.
Signs of nutritional deficiencies on standard blood tests are high homocysteine levels, high MCV and MCH as well as low iron, potassium, protein and albumin. All these and other markers of body malfunction are easier to detect using functional blood chemistry analysis and can be missed using the typical standard broad average lab ranges. Using functional blood chemistry analysis is an important and unique reason why I often am able to detect earlier signs of health deterioration. Check out the link to my functional blood chemistry analysis page for more information on this topic.
When your body enzymes are less able to function due to nutritional deficiencies, autoimmune processes get a chance to ramp up, leading to additional tissues to be targeted for attack.
"Results: Coeliac patients showed a higher total plasma homocysteine level than the general population, indicative of a poor vitamin status. In accordance, the plasma levels of folate and pyridoxal 5″-phosphate (active form of vitamin B-6) were low in 37% and 20%, respectively, and accounted for 33% of the variation of the total plasma homocysteine level (P < 0.008). The mean daily intakes of folate and vitamin B-12, but not of vitamin B-6, were significantly lower in coeliac patients than in controls.
Conclusions: Half of the adult coeliac patients carefully treated with a gluten-free diet for several years showed signs of a poor vitamin status. This may have clinical implications considering the linkage between vitamin deficiency, elevated total plasma homocysteine levels and cardiovascular disease. The results may suggest that, when following up adults with coeliac disease, the vitamin status should be reviewed."[1]
The bottom line take away message is this: It's not enough to treat the symptoms of an illness or disease. The prudent clinician will look for underlying causes of imbalances in the patients' bodily processes, and work with the patient to regain balance. Often this is accomplished with dietary changes, specific supplementation, lifestyle changes and neurological rehabilitation.
If you are looking for this type of assistance with your health challenge, I am ready to help. I walk the walk and talk the talk because of the things I have learned along the path of my personal health restoring journey.
If you found value in this article, please use the social sharing icons at the top of this post and please share with those you know who are still suffering with low thyroid symptoms despite having medical managment. Thank you, help me reach more people so they may regain their zest for living!
All the best – Dr. Johnson – Digging Deeper To Find Solutions
1. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2002; 16: 1333–1339.
What would you say if I told you about a new medical breakthrough treatment could bring you pain relief in as little as 5 minutes-even if you have had the pain for several years? You would call it a miracle, wouldn't you? Well this miracle is called the ATM2, which stands for Active Therapeutic Movements (2nd edition) and is available at Johnson Chiropractic Neurology & Nutrition, now.
This amazing tool is made by the BackProject Corporation and since I have been using the ATM2, I have had such incredible results, that even I have been amazed.
I originally learned about the ATM2 from one of my colleagues who brought this tool to a neurological training program I attended. At the time I had pain in my right shoulder if I elevated my arm above my head. I volunteered to have a treatment in front of the group of doctors. To my amazement, in just five or six minutes, I could lift my arm without pain...and I haven't had pain in my right shoulder since this time...over 3 years ago. I decided right then and there that I had to have one of the "miracle machines"!
The ATM2 works best for pain that occurs during movement. So if your back, neck, hip, knee, or shoulder hurts when you bend in any direction, the ATM2 could be for you. Watch the video below to see how the ATM2 can wipe out back pain that a patient had for years!
When you are in pain, the nerve messages going back and forth between your brain and your injured joints and muscles becomes habituated to working in the painful pattern. The ATM2 works by breaking the pain mediated input to your brain and thus your brain learns to move the injured area once again as it is supposed to, minus the pain. The ATM2 literally reprograms your brain.
If you would like to learn more, I have a great information package that can be mailed to you and it includes a video showing many amazing before and after videos of patients that have been helped with the ATM2. Just click on the big orange button below and soon you too can join those who have had miraculous 5 minute pain correction!
Many years ago when my daugher was an infant she developed a strange symptom: vomitting sometime between the hours of 11:00pm and 1:00am. The next day she showed no signs of any distress or that anything was wrong. The next night the same occurrance - a crying baby and then she would spew forth again. This perplexing situation kept up for a while and I had to get to the bottom of it!
My wife (a nurse) and me (a chiropractor and nutritionist) were beyond frustrated. I called one of my mentors at the time and he recommended I check my infant daughter's gallbladder meridian reflex using Contact Reflex Analysis. I was thinking - how could a gallbladder be problematic in a baby...but I checked her and sure enough, the testing showed a problelm. The solution was to use an actract of beets that would thin the bile. The result: NO MORE VOMITTING! I was amazed and very pleased...but I didn't understand how my mentor knew to check the gallbladder meridian point until years later. What I discovered in my incessant search for healthcare knowledge was a concept called the meridian time clock while studying Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET). Now the mystery was solved. My mentor knew about the concept of the body meridian clock and the gallbladder meridian is most active between 11:00pm and 1:00am.
When there is a block in the flow of energy through a meridian (or too much energy for that matter) the body will produce symptoms indicative of an upset in the balance of the body adaptative processes (called homeostasis).
Recently another of several patients presented with recurrent gut pain that occurs starting around 11:00pm. Since I am now aware of this relationship of time to meridians (and potentially a particular set of symptoms, I instinctively checked the gallbladder meridian...and yes, the meridian was active. Through the procedures of Nutritional Response Testing (NRT), indications for using a specific supplement showed potential for helping this patient with her health challenge.
Additionally in this particular patient, proper testing revealed autoimmune attack on her small intestines and beyond. Previous lab tests done at other doctors offices and hospitals showed no problems whatsoever, which is why I use very specific cutting edge valid tests, that at this time are about 30 years ahead of the standard of care. Evaluating tests from a functional perspective is also one of the reasons I am able to locate underlying causes to health issues that are not found with traditional test evaluation.
Another concept regarding gut pain that is often overlooked by most heatlh practioners is the concept of lectins in foods, which I discussed in a previous blog post. Due to my certification in blood type science I have taught my patients about the importance of understanding the various body function changes and symptoms that lectins can cause, such as:
- Causing our blood cells to stick together
- Trigger body-wide inflammation
- Act as insulin by attaching to insulin receptors on cells which leads to weight gain
- Trigger autoimmune attack
- Trigger digestive system malfunction and pain
- Creative intestinal damage leading to Leaky Gut Syndrome and as a result brain inflammation
- Interrupt nerve signals in the body and alter levels of neurotransmitters and thus cause nerve and brain malfunction leading to ADD and even Alzheimers disease.
- Create joint inflammation leading to various types of arthritis.
- Alter hormonal levels and lead to thyroid malfunction
- ...and more
Watch this brief video that explains the concepts of lectins and how they can impact your health:
The message I hope to get across, is there are many ways to understand the underlying causes of gut pain. I most often find that autoimmune attack is present, but hasn't been tested for...and that gluten and other proteomes, or epitopes, are invoking the expression of autoimmunity and your subsequent health challenge(s).
The keys to overcoming your health challenge are to:
- Avoid the substances that testing reveals is causing immune system activation and thus triggering autoimmune attack, by making dietary changes.
- Take specific supplements that heal the gut and quench gut and systemic inflammation
- Use specific supplements that are needed in the short term, as revealed by methods such as NRT, that can help with the current symptomatic expression of your health challenge
- Change your attitude about what constitutes good food and bad food
- Embrace changes by learning about your health challenge and how your body works.
- Realize that healing is a process (not an event) that requires team work
- See a practitioner who has a variety of health promoting tools so you don't have a one-sided approach to solving your health challenge.
As always, I welcome your comments and questions and if you need help with your health challenge, click on the big orange button below, or call my office at 586-731-8840.
One of the hallmarks of fibromyalgia is brain fog. Many of my patients describe brain fog as confusion, forgetfulness, and difficulty concentrating.
They often tell me they just don't not feel right, or they feel a bit spacey. Jokingly at times, I hear my patients say they are having a “senior moment” when they are having trouble remembering certain things. Thye might be talking to a friend at lunch, for example, and in the middle of a sentence such as “please pass the ….” and then forget either the name of what it is they want. Getting the words to flow smoothly, just isn't working. Levity aside, brain fog is NO JOKE!
The truth of the matter is thier brain is inflammed and degenerating. As I pointed out in my last article the adrenal, gut, brain and immune system are all involved together. The brain inflammation shows up on MRI as a shrinking brain. When the hippocampus and frontal lobe are involved, alzheimers disease often develops.[1] The mechanism is gut inflammation, often from gluten and other intolerances, lead to the productiion of damaging immune system chemicals called cytokines, which in turn lead to increased production of a hormone the adrenal glands make, called cortisol. Cortisol causes damage to the hippocampus of the brain.[2]
Some of the other symptoms of brain fog include [3]:
1) Horrible short term memory
2) Difficulty with word finding and word substitution
3) Disorientation lasting 30-60 seconds ( You might be driving somewhere and you forget where you are and where you are going)
4) Loss of mental acuity
5) Forgetfulness
6) In ability to think clearly
7) A feeling that you’re in a fog or a dark cloud is over your head
8) Decreased attention span
9) Mild depression or anxiety
10) Lack of spatial awareness
11) Difficulty concentrating
12) Lack of focus
13) Confusion
14) Spaciness or Absentmindedness
15) Trouble learning new tasks
16) Trouble solving problems
17) Decrease in creativity
18) Decreased mental stamina
Ultimately, if you have fibromyalgia, and want to find out the cause or causes of your condition, proper testing needs to be done. So far every case of fibromyalgia I have seen in my office had, as part of the cause, gluten intolerance. Accurate, state-of-the-art testing is the only way to determine if this is the case. The standard testing too often gives a false negative test. When your body and brain are at stake, time is of the essence and proper testing is paramount. As far as I am concerned, the only lab that can do the job right is Cyrex Labs.
If you would like me to help you unravel the mysteries of your fibromyalgia symptoms and help you get your body and brain working better, give me a call for your fibromyalgia case review. learn what my Johnson Neruro-Metabolic Therapy can do to help you tacle your fibromyalgia, brain fog so you can get your life back!
If you found value in this article, please use the social sharing icons at the top of this post and please share with those you know who are still suffering with chronic condition symptoms despite having medical managment. Thank you, help me reach more people so they may regain their zest for living!
All the best – Dr. Johnson – Digging Deeper To Find Solutions
1. http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223%2805%2900768-7/abstract
2. http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v1/n1/full/nn0598_69.html
3. http://www.myadrenalfatigue.com/brain-fog
Just about everyone knows that when you have an upset and are emotionally down, your digestive tract, otherwise known as the gut, can become upset too. I've had the occasional emotional upset followed by gurgling in the gut and I bet many of you have too.
While the occasional upset isn't a big deal, long term stress leads to adrenal fatigue, which in turn can cause leaky gut syndrome triggering the factors that contribute to autoimmne disease.1 Some of the autoimmune disorders associated with Leaky Gut Syndrome (LGS) are fibromyalgia, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, eczema, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and even Alzheimer's Disease.2,3
Did you know that autoimmune disease is reported to be the third most common category of disease in the United States after cancer and heart disease?
4 Conservative estimates indicate that three-quarters of the persons with autoimmune diseases are women.
5
The most common autoimmune diseases are: Rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Graves disease, type 1 diabetes, Sjögren's syndrome, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, Addison's disease, Guillain-Barre syndrome, temporal arteritis and Ménière's disease.
There are many triggers for autoimmune disease such as heavy metal and toxic chemical overload, however this article focuses on how chronic stress (emotional and chemical) can over-power your adrenal glands and emotional stability leading to LGS thus triggering autoimmunity.
You can you tell if your adrenals are fatiguing by the following symptoms:
- inability to fall asleep
- inabiity to stay asleep
- difficulty waking up in the morning
- not feeling rested after sleep
- not recovering from physical activity
- drop in energy between 4pm and 7pm
- unexplained blood sugar symptoms
- inflammation, pain, and headache episodes that repeat daily (diurnal pattern)
Fortunately a simple but accurate test can measure your adrenal stress called the The Adrenal Stress Index™, which I often use in my assessment of patients to determine if adrenal issues are a connected to their health challenge.
When your adrenal glands are fatigued your circadian rhythm (popularly known as your body clock) goes awry. Recent studies of disrupted circadian rhythm showed breakdown occurs in blood vessels which leads to hypertenson and blood pooling.6 Other researchers have found that "there is currently sufficient evidence to suggest that circadian rhythms are important to gut function, metabolism, and mucosal defense, and that further investigation will uncover connections between disordered rhythms and gastrointestinal malfunction.7
Basically, what ends up happening is the adrenal glands begin to break down, then the gut starts getting leaky, the inflammatory chemicals of the immune system cause brain inflammmation, which in turn futher degrades the circadian rhythm. This vicious cycle can continue to spiral out of control because the LGS triggers more inflammation due to increaed sensitivity to food proteins that end up in the blood stream where they don't belong.You end up with emotional outbursts, failing memory, and seemingly unrelated illnesses start stacking up as the gut and brain barriers continue to break down.
By this time you are going from doctor to doctor, only to be labled with depression and anxiety and along with drugs to treat your mental symptoms, you end up with a myriad of prescriptions for all the other symptoms you now have. You are feeling frustrated and hopeless as your life passes you by. You can hardly remember what it feels like to feel good.
Often the scenario I just described, fits the average chronic condition patients that calls my office for help. Fortunately with my unique training and skill set aided by excellent tests that Cyrex Labs offers, I can assist those patients in their health recovery.
Based on each patient test results, I customize a treatment plan (aimed at improving the patients underlying neurological, structural and metabolic abnormalities) combining the necessary elements of 5 important treatment tenents:
- Dietary changes
- Lifestyle changes
- Specific nutritional supplementation (including detoxing if needed)
- Gut healing and inflamation quenching
- Johnson Brain-Based Therapy
Although this article is somewhat brief, I hope you can appreciate the importance of the impact of adrenals on gut health. I have additional information on my unique treatment approach on this website.
If you would like me to assess your health, click on the big orange button below to schedule your case review.
Please feel free to leave comments and share this message with your friends and loved ones.
1 Segerstrom, Suzanne C.; Miller, Gregory E., Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry, Psychological Bulletin. 130(4), Jul 2004, 601-630.
2 Gurevich D, Siegel B, Dumlao M, Perl E, Chaitin P, Bagne C, Oxenkrug G. Prog, HPA Axis Responsivity To Dexamethasone And Cognitive Impairment In Dementia,
Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 1990;14(3):297-308.
3Murialdo G, Nobili F, Rollero A, Gianelli MV, Copello F, Rodriguez G, Polleri A., Hippocampal Perfusion And Pituitary-Adrenal Axis In Alzheimer's Disease, Neuropsychobiology. 2000;42(2):51-7.
4 National Institutes of Health Autoimmune Disease Coordinating Committee Report, 2002. Bethesda (MD): The Institutes; 2002.
5 Jacobson DL, Gange SJ, Rose NR, Graham NMH. Epidemiology and estimated population burden of selected autoimmune disease in the United States. Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1997;84:223–43.
6 Norihiko Takeda and Koji Maemura. Circadian Clock And Vascular Disease, Hypertens Res.2010 July;33(7):645-651
7 Bron R, Furness JB. Rhythm Of Digestion: Keeping Time In The Gastrointestinal Tract,
Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2009 Oct;36(10):1041-8. Epub 2009 Jun 29.