Jump to content
This site uses cookies. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. More Info... ×
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate
  • Record is Archived

    This article is now archived and is closed to further replies.

    Scott Adams
    Scott Adams

    Multiple Sclerosis and Celiac Disease

    Reviewed and edited by a celiac disease expert.

    The following research was compiled by Don Wiss and posted on the Celiac Listserv news group:

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A12):
    The MS/gluten/casein connection is mostly only anecdotal as it has never really been studied. This is what I have (much contributed by Ron Hoggan):

    (1) Roger MacDougall was a famous British playwright, who was diagnosed with MS in the 1950s. The doctors felt it was best to keep the information from him. They thought it was in his best interests not to tell him what he had. It was not until he was bedridden that he learned what illness he had. When he knew about it, he did some reading, and went on a gluten & casein free diet. He recovered almost totally. This is from Can a Gluten-Free Diet Help? How? by Lloyd Rosenvold, M.D., [Keats Publishing, 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT 06840-0876, 1992, ISBN 0-87983-538-9]. MacDougall eventually wrote a pamphlet titled My Fight Against Multiple Sclerosis, pub 1980 by Regenics Inc, Mansfield, Ohio. Rosenvold also includes some other anecdotes in his book.

    (2) In the Oct. 5, 1974, Lancet, Dr. Norman A. Mathesons letter Multiple Sclerosis and Diet was published on p. 831, wherein he outlined his having been diagnosed with MS and subsequently reading Roger MacDougalls story. He then described his return to good health and ended with: I thank Roger MacDougall, whose diet made it possible to carry out these observations.

    (3) Ashton Embry has written an article MS - probable cause and best-bet treatment in which he discusses the dietary and food allergy links to MS.

    (4) In Gluten Intolerance by Beatrice Trum Hunter, Keats Publishing Inc. New Canaan, CT. ISBN 0-87983435-8 She talks about a Dr. R. Shatin in Australia who has suggested that an inherited susceptibility to multiple sclerosis is from a primary lesion in the small intestine resulting from gluten intolerance, and that the demyelination is secondary. Shatin suggested that the high incidence of multiple sclerosis in Canada, Scotland and western Ireland may be related to the predominant consumption of Canadian hard wheat, which has the highest gluten content of all wheat varieties. In contrast, the incidence of multiple sclerosis is low among indigenous Equatorial Africans who mainly consume non-gluten containing grains such as millet.

    (5) In Multiple Sclerosis, by Jan de Vries, Mainstream Publishing, (Thorntons?) UK it recommends absolutely no gluten and very high reduction of dairy products, refined sugar, and saturated fats. He says that one of his most successful case studies, confirm that absolutely not one pinch if flour i.e. absolutely no gluten at all... otherwise you are deceiving yourself.

    (6) According to Dr. Joe Murray at the University of Iowa there is the possibility that the MS patient suffers from a neurological complication of undiagnosed celiac disease. About 5% of celiac patients get nerve damage that can vary from tingling and numbness in the feet to confusion, memory loss, dizziness and loss of balance, visual abnormalities. This sometimes happen in the absence of GI symptoms.

    (7) Lutz, W.J., The Colonization of Europe and Our Western Diseases, Medical Hypotheses, Vol. 45, pages 115-120, 1995

    Dr. Lutz argues that there is a clear, inverse relationship between civilisatory diseases and the length of time the people of a given region of Europe have had to adapt to the high carbohydrate diet associated with the cultivation of cereal grains that was begun in the Near East, and spread very slowly through Europe.

    I quote from the first page of the article:

    In over thirty years of clinical practice, I have found, as published in numerous papers and several books (3, 4), that diet works well against Crohns disease, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, heart failure, acne and other problems.

    Don Wiss can e-mail a copy of the article text to those requesting.

    (8) There is a fellow named Dave Q that has recovered with a gluten-free diet and lots of supplements. He discusses this, along with other recovery stories.

    (9) There is supposedly a newsgroup for those interested in Natural Recovery of MS. Its alt.support.mult-sclerosis.alternatives. Ask your system administrator to add it if you cant find it. But it seems to be hard to find.

    (10) A page on Milk and MS is from the Carbondale Center for Macrobiotic Studies and blames dairy for the distribution of MS. Visit: Open Original Shared Link

    (11) The following is a list of articles in medical journals, which were published at about the time that prednisone became popular in the treatment of MS. They appear to connect MS with celiac-like intestinal morphology.

    • Cook, Gupta, Pertschuk, Nidzgorski Multiple Sclerosis and Malabsorption Lancet; June 24, 1978, p. 1366
    • Fantelli, Mitsumoto & Sebek Multiple Sclerosis and Malabsorption Lancet May 13, 1978 p. 1039-1040
    • Davison, Humphrey, Livesedge et al. Multiple Sclerosis Research Elsevier Scientific Publishing New York, 1975

    I find it curious that the connection between malabsorption and MS stopped at about the same time that prednisone and other such steroids became the treatment of choice for MS. As Im sure you know, prednisone incites the re-growth of the villi despite the ingestion of gluten, in the celiac gut. Investigators who did endoscopies on MS patients admit that they have not asked about the patients use of such drugs.

    (12) Some literature from the celiac view point:

    • Drs. Cooke & Holmes in Celiac Disease 1984; Churchill Livingstone, NY say that 10% of celiacs have neuropathic symptoms. Many appear to be associated with demyelination. Fineli et. al. echo that figure in Adult celiac disease presenting as cerebellar syndrome Neurology 1980; 30: 245-249.
    • Cooke & Holmes come right out and express some of their frustration with neurologists for ignoring the potiential for neuropathic celiac.
    • A new school has emerged, on the heels of the following report:
    • Hadjivassiliou, et. al. Does cryptic gluten sensitivity play a part in neurological illness? Lancet 1996; 347: 369-371
    • They found that 57 percent of those with neurological problems of unknown cause also had antibodies to gliadin, which is a component of gluten. Sixteen percent of them had celiac disease, a much higher level than normally found. Most of the patients with the anti-gliadin antibodies did not have other symptoms of celiac disease such as poor absorption of vitamins.

    (13) There is supposedly a book on MS written by a Greg Nooney, a fellow that has cured himself with a gluten-free diet. He may be in Colorado.



    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments



    Guest Saffina

    Posted

    Very interesting article.

     

    I have had MS for almost 3 years, and my burning hands symptom made the eczema on my hand quite bad. Being of Asian origin, our staple diet is made up of chappati's which is made of whole wheat flour. Thankfully the eczema made me ditch the chappati's as I could not handle the dough, due to the added allergic reaction and without realizing it made my MS go into remission. I was also taking chlorella at the time which helped repair the damage in no time (I refused treatment, so I was not taking any drugs to weaken the immune system). I still had some remission symptoms which subsided completely after 2 weeks on vitamin D3 5,000iu daily.

     

    Considering the neuro who diagnosed me with the prognosis of “I can confirm you have had 2 relapses of MS, and generally the disability in Asians is very severe.†I feel blessed and I have always focused on healing. As the Law of Attraction states “what you focus on expandsâ€.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Alesia

    My 15 year old daughter has been diagnosed with pre-MS, demylination of the brain on MRI. She has had GI issues for 10 years following a severe intestinal virus. I often suspected IBS and then as she got older I considered celiac but a short trial of a gluten free diet put her over the top-she hated the food. Now with her new diagnosis, we are day 5 of a gluten free diet and we are committed as a family. I wish I had known about the connection sooner. They want her to start MS drugs to halt the progression. We are definitely going Gluten -Free. and unsure about starting copaxone..open to any and all comments....scarey. But so grateful for the hope this gluten free diet offers. Thank you.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Alesia
    Thank you for this article. I am currently doing my Thesis on this topic after knowing a loved one who saw amazing results with their Multiple Sclerosis after doing a gluten-free diet. If anyone reads this who has MS and would like to help me with my thesis (I need individuals testimony) I would greatly appreciate it!!!!

    I too would love to read your thesis. I have a 15 year old with many celiac symptoms-never tested, and a new diagnosis of possible MS.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest ambrogio

    Posted

    Thanks for the information, we are reading from Italy. My wife 7 years ago started to have diarrhea problems, this for 2 years: the doctor said that was because we were just married and my wife was still nervous for the change of life. 5 years ago she had a gastro inspection to understand possible celiac problems cause she understood that a diet without gluten was better: the day before the gastro inspection she assumed gluten (in order to let them discover better) but in the day of inspection she had the first attack of SM with paresis. 1 years late(4 years ago) -during the gluten free diet- doctors asked her to start again with gluten-free diet-: she had the 2nd attack and started interferon. 1 month ago she had a visit in another hospital for understand intolerance: we brought the old exams on glasses, the result was she is/was celiac.... the first hospital wrong the exams result.... Is she little MS and than celiac Or she is celiac and little MS.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Beau

    2007 had a full-scale MS blow out - degenerated, full 1.5 yrs in bed and dying. Within a couple of days of dying, friend suggested possible gluten Intolerance. We'd never even heard of it before (this was before the awareness craze!). Started the diet that hour. Within a day could understand and speak English again, the next day I could sit up, the next could hold a fork. Remarkable recovery off my death bed, though I had been so far gone with full body systemic shut down that it took another 3 years to heal using foods, nutrition, herbs and getting OFF 15 drugs that ultimately were killing me. For a year after completely healed, I walked, hiked, and swam at the gym 5-6 days a week and had my life back! But this past month, I am in full neurological melt down again. Don't know if I am being inadvertently exposed to gluten or if it's some toxin in my environment - or what. Running out of time and tricks. But I swear there's a direct connection with our gut issues, immune system, gluten intolerance and neuro symptoms (for some of us.) Looking into medicinal pot next as I've seen new studies regarding benefits of cannabis on MS.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest lynne

    Posted

    I love this information. I am now being tested for celiac disease. I am 58 years old and I was recently diagnosed with Addison's disease and I am of course on steroids. I look back and have had do very many autoimmune diseases and am so praying that I am finally going to have understanding of my poor health and can live the rest of my life feeling much better. I will be sure to pass this information on. Thank you

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest ahmed

    Posted

    I have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and subsequently went on a diet free of: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and carragean. I am on no medications for Multiple Sclerosis after 2 1/2 years on the diet. It has completely changed my life -- more research in this area is clearly needed.

    Dear Lisa,

     

    I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 12 years ago. I am suffering spasticity and fatigue. I started a nearly gluten and dairy free diet for about 4 months. I started to feel better concerning fatigue, but I inquire about your regime. Does it contain corn, rice or soya?

     

    Please help. Thank you!

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Carole D

    Posted

    Hi Lisa,

     

    I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2000. I was just diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and I'm supposed to start medication this week. I still have doubts about going on the medication but I'm scared that if I don't take the medication that I'll do additional damage.

    Try doctor Terry Whal's diet. She is a doctor recovering from advance multiple sclerosis. I do the same and do not take medicines. I feel great! You can find her on the web.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest James Bostrom

    Posted

    While some MS patients who have had the liberation therapy are reporting long-term benefits from having the procedure, there are just as many for whom the ‘liberation therapy' has failed as an effective therapeutic intervention. This doesn't mean that these patients didn't have some immediate benefits once the neck veins were opened; most did, but over time the veins restenosed again and their MS symptoms returned. In fact, having seen their MS symptoms almost totally disappear however briefly once their veins were cleared, patients who have restenosed want it done over again, as many times as necessary in some cases. However, there is now a new and growing subset of MS patients who have had vein widening venoplasty multiple times, usually to less beneficial effect each time, leading to the later discovery of so much intraluminal scar tissue by the second, third, or fourth attempt at re-opening the veins that the procedure cannot be performed again. For more information on the combination therapy protocol and study email to apply@ccsviclinic.ca or call 888-468-1554.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest mary

    I'm grateful for this!!! I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2007 and two days ago I was diagnosed with celiac disease. I am astonished not one of the many doctors I have seen ever mentioned the connection. I saw a naturopath that told me to eat "anti-inflammatory" but not glutten-free. I am 38 and have been falling apart for the last 5 years on and off. I treat multiple sclerosis with a daily injection and have tried the anti-inflammatory(not 100%) way and I have lost 60% of my hair, and just recently had a disc herniate in my cervical spine that led to surgery and now this. Some of you gave me some hope, thank you! I am angry that I had to ask to be tested and that these neurologists and MDs dont have a clue! You have to be your own doctor, I guess.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest liliana

    Posted

    I was diagnosed with relapsing & remitting MS 18 months ago and have been following a gluten free and dairy free diet for almost one year now. I have not had any further relapses since my diagnosis, and while I cannot prove that this is due to the diet, my general health has certainly improved because of it.

    Frankly, the science makes sense.

    How are you today ? I have ON and afraid for the future. Was the diet useful???

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites
    Guest Jennifer Morrison

    Posted

    I was very interested in your article because I just started using a product called ISAGENIX which is a colon cleansing product with vitamin replacement as well and my arthritis has completely gone, no more stiffness in my joints , and my psoriasis has begun to disappear. Also of note I am Canadian of Scottish heritage and while at the seminar for this product they mentioned that one lady had multiple sclerosis whom the doctors had told she would be in a wheelchair soon and now she is totally symptom free. I am also a retired critical care nurse so if you know of anyone who is curious about hearing more about this product they can email me.

    Rosalind - I am very interested to know about that RX for arthritis. As a retired med. tech I wondered if my arthritis was from running to the ER for many years. I am really interested in that arthritis remedy.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites



    Guest
    This is now closed for further comments

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Donate
  • About Me

    Scott Adams

    Scott Adams was diagnosed with celiac disease in 1994, and, due to the nearly total lack of information available at that time, was forced to become an expert on the disease in order to recover. In 1995 he launched the site that later became Celiac.com to help as many people as possible with celiac disease get diagnosed so they can begin to live happy, healthy gluten-free lives.  He is co-author of the book Cereal Killers, and founder and publisher of the (formerly paper) newsletter Journal of Gluten Sensitivity. In 1998 he founded The Gluten-Free Mall which he sold in 2014. Celiac.com does not sell any products, and is 100% advertiser supported.


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Related Articles

    Jefferson Adams
    Celiac.com 04/15/2011 - Celiac disease is associated with various autoimmune and neurological diseases. A team of researchers recently completed a study on the prevalence of celiac disease in a prospective series of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients and their first-degree relatives.
    The study team included Luis Rodrigo, Carlos Hernández-Lahoz, Dolores Fuentes, Noemí Alvarez, Antonio López-Vázquez, and Segundo González.
    They are affiliated variously with the departments of Gastroenterology, Immunology Services and Neurology at the Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (HUCA) in Oviedo, Spain.
    For the study, the team analyzed the prevalence of serological, histological and genetic celiac disease markers in 72 MS patients and 126 of their first-degree relatives. They then comp...


    Jefferson Adams
    Celiac.com 05/11/2011 - People with multiple sclerosis and their first-generation relatives have higher rates of celiac disease than the general population, according to a report by a research team in Spain.
    For the study, a research team led by Dr. Luis Rodrigo of University Hospital, Central Asturias, Spain looked at rates of serological, genetic, and histological disease markers in 72 multiple sclerosis patients and 126 of their first-degree relatives. They then compared the results against data from 123 healthy control subjects.
    The team found rates of celiac disease among multiple sclerosis patients that are 5 to 10 times higher than rates for the general population worldwide, which average between 1% and 2%.
    The team found similar levels of  HLA-DQ2 markers in both multiple ...


  • Recent Activity

    1. - trents replied to SusanB123's topic in Introduce Yourself / Share Stuff
      5

      24 year old son newly diagnosed with Celiac

    2. - Chloe Senora replied to sezza61's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      20

      Can celiac suddenly 'occur'?

    3. - SusanB123 replied to SusanB123's topic in Introduce Yourself / Share Stuff
      5

      24 year old son newly diagnosed with Celiac

    4. - Raquel2021 posted a topic in Super Sensitive People
      0

      Gluten free spices in Canada


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      125,190
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Randall Stetler
    Newest Member
    Randall Stetler
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      120.8k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Popular Now

    • SusanB123
    • Allias
    • matts
      15
    • cjjones5969
      9
    • BadHobit
      11
  • Popular Articles

    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
    • Scott Adams
  • Upcoming Events

×
×
  • Create New...