Temporal Arteritis

[elye]

I've been grimly fascinated over the past couple of years, since my own celiac diagnosis, to trace the illnesses that stretch way back in my family tree (most startlingly, my Dad's side) that were very likely due to untreated celiac. My dad has always had the classic symptoms, but recently had a "negative" blood panel done, and that's good enough for him it would seem, but I'm certain he's always been at least intolerant. So, I've attributed his persistent arthritis, diverticulitis, neuropathy, and maybe even his Parkinson's, to this horrible, tip-of-the-iceberg illness. Recently he has lost about 70% of his eyesight, and was diagnosed with giant-cell arteritis. One guess as to what I immediately assume! I did some quick research, and there isn't much available, but I read two pubmed articles that talk about a connection between celiac and temporal arteritis through the HLA-B8 gene. Now, I remember the last time I started a thread asking about anyone else connecting celiac with Parkinson's, I was overwhelmed by the number who responded with an emphatic 'yes'. Enough, I know, to discount a simple coincidence. So I'm asking again, only this time, does anyone have both celiac and temporal arteritis, or family members who do?

[2kids4me]

This is a good site on the the various vasculitis disorders.

Open Original Shared Link

There are many types of autoimmune disease - including the different forms of vasculitis. If a person has one autoimmune disease, they are more likely to develop another - there are known links to Hashimotos thyroid disease and Type 1 diabetes, celiac and thyroid, Type 1 diabetes and celiac..... and any combination ...

Anyone with known autoimmune disease is more likely to develop any combination of varoius disorders.... check out:

Open Original Shared Link

[aikiducky]

It's not necessarily that one auto-immune disease causes another - but they get inherited in groups, so a person who has inherited one is more likely to have the genes for others as well.

Pauliina

[elye]

2kids4me, thanks for those references...very informative. I know that autoimmune diseases tend to cluster, and the reason why, I think, could very well be that one autoimmune disorder can, in fact, cause another, particularly when it comes to celiac disease. Celiac differs from all the other 80-odd autoimmune diseases in that with the others, the autoimmune system attacks the body's own cells, but with celiac, the a. sytem attacks gluten, an outside protein. This, for me, can't help but beg the question: If a celiac patient ingests gluten, and the immune system unloads antibodies to destroy them, and they float around the bloodstream all over the body, why could they not be attacking other things besides the gluten, like the islet cells, the myelin sheath, healthy neurons, etc? I now know many people who have greatly lessened the symptoms of their autoimmune diseases,(ms, arthritis, hashimoto's, lupus) by eating a gluten-free diet. To me this is striking and compelling...

[Yellow Rose]

I've been grimly fascinated over the past couple of years, since my own celiac diagnosis, to trace the illnesses that stretch way back in my family tree (most startlingly, my Dad's side) that were very likely due to untreated celiac. My dad has always had the classic symptoms, but recently had a "negative" blood panel done, and that's good enough for him it would seem, but I'm certain he's always been at least intolerant. So, I've attributed his persistent arthritis, diverticulitis, neuropathy, and maybe even his Parkinson's, to this horrible, tip-of-the-iceberg illness. Recently he has lost about 70% of his eyesight, and was diagnosed with giant-cell arteritis. One guess as to what I immediately assume! I did some quick research, and there isn't much available, but I read two pubmed articles that talk about a connection between celiac and temporal arteritis through the HLA-B8 gene. Now, I remember the last time I started a thread asking about anyone else connecting celiac with Parkinson's, I was overwhelmed by the number who responded with an emphatic 'yes'. Enough, I know, to discount a simple coincidence. So I'm asking again, only this time, does anyone have both celiac and temporal arteritis, or family members who do?

My youngest daughter had JRA and developed temporal arteritis and was very close to stroking out when an allergist figured out that this is what she had. It was caused by a toxic reaction to her athritus meds. She was in the 8th grade and taking adult doses of 11 different meds. He took her off all meds and wheat, beef, rice, and milk products for 30 days. She had JRA since first grade and was in a wheel chair most of the time. He gave her a couple of cortizone shots, some interferron and by the time we got home several hours later she was better. Major headache for a month before seeing him. She has never had another problem with JRA. All her symptoms dissappeared within that 30 days and she was able to reintroduce the other foods except rice within a year. She has never been digonosed with celiac and no one ever suggested it either. I had not know before reading this that there was a connection between the two. Since I have RA and Celiac and been recently diogonosed in April and she is very much like me with similar health problems I am going to have to convince her to get tested. Have your dad's doctors check his med levels he may be building up to a toxic level.

Yellow Rose

[2kids4me]

Its kind of complex but the antibodies are against the endomeseal cells that line the villi, the villi line the intestine.... that's why the villi get wiped out. Eliminate gluten= body stops attacking the villi. So it does not differ in that sense - the body IS attacking its own cells - the villi. The gluten particles coat the villi and the reaction takes place because of the gluten for sure...but it differs from an allergic reaction in the sense that it is "local" but creates systemic antibodies. An allergic reaction causes immediate systemic effect.

Of course the damaged gut leaks and causes systemic reaction - and a wide range of symptoms, many very serious.

Many Type 1 diabetics are more likely to get autoimmune thyroid disease and/or celiac. Lots of Type 1 's are not celiac, lots of people with thyroid disease(autoimmune) do not become diabetic. Many people with celiac have combined food intolerances but do not deveop RA...

There are over 80 diseases related to autoimmunity and any combination of them can occur in an individual...... and a lot of them are not celiac but clusters of other conditions.

It is very complex and I hope they one day find some answers.

The antibodies and reaction to gluten keep the immune system on high alert and there is a cause and effect known between celiac and Diabetes for sure, in fact - the Childrens hospital where I take my son routinely screens their diabetic patients for celiac - and it is thought that the celiac precedes the onset of diabetes.( in some patients)

The autoantibodies usually attack certain cell lines - like endocrine - the antibodies created by an attack on one endocrine organ can indeed start attacking similar protein coated cells. A patient with MS may cluster immune attacks against nerve tissue and be more likely to have eye disorders (attacking the optic nerve). A person with RA is more likely to have vasculitis disorders because the cells that line the blood vessels are simialr in protein structure to the cells that line joints.

Celaic patients are more likely to develop other endocrinopathies - because the protein cell coating is similar to endocrine organs.

At least this is my understanding so far....

Hope this all makes sense.

sandy

[elye]

Wow, this all hurts my little brain...thanks for all your knowledge, Sandy. Lots to digest. Let me struggle through this...so, antibodies can be categorized; one type of antibody will attack only one kind of cell, but similar cell types can be found in differing parts of the body (e.g., myelin, optic nerve). The autoantibodies that attack the villi can, therefore, attack other locations where there are similar protein-coated cells. They float around, and this can happen. You've said that the antibodies that are unloaded in a celiac patient are "designed" to attack the villi. Couldn't they be designed to attack the protein in the gluten? The immune system is seeing gluten as an invader, like a bacteria. I guess I'm wondering if the immune system is reacting to gluten like it reacts to a cold or flu bug. It is probably just as unhealthy for us, upon reflection. My brain hurts...!

[2kids4me]

Wow, this all hurts my little brain...thanks for all your knowledge, Sandy. Lots to digest. Let me struggle through this...so, antibodies can be categorized; one type of antibody will attack only one kind of cell, but similar cell types can be found in differing parts of the body (e.g., myelin, optic nerve). The autoantibodies that attack the villi can, therefore, attack other locations where there are similar protein-coated cells. They float around, and this can happen. You've said that the antibodies that are unloaded in a celiac patient are "designed" to attack the villi. Couldn't they be designed to attack the protein in the gluten? The immune system is seeing gluten as an invader, like a bacteria. I guess I'm wondering if the immune system is reacting to gluten like it reacts to a cold or flu bug. It is probably just as unhealthy for us, upon reflection. My brain hurts...!

I guess I should clarify as well - that the body is reacting to the gluten and the villi are damaged in the "war against gliadin" launched by the immune system. In effect - the immune sytem damages "self" and the foreign invader known as gluten.

The antibodies produced against cold or flu viruses are produced by the humoral immune system and the antibodies produced agaisnt gliadin are initiated by the cellular immune system. Like I said - it si complex - there can be crossover recaions between the two.

This explains it better than I can:

Open Original Shared Link

One component, B lymphocytes (specialized white blood cells-WBCs), produces antibodies, proteins that attack "foreign" substances and cause them to be removed from the body; this is sometimes called the humoral immune system. The other component consists of special white blood cells called T lymphocytes, which can attack "foreign" substances directly; this is sometimes called the cellular immune system.

The damage and inflammation seen with celiac disease occurs when the body is exposed to the gluten and gliadin proteins, it forms antibodies that recognize and act against not only the grain proteins, but also against constituents of the intestinal villi.

Sandy

[Yellow Rose]

That was wonderful info. Thanks so much. So our brains don't hurt let me tell you how my daughter who is a biochemist explained how antibodies work.

The antibodies will roam around our bodies looking for something that doesn't belong. When it finds something it will grab ahold of it and take it around to the other antibodies asking "Do you know this?" When it finds the right antibody that recognizes the foreign body it hands it off to that antibody who will send out a chemical signal to the ones like it to start searching for more of the foreign bodies that only they recognize and attack them. Amazing how our bodies work.

Yellow Rose

[elye]

That is all truly amazing.

My antibodies have better brains than I do!