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It's October 15, 1999, and I feel a great break-through has just happened
for some of us who are gluten sensitive, and have had problems with
irrational anger or other mental symptoms resulting from eating
gluten-containing products.

Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane with Christopher Reeves in Superman,
was on Good Morning America today, talking with Diane Sawyer.  It seems
that she was found a few years ago, "cowering in the bushes" at the home of
some Hollywood star's estate, having had a mental breakdown.  She said she
had known since the age of 11 that she had some form of mental "difference"
from most people.  She grew up on a farm in western Canada, where she was
without adequate medical attention... and the general attitude was that one
carried on and kept "stiff upper lip."

Today, living in Los Angeles, she is healthy, happy, and completely normal
in her mental condition, and she says that she was suffering from "food
allergies." She has eliminated from her diet  all foods containing wheat,
never drinks alcohol, never eats eggs (I think they were on the list) and I
don't remember if there were other things.  She is also on an
orthomolecular vitamin and mineral supplement form of medication, including
lots of B vitamins, and has had acupuncture treatments.  The combination of
the above have proved successful and her medical doctors are in agreement
that it has been a cure for her.  Those doctors are NOT bad mouthing the
"alternative medicine"  medical care. Instead they  are saying it worked in
her case, solving a problem they have never been able to solve.

I never cowered in bushes, but I surely had a dreadful and irrational anger
frequently in my life - as did my father and grandfather, and as did my
older son.  I started on orthomolecular vitamin and mineral supplements
many years ago, then found that removing gluten, alcohol, sugars, milk
products, and soy helped, and finally found that acupuncture could deal
with all of the food sensitivities. It has been hard not writing more to
this list about my acupuncture treatment success, but today's show made me
think it was worth mentioning it once again.  Contact me personally if you
want to know more. I think we are finally getting somewhere in dealing with
this medical condition.

Morgot Kidder talked about the brain as an organ of the body that, in her
case,  "suffered from an allergic reaction to foods."  She did not use the
term  "gluten."  That may be because she is only sensitive to wheat as an
allergy, and it may be because she wanted to keep the discussion simple. It
may even be that she does not know about the importance of the
gliadin/gluten component of wheat. She had the usual three minute
interview...not time to tell all the details. Keep an eye out, as she may
be making the rounds of TV interview shows (perhaps one of the longer
interviews like Oprah (which I have never seen) will include her and more
details will be forthcoming.  Maybe All Things Considered will do a longer
segment on the radio, and perhaps there will be something in the print
media.

For those of you who have never had any brain connection to
gluten-sensitivity, this may not be important, but I know there are many on
the list who have had personality changes resulting from eating gluten, and
for these people it is a real step forward.

Gayle Kennedy