<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Hello List,

Thanks for the response to LDA (low dose allergen therapy).  Here is a
brief explanation of it vs. the old EPD therapy which is no longer
available.  http://www.food-allergy.org/epdstatus.html  As an aside, I am
not interested in LDA to “cure” my Celiac as some concerned people chided
me.

No one had any direct experience with LDA, but many wrote to express that
they also had multiple allergies, specifically food
allergies/intolerances. Several people mentioned how stomach acid
replacement had helped them, as well as removing offending foods from
their diet.  Many people had these problems develop after Celiac, which
makes this a pertinent subject for the list in my opinion. Celiac
obviously messes up your gut, and I don’t think people realize (read:
doctors) how difficult it is to bring the intestines back to optimal
health and how important that is to the future health of the patient.

I will not be able to let anyone know about my LDA experiences until I
clear up some intestinal issues that have emerged since I asked my
original question.  Here is what is going on with me, and I would urge
anyone who identifies with any of my problems to make sure they don’t have
something similar going on:

In my particular case it looks like I have “leaky gut” which means the
best solution for me so far has been to rotate my foods, since I more or
less react to everything at this point.  I have antral gastritis and bile
reflux (diagnosed via endoscopy) which has slightly improved since doing a
little round of acid blockers.  However, I have abounding C. Difficile
bacterium toxins, Candida Krusei overgrowth, and moderate levels of H.
Pylori for which I started treating yesterday.  In addition it turns out I
have borderline hypothyroidism related to my pituitary (anyone with this
problem I would love to hear from you since I’m trying to learn about it!!)
which probably doesn’t help so I’m on a natural thyroid (corn free!)
Naturethroid.  I’m only in my mid 20’s and already such a mess ack!

 So basically in order to do LDA one has to clean up their gut first.  I
need to strengthen my intestinal lining and make sure I correct
flora/parasite/bacterial problems.  I am also being tested for IgA
deficiency which may have triggered my Celiac (along with high stress
level and other infections) about four years ago, and sometimes people in
my position will have an imbalance in cortisol/DHEA ratio (also going to
do a test for that): both of these can also lead to aggravating food
allergies and intolerances.

While I’m taking the anti-biotics I am taking a product called Florastor
(www.florastor.com) which is a friendly yeast that helps the intestine and
isn’t killed off like the rest of the flora.  Then I’ll start with an
intensive round of anti-fungals and probiotics (by a company called HLC).
I’m also taking a plant based digestive enzyme called Megapolyzyme made by
InterPlexus. I’m not affiliated to the companies but just gave details in
case anyone is curious.

Additionally, my teeth have really started to look bad over the past few
months.  When I first developed Celiac my teeth were loose.  They improved
over time, but recently they started discoloring a little bit.  It looks
like the enamel is stripping off and leaving little transparent/gray
spots/lines.  My teeth aren’t sensitive (ergo I think most of the enamel
is ok) but it just looks bad; I don’t want to smile!!  I looked this up
and it sounds like enamel hypoplasia (I will call my doctor/dentist this
week for sure).  Anyone have experience with this?  It seems like in my
case it might be a long term infection and/or nutritional deficiencies
which cause it since I have been gluten free for four years (and recently
tested negative for any gliadin in my system). Any thoughts on this?  Is
it reversible (i.e. once I clear up all my intestinal problems and get on
appropriate supplements) or am I stuck with these ugly teeth until I can
get them cosmetically fixed?

Sorry for the long post.  I am just really depressed about all of this and
hoping for any kind of feedback.  I do remain hopeful that I'm on the road
to getting back on my feet.  What do people do financially in such
situations?  I couldn't handle the stress from my job so I quit (it was
only part-time, too!) and now need to figure out how to make at least a
little money until I feel well again. Also..if you happen to live in
California can you recommend a good individual coverage health insurance
plan (PPO for all these great docs I've found that don't take insurance)?
I really admire all the strength people on this list have for facing all
the health problems and otherwise they have to deal with resulting/in
addition to/from Celiac--it has helped keep my strength going, too!

Thanks.  I'll try to summarize.

Saskia
Los Angeles

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*