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From:
George & Gayle Kennedy <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 9 May 2001 18:21:22 -0500
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

The mail keeps coming, but this will be my last summary.  If you have
any further comments, please send them to the LIST, unless there is a
personal message for me.  I'm exhausted and so is my computer.

[log in to unmask] BRAVO.  Although this disease we share can dampen our
spirit and somewhat depress our attitude it should never stop us from
thinking.  Thinking about making a better life for ourselves or families,
and others who share our malady (especially the children).  If anything,
Celiac has given me a new family.  A family of friends and associates whom I
can share my thoughts and find comfort in.  A family I never would have
known.  In reality, Celiac has made me think about what I eat.  It has made
me eat cleaner (without additives), making sure I put as much emphasis on
eating right as putting the proper oil and parts into my car.

To me, age does not bring wisdom.  You have to earn that wisdom through
experience and then deep thought.  I know several still "dumb" senior
citizens, while several of my younger friends, especially those with
hardships in their lives, are quite wise.  I believe that you have earned
that wisdom.  And the only mistake you could make is to not share your
experiences with those that need to hear them.  Not all cures, cure all
people.  But each one brings us closer to a universal one that can serve all
of us.  It would be a travesty for a voice such as yours to be silenced
because of morbid criticism of a few archaic, hard nosed people whose whole
viewpoint is on what they know today, centered in the past, not from what
the potential of the future can bring.  To be loved by everyone would be
dull at best.  In fact, adversity and criticism usually make the better of
us think again, and either change our view or better yet, reinforce our
argument.

Many of the people on this Listserv think like the medical profession,
locked into their old ways of healing and thinking that their ideas are the
only ones that can work for all of us.  Please continue to bring up new
ideas that make us think about what could be rather that what is.

[log in to unmask]
What joy I felt today while reading of your latest
letter to the listserv (not the summary).  I am a newly diagnosed
Celiac.  Before being diagnosed by a western physician, I visited my in-
laws (Chinese) doctor.  She was wonderful.  After only a few hours with
her, and her one piece of advice was that I eat more rice to moderate
the yin/yang foods we were eating, I felt wonderful for months!  Much
longer than I had in several years.  I began to feel ill again in the
fall, and visited my Western doctor and had so many medications pumped
through my body, I was in quite a fog for a while.

   After the biopsy and the diagnosis, I know understand what is
happening, but I truly believe and know that the medicinal practices
of my in-laws have also helped immensely.  It is truly a blessing to
have such resources available and I just wanted to thank you for
opening minds with your wonderful post.

[log in to unmask] I'm sure you're being deluged.  I am usually a silent
observer.  I've written to only 3 people in the year I've been a member.
(I worry about the guy that edits . . . )  You were brave to post your
experiences, knowing the variety of responses you would receive.  Thank
you for doing so.

     Here's to your good continued good health!

Perhaps my computer has a virus, I cannot get the following message
to go to the doctor who wrote about "cellular memory" even though
I've used the return address on her message.  So I'll include my
response to her and this is the end.

Dear [log in to unmask]

"Cellular memory" is a new concept for me, and one that is intriguing.
Now, remembering that I am not familiar with scientific terminology,
let me ask a few questions that I probably should already know the
answers to, but don't.

  You wrote:

"Your trigger theory is interesting, but there is one flaw: the trigger's
already been pulled.  The problem is that what a celiac has triggered is
cellular memory.  It's essentially the same system that gives immunity to
diseases such as chicken pox. For whatever reason, a celiac's immune system
has recognized gliadin as an enemy."

If we are to use the chicken pox analogy, when one has chicken pox
one develops immunity to chicken pox, and if the virus (is it a
virus?) is again introduced to that person nothing happens.  If the
analogy is apt, then if gliadin is introduced, why has one not
developed an immunity?  The enemy has been recognized and attacked,
but the body continues to react to it...no immunity is established.
Anyway, celiac disease is not, I don't think, related to a virus.

Your letter continues

"Anytime it is exposed to gluten, it remembers it and produces
antibodies to fight off the perceived enemy.  Apparently because of a
resemblance between certain molecules in gliadin and some on intestinal
cells, the antibodies attack the intestine.  Just as someone exposed to
chicken pox is immune for life, so are those sensitized to gluten
sensitive for life".

I cannot understand how being immune for life is parallel to being
sensitive for life.

Let's take another example - an allergy like hay fever resulting from
ragweed pollen.  The body continues to react to the pollen with each
repeated introduction.  Would this be called a cellular memory?  If
so, that is more like the body reacting again and again to gliadin.
But what do we do when we introduce an antihistamine?  Are we
breaking the chain of the cellular memory reaction?  Forgive me if my
questions are naive, but I simply know nothing about this.  I guess,
using the language of your next paragraph, perhaps we are creating
"cellular amnesia."

You then wrote:

"Now, one might postulate that acupuncture creates cellular amnesia, so to
speak, but how would it produce such an effect specifically for just ONE of
the many "enemies" the body recognizes?  One would expect decreased immunity
in general in that case."

Here you have touched on the mystery of mysteries - how NAET
acupuncture works, and I cannot begin to understand it.  The patient
holds the allergen or offending food in his/her hand and then the
acupuncture treatment is used.  It is specific for that element
(animal, vegetable, or mineral - as the old game goes).  Not even my
NAET acupuncturist understands how it works - or if she does she is
not willing to try to explain it to the likes of me.  There is a web
site which will blow your mind and sound like voodoo medicine, but
that's what I call it anyway.  NAET will, however, eliminate one's
sensitivity to dog dander or house dust or pine tree pollen or gas
fumes or mold spores, or gluten or lactose.....

One must be treated for each of these things individually, and then
avoid the offending substance for  24 hours.  I know - I KNOW - it
sounds crazy.  But the fact is, IT WORKS.  I now know probably 15
people who have been successfully treated, and each time I am in the
office I talk with other patients who are trying to suspend their
disbelief and are in shock when they realize they are cured.

You wrote: "A long term [word missing here, I think] would need to be
done, with scientific documentation of celiac disease (bloodwork,
biopsies) before acupuncture treatment and then follow ups with
bloodwork and biopsies say yearly for at least ten or twenty years.  One
would also like to compare the incidence of things like lymphoma and
autoimmune disease between these people and those treated conventionally
with a strict GF diet."

If I were a scientist, I would probably have approached this
treatment in this way, but I'm just a person.  One who probably
searched for a doctor who could identify why I was so ill for 12
years, and finally read a book and self diagnosed.  There are many,
many of us on the CELIAC LIST.  We are not particularly interested in
being guinea pigs, we are interested in getting on with our lives
after all the years we have lost because the training in medical
schools did not adequately cover celiac disease in most cases.

I wish I could give you a scientific explanation of this phenomenon -
but I can't.  I can just tell you what has worked for me.  Call it
voodoo, call it chance, call it a miracle, or luck.  I don't care
what it is called, I know that it has been successful for four people
with celiac disease in Ithaca, NY, for me, and for my son, for a
woman in Chicago who is on the CELIAC LIST, and probably others that
I have not met.  My practicioner is Judith Abrams.  Her phone number
is 607-277-7713.  If you want more information, give her a call.  She
is quiet and will not blow her own horn, but she is an amazing person.

Sincerely,   Gayle Kennedy

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