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Fri, 26 Jan 1996 Joe Murray ([log in to unmask])wrote:
 
>I am responding with comments about the elderly individual with
>disease.  Quite a number of celiac are now diagnosed at an
>advanced age.  Some as late as  the mid 80's.   The length of
>time they have been affected is unknown but in many there is a
>long history of suspicious symptoms or medical abnormalities.
>Many of the older patients may not entirely heal their mucosa.
>I am unsure why this is.  I could speculate that it is related
>to more compliance problems, or more poorer generation related
>to age, or the effects of lifelong exposure to gluten.  It may
>be a combination of these.  I certainly have elderly patients
>who become quite well if they adhere to the diet.
 
When it comes to the elderly being diagnosed with gluten intolerance, I have
this to offer.  I was told by the research biochemist who developed the test
I took that ALL people have problems with intestinal destruction from
glutin.  The test he developed has no false positives and is very, very
sensitive.  He says everyone has a titer.  The issue is that people with
celiac disease have very high titers.  For example, my teenage children had
titers (I can't remember the exact numbers) of 5 and 7, whereas mine was 65.
Mine clearly merited a conclusion of gluten intolerance whereas theirs did
not.  I was told that if my titer had been 16 or 17 or higher, there would
have been concern.  Untreated celiacs have even higher titers, even as high
as in the 80'.  The elderly have great problems with wound healing, as you
stated.  If all people have damage to their intestinal tract, then those who
have compromised wound healing capacity are going to be even more affected.
This would also be true for those with low thyroid, as slow wound healing is
a classic symptom of low thyroid.  I know that you mentioned this in your
original statement, but what you didn't point out was that ALL people are
troubled by intestinal mucosa destruction from gluten.  Thus, I am wondering
if elderly need not have any genetic predisposition to gluten intolerance to
be affected.
 
My second comment is 'out there' and I realize it, but here goes.  A number
of years ago I read scientific research indicated that aloe vera could
actually aid healing, because it was found that it contained something in it
that stimulated cell division, a 'cell proliferant'.  Well, I had horses,
and on two seperate occasions I had horses with wounds that simply weren't
healing with standard procedures.  I tried the aloe and the wounds healed so
quickly I wished I had tried that first instead of last.  Makes me wonder if
this had any application for poor healing of the intestinal tract...
 
 
 
lw <[log in to unmask]>       Don't talk unless you can improve the silence
                                        --Laurence Coughlin