multiple sclerosis

people who know anything about me know that i have MS. how does it exhibit itself? it doesn`t. i haven`t had a relapse since the summer of 2004. heres the story:

i was diagnosed in 2001 and as a cure at that time i was offered a coctail of pills, potions and 6 different antidepressants. i declined any medication. i was minoring in molecular biology at the time and started to get more and more into biochem because it became more and more evident that i wouldn`t get anything useful out of my doctors - besides writing a prescription or ten. it took me about a week or two of reading all i could get my hands on to ditch gluten. it took 3 years to ditch all grains and most dairy. since then no regressions. none. in 2001 my doctors told me i would be in a wheelchair in 10 years. today its 2011 and i have just completed my AM training session and am looking forward to powerlifting in the evening. during these ten years i have had to explain myself tens of times to doctors and laypersons alike, and i have wondered - why do they think i am a lunatic when i have had amazing results + why don`t they do the research because the info is all out there. it is no big secret what causes autoimmune diseases!!!! so wouldn`t the logical thing to do be to avoid the cause(s)?

the road ta a fullblown autoimmune disease is a subtle one. there are many stages which are almost always mistreated (IBS, anemia, migraine), misdiagnosed (coeliacs/lactose intolerance) or left completely untreated (fatigue, digestive issues), because it is thought that its just a normal part of life. if these stages would be recognised for what they are (the suburbs of autoimmunetown) and treated properly, we would definitely see less of autoimmune cases. but now we just get a prescription of acidsurpressors or fibresupplements which do nothing but further the damage. and this is the road to autoimmune that you need to step off of right away (roughly put):


gluten ingestion >> leaky gut >> molecular mimicry induced immunological attack on healthy tissues


CWBS (conventional wisdom bullshit) medical science places all autoimmune diseases once diagnosed in the category of "unknown etiology". mostly they say that it is a genetic predisposal that leads to an autoimmune disorder. that is true to a limit. but we do know that ones genes can be "turned on and off" - expressed - according to the influences of our own lifestylechoices - thats the science of epigenetics for you. howcome that info has not soaked through to the medical profession yet....???

a wise man long time ago wrote a good book about native peoples, nutrition and disease (Weston A Price anyone?), nowadays we know that in addition to all diseases of civilisation, also autoimmune diseases are very rare or completely unheard of among such peoples that still live their lives in accordance with nature = eat their native diets uncorrupted by western influence. hundred years have passed since that book was published and finally we have some "cutting edge" science popping up dealing with the difference between the intergity of natural immunological barriers in "native" peoples and "westerners" as influenced and/or induced by the differenced in diets. we have known for a long time that our gut is the most important immunological shield there is so why has "leaky gut syndrome" been treated as quackery or "nondisease" by the medical profession for decades? because you cant write a prescription for it?

our gut is multifunctional and paradoxically it is always "leaky" to a point - it has to be to let nutrients pass to our bloodstream. but it also must keep toxins and bacteria out. if the gut lining is damaged, bigger items can pass - our systems can be overwhelmed by such antigenic and allergenic material and an immunerespons is launched - inflamattion is caused and autoimmune conditions get triggered or worsen. this is a good resource for everything to do with leaky gut:
http://mdheal.org/leakygut.htm 

so what causes the leaky gut syndrome?  lets sidetrack for a while. in my article about soy i touched upon the fact that plants have chemically sophisticated survival mechanisms (not unlike to the claws and teeth of carnivores) to keep extinction abay. the most imporant thing to a plant is to safeguard its reproductive systems long enough to reproduce. so the reproductive system of the plant is usually the most "poisonous" part. for example, apple seeds contain cyanogenic acids, cherry pits, and seeds from related fruits, including peaches, plums, almonds, pears, and apricots, contain cyanogenic glycosides. you dont want to eat those...
the most nutritious part of grains that we eat happens to be the reproductive system. 1 + 1 = ?
the poisons in the grains reproductive system that are designed to lessen the numpers of creatures eating it are lectins.
Lectins are not broken down in the normal digestive process their structure is such that our digestive systems have problems with it (due to a aminoacid called proline). protease inhibitors gound in grains also aid in protecting the lectins from digestion. lectins can also attach to receptors on the cells that make up the lining ouf our gut and be transpoted out into the bloodstream intact. in addition to that, lectins also punch holes in the gut lining and let everything else pass in their wake... toxins, bacteria (enter diseases), undigested proteins from other foods (enter allergies). why and how does that happen?

enter molecular mimicry. 
the name molecular mimicry is used to describe a condition in which amino acid sequences in bacteria, viruses, food-proteins, or other antigens are similar or identical to sequences in healthy human tissue-proteins. so when your body launches an attack on the invading protein (amino acid sequence), it may attack the corresponding tissue in the body. molecular mimicry has long been recognized as the cause of autoimmune disease as a result of acute infections, but recent research has proved that the it is much more complicated and also much more widespread than that, and that antibodies to gut bacteria and undigested food-proteins may also attack various human tissues (Karlsen and Dyrberg). when our body launches an immune response, the antibodies to some of the materials flooding into the bloodstream through a leaky gut,can cause the onset of autoimmune diseases. 
Molecular mimicry of gluten and gluten-like proteins and their cross-reaction with human tissue-proteins is also a known fact as gluten has long been known to cause coeliac disease. coeliacs is an autoimmune reaction and not an allergy. it is born when the antibodies to gluten attack healthy cells of human gutlining (epithelial cells in the intestine). so the connection there is quite obvious. it is a more recent discovery that the antibodies to gluten can attack other tissues throughout the body aswell (Kamaeva et al.1998, 2008, 2009, 2010) 
thyroid disease, arthritis, psoriasis, lupus etc have been connected to the finding of antigluten or antigliadine antibodies in patients bloodsamples. milk protein has been connected to similar paths of molecular mimicry and autoimmune responses. in addition to that soy protein has also been featured in autoimmune resarch and has been connected to autoimmune thyroiditis. 

when the gut lining has been compromised a vicious cicle starts: resulting allergies and malnutrition only add to the causes and effects of molecular mimicry on the human immune system. the pains and ailments caused by the leaky gut can be misdiagnosed and treated with antibiotics and antiinflammatory grugs that only further the damage and are often associated with autoimmune response on their own (Rutgers et al 2003). also excessive alcohol consumption and stress will contribute to the condition.

so its all quite clear, logical and simple really. so what is the problem? why all the misdiagnosing and prescriptionmongering?


so what do you do? i have tried and tried to make this clear to a familymember suffering from psoriasis, but still the charm and magic of a white coat prevails... im just a biochemist and a young and blond one at that. so when the doc prescribes pills, fibresuplements etc etc you take them. for years. and suffer. why is that? should i wear my white labcoat for dinner out with them some day? im frustrated. what would you do?????