Leaky Gut Syndrome?

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Farmwife

Farmwife

Joined
Apr 28, 2012
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Our family GP wants to start looking at Leaky Gut Syndrome.

Do any of you know about this?

The way I'm feeling right now is even if she got a Dx right now the doctors in her life wouldn't agree on it.

Does it have to do with IBD or is it a separate case all together?

Do any of your kids have this?


An over exhausted Farmwife:(
 
There is a gentleman on the ccfa website who seems to know a lot about it. I think he also has a website he set up crohnsdad or something similar to that. I'm sure if you google it, it would come up. But his history as I know it is his daughter was diagnosed with crohns/leaky gut syndrome. He has her on the scd diet and LDN and from what I understand she is doing fabulous. Sorry I don't know more. Okay I looked up the link for you http://crohnsdad.com/ He has a lot of stuff on there about leaky gut and crohns. Hope it helps
 
I've seen the term a lot but never really looked into it much. Going to google it right now.

So when will family GP start looking at it?
 
Farmwife,
My husband has a lot of stomach issues and was told he has leakey gut syndrome but no doctor seems to do much about it.
 
Sorry but never even heard of it. Hope they come to some sort of conclusion soon so you can stop worrying.
 
Fab links Jacqui! Thanks. :)

No leaky guts here that I know of hun but mega hugs to you! :hug:

Dusty. xxx
 
The best science around explains that "leaky gut" is behind all autoimmune diseases. What causes leaky gut is a complex web of stuff and so are the strategies for healing. Diet is the most important thing you can do (paleo, gaps or scd) but things like probiotics, vitamin d, LDN and curcumin will also help a lot.

I'm impressed with your GP. It's refreshing to hear that a doctor is reading the science! You can find a bunch of links that connect the dots at my blog.
 
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Hey Alan,

I'm glad you saw this. :)

Plus when I went to the link I thought I had seen it somewhere before here and for the life me I didn't know where...problem solved! :lol:

Dusty. :)
 
This is the first time I've heard of it. Looked it up and found that its not even a recognized diagnosis. Its a term used in "alternative" medicine.

BTW, why does the GP want you guys to look at it? Maybe they're trying to give themselves time to look it up as well. :p
 
Interesting observation. Leaky gut is not recognized medically, however it is clearly the leading scientific understanding of autoimmune disease. There is a tremendous amount of research explaining how intestinal barrier function relates to chronic diseases. Check ou the work of Alessio Fasano at - http://crohnsdad.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/clin-rev-allerg-immunol-leaky-gutautoimmunity.pdf

The fact that few doctors are aware of it, literally shows their ignorance.
 
So let me ask you, Say Grace has Crohn's. What came first? Crohn's or Leaky Gut????
Is it possible to have just Leaky Gut?
Is it possible to heal Leaky Gut?
I've only had seconds to research. When things calm down on the farm I'll do more. :yfaint:
That should be in November:ylol:.

Farmwife:ghug:
 
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Leaky-gut, or increased intestinal permeability, is a key dimension to all autoimmune diseases including crohn's. According to the science, you need a genetic predisposition, increased permeability and some type of environmental factor to get an autoimmune disease.

You can heal leaky-gut. Go on a paleo/gaps/scd diet, get your vitamin d levels up to 80, do daily bone broth, eat fermented food and maybe add omega 3 supplements, curcumin and LDN and most people with autoimmune diseases will heal their leaky-gut, and their autoimmune disease with it.
 
Alan,
My question to you is how did you get your daughter to eat/follow the scd diet? My son as picky as he is would just not eat if it is something that he doesn't like?
I've gotten to the point with as skinny as he is that if he will eat it I pretty much let him have it.
Can't believe how lucky we are to have a doctor that has suggested LDN. The only reason we have not started yet, is he leaves for the CCFA Camp Oasis on Friday and we didn't want to take a chance of something happening right now but we are to call the doctor as soon as we get back and get it started.
How long did it take for your daughter to start feeling better?
Sorry for the ramble, just wandering what the best way forward is as we start this new treatment.
 
My daughter was strict on SCD for about 18 months starting at 10 years old. I will admit that it was hard. But she stuck with it because she wasn't in pain when she was on it. But now as an 18 year old, she's only willing to be gluten free. Most meals are closer to the perfect health diet - we do include rice & potato. She does this along with a regimen of vitamin D, Curcumin, Boswellia, Krill Oil, a probiotic and LDN....and monthly B12 shots. This keeps her inflammation levels in normal ranges, and she feels pretty good. I'd rather see her strict on the diet, but I can't force her.

I get picky and thin. Same here. Dr. Natasha has some great tips at www.gapsdiet.com for picky eaters. Daily bone broth, and betaine hcl should help. I would -- and we did -- make the whole house/family safe for his diet. Have everyone go Paleo! Check out www.thepaleomom.com

I agree with you waiting till he gets back from camp to start LDN. The first week on it can be "odd" for some. Some experience sleep disturbances. My daughter was super tired the first few days.

Hang in there!
 
David, Great stuff on potatoes. I have seen that and agree that they should be avoided. Unfortunately, I only have so much power.
 
I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for you at times to find useful information and not have a loved one follow it. :(

*hugs*
 
WEird on the potatoes since before we knew Ds had crohn's
things he would avoid on his on-
beans, nuts (Food allergies so), high fiber food(aka whole wheat) and a few other things including pototaes- so now it makes more sense.
:ybatty:
 
I've learned that I can only lead people so far. At some point, they have to own it. That includes my own daughter. She's off to college at the end of August and she's up for meeting with food service to make sure they can handle her nutrition requirements. From there it will be up to her. An important, but scary part of growing up.
 
My husband was told he has IBS and Leaky Gut Syndrome. I found this interesting article:


Sometimes, Leaky Gut Syndrome plays a primary role in the evolution of an illness.

Crohn's disease is a serious chronic intestinal disorder that effects almost a million people in the United States. People who develop Crohn's disease may have a genetically induced increase in intestinal permeability that creates the inflammation in the bowel. This predisposing leakiness can be found in close relatives of patients with Crohn's diseases, suggesting that it precedes the development of inflammation.

I found that line about it being found in close relatives of patients with crohns disease very interesting. My husband has had stomach problems his whole life and no one has ever given him a real diagnosis. They just threw IBS at him until he recently began seeing this internal medicine doctor who diagnosed leaky gut syndrome.
 
Well I had a few precious moments to research this. The diet looks fine. We should all be eating that way any how.
My question to any one is.....
Should Grace (3 yrs. old) who's ailing in health be starting something like this?
I'm hopefully going to the GP this week and will be discussing this with him.

Farmwife
 
The short answer is YES. Diet is the primary thing you can do for healing autoimmune disease. If you are talking LDN. I would definitely choose it over any other drug from a safety perspective. I would try diet alone first though. That could be enough.
 
I think we might be able to do the paleo diet at least looking at recipes. Living out here in farm/ranch land we usually buy a side of grass fed beef every year from one of the local farmers, he doesn't like potatoes so no problem there, he loves brussel sprouts and spinach. But then he also loves a big bowl of pasta with butter and parmesean cheese so that will be the hardest to cut out
 
Farmwife said:
Well I had a few precious moments to research this. The diet looks fine. We should all be eating that way any how.
My question to any one is.....
Should Grace (3 yrs. old) who's ailing in health be starting something like this?
I'm hopefully going to the GP this week and will be discussing this with him.

Farmwife
Click to expand...

Since you're dealing with a 3 year old as long as she is getting the nutrients she needs then all should be fine diet wise. At that age though diet can be difficult as they can be picky so just do your best at introducing new foods. Keep us posted on what her doctor says (you can always call to get info if you can't get an appointment to see them).
 
If anyone, at any age is eating sugar, grains, dairy and legumes and has an autoimmune disease, they need to change their diet if they want to heal without having to resort to an immune suppression approach and all the short/long-term side effects and risks that come with it.
 
Alanschachter diet is unfortunately not a cure all in any way. Diet definitely helps but for many is not enough and for some doesn't show results quickly enough. Everyone is different. If a change in diet helps then by all means go that route but if symptoms don't change or get worse then often times people will need to act with medication because their life and well being is at risk. That doesn't mean you need to stop the new diet entirely while on medication though. Its been proven enough in many studies that sugar (not natural), grains and dairy products from animals aren't really healthy for anyone with or without IBD.
 
I never said anything about a cure. However, diet is the core of the problem and solution. And while "everyone is different", chronic diseases like autoimmune are not random. There is a clear framework available to make sense of these diseases and to heal from them.

Please take a look at my posts and my blog (including a discussion on why "framework matters"), you'll see that I don't advocate for diet alone. There are drugs that are both safe and help like LDN and possibly rifaximin, and there are a bunch of additional tools - mentioned above like curcumin, boswellia, vitamin d and others.

Also, can you clarify what you meant by "products from animals" not being healthy? Or did you mean dairy?
 
POTATOES?!! Really?! O has been exclusive EN for 6 weeks now (well maybe 5 because they let her add a cup of pasta a week ago) and while speaking with nutritionist about the first food to add she asked us if O will eat potatoes. O said yes...sweet potatoes. So we are now on 1 sweet potato a day, 1 cup of cantaloupe and 5 ounces of chicken. She then said if O skips the potatoe she can have rice or pasta.

I am doing as much research as I can but how are we supposed to be making the right choices when the professionals we trust don't seem to have a handle on things:yrolleyes:

Sorry for the rant but I feel better now. Cutting dairy isn't a problem as O is not a dairy eater, grains will be the difficult one especially when docs office is telling her to eat them!!! (oops slipping into rant again). Right now I am trying to go unprocessed and desugar everyone in the house. I guess one small step at a time.

Thanks crohnsdad for hanging around and helping us on our way!
 
The nutritionist that said O could have wheat should be shot. (Or at least avoided) Wheat pasta is a very bad idea. Wheat contains gluten. Gluten is a protein that is likely the biggest driver of O's autoimmune disease (even if O isnt celiac). While he is sick, it is better to stay away from all of these carb sources (rice, white & sweet potato) With healing under Os belt, sweet potato and rice might make their way back into the diet, but unfortunately early they tend to feed pathogenic bacteria.
 
Ok, I am a HUGE skeptic but all this talk of Paleo diet has got me interested. I think I am going to try it out on myself (I have GERD) and my husband (suspected IBS) first and then ease my son (Crohn's) into it with my daughter also along for the ride. I am ok with trying it for myself but it seems like lots of the stuff that is recommended is stuff that my son has trouble with i.e. nuts, large amounts of vegetables and fruits. Not sure how that will go. Good thing EN made him develop a taste for broth! We are huge fans of baked goods so this is going to be tough.

The Paleo Mom blog is FANTASTIC. Very inspiring.
 
Sounds like your whole family should go Paleo. It will help GERD, IBS and Crohn's. The only real problem with the Autoimmune Protocol that the Paleo Mom talks about is that it is tough for anyone with IBD to get started with because of the fruits/veggies/nuts. That's where the intro diets for either SCD (www.scdlifestyle.com) or GAPS (www.gapsdiet.com) shine. Both offer a staged approach to getting started. They are as much a process for adding safe food as they are a list. For example, GAPS starts with a bone broth regimen and adds well cooked veggies in gradually. Raw veggies/Fruits/nuts may not come in for a while until there is some healing. One thing to be careful with on both of these diets is peanuts. Please avoid them in all forms.
 
Twiggy930 said:
We are huge fans of baked goods so this is going to be tough.
Click to expand...

The NYC Italians here also!!! Life without our bread and cannoli's? UGH! BUT Hubby is type 2 diabetic so shouldn't be eating that stuff anyway and my oldest daughter I suspect has some issues as well...severe acne, tired all the time, all her weight in her stomach, my youngest has Vitaligo (auto immune) and a learning disability (I feel like she specifically is a walking time bomb for IBD), I think I may have some candida issues as well soooo I am thinking this diet is going to be good for all of us. I took a quick look at the GAP diet and I though there was something about some yogurt you make yourself and there is no way O will be able to choke that down...and the bone broth made me gag at first. I will revisit the GAP diet and maybe look closer at the Paleo and see if I like that one more.

Keep me posted on how you are getting on.

Crohnsdad: thanks AGAIN! I didn't really like that nutritionist anyway. She has a tude...and suggested Odwalla bars one month and then when we added them yelled at me the next because they are sweetened with cane sugar and something about arsenic and haven't I read about that :ywow: Oh look you responded while I was typing...I think I could do that collegen thing...
 
You will not find many doctors who are aware of this condition. I have gone through that myself and doctors were of little help.
 
You are right. Few doctors are aware of the good science that is being done at major US universities...and published in major peer reviewed medical journals.

Bring them the studies (more at www.crohnsdad.com). And bring them articles that explain the stuff as well.

I like Chris Kresser and his whole 9 steps series is worth reading: http://chriskresser.com/9-steps-to-perfect-health-5-heal-your-gut

But I Love The Paleo Mom - She's a Ph.D. in Medical Biophysics and performed medical research in the area of innate immunity and inflammation, and because of her own autoimmune disease she's turned into a blogger. She does an amazing job of explaining these complex issues in easy to understand articles. http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/03/what-is-leaky-gut-and-how-can-it-cause.html
 
It's hugely disapointing how little THE CAUSE of these problems are being talked about. Avoiding all these foods can in itself cause other health issues, you need to be careful.

It seems to be the ultimate chicken and egg scenario. Which came first the Leaky Gut, the immune system problems, the gluten intolerance.

I wonder if anybody has studied other groups of people around the world who do not have access to the things that we do.
 
Andy Pepworth said:
It's hugely disappointing how little THE CAUSE of these problems are being talked about. Avoiding all these foods can in itself cause other health issues, you need to be careful.
Click to expand...

Well I will agree with you there Mr. Pepworth.
I myself went on a certain diet for my wedding. Many years ago:lol:.
One thing that you had to give up for awhile was dairy.
No big deal after my wedding I could care less about dieting.
Well my wedding came and went.
To this day I can't stomach dairy. I literal vomit it up.
My Doc said in layman terms,
"you stopped dairy cold turkey, body no longer recognizes it and you can't have it".
Little did I know what would happen to me:(. I miss ice cream

Farmwife
 
Interesting. It seems we all have 'some' ability to handle these things, including gluten. I never had a problem with gluten, at least no real symptoms, until I went gluten free. Since then I'm super sensitive. I'm loathe to make my children's diet gluten free as I believe they too will lose ALL ability to handle gluten and become sick quicker.

Same for milk.
 
Andy and Farmwife
That is very interesting. Farmwife I went off dairy when I nursed two of my kids. I became severely intolerant of dairy when I tried it again. however I am a dairy but and was able to eat it if I took Lactaid. Today I am not as badly lactose intolerant as I was. Maybe our bodies do build and lose tolerance to things we eat.
 
Kimmidwife- I now can have dairy mixed into something. I can't drink strait milk, cheese, cream cheese and sour cream will send me into a coma.lol
My son has problems with milk too.
Grace the one you think should have problems with milk, doesn't!

Farmwife
 
Welcome to the forum, Andy Pepworth. Do you have a child with IBD? We'd love for you to post your story so we can "meet" you.

Claire does well with lactose and gluten. Ironically, the "healthy" brother appears to have the intolerances. :rof: Ok, I'm really not laughing.

J.
 
I reduced milk in my diet, following a IBS diet, and my heartburn from away within 3 days. I now know the even the smallest amount of milk results in heartburn.

Sarah is currently severe lactose intolerate but this may improve as the crohn becomes more controlled.
 

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