I’m feeling super grateful for all the renegade researchers out there today. And not only for those brilliant scientists and doctors who think outside the box, or create ‘new’ ones, but truly for anyone who has contributed to the betterment of this planet. Like I always say, better health isn’t a science problem, it’s an information problem.
Here’s where this mucho love fest began this afternoon…
I went to pickup my dog’s sister, Luna, for a play date only to arrive to find her (human) mom distraught. I asked her what was wrong, reaching out my arms to comfort her as she fumbled towards me. We embraced upon her arrival and I could instantly feel the angst oozing from her body. Holding back tears, she confided in me that their 14-year-old daughter started having seizures last week and had just had a fourth one at school today. She’s at the hospital as we speak. She had just run home to tend to the dogs before going back to visit her when I had texted her that I was in the neighborhood asking if I could pickup Luna to come play. Concerned and curious, I asked her if she had a minute to explain to me what’s been going on.
This disheveled mama filled me in on the nightmare she’s been living including that they had run every test under the sun, some twice, and everything keeps coming back normal. She was understandably very frustrated and explained how she felt helpless. My heart broke for her, but at the same time I was relieved to hear the mysterious and unexplained feedback she was getting from the hospital…The fact that everything serious was ruled out points to one simple and easy-to-fix (unsuspecting to most) culprit: Gluten.
I knew that the sudden onset of seizures in the absence of anything
medically causative (including recent vaccines), usually indicates an issue within the gluten-gut-brain connection.
Early fall of last year I was privi’ed to a medical conference on gut health. To my surprise one the most cutting-edge neurologists out there was a keynote speaker. I was excited for two reasons: First, simply due to the fact a brain doc was speaking at a gut symposium, I knew there had to be something juicy in the nutritional/medical world about to bust wide open, and boy was I right! And also having aspired to being a neurologist most of my high school career (until I finally was able to wear a bra – late bloomer – and my focus switched from books to being cool, which was fueled by my parent’s horrific divorce…a whole ‘nother story!), the whole brain obsession fell to the wayside. Looking back, this was truly a blessing in the end. But my true excitement piqued when I heard Dr. David Perlmutter speak. I was ‘glued’ to the edge of my seat through his entire 2-hour lecture (I wanted to make glue + gluten joke so bad, but I’ll save you from yet another bad nutritional pun!). Here it was completely laid out for me: the irrefutable proof of the gut-brain connection.
I asked Luna’s ‘mom’ (keeping anonymity here by only using the dog’s name) if she was open to a couple resources. Her eyes lit up, she spat out, “of course!” And we walked inside together. I told her about the conference I had attended and the results I have been able to achieve with MS, Parkinson and even Lyme clients. I also explained to her the research out there since the 1920′s on the Ketogenic diet and it’s ability to stop epilepsy in it’s tracks. Her eyes began to fill w/tears of joy and she practically yelled, “I knew it!” And went on to explain how she kept telling the doctors something has to be triggering it and asking could it possibly be diet related? Of course, they blew her off and instead went with: “This just sometimes happens.” Referring to unexplainable seizures (!). And then put her daughter on Carbatrol.
Oh and it gets, worse. This teenage girl was getting better care than most because her mom (yes the woman I am writing about) is a radiologist at this very hospital! Her job is to diagnose disease and was part of her deep, deep frustration coupled w/no one having any answers. After hearing this, I can’t imagine what kind of “care” civilians are receiving in this situation. Actually, I can.
But to be fair, really, these docs are just doing their jobs. They CLINICALLY diagnose, so if nothing shows up in lab tests (and you have “good” insurance) you are then sent to specialist after specialist until they find something (which by the time something is showing up clinically, it’s too late. Meaning, always go by how you are feeling. Never wait for lab-obsessed doctors to get a piece of paper to confirm anything). And most people who can’t get a clinical diagnoses are told 1) it’s all in your head (AKA: you are crazy) or 2) there is nothing they can do for you. But always, no matter what, you can be sure to get a prescription. Lab results or not they seem to be always able to throw you some pills But again this is what they are taught, so YOU as the PATIENT need to start to do your own RESEARCH and take back your health. Why is it their responsibility to take care of you?
Not wanting to over-step my boundaries, many people will only listen to MD’s especially when you are in the medical field yourself, so I turned her onto to Perlmutter’s site and told her to order the Cyrex Array 3 and also the Array 4 test to rule out any other cross-reactive foods. She looked like 50 pounds had been lifted off her tiny frame!
I left there with this overwhelming feeling of gratitude toward Dr. Perlmutter and all the medical warriors who step outside medical mainstream, and least we not forget with a wild black and white spotted beast hanging out the passenger window. I then thought about how all these connections can potentially save her daughter’s quality of life. She no longer has to live w/unexplainable seizures. She can have her high school years – they will not be ripped out from under her by a medical system that has failed her, and in truth parents that have failed her. Her mom, though her identity runs deep in the trenches of traditional medicine, was able to open her mind beyond this mindset and instead let her primordial motherly instincts guide her.
Our connection has yet to be explained. I rescued a puppy from the Michigan Animal Rescue 3 years ago. About 4 months after I adopted her, I was in a suburb in Metro Detroit and just happen to see a dad and his daughter riding bikes with a dog that looked JUST like mine! I yelled and motioned to them to cross the street. They did. To this day, I am not sure why? We looked like crazy people! After a few minutes of utter shock, we put it all together. This was a puppy from the same liter! The dad actually had a picture of my dog on his phone from the shelter. And come to find out, our dogs were the only girls of the pack! Truly, our rescued mutts brought me, a pretty well-studied nutritionist and this family together. Without our dogs, this teenage girl may not have had a chance!
