This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Hi NHE,
Thanks for patient information on Tecfidera. Do you have anything or ideas that you care to share? I am thinking on taking this new pill, I am scared to take it, but even more scared not to. I am really going to try with all my might to eat the correct way, I just do not know how people do it without failing.

Hi NHE,
Thank you for the information on tecfidera. If you have any other info that you feel would be relevant that would be great. I do want to take this med but so scared of what will happen to me if I do. Like what other medical condition will I pick up?
Ann

MSandI wrote:Hi Leonard,
I to have leaky gut, before MS... then I entered the medical field and it is mandatory for the twinrex shots as well as the TB shots, flu shots.. and I can not remember how many others. Fast forward 8 months and let my nightmare begin. Do you live in France? This has always been my theory but no will listen to me. So when I found this site, I thought someone, just maybe could share my feelings. We have so much in common, I have tears in my eyes. Please tell me how you are, what you do to help yourself, are you rrms? So many questions!! Is there anyone else here that shares these thoughts. Leonard my name is Ann, pleased to meet you.
Please stay in touch
Ann

Ann, if by "TB shots" you mean that you received the BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccine, you may be interested in the work of Dr. Denise Faustman, Director of the Immunobiology Laboratory in Boston, who seems to have found a way to restore insulin production with this vaccine and, thereby, reverse type I diabetes.

In the following interview she is talking about using multiple BCG vaccines (I have a friend with MS, who received four of these in her teens.): http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/192352 ... t-diabetes

Here is a Bloomberg article with more details: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-0 ... or-tb.html

I know that this vaccine (for tuberculosis) is required for school-age children in the UK. I think this is a major factor in the high prevalence of MS in the UK (Scotland's Orkney islands has the highest rate).

Currently, I believe that consumption of gluten generates increased zonulin, which opens the tight junctions of the intestinal lining ("Leaky Gut"); this allows too much insulin to leak into the bloodstream (Correction: the digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas enter the small intestine; the pancreatic hormones, of which insulin is one, enter the mesenteric blood vessels, specifically the portal vein. I think wheat gluten simply raises blood glucose and the insulin response.) –and if the pancreas is making an excess insulin already (due to diet, disease, vaccination, etc.), then an even greater excess gets into the bloodstream! I think my MS symptoms are due to this excess insulin (hyperinsulinemia) affecting the muscles. (My fasting blood insulin test results have never been below 9 UU/ML. The optimal result is 3 UU/ML or lower!)

I had hep b vaccine in 2011 and on may 2013 am diagnosed with CIS RRMS. Have always had NAD digestions which have improved as a result in change of diet. I also suspect hep b vaccine played an important role...just wish i knew how to inform of the ms as a possible reaction to the vaccine, even if just for statistic purposes.

Lindacarol, may I ask you why you are not able to get your fasting blood insulin down. Are you following an appropriate diet? I would think eating a diet mainly of vegetables should lower your insulin level? This also is supported by the theory of an alkaline PH which is responsible for all chronic disease. I have been very successful in getting my health back by eating the alkaline foods. With your knowledge of health I am sure you are doing it but wonder why you are having a hard time getting your insulin level down. My thoughts were that insulin is product when you eat simple carbohydrates. Am I missing something here?

want2bike, I too expected that my diet would lower my insulin level. I cannot explain why it is not lower. When test results were first elevated, my doctor even looked for an insulinoma (tumor) that might account for the level; but everything appeared normal. Over the years, even my healthy diet did not lower the level. I have not yet had my usual fall season blood work done – other events in life have pushed that schedule back.

You are correct that insulin is produced in response to eating simple carbohydrates; in fact, the "healthy" whole grain carbohydrates are worse – they raise blood glucose/insulin levels higher than a candy bar! For a while, if I had any carbs at all, I ate a slice of whole-grain bread (I was eating "healthy"). In retrospect, I see that was a big mistake. YEARS ago, gwa (TIMS member) warned me that even fruits worked that way – I do not look forward to cutting back here, but that is my next step. I have been eating gluten-free for several months, I am even considering grain-free now too.

I do eat a lot of vegetables. I understand the emphasis on alkaline vegetables – I LOVE asparagus (and have this LOTS in the spring), but have not researched other sources. I do drink lemon water every day – although some might think this is acidic, it has an alkalizing affect in the intestines.

My genetic makeup does not allow me to taste "bitter" things – I have wondered if this prevents my pancreas from turning off insulin production. Since the pancreas always overcompensates for the amount of blood glucose, and this is dumped into the small intestine, I now think Intestinal Permeability (wide open tight junctions) allows excess insulin to "leak" into my bloodstream (Correction: the digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas enter the small intestine; the pancreatic hormones, of which insulin is one, enter the mesenteric blood vessels, specifically the portal vein. I think wheat gluten simply raises blood glucose and the insulin response.) .

As you can see, I am struggling to find the reason for my elevated insulin level. I welcome any suggestions to solve my dilemma.

It is strange that eating healthy you would have high insulin. Are you sure the test was performed correctly? Insulin is the bodies mechanism for dealing with sugar. Simple sugars are the worse but any sugar results in insulin production. The only thing I could think of is if you may be eating too much fruit. Although lemon is an acid the body treats it as alkaline. There is an interesting video on cancer where the cure is an alkaline body. It is all about getting the oxygen to the cells and that is done with an alkaline diet. I believe this principal applies to all the chronic diseases.

I am confident that my insulin tests were performed correctly – done by the same lab; performed soon after the blood draw; consistent results over several years. I will be eager to see my next results – after now eating gluten free.

I MAY be eating too much fruit, I am reluctant to eliminate my daily small bowl of berries, apple, cherry juice, green tea and water with lemon (Would this include my daily avocado?). I have been looking forward to clementines around the Christmas season. Although insulin production responds to glucose in the bloodstream, the first surge of insulin comes with the simple "taste" of sweetness on the palate/tongue – the pancreas is anticipating that glucose must surely follow the sweet taste. I detect sweetness with so many foods (crab, shrimp come to mind immediately).

I have tried the ketogenic diet, but I am not sure I successfully changed over to burning lipids for the fuel in my cells. Perhaps I did not have enough fat in my diet. Keep your suggestions coming.

In the first five minutes of the YouTube movie, I do agree with the ideas on fluoride in our water. I'll have time to watch more later.

MSandI wrote:Hi Leonard,
I to have leaky gut, before MS... then I entered the medical field and it is mandatory for the twinrex shots as well as the TB shots, flu shots.. and I can not remember how many others. Fast forward 8 months and let my nightmare begin. Do you live in France? This has always been my theory but no will listen to me. So when I found this site, I thought someone, just maybe could share my feelings. We have so much in common, I have tears in my eyes. Please tell me how you are, what you do to help yourself, are you rrms? So many questions!! Is there anyone else here that shares these thoughts. Leonard my name is Ann, pleased to meet you.
Please stay in touch
Ann

Hallo Ann,
sorry to hear about your situation.
I would invite you to look at the last few pages of http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... 15188.html
and will send you a pm
best Leo

Here is a video explaining what vaccines are doing to real people.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... =340048379

Lyndacarol stopping the gluten may help with your insulin problem. The information suggest anyone with MS should not be eating gluten or dairy. My understanding is it is the hormone insulin which allows the body to utilize glucose. Different things can effect hormones. Since you are eating healthy you are probably not over weight. Over weight people have problems with insulin(diabetes). You are probably not doing the drugs so that is not the problem. Stress could have something to do with hormone levels. Not sure if the number 3UU/ml is appropriate for everyone. That is like saying everyone should have 150 for cholesterol or the blood pressure for everyone should be 120/70. I believe we are all different so the numbers for each of us is different. These numbers were not created by God but by the medical industry. I like to relate health to what we find in the Bible. My belief is that the Bible was given to us by our creator with instructions which if we follow will result in good health. When he told Adam and Eve to eat the fruits and vegetables that was his instructions for good health. The produce we have today may not be same. The GMO, pesticides and herbicides are serious problems to our health. I do not eat GMO food and wash my vegetables and fruits in vinegar and baking soda. No one is perfect but we must try to do everything we can to have good health. Hope you are doing well.

want2bike wrote:Lyndacarol stopping the gluten may help with your insulin problem. The information suggest anyone with MS should not be eating gluten or dairy. My understanding is it is the hormone insulin which allows the body to utilize glucose. Different things can effect hormones. Since you are eating healthy you are probably not over weight. Over weight people have problems with insulin(diabetes). You are probably not doing the drugs so that is not the problem. Stress could have something to do with hormone levels. Not sure if the number 3UU/ml is appropriate for everyone. That is like saying everyone should have 150 for cholesterol or the blood pressure for everyone should be 120/70. I believe we are all different so the numbers for each of us is different. These numbers were not created by God but by the medical industry. I like to relate health to what we find in the Bible. My belief is that the Bible was given to us by our creator with instructions which if we follow will result in good health. When he told Adam and Eve to eat the fruits and vegetables that was his instructions for good health. The produce we have today may not be same. The GMO, pesticides and herbicides are serious problems to our health. I do not eat GMO food and wash my vegetables and fruits in vinegar and baking soda. No one is perfect but we must try to do everything we can to have good health. Hope you are doing well.

I have not seen scientific, peer-reviewed study results recommending that people with MS should not eat gluten/dairy; I know this is the suggestion among us non-experts. Please post the reference for such published "information." (By the way, dairy has been off my menu for years.)

You are correct: the hormone insulin is the "key" that opens the cell door and allows the glucose to enter, where it is used as fuel in the cell or stored as fat in the adipose cells. I am not overweight. With my moderately elevated insulin level, I could be overweight if my glucose level were high – but my diet is VERY low in carbohydrates (consequently, my glucose level is also low – NOT high).

I use no MS drugs and have cut back severely on supplements. Currently, I am taking only those things recommended for healing the intestines (from gluten damage). Stress does increase the insulin level (by increasing the hormone cortisol level, which raises the glucose level, which ultimately raises the insulin level). The insulin level of 3 UU/ML may not be appropriate for everyone, as you say. Certainly a higher insulin level is necessary for those people who have higher glucose levels. But I consider mine to be high in respect to my diet and glucose level; I attribute the burning sensation in my legs to the "lye in the pipes" quality of insulin in my blood vessels.

Like you, I eat organic food when possible and try to avoid GMO food (which is in almost everything these days! As is gluten!). I do hope that you are right, that "stopping the gluten may help with the insulin problem." At the moment, my focus is to eliminate gluten; I'll let you know how it goes.

Hi Lyndacarol--

Dr. A Fasano at the University of Maryland Medical Center has published several papers on gluten and the effect of the protein zonulin, which is increased with gluten consumption, and especially high in people with coeliac disease, but effects all humans. Gluten turns on zonulin, which acts as a gatekeeper for the endothelial layer-making the lining of the intestine and the blood brain barrier more permeable. This allows antigens and proteins to cross into gut and brain tissue, and begin an immune reaction.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22731712

The permeable gut allows these molecules, such as gluten, access to the rest of the body. This triggers an autoimmune response in which a celiac patient's immune system identifies gluten as an intruder and responds with an attack targeting the intestine instead of the intruder. An inappropriately high level of production of zonulin also seems responsible for the passage through the intestine of intruders other than zonulin, including those related to conditions such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and even allergies. Recently, other groups have reported elevated production of zonulin affecting the permeabilitity of the blood brain barrier of patients suffering from brain cancer.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 162322.htm

By a quirk of nature, the wheat protein, gliadin, mimics the effects of foreign bacteria and it, too, triggers zonulin. But this function is flawed in that it generates a two-way response: Not only can water exit, but intestinal contents are able to gain entry in the opposite direction: into the bloodstream.
Among the most fascinating findings of Dr. Fasano’s work: The gliadin-zonulin leak effect occurs not just in people with celiac disease or gluten-sensitivity; it occurs in everybody. The effect is longer and more pronounced (5-fold greater) in the enterocytes of people with celiac disease, but the effect of increased two-way leakiness spares nobody.

http://fooddemocracy.wordpress.com/2013 ... u-yes-you/
and more research:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC549484/
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance ... S0140-6736(00%2902169-3/fulltext
http://umm.edu/news-and-events/news-rel ... e-patients
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16635908

cheer

cheerleader wrote: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance ... S0140-6736(00%2902169-3/fulltext

Thank you, cheer.

I am aware of Dr. Alessio Fasano's work at the U of Maryland – also work at the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center and that of Dr. Peter Green at Columbia. I know of other sites connecting gluten to "autoimmune diseases," but had not recalled one mentioning MS, specifically. Thank you for jogging the memory .

I do believe the scientists who have found that wheat/gluten generates the zonulin, which opens the tight junctions, (I think this allows too much insulin to enter the bloodstream. (Clarification: the digestive enzymes secreted by the pancreas enter the small intestine; the pancreatic hormones, of which insulin is one, enter the mesenteric blood vessels, specifically the portal vein. I think wheat gluten simply raises blood glucose and the insulin response.)

By the way, two attempts at the above link informed me that the article is not found. ???

http://www.healthnowmedical.com/blog/20 ... d-to-know/

Two scientific articles are referenced in the link above. Dr. Vikki Petersen, DC, CCN, also offers the emerging view of a correlation between celiac disease and other autoimmune diseases in her 6 1/2 minute video.