Bubba, FountainMan's heart is in the right place. He had a narrow escape from a liver transplant, and it makes sense to me that he would want to help anyone else who might be in his situation. I felt just the same after my son narrowly escaped becoming a long-term surgical case for his avm. I wanted very much to get the word out to others whose facial avms might still be curable, so that they wouldn't pick the wrong treatment plan.
Hi Stephen,
My mom was told by her doctors about 6 years ago, that studies in Europe have shown a link in about 40-50% of patients that have PSC also have a gluten reaction. In Europe they are calling it atypical celiac sprue disease. That is where the celiac symptoms do not manifest in the intestinal gut but instead go directly to a major organ, with the liver being the primary spot. There were many trial studies in Europe that addressed this. It was rec. that there be a STRICT adherence to a GF lifestyle. My mom removed all gluten sourced foods, condiments, spices, hair, make up and skin products that contained gluten. It was quite an undertaking. Her liver was supported by the regular meds from her gastro Dr. , but he also had her taking Milk Thistle by Jarrow 3 times a day, and 3 Alpha Lipoic Acid capsules 3x/day. She used the ALA by Metagenics. It was one milk thistle and one ALA at breakfast, lunch and dinner. She saw a really good improvement on this program of RX's, doctor prescribed non RX's, and a full gluten free lifestyle. She was also given a good probiotic by her liver Dr. He said that you do not want one that has 20 million probiotic.....that you want one of the lower number ones. I do not know why, sorry.
When she would eat gluten, it was apparent that she had done that by her mental and physical reaction. My brother and I could clearly see the negative difference with the gluten. My brother was shocked that even he could see it that clearly, as he had not really believed the doctors that talked to my mom about gluten. My mom passed away from a fall this year. She DID NOT pass away from her liver. She lived for a really, really long time with super high, but stable liver values and her liver doctor was always amazed. I honestly attribute that to her GF lifestyle.
I have recently been diagnosed with celiac disease and am showing signs of liver inflammation. I am confident that strict adherence to GF living will prevent my liver from getting any more involved!
If anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area needs help going GF, I would be glad to help them. It can be tricky as you also have to make sure that the RX's that you take are GF too. You can check them at glutenfreedrugs.com.( Kaiser looks up meds on that site for me too.) Feel free to contact me if you need help with going GF.
BTW, my mom's primary care doctor said that she believes that the gluten auto immune link will be one of the biggest discoveries in the next 10 years.