We just got back from a free Celiac blood screening courtesy of The University of Chicago’s Celiac Disease Center, I should have my test results back in a few months. I choose to be screened since I’ve recently discovered some buried family medical history that indicates many of us (so far 5 of us across 3 generations) seem to be suffering from what could have been an undiagnosed gluten allergy.

Celiac Disease is traced up through the genes of families and is often overlooked entirely but is said to be linked other conditions that do eventually get diagnosed, like ADD/ ADHD, Autism, Fibromyalgia, Lupis and Myositis to name a few.

People with celiac disease carry genes that make them predisposed to the disorder once they are exposed to gluten. A patient with genetic predisposition to celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disease, needs some triggering factors for the signs and symptoms to manifest. There are already scientific evidences that show it can be activated by other factors including another autoimmune disease.

This shows that celiac disease is linked to other autoimmune disorders or more appropriately, certain autoimmune disorders are genetically linked. This means that a person with the genetic predisposition for any autoimmune disorder may also have genetic predisposition for other autoimmune diseases. The triggering of one can lead to a cascade of signs and symptoms that may include the manifestations for celiac disease or gluten intolerance.

An autoimmune disorder puts the immune system into hyperactive mode attacking (instead of protecting) its own body cells and tissues. There are over 80 kinds of known autoimmune disorders that can cause immune system attack. Some of these are thyroid disease (Graves’ and Hashimoto’s diseases), autoimmune chronic active hepatitis, Crohn’s disease, Addison’s disease (hypoadrenocorticism), multiple sclerosis, and Type 1 diabetes mellitus.  Other possible diseases that may require a gluten free-diet are Sjögren’s syndrome, myesthenia gravis, ulcerative colitis, Raynaud’s phenomenon, systemic lupus erythematosus, and scleroderma. (Source: http://www.theintentionallifestyle.com/living-gluten-free-lifestyle-without-celiac)

Since my gut healing efforts and my reduction of gluten began I’ve been on a roller-coaster ride. While on gluten I was a mess, often hopeless, overly dramatic, explosive or emotional and paring that with a newborn baby was tough. Once I began eliminating bad foods and reducing my gluten intake the detoxing began and it was a long detox complete with physical and emotional symptoms.

After detoxing I felt much more even-keeled, my sugar cravings were less, my stress eating (and stress levels) declined so much and my patience returned. Being in the throes of another detoxing (since I had to eat lots of gluten before the blood screen) is making the improvements I obtained much more clear.

Right now I am having major emotional symptoms again, my already short fuse is waaay shorter, I have no inner calmness or feelings of relaxation. Stress & anger are the norm for me right now. Plus, my fingers are doing the crack, burn & peel thing again… and my skin is breaking out bad.

I bit the bullet and ordered some Bach flower remedies this week to aid in my emotional symptoms while I detox. I wish I could hardcore detox and get this done faster but for the sake of breastfeeding and Adalyn’s well-being  I must continue to go slow and steady.

Hopefully in writing all these terrible symptoms, I’ll be able to go back and see just how crappy the gluten and sugar made me feel. Maybe I’ll think twice about reintroducing the junk again if it ever crosses my mind in the future.

I can’t wait to get back to where I was before the gluten was reintroduced! What is your relationship with gluten like?

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Now, Adalyn is 6 months old and I’m really doing my research (on leaky gut in a breast-feeding mother), I can’t believe that it’s taken me this long to fully learn about how healing a leaky gut could possibly make our lives a whole lot easier.

Leaky gut in a breast-feeding mom means that your food isn’t properly being digested and furthermore that the blood barrier in the colon is compromised. This is significant because anything that enters your blood also ends up in your milk, so if you’re not properly digesting foods then you aren’t filtering toxins in your digestive tract either.

The toxins and undigested stuff can end up in your blood supply and thus in your breast milk (when it normally wouldn’t) which can appear similar to food sensitivities and other ailments in you and baby.

This makes perfect sense to what’s going on with myself and Adalyn and that would mean our issues weren’t necessarily related to food sensitivities, but rather she’s just being exposed to things through my breast milk that her body either isn’t ready to handle or shouldn’t have to handle yet.

This is particularly alarming because a child’s toxin barriers aren’t fully formed yet, so toxins that enter the body can harm the brain and body. Plus, if mom has a leaky gut then her digestive bacterias (that are the root of the leaky gut problem in the first place) have already been passed to baby, so baby needs leaky gut healing too.

Many moms automatically assume when their baby has gas or acid reflex or colic symptoms that it’s because of baby’s food allergy and that it’s something the mothers eating. It’s partially true in the case of leaky gut syndrome the difference is that the leaky gut can be healed and prevented.

There are various options when it comes to healing a leaky gut, they’re all very similar to an elimination diet however the end result is not to simply do away with certain foods from the diet altogether rather the goal is to remove them temporarily so they got has time to heal and later function more properly.

I’m thinking once get digestion on track again a lot of these no-no foods for leaky gut healing could be added back in. I was warned that we that healing the leaky gut is long and tedious process and I’m not particularly excited about having to undertake it but I’ll do anything to make Addie feel better.

So, I started my healing process with removing sugars from the diet. I just took an online course that said whatever foods you perceive that you cannot live without or that you crave intensely are likely the foods that cause you the most problems with regards to digestion and the leaky gut. Sugar is number one on my list of cravings so that’s the 1st thing I’ve taken out.

After sugar the other major food to eliminate (for me) would have to be processed foods I guess you’d say. Mainly snack foods that are high in carbs. I tend to go back and forth between sugars and carbs not only for quick energy during the busy day but also to fill me up.

Without the sugars and carbs I tend to always feel hungry and hunger immediately sends me reaching for something sweet or something processed and filling.

So that’s where we have been for the last three weeks. I’m working to improve my diet and to heal my gut/digestive tract so that my breastfeeding child is healed and is not suffering. We are also, finally, getting an evaluation for tongue tie.

If you’d like more resources on leaky gut and nursing you can also check these articles out:

• The Gut, Microbes and Poop
• Healing Leaky Gut: Mothering.com
• 9 Steps to Perfect Health – #5: Heal Your Gut

Updates:

1/3/18 – I wanted update this post with our progress since it was initially written back in 2012…

We are now a gluten free family. We were also a dairy free family until we got our own dairy cow (a Jersey A2 milk cow). We never did get anywhere on the tongue tie and none of my kids (we had a son after this was written) have any speech or oral issues as older kids.

After having leaky gut pointed out to me back in 2012 I was set on a journey to figure out what foods were causing issues. I went on a full blown elimination diet where gluten, dairy and nuts were removed. During this elimination diet I also got a Celiac blood screening done, I reintroduced gluten intermittently for about 3-4 weeks before my blood test. I should have been consuming more gluten before the test but it was making me ill. I found out I was on the cusp of a positive result for Celiac disease (a percentage point away from a positive antibody screen).  I had no interest in allowing the gluten to do any further damage. With proof of elevated levels of antibodies I understood gluten was impacting my health but that I was not a full blown Celiac sufferer, YET. I’m not positive which Celiac genetic markers I carry but I do have a brother and a father with gluten issues and an aunt with Cron’s disease. 

It turns out I was having a “Leaky Gut” due to gluten sensitivities in 2012. 

The post Digestion issues in baby could be leaky gut in the breastfeeding mother. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

He was surprised when he took his first drink because of how different it tasted. Very much fermented with a hint of vinegar. He had me try it too, I wasn’t a fan but he managed to finish his entire bottle that day.

Kombucha is a probiotic rich, fermented tea beverage. It is considered a raw food that is beneficial because of all the probiotics and antioxidants that it contains. It’s great for digestive health and is also said to be a powerful detoxing beverage.

It contains lots of essential vitamins such as folic acid, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B1, vitamin B3, vitamin B12. It also contains antioxidants including EGCG, Glucuronic Acid, Lactic Acid & Acetic Acid. Bacillus coagulans & S. Boulardii are the probiotic organisms it typically contains.

After discovering firsthand how beneficial kombucha can be I decided I wanted to try to making my own because frankly it’s expensive stuff. Plus, our household is no stranger to fermented or brewed beverages. Turns out making your own is quite easy too!

Here’s how to grow your own starter:

Kombucha starter is as easy as one bottle of organic raw kombucha that is unsweetened combined with 1 cup of room temperature sweetened tea (can be black tea or green tea). All you do is pour your bottle of kombucha into a glass jar, then you add your cup of sweetened tea.

Some notes:

• Be sure to sterilize the jar that you’ll use to make your kombucha starter in first!
• Cover your glass jar with a towel so it can breathe and so it stays contaminant free. I chose to rubber band a towel over the lid. Then place your jar in a warm place to grow.
• People in colder climates will need to wait longer than those in warmer climates for their starter to grow as the warmth of the liquid lends to the sugars being consumed and thus growing the starter.

Your kombucha starter, known as a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast), a Mother, mushroom, etc. grows at the top of your liquid overtime.

In the beginning it looks like a thin-film but it slowly thickens as your jar of liquid sits. Once it is about a quarter of an inch thick you can get started making your own homemade kombucha.

You can find the subsequent Kombucha recipe here.

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