When clients first come to see me with symptoms that are chronic (lasting three months or more), especially if we know that it is an autoimmune situation, but even if auto-immunity is not confirmed, we have to remove everything we can think of that could be a causative factor. This is termed as “Clearing the Muddy Waters” so that we can see what is going on, without distraction.

This term “Clearing the Muddy Waters”, is about taking out the confusion, enabling a clearer picture of what is going on, to be uncovered. In my own examination of the research and anecdotal confirmation, gluten is a pronounceable causative factor.

Symptoms can often be hidden until the waters get super muddy and this is when tissue is destroyed and things get serious. This means, that we often don’t know that we have an underlying condition manifesting until symptoms compound and get stronger.

The first step in the clearing is the complete omission of gluten. Dependent on your genes, inflammatory health, and pathogen status this may be a forever thing or it may be a temporary but, dose-dependent change.

Gluten proteins, comprising gliadins and glutenins, are abundantly contained in dietary products made of wheat, barley, and rye. They are unusual with respect to their high content of the amino acids proline and glutamine, which are largely resistant to cleavage by the major human GI digestive enzymes.

In optimal digestion (caveat; If you are coming to see me due to symptoms that you do not like - you don’t have optimal digestion! These symptoms can range from mild to major difficulty with weight, cardiovascular, hormonal, gut, auto-immune, blood sugar, aches & pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue, brain fog, headaches the list goes on), proteins are broken down by digestive enzymes. The enzymes cleave off groups of amino acids called peptides. The majority of these peptides can be further broken down, absorbed through the intestine, and then transported and used in the body. However, extensive research reasons that there are three gluten peptides that cannot be broken down by the digestive enzymes.

The long-term result of that is a loss of gut tight junction barrier function in the GI tract and GI disease ensues.

Cells in the GI tract are evolutionarily spaced at a specific distance from each other (known as gut tight junctions), in order for the selective flow of nutrients to occur in and out of the gut wall. For those who have ingested more wheat grains than individually tolerable, changes set in that are disadvantageous to health. The tight junctions widened, molecules that are usually too big to fit through can freely flow in and out of the gut. This provokes inflammatory cytokine responses against the proteins and molecules that should not be entering through the gut skin.

An inflamed gut can cause problems throughout the body as what happens in the gut, doesn't always stay confined to the gut 😟

Pathogenic intestinal permeability occurs when your gut does not reseal itself naturally. You may have heard the term “Leaky Gut”?

Leaky Gut Definition: Where the spaces between the single-cell layer that forms the luminal surface (the skin) in the gastrointestinal tract gets wider allowing for large macromolecules to exit and trigger immune responses. Your immune system is then under load and in this fragile state, you launch foreign objects throughout the body via the bloodstream 😨

Your immune system has two basic strategies for defence: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system.

Your innate immune system produces cytokines. These are your first responders in a crisis situation. They identify threats and attempt to destroy them. Cytokines get triggered by foreign invaders like infections, viruses, bacteria, or parasites.

If the threat is overwhelming or ongoing, your innate immune system calls for backup. It brings in the heavy artillery, which is your adaptive immune system, which launches antibodies to attack.

Both of these responses are a fight for survival. The production of antibodies activates a molecular mimicry response and other pathways. The autoimmune mechanism is activated, and you begin to make antibodies to destroy an object like food, and your own tissues.

Back to gluten. When taking out gluten from your eating, we often need to consider potential cross-reactivity from other proteins (essential if you have an auto-immune condition).

There are three gluten anti-body locks. Dairy locks into 2 of these and indicates to your body that has ingested gluten, in autoimmune situations, this equates to your body pumping out more antibodies that ultimately attack your tissue. Each grain has its own amino acid fingerprint. When your body is in a fragile state, various grain ‘fingerprints’ make provokes antibodies.

There are three specific gluten peptides (alpha-gliadin) that can trigger a T-cell response. Of the three, there is one particular gliadin peptide with a specific 33 amino acid sequence that is responsible for the aggressive immune response in the gut. This specific amino acid sequence provokes the production of antibodies. Doctor Tom O’Bryan narrates an analogy that aids in the understanding of “antibodies”.

“Picture antibodies as “Arnold Schwarzenegger in dark glasses with his gun, that holds chemical bullets”. These bullets are targeting the peptide with the specific 33 amino acid sequence that is lurking in the bloodstream. The gun is firing cytokines at this molecule to destroy it. Arnold travels through the bloodstream with his gun, ready at hand to fire. If we use the thyroid gland as an example for the understanding of tissue damage that occurs as a result of this scenario, we need to hold the picture in our mind, of the bloodstream going through the thyroid gland”.

On the surface of the thyroid, facing the bloodstream, are hundreds of amino acids and these include component “33”. So Arnold is going through the bloodstream looking for “33”, his dark glasses on, so his vision of component “33” isn’t super clear and he fires chemical bullets at the thyroid. Your thyroid tissue gets damaged. Your immune system recognised the damaged cells and prompts the initiation of thyroid antibodies to get rid of the damaged thyroid cells, making room to make new thyroid cells”

Imagine now;

If you have toast for breakfast … Arnold with a gun in hand gets produced.

If you have a wrap for lunch … Arnold gets produced.

If you have pasta for dinner … Arnold gets produced.

If you have gluten in your medications … more Arnold

Each time you make these antibodies by eating gluten or other proteins that have amino acids that are similar to those in gluten, you are continuing to fire chemical bullets at the thyroid (in this scenario but it may be other tissue in individual cases) and destroying more thyroid cells. The more thyroid cells that are destroyed, the more thyroid anti-bodies you will make to get rid of the damage thyroid cells. It is a self-perpetuating mechanism and eventuates in autoimmune Hashimotos.

Through essential inquiry and determining of the underlying causes, we can heal. It’s the identification of your healing opportunities, that provide the keys to getting well and staying well, naturally.

Wanting to know more? Book a free 15-minute strategy call via my “Work With Me” link ♡