Links Between PCOS and Autoimmune Disorders? - Page 8

jcc · 11-13-2007, 11:30 PM

For anyone here who does have a diagnosis of autoimmune disease, I hope you will take a moment to read a little about gluten sensitivity/celiac disease.

Celiac disease is the only autoimmune disease where the cause is known (adverse immune system response to dietary gluten (wheat, barley, rye). The treatment is a gluten free diet.

Some research has shown that the earlier that gluten sensitivity is diagnosed and treated, the less likely someone will go on to develop other autoimmune disease. Gluten sensitivity has been linked to other autoimmune diseases, and there are reports of other autoimmune diseases responding to a gluten free (and sometimes "other free") diets, including thyroid disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, autoimmune liver disease, Sjogrens, lupus, and more.

Both gluten and casein (cow's milk) sensitivity has been suspected as a trigger in type 1 diabetes, but unfortunately there is no turning the clock back on that once the damage has been done. However, google up "zonulin diabetes" and you will read about a promising new drug that may help prevent diabetes in susceptible individuals. This research is in its infancy, really.

There are case reports of lupus, MS, and even ALS being misdiagnosed... when the actual culprit is gluten sensitivity. The Direct-MS website promotes a gluten, casein and legume free diet for those with MS, and I have met several whose MS has remitted with dietary changes.

So, if there is a chance that PCOS is autoimmune, there most definitely is a chance that gluten sensitivity might be involved. The research on gluten sensitivity is in its infancy, and it is only been in the last ten years that they've realized that celiac disease is COMMON with a prevalence of 1 in 100, and that gluten sensitivity can cause wide ranging neurological and other disease even without a positive celiac disease diagnosis.

If there is a PCOS/gluten connection it is early on the radar screen. But, gluten sensitivity and its possible connection to other autoimmune disease is not so far fetched.

For those who are interested in whether this might apply to them... you can read on. And, anyone with any autoimmune disease should be paying attention here. I suggest browsing the right bar of The Gluten File for any autoimmune disease or symptoms that might apply to you personally, such as infertility, migraines, fibromyalgia, etc.

I recently pulled out some of the references to explain the whole idea of HOW gluten/casein sensitivity might apply to other autoimmune diseases besides celiac disease, here. So for anyone interested in the research... here it is!
http://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/...ad.php?t=23702

The Direct-MS website has also done a good job explaining it, particularly in this presentation:
Nutritional Strategies for Controlling Multiple Sclerosis
http://www.direct-ms.org/presentatio...ion/index.html
They are narrated slides and move very slowly. You can start at slide 27 if you want to jump to where they start talking about food proteins. Gluten, cow's milk, legumes. Emphasis on cow's milk.

WHO SHOULD BE SCREENED FOR GLUTEN SENSITIVITY? Let's set aside, for a moment, whether or not PCOS is autoimmune and whether or not it is associated with gluten sensitivity, and concentrate on all the other autoimmune diseases mentioned here within this thread. Anyone with any autoimmune disease should consider being tested for gluten sensitivity (and perhaps other food sensitivity as well).

At Risk Population for Gluten Sensitivity/Celiac Disease

I don't plan to set up shop here or anything to sell this to anyone. I debated whether or not to stop in to post but after reading about all the autoimmune disease mentioned here in this thread...I couldn't help but stop by to offer some of the research that is out there on gluten sensitivity and autoimmune disease in general, much of it filed into The Gluten File.

Hope this helps somebody. Chances are pretty good that it could.

Cara

Jashobeam · 11-14-2007, 12:55 AM

PCOS has run in my family for generations. There is NO dxed case of Celiac disease. People in my family die usually in their 70s, 80s and 90s, so there would be pleanty of time for Celiac, etc. to show up if it was going to. I just don't buy the theory that Celiac or Gluten Intolerance causes PCOS. From just my family it's obvious it's a gene that is passed along. Some express it, some don't even on the same diet. My grandmother I think was a carrier of PCOS, but her sisters expressed it (weight around the middle only, diabetes or being watched for diabetes, etc). Out of my grandmother's 7 kids 3 or 4 are full blown diabetic. My Mom was IR (she has had PCOS symptoms for many years), but is no longer. Her brother (diabetic) had two sons who are models for male PCOS (early hair loss, diabetes, etc). My aunt is full blown diabetic, but none of her 5 kids who lived to adulthood have shown any symptoms of PCOS or diabetes (one has an autoimmune dissorder, no PCOS symptoms). However three of her grandkids have been dxed with PCOS. Another aunt is full blown diabetic, and all three of her daughters have battled weight, one was infertile for over 20 years (most likely PCOS I think), and three of her grandkids show signs of PCOS (weight, etc., one has thyroid problems). It's so evidently genetic in our family. Some express the gene, some don't. In DH's side it's the men who show it (cholesterol problems, high blood pressure, diabetes), so we are taking precautions with DD. She most likely has the gene from both sides.

Pufferfish · 11-14-2007, 08:33 PM

I also have an autoimmune disease, celiac sprue. Autoimmune diseases also run in my family. My Mother passed from complications from lupus and my sister has also developed lupus (so much for lupus not running in families). My brother has psoriasis, I also believe he has an undiagnosed autoimmune disease.

beelzebubble · 11-15-2007, 03:34 PM

has there ever been a poll on this site to ask this question? if not, i think there should be. the fact that pcos is related very strongly to an autoimmune disease (autoimmune thyroid), really makes me think that it has an autoimmune component-if not cause. i mentioned earlier in this thread that i am also a celiac with hashimoto's thyroiditis. why is it that it seems as if a larger segment of the population on this board has celiac than they should? i mean, it's supposed to be 1 in 120 and it definitely seems as if there are more people with celiac on this board than that.

i especially wonder about celiac in relation to pcos because of the links to other diseases that that they hold in common. pcos is strongly linked to thyroid disease and to irritable bowel. i read somewhere that your likelihood of having celiac goes up markedly if you have either thyroid disease or ibs. it rises to something like 1 in 20 rather than 1 in 120. if you have both, chances are better that you have celiac. maybe it's just coincidental that these two diseases are also linked to pcos, but i do wonder sometimes if a link has not been found purely because no one has looked.

i'm not suggesting that celiac causes pcos. i'm merely reflecting on the fact that pcos acts like an autoimmune disease in many ways. it causes infertility. it is linked to another autoimmune disorder (autoimmune disorders are usually linked to conditions that they actually cause, or to other autoimmune disorders, and not to non-autoimmune related diseases). it causes inflammation throughout the body that can lead to other diseases over time (heart disease, anyone?).

it really is a question for discussion.

lastly, i do have to say that the lab that i went to when i got my celiac diagnosis told me (i contacted them when my pcos symptoms got better after going gluten free) that they had heard this before, and the only reason that they didn't put pcos on the list of associated conditions for celiac was that no one had studied the possible link.

Jashobeam · 11-15-2007, 04:22 PM

I'll start a thread now with a poll.

Poll: Have you been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder?

Kameyan · 11-15-2007, 04:33 PM

There are those who say PCOS IS an autoimmune diease itself which is why it has so many elements of other AI dieases and that having a one AI diease can trigger others like have PCOS can trigger Thyroid problems.

wantabeamommy · 11-15-2007, 04:41 PM

Hi Girls, Can someone tell me what an auto immune dissorder is? Sorry I have no clue.
Thanks

Jashobeam · 11-15-2007, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wantabeamommy

Hi Girls, Can someone tell me what an auto immune dissorder is? Sorry I have no clue.
Thanks

I posted info on what it is with the poll: Have you been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder?

bookchick · 12-09-2007, 11:24 PM

Bumping this, I think it's important and interesting....

Also wanted to say I got the results of my MRI.....(think word used was) extensive arthritis in the neck. Now my new Dr. is worried. I am barely 30 and have been having symptoms for a few years. I'm having more bloodwork in January, but I think she is leaning towards RA or another auto immune problem.

She had prescribed an antidepressant to help me deal with these "issues"...I had been scared to take it because had a bad reaction last time. Now that my MRI shows an actual problem, she says maybe we can wait to start it.

I almost cried. Finally I'm being taken seriously. Some mornings I have to literally rock back and forth until I get on my side, in order to get out of bed.
Yeah, must be anxiety

Jashobeam · 12-10-2007, 06:18 PM

book- I'm gald you are finally getting some answers!

Traikle · 05-22-2008, 08:53 PM

I've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and IBE. Also, at a time of extreme stress, I developed erythema multiforme on my hands which the dermatologist told me was an autoimmune response to a latent oral herpes virus. When I was around 25 years old, I developed benign multinodular cysts in my thyroid, although I didn't become hyper- or hypothyroid. Years later, a urologist found cysts in a kidney. What's with all the cysts? I just figure there are no coincidences.

Turtlegirl68 · 06-12-2008, 01:17 PM

just bumping...very interesting thread

whaleharbor · 06-13-2008, 09:20 AM

I absolutely do believe there is a connection. I have pcos and RA. I am NOT taking the immunosuppresive drugs because I found the following website:

www.roadback.org

It is based on the work of Dr. Brown who treated autoimmune sufferers with Tetracycline (and their derivatives) believing that it was an infection. I have been on Doxycycline and Minocycline along with Celebrex (NSAID) and a tiny does of prednisone and am doing very well. I also take fish oil and probiotics.

One of my rheumatologists is Dr. Tretham at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - aka Harvard. He is a Harvard Professor who also treats Kathleen Turner for her RA and he has treated her with Minocycline. Also the April 2008 edition of Woman's Day Magazine has an article on Dr. Trentham's treatment of a patient with Scleroderma with Minocycline.

I do believe there is a connection. I'm hoping the minocycline can help me with my fertility as I have so little fertile time left...I'm 40.

Good luck, all.

-- whaleharbor

PollySis · 06-25-2008, 10:57 AM

Just diagnosed (yesterday!) with vitiligo hence being on here and finding this thread!

My doctor did mention the thyroid link and she knows I have PCOS, but didn't seem to think it was worth testing me yet for anything thyroid-wise. Online I have since read that vitiligo can be started off by diabetes as well so wondering what that link to PCOS might be? I'm guessing my doctor has no concerns for me, otherwise she would have done some bloods and/or referred me elsewhere?

The vitiligo is on my face and I'm quite dark skinned for an English person (romani ancestors on my mum's side). I don't wear foundation - and really don;t want to get into the whole disguising it with make-up thing.

Have also read a deficiency in B vitamins may be relevant - but I have a healthy wholefoods diet which I supplement with multivitimins as well so I can;t see that being the case? However I will of course continue what I'm doing, nutritionally.

Bit flummoxed what to do next and where to go with it. I do a lot of stuff outdoors - gardening and jogging, dogwalking as well as several day long living history events which keep me outdoors. I've always worn high-ish factor suncreams and even have been using a face cream with factor 15 in, for the past 18 months long before I spotted the vitiligo. And I wear a broad brimmed straw hat in the garden or re-enacting! In fact I only spotted the marks on my face 2 weeks ago and already it looks worse.

Really not sure what else I can do - the more time I spend outside, the more I tan, the worse it will look. I'm 46, too - and apparently most people with vitiligo start in childhood or teens. Now I really feel freaky!