By Dr. Bruce West

What do these three patients of ours have in common? One is a 70-year-old woman who suffered with epilepsy and seizures for 50 years. These came to an abrupt end within one week of starting treatment. The second is a 60-year-old woman who could not stop her bone loss from osteoporosis, despite the proper diet, lifting weights, and taking bone-building supplements. Her osteoporosis and continuing bone loss reversed itself within 90 days of starting treatment. The last is a 65-year-old who suffered through severe fatigue and what she called “being spacey,” confused, and unable to concentrate-for more than 25 years. It all ended within one week of starting treatment.

What these three patients shared in common was that they all suffered from celiac disease and did not know it. Celiac disease occurs when your body cannot tolerate gluten-a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and oats. For celiac patients, gluten breaks down the lining of the intestines, interfering with digestion and absorption-leading to multiple nutritional deficiencies. None had the classic symptoms of bloating, nausea, gas, diarrhea, constipation, or weight loss. And none had been tested for or diagnosed with celiac disease.

They all got better simply because we stumbled onto their problems by trying a protocol I use with almost every patient-eliminating all gluten for 30 days. Two were immediately cured, and the third felt so much better that she continued to eliminate gluten from her diet and eventually overcame incurable osteoporosis.

The moral of the story is if you suffer from any illness at all, you must eliminate gluten from your diet for 30 days, simply to test the possibility that this protein is destroying your health. Estimates are that close to 1 in 133 Americans has celiac disease. And most do not know it. It is tough to diagnose because according to modern medicine, a biopsy of the intestinal lining is the only true diagnostic procedure. Of course, this is invasive, and by the time the intestinal lining is being destroyed, celiac disease is far advanced.

It is just so much better, makes so much more sense, and is classic evidence-based medicine to simply eliminate gluten from your diet and see how you feel. If you are remarkably better, biopsy or not, you have hit the nail on the head.

Prescriptions Also

These three patients all suffered from the same-somewhat unusual-underlying cause of their problems. However, for literally thousands of our other patients, we helped them find a much more common underlying cause of their problems by simply examining their prescriptions. And the lesson here is even simpler: No matter what symptoms you have, always suspect that your prescription drugs are the underlying cause of your problem until proven otherwise.

In fact, no home should be without a drug handbook to look up prescription medications. When you find that your problems are listed as a side effect from a drug that you take, it is an obvious tip off. This is particularly true for cardiac drugs. And if you take more than two drugs, your problem may not be listed under either drug because it could be caused by the combination. By the time you take three or more drugs, there is not a human being on the planet who can determine just what may be going on in your body as a result of the combinations. So get to your doctor to take steps to change, wean, or eliminate offending drugs to find your cure. Or even better, if you can find one, get to a private-practice pharmacist who helps people wean off drugs to solve their health problems. Thanks to a glut of super powerful prescription drugs, this is one of the hottest new fields for pharmacists.

So no matter what the symptoms, problems or “disease” you suffer from, always remember to eliminate gluten as your potential cure-and suspect your prescriptions as the potential cause of your suffering. If you don’t, your suffering can go on for years, decades, or your entire life!