Gluten intolerance is often referred to as CELIAC DISEASE. As Celiac Disease is considered an incurable disease by today’s medical literature, a diagnosis of Celiac Disease is usually the beginning of a process characterized by profound despair and depression in patients. However, this is indeed not true, because most of these cases are treatable.
Above all, we should provide clear definitions of concepts so that they are clearly understood, and no questions are left unanswered.
No more than 5% of those with GLUTEN intolerance have CELIAC DISEASE. The remaining 95% are the cases that we may refer to as CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME. Let’s take a look at what these concepts mean, one by one:
Why is it important to make an accurate definition?
Making an accurate definition is important as 95% of all cases of CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME are definitively and permanently treatable. Whether it is CELIAC DISEASE or CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME, all patients in both groups are considered to have “Leaky Gut Syndrome”, which is characterized by damage to the flora of the digestive tract and impaired selective permeability of the intestines. Even so, the disease processes and mechanisms in both groups are different.
CELIAC DISEASE is a genetically inherited intolerance to “GLIADIN”, one of the proteins that make up “GLUTEN” contained in floury foods such as barley and wheat. These patients can be diagnosed at any stage of their lives. The main critical process in the onset of clinical symptoms is the emergence of intestinal FLORA DAMAGE. CELIAC DISEASE is diagnosed upon microscopic examination in a pathology laboratory of the tissue samples collected from the small intestine by biopsy (endoscopic dissection) during an endoscopy.
CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME is the name given to all cases with intolerance to gluten-containing products, which cannot be diagnosed as having CELIAC DISEASE by endoscopic biopsy. Intestinal flora damage is a contributing factor to the intolerance of floury foods in both CELIAC DISEASE and CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME.
In CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME, the selective permeability of the intestines is impaired due to damage to the flora of the digestive tract, and accordingly, intestinal contents that should not normally pass through the intestines into the bloodstream pass into the bloodstream, thereby triggering the allergic process. The body’s defense system perceives substances that should not pass into the bloodstream as foreign and tries to destroy them. Eventually, the defense system loses its control over what it should attack and destroy, and begins to attack the body’s own tissues, which it perceives as foreign. This is where the most important process begins and this is called “AUTOIMMUNITY”, that is, the body’s attempt to destroy itself and the diseases that develop at the end of this process are called “AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES”. Regardless of which one it is, autoimmune diseases facilitate the development of other autoimmune diseases. These autoimmune diseases include atopic dermatitis, vitiligo, rosacea, autoimmune arthritis (rheumatism), autoimmune vasculitis (Behcet’s disease, etc.), psoriasis, MS, allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, ulcerative colitis, IBS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, etc.
The following is a question that both patients with CELIAC DISEASE and CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME always wonder about: These foods didn’t cause me any discomfort, allergies or bloating in the past, so why do they cause me discomfort now? The answer is simple. You had an intact digestive flora in the past, but now you don’t.
In cases with CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME, one of the most important factors in the onset of complaints and clinical findings is the GENETICALLY MODIFIED grains we eat (GM products). We cannot distinguish between natural and GMO products with the naked eye. Yet, our intestines are able to instantly distinguish between natural wheat and GM wheat thanks to our genetic memory that has been passed down through generations for thousands of years. With the damage to our digestive flora, the selective permeability of the intestine is disrupted and GM products passing into the bloodstream trigger the allergic reaction process.
Both patients with gluten intolerance and patients with CELIAC DISEASE and CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME can be treated with the FLORA TRANSPLANTATION. FLORA TRANSPLANTATION can achieve a complete and permanent recovery in cases with CELIAC-LIKE SYNDROME. In CELIAC DISEASE, however, it is possible to achieve long-term (3-5 years) remissions after treatment with the FLORA TRANSPLANTATION and partial or complete relief of complaints. At this point, it would be helpful to briefly describe WHAT FLORA IS, WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF FLORA and WHAT FLORA TRANSPLANTATION IS.
WHAT IS FLORA?
Certain parts of the human body are inhabited by microorganisms which peacefully live with us, do not harm us, contribute to the vital functions of the region in which they live, cause health problems when not present, whose functions cannot be compensated in any other way, which constantly renew themselves, whose diversity increases under favorable living conditions, and whose number and biodiversity decrease in some unfavorable conditions. Their generic name is FLORA.
WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF FLORA? WHY DOES IT MATTER TO US?
Each part of our body has its own flora, which are the most crucial structures that fight against pathogens coming from outside. In cases where the flora of a given site is reduced, destroyed or extinct, the site gets invaded by pathogenic microorganisms. A disturbed flora in our throat, for example, leads to chronic tonsillitis and chronic pharyngitis. A disturbed oral flora, on the other hand, may result in bad breath, dental caries, canker sores and dry mouth. The flora of the digestive tract is of critical importance in the formation of a gel-like secretion called mucus, which coats the entire lining of the digestive tract, in the site they inhabit. In the absence of mucus, what we eat and drink as well as all the secretions of the digestive system come into direct contact with the surface of the digestive system (mucosa) and cause erosion in the parts they come into contact with. The flora is indispensable for the acid-base balance, enzymatic function, synthesis function and digestive activities of the site they inhabit. Without flora, these functions get impaired. Any disruption of the flora in any given site not only disrupts the function of that site, but also causes disruptions in the functions ahead and behind it.
WHAT IS A FLORA TRANSPLANT?
Flora transplantation is the process consisting of collecting flora samples from at least one healthy FLORA DONOR under general anesthesia through endoscopy and colonoscopy from approximately 30 different anatomical regions of the digestive system, with each region being washed with serums suitable for its own characteristics and aspirated back, subjecting these samples to some series of specific procedures, and then transplanting them endoscopically and colonoscopically to the equivalent anatomical regions of the patient under general anesthesia.