(Mick-san, this post is for you. For once I wrote in Japanese first. Probably my Japanese is still bad. I blame it on being dizzy today :-P)
↑ Me at age 7.
以前、コロラドに住んでいたとき仲の良かった方に、
「君は、炭鉱の中でポトッと先に死んでみんなに危険を知らせる
カナリヤなのかもね～」などと言われたことがあります。
ことの起こりは、毎日のように頭が割れるほど痛かった偏頭痛。
30のときマラソンを初完走して、ハーフマラソンや10kmレースなど
ちょいちょい参加し、バレーボールなども続けて
その後もほどほどに健康的(?)な生活をしていた私ですが、腰痛、
腹痛、乗り越えられない疲労に次いで今度は目も開けられない偏頭痛。
もういい加減に勘弁して～、と思っていた頃です。
彼が言うには、「ダニエルの家に引っ越してから体調が悪くなった」と。
そういえばなんだか怪しいところはありました。 家に入るたび、
他の人は気付かなくても、私にとってするとなんだかガスが漏れてでも
いるような金属的な変な匂い。 後から振り返ると、年代的に、
鉛の入った塗料を使って建てたと思われる家です。
それを友人の大工さんが増築するのに壁をめった切りにしていたのは、
ちょっと良くなかったかも知れません。
最近細かく検査をしたところ、体内に鉛と砒素が水道水の基準より多く
蓄積されているのが判明。 それも体調に影響していたのでしょう。
ただそれも、基本的に弱っていたからだと思います。
小さい頃から、手のかかる、敏感な子供でした。
夜は空気に漂ういろいろな匂いが気になって眠れず、
鼻に101匹ワンちゃんのタオルをあててフィルター代わりにして
やっと眠れました。
血液の循環が悪く、冬は特に手足が冷たくて眠れなかったので、
母の暖かい体に暖めてもらってよく一緒に寝ました。 (お母さんありがとう。）
甘いものが嫌いだったにも関わらず、いろいろな食べ物が
歯にしみて痛く、肉が噛み切れなくて、
食べ終わるまで居残る規則の給食室に、もう一人の
「偏食」の子（その友は白血病で13歳のとき逝ってしまいました）と、
お昼休みの時間が終わるまで居残る小学生の毎日。
パンを食べたくなくてポケットに入れて帰り、帰り道の駅で
トイレに流そうとしたり、忘れてカリカリに乾いたのが見つかって
叱られたりしました。
いつもお腹が痛くて保健室に行くと、「あなたは甘えん坊ね」と。
5年生のとき初めて背中が動けないほど痛くなったときかかった医師は、
夏なのに冷たい手足と、血圧が低く貧血ぎみで、常に疲れている私を診て、
「あんたは血の巡りが悪いからしょうがないわー。
60歳位の体と同じだね。 養命酒でも飲んで、あんまり運動せず、
働かなくていいよう、お金持ちで、お姫様みたいに大事にしてくれるダンナを
探しなさい。 お手伝いさんがいればなおいい。」と、
大変ヘルプフルなことをおっしゃいました。
（そんなアホな、強くなってやる、と運動を続けて、
大事にしてくれる旦那さんは見つけた。）
はあ、私って出来損ないなのね、と思ったものです。
エナメル質がほとんど形成されなかった歯は、いつも虫歯だらけ。
近所の歯医者はお手上げということで、
東京医科歯科大学に通って治療したものの、そこの若先生には
「18か19歳くらいになったら全部差し歯にしなさい。
30代になったら入れ歯になるかも知れない」と言われる始末。
これらのことがぜーんぶ、もしかすると、セリアック病の
せいだったかも知れないなんて、いったい誰が考えたでしょう？！
疲労と脱力、腹痛、過敏性腸症候群、貧血、カルシウムの
吸収不良による関節の痛み、歯の変色、形成不全、虫歯の痛み、
頭痛にめまい。全てセリアック病の症状です。
（栄養失調と神経障害の為目が見えなくなったり、
歩けなくなったりする人もいます。）
それに妙にパンの匂いさえあまり好きじゃなかったのは、
自衛本能のなせた業だと思います。
小学校のときパン工場に見学に行って、まわりがみんな
「わーいい匂い」と言ったときも、「そうかなあ」と
思ったものです。 焼きたてのメロンパンをもらって、
わあいいただきまあす、とかぶりつくクラスメートを前に、
誰にこれあげようかなあ、と思案したものでした。
（牧場に行ってしぼりたての牛乳を1本ずつもらったときも、
知らずに乳たんぱくアレルギーだった私は、匂いだけで気持ち悪くて、
「これ誰にあげようかなあ、50円あげたら誰か飲んで
くれるかなあ」と思案しましたが、それはまた別。）
そうした幼いときにはあった感覚を、出来るだけまわりに「順応」するべく、
押しつぶしてきたのです。
人間の体は複雑にすべての部位が関わりあっているシステム。
それなのに、なにか症状が出ると、その局所だけ、またその症状だけ
抑え込んで治療することが殆どです。
今までも、貧血、形成不全、過敏性腸症候群、偏頭痛、関節の痛みと、
いろいろなヒントはいたるところにあったのですが、
それを別々に見ても何も答えは出ませんでした。
（普通の医者、歯医者、消化器系、脳神経科、整形外科、
カイロプラクター、ありとあらゆる医者に通い、
鉄分を吸収できないのに補給し、歯を外側から治し、
腹痛が起きたら抗痙攣剤を飲み、偏頭痛の薬を飲み、
関節に理学療法を施すなど、全てしてきました。）
なぜ現代（西洋）医学では、からだがバランスを崩したそもそもの
原因を探すことを怠るのでしょうか？
幸いなことに、ワシントン州に引っ越して、からだを根本から治そうと目指す
自然療法医（naturopath）の先生に出会ったおかげで、
今まであった症状の全てを繋げて考えることが出来ました。
（アメリカではアラスカ、アリゾナ、カリフォルニア、コネチカット、
ワシントンDC、ハワイ、アイダホ、メイン、モンタナ、バーモント、
ニューハンプシャー、オレゴン、バージン諸島、ユタ、それにワシントン州で
自然療法医が普通の医師と同等に認められている。残念なことに、
保険会社から自然療法医に出る報酬は他の医師より少なく、
そのせいで私の会った先生は今健康食品ビジネスの顧問となり、
今は患者の診察はしていません。）
それと併せて一番助けになったのは栄養士さんかも知れません。
食べていた食べ物といろいろな症状が出るタイミングを検討して、
食品アレルギーの可能性を真剣に考えてくれたのは自然療法医の先生と
栄養士さんだったからです。
アレルギーテストはアレルギーと喘息専門のクリニックで受けたことが
あったのですが、そういった場所で素早く検査をできるヒスタミン反応の他に、
血液を使って食品に対するまた別の抗体・免疫反応（IgG、IgE）を試す検査が
あると知ったのは、栄養士さんのおかげでした。
グルテンに対する反応を検査したのもそのおかげでしたし、
乳糖不耐症に加えて乳たん白全般に対しても、卵黄、卵白に対しても
抗体・免疫反応を起こして自分の体を攻撃している（関節などが痛くなる、
頭が痛くなる、お腹をこわすなど）と検査して分かったのも彼のおかげです。
セリアック病は遺伝子の関係でなるので、グルテンが食べられないのは治りません。
グルテン以外に関しては度合いが体調により変わるかも分かりませんが、
簡単に言えば、今までずっとグルテンと乳たん白や乳糖（乳製品以外にも、
薬にも、練りわさびにさえ含まれていることが多い）や、卵を食べることにより、
自分の体を30年来じくじく苛めてきたことになります。
グルテンに関して言えば小腸にダメージを与えるので、
アメリカに来てパンやパスタ（最初に行ったところはど田舎の
全寮制の学校だったのでご飯なんてなかった）に一生懸命慣れて、
自分をわざわざ栄養失調にして少しずつ殺してきたようなもの。
パンも麺もやっと頑張って好きになって、今度は食べられない。
・・・皮肉すぎて笑えてしまいます。
それも一端でいろいろなことから線維筋痛症になったのでしょうから、
30年がかりでなった病気。 （線維筋痛症は原因がはっきりしない病気ですが、
何らかの体に対するストレスにより脳の中枢神経に変化が生じて
発病するとされています。） ですからすぐには治らないかもしれませんし、
調子が良くなることがあっても一生付き合っていくかも知れません。
でもセリアック病だと分かって、グルテンフリーの食生活を
始められたことは、何よりも幸運だと思います。
今まで何が原因かさっぱり分からなかった症状の数々の、
少なくとも一因がやっと分かったのですから。
単に「甘えん坊」というだけではなかったと分かっただけでも、
仮に出来損ないであるにしろ、私には嬉しいことでした。
さらに栄養士さんは、面白い話・説を教えてくれました。
欧米では医療関係で使われるラテックス（ゴム）アレルギーの人が
近年非常に増えています。 ラテックスアレルギーの人達は、
ゴムの木に含まれる特定のたん白質に反応してアレルギーを起こすのですが、
アマゾンなどで見つかる自然本来のゴムの木からは、
そのたん白質は見つからないのです。
アレルギー反応の誘因になるたん白質を含んでいるのは、
近年生産量を増やそうと、速く成長させる為に人間が
交配を繰り返して「品種改良」したインドネシアなどのゴムの木のみ。
小麦アレルギーの人も（セリアック病の場合は駄目ですが）、
スペルト小麦（日本人からするとあわやひえのような小麦の先祖）なら
食べられる人が多いのです。 小麦もゴムの木のように、
交配を繰り返して、人間が「品種改良」の名の下に
いじくりまわしてきた穀物です。
もしそうすることによって、「便利、簡単、生産量増」の名の下に
自然に反してたん白質を変異させ、人間が自分で自分のアレルギーや病気を
作っているとしたら・・・？
お米も今、アレルギーの子供が増えていると聞きますが、
それこそ品種改良が繰り返されてきた穀物です。
その子達も、あわやひえ、自然のままのものは食べられる場合が
多いのではないでしょうか。
過激なことを言うと、私達は、「便利な生活」の名のもとに、
近代農業を通して自分達の子供たちを病気にしているかも知れません。
昔はお米が主食だった日本では少なかった小麦アレルギーも、
最近は増えていると聞きます。 グルテン全般が食べられず、
自分の腸を破壊してしまう自己免疫疾患となるセリアック病は、
小麦アレルギーがさらに発達したものとも言えるかも分かりません。
とすると、みっくさんの言うとおり、私は警鐘を鳴らす
カナリヤなのです。 しぶといからまだ当分死なないけど。
Back when I lived in Colorado, a friend who knew me well once said: "Maybe you're like that canary who drops dead in a coal mine, letting everyone know of the impending danger."
This comment came about when I was dealing with really bad, head-splitting migraines almost every day.
I was relatively "healthy" - considering I had completed my first marathon at age 30, ran several shorter races from time to time after that, continued playing volleyball in a recreational league, etc. But relentless backaches, stomachaches, fatigue, and now migraine headaches plagued me. I didn't know what to do.
According to him, my health had deteriorated more after I moved in with Daniel. Well, there were suspicious moments. Every time I stepped into the house, I smelt something metallic, almost like gas was leaking. No one else could tell the same. Looking back, since the house was built in the 60s, it is quite possible it contained lead paint. And to make an addition to the house, a wall had been hacked away with exposed surfaces. That may have been bad.
Recently through some testing, I found out that arsenic and lead levels in my system were higher than those mandated for city water. But I think that is mostly due to the fact my body has been weakened for quite some time, unable to rid of toxins.
I was always "sensitive," "fussy," "pain in a..." child.
At night, I couldn't fall asleep "because of all the smells swirling in the air. " So I *had to* use my 101 Dalmatians towel held up to my nose as a filter. I had poor blood circulation even as a child - especially in winter I couldn't sleep because of cold hands and feet, so my mother would have to warm them up between her thighs. (Thank you, mom.)
I hated sweets, but still my teeth hurt when eating many foods; I couldn't chew and cut meats in my mouth (and they didn't provide knives at Japanese elementary schools). The rule was such that we could not leave the lunch room until we finished our last bite off the plate. So my friend who was also "finicky" (she died of leukimia at age 13) and I mainly just sat there, poking food, until the lunch break was over, while the other kids got to play. I couldn't stand eating bread, so I'd try to flush it down the toilet at a train station during my commute. Once or twice I forgot and ended up being caught with a dried-up roll in the pocket of my school uniform. I was scolded for wasting food.
I consistently had stomachaches and headaches, so I went to the school nurse often, where I was told I was being whiny and I should suck it up.
When I was in 5th grade, I came down with my first unbearable backache. After seeing me - the 10-year-old with her ice cold hands and feet in the middle of summer, low blood pressure and anemia - the doctor said, "Well, not much you can do. Your heart just doesn't pump blood as well as other kids. You're weak. You are a kid trapped in a 60-year-old's body. Take some Chinese herbs, try not to exercise, and try to find a husband who'll treat you like a princess, so you don't have to work or lift a finger. Preferable if you get a maid."
Even as a child, I thought that really wasn't helpful. (I did find a nice husband who treats me like a princess, but I do have to lift a finger or two.) That made me feel like I was a defective child. I kept exercising against his orders, hoping to get stronger.
My teeth didn't come out with much of the enamel layer, so no matter how hard I brushed and flossed, I kept getting decays and cavities, making me a frequent customer to dentists. The neighborhood dentist threw in the towel, so I was sent to the "experts" at Tokyo Medical Dental University. The young hot doctor told me, "When you grow old enough - maybe 18 or 19 - you should just get crowns or implants for all your teeth. In your 30s, you'll probably need dentures." (Nothing like dentures to give a little kid future hope.)
Who would've thunk (kidding, thought), all these things may have been attributed to celiac disease?!!!
Fatigue and malaise, GI symptoms, anemia, calcium malabsorption and joint pain, teeth discoloration, enamel hypoplasia, extensive tooth decay and pain, headaches and dizziness. All of these are symptoms of celiac disease. (In some cases, because of malnutrition and nerve damage, patients experience things like loss of sight and inability to control limbs.)
Now it makes so much sense that as a child, I didn't even care for the smell of freshly baked breads. It was instinctive self-defense. I remember vividly: we once had a field trip in elementary school to a bakery that supplied the school with great breads. Everyone else went, "Wow, it smells so good!" as soon as they stepped into the factory - I was thinking, "Hmm, really?" Everyone was given a freshly baked "melon pan" (a type of Japanese bread that tastes like cantalope - I know, odd) ; the kids bit into them with great joy. All I could think was, "This is huge. I wonder how I could talk someone into eating mine."
(Unknowingly having had milk protein allergy, when we had another field trip to a milk farm, the distant smell alone made me want to puke. We were then each presented with a freshly squeezed luke warm bottle of milk, which we were of course required to drink before we went home. With joyous gulps around me, all I could think was, "This is sick. Maybe if I gave out 50 yen secretly, someone would drink this up for me." But that's another story.)
All my life, I'd been working to squash such instincts - to assimilate to a "regular" lifestyle.
Human body is an extremely complicated, carefully balanced system, whose parts are all intricately intertwined. Under "modern" medicine, we "treat" each part that is exhibiting symptoms, often by suppressing the symptoms. In my case, clues were interspersed in various body parts: anemia, enamel deficiency, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, joint pains. The answer wasn't there, because we were only looking at each body part.
I went to family practices, dentists, GI doctors, neurologists, psychiatrists, orthopedists, chiropractors - then supplemented iron which I couldn't absorb or hold, fixed the teeth from outside, tried to suppress stomachaches with anti-spastic medicine, took migraine blockers, took SSRIs for low serotonin, worked with physical therapists - everything.
Why - when body is a system - in "modern" medicine, do we choose to fail to systematically address what caused the stress and imbalance in the first place?
Luckily for me, I moved to Seattle, and met a naturopath who was dedicated to systematically address what may be stressing my body.
(Washington is one of the states/places where naturopaths are theoretically allowed to be licensed and fully practice as doctors, among Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Vermont, New Hampshire, Oregon, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Utah. Unfortunately, naturopaths' fees are paid at a lower rate from insurance companies - partially because of that financial burden, my original naturopathic doctor is now working as the medical advisor for a new start-up health food company and not seeing patients. Very ironic and a shame, considering that a dozen MD's couldn't figure out my condition.)
Along with my naturopathic doctor, the most helpful person has been my nutritionist. He looked at what I was eating and worked to systematically find out which foods may be contributing to my symptoms. Together with my naturopathic doctor, he helped me to figure out my food allergies.
I took allergy tests at Northwest Allergy and Asthma Clinic in the past and came out empty-handed, but what I didn't know was that other than those quick histamine reaction tests, there are other types of allergies and sensitivities that trigger antibodies in your system. So at the suggestion of my nutritionist, my doctor ordered blood and stool tests to figure out which foods were causing IgG and IgE antibody/immune reactions in my body.
This process was what prompted the further testing about my reaction to gluten. Also through the blood test, I found out I had milk protein allergy on top of the previously known lactose intolerance; I also had egg (both yolk and white) allergy. All of these foods were causing the mass attack against my own body in ways of immune reaction, which can also cause joint pain and flu-like symptoms. I wouldn't have found that out without my nutritionist.
Celiac disease is genetic, so I can't change my gluten intolerance for the rest of my life. Other allergies may get slightly better (e.g. I might be able to tolerate yogurt in the distant future, etc.). But in short, it's quite possible I was killing my own body my whole life, for over 30 years, with food.
It is sooo incredibly ironic I find it almost funny, that I had celiac disease which damages small intestine as reaction to gluten. I came to the U.S. first to a small boarding school, where I worked so hard to assimilate, learning to eat bread, pasta, cereal and baked goods, because rice wasn't really an option. All along as I worked hard to like these things, I was depriving myself of nutrition and slowly damaging my body further. And now that I made myself like bread and pasta and baked goods, I can't eat them!
Among other stresses, celiac disease was most likely one of the main culprit in developing my fibromyalgia (FMS). (No one knows what causes FMS for sure, but it is known some change occurs in the central nervous system due to some stress, to cause a change in pain mechanism.) That means I worked for multiple decades to develop it. So while I try to get better, I'd understand if it takes some time to reverse the damage. I'm not giving up by any means, but when I think about how long I've been working to get it, I think it's reasonable if I may have to live with it the rest of my life, even I can make myself feel better and have fewer flare-ups.
Even then, having found out about celiac disease and starting my gluten-free diet has been a huge relief. I think that was fortunate. All these mysterious symptoms I've had all my life now have at least one clear cause, which I can prevent! Just to confirm that I wasn't simply a whiner, even if I were defective, was great for me.
My nutritionist shared with me an interesting story/theory. In western world where we use much latex for medical purposes, we are finding more and more latex allergy. While people with type 1 (most severe) latex allergy react to certain proteins contained in a type of rubber tree (hevea brasiliensis), they only tend to react to those rubber trees that have been hybridized to death - like the ones found in Indonesia, to promote faster growth for maximum efficiency and profit. Those same people don't always have the same reaction to proteins found in completely natural rubber trees, like the ones found in Amazon.
Although it doesn't work for people with celiac disease, those with wheat allergy, similarly, can often eat spelt - which is like an ancestor of common wheat. Like rubber trees, wheat is a grain that has been hybridized to death, in the name of "improved" production (faster, more "efficient," more resilient for maximum profit).
What if, in the name of "convenience," "efficiency," and "better production," we humans were going against nature, creating these monster proteins that cause many of the modern allergies and illnesses?
(I hear rice allergy is alarmingly increasing in Japanese children as well. That's another grain which has been hybridized over and over. But I suspect these same children can eat ancient grains.)
If we took this theory one step further, through modern agriculture and in the name of convenience, we are making our own children sick - killing people like me.
Even in Japan where wheat allergy used to be rare, because mostly rice was the main grain, they are discovering more and more cases of wheat allergy. Celiac disease, which prohibits all forms of gluten and destroys small intestine, is sort of like wheat allergy on steroids, so I am ahead of my time.
If that's the case, like Mick says, I am that canary. Except you can't kill me off that easily. :-)
-A
