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Celiac Disease And Interferon Treatment for Hepatitis or MS
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
March 21 2001 | 1,743 views

Yet a third report which describes another side effect of interferon treatment. The report describes two patients with chronic hepatitis C that developed celiac disease during treatment with interferon. When the hepatitis C patients stopped taking the interferon treatment their celiac disease symptoms improved after they started a gluten-free diet.

The Lancet March 10, 2001;357



Dr. Mercola's Comments:
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Traditional medicine has determined that interferon should be a treatment for many with hepatitis C and MS. I could not more vigorously disagree, and I recommend to all my patients that we wean them off of these prescriptions.

Is interferon natural? Absolutely. Then what is the problem? Well, the problem is huge. When one forces a natural substance on the body to levels in which it has no ability to modify through normal feedback mechanisms, serious complications can and do result. I have certainly witnessed this in many patients who were prescribed interferon.

This Lancet report highlights yet another potential complication of interferon - precipitation of celiac disease.

Most of us should not be on wheat or gluten (wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt) anyway, but it appears there is a particular problem if you are on interferon.

It is my experience that the majority of people have "preclinical" celiac disease. That is, they are eating wheat and it is causing damage to the lining of their gut and also causing immune dysfunction, but the symptoms are below the threshold of appreciation.

They can go for many years or even decades before they finally get up and shout as the full blown disease develops.

So the take home message is to find a qualified clinician who understands the root cause of disease so you can avoid taking potentially dangerous prescription drugs which have a great risk of causing more harm than good.

Related Articles:

Celiac Disease and Indigestion

The prevalence of celiac disease in at-risk groups of Children in the United States

Wheat Sensitivity (Subclinical Gluten Intolerance) Linked To Repeated Miscarriages

Celiac Disease: Fertility and Pregnancy






 
 
 
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