Page 63 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

The Role of Allergies, Poisons, and Toxins in Psychiatry | 63

Remarkably, 35% of biopsy-proven CD cases have a history of
psychiatric illness (Bürk 2009). Logic would then dictate that we
would find an over-representation of CD and GS cases in a
psychiatric population. Indeed, it’s been found that diagnosed CD
is found three times as often among those with schizophrenia
(Eaton 2004).
After reviewing the increase of CD prevalence in a 50-year span,
Mayo Clinic lead researcher and gastroenterologist, Joseph
Murray, M.D., remarked, “Celiac disease is unusual, but it’s no
longer rare.... Until recently, the standard approach to finding
celiac disease has been to wait for people to complain of
symptoms and to come to the doctor for investigation.... We may
need to consider looking for celiac disease in the general
population, more like we do in testing for cholesterol or blood
pressure.” (Mayo Clinic 2009)
Given the high rate of psychiatric symptoms amongst CD
patients and given the above facts and figures, the practitioner
needs to consider:
− Patients with schizophrenia are at least three times more
likely to have CD (meaning 3% of schizophrenia patients)
and, if the same pattern follows, three times more likely to
have GS (18% of patients).
− Odds are 33:1 that a patient with CD is unaware he/she has
it.
− Nearly half of patients with CD will not manifest it yet may
show psychiatric symptoms from it.
− Psychiatric manifestations will vary widely amongst CD
patients.
− A gluten-free (GF) diet of CD and GS patients could eliminate
or dramatically reduce psychiatric symptoms.
Given Dr. Murray’s comments that the general public may need
routine testing for CD, the matter is accentuated in a psychiatric
population. Standard testing includes blood levels of the
antibodies anti-endomysium and anti-tissue transglutaminase. If