Attn Dennis Hallman; Re: Celiac

I seem to recall that Dennis posts on here, although I'm not a 100% sure. Perhaps someone who knows him could direct him to this thread.

My wife competes in Muay Thai, and like Dennis, she was diagnosed with Celiac Disease a few years back. If you're unfamiliar with Celiacs, it's basically an auto-immune disease with an intolerance towards gluten(wheat products, flour,barley, malt, etc). She has been on a gluten free diet for some time now, but she still struggles with cardio issues, which is odd because she works out and trains like a crazy woman.

She has been training and competing in muay thai for 6 years now. She is an outstanding athlete, was a multi-sport athlete in high school, and played basketball in college. She has excellent technique and is very, very strong for a girl who competes at 135 lbs. In fact nearly none of the girls at our gym can hang with her so she regularly has to spar with the guys. In her fights, she is an absolute monster in the first round but in the 2nd round her body has regularly shut down on her, causing her to just hang on for the remainder of the fight.

As you can imagine this has been very frustrating for her because of how hard she trains and the level of athlete that she is. She is on a gluten free diet and has been for years, but here is my question for Dennis or anyone else who might have some answers.

Aside from a gluten free diet, is there anything else that you've added to your diet, supplements, different types of food, etc, that has seemed to help? We've all seen the remarkable improvements that Dennis has shown in relation to his cardio, so we just wanted to know if you made any other dietary changes aside from excluding gluten.

Thanks very much for taking the time to read and respond if you see this and have the chance.

 Nhbguy, if your wife has already been off of gluten for a few years and still has bad cardio problem then the odds are that her inestines are damaged to the point that they still need time to fully recover, and depending on the age that she found out that she had the disease, (I was 34 when i found out) she may never recover from years of literally poisoning her body.  Have her Dr test her blood levels for the following;

Pregnenolone

DHEA

Progesterone

Cortisol_____this is the one that for me makes the difference with cardio

Testosterone Free and Total

Total Estrogens

Complete Blood Count

Serum Iron

Vitamin D

Thyroid

Reverse Thyroid

If her problem is Gluten related these tests should identify the problem.

I get these tests every six to eight weeks and after being off of Gluten for a year, sadly my Pregnenolone, Progesterone, DHEA, Testosterone and Cortisol levels have not returned to normal. I still hold out hope but my Dr tells me that it is likely that I will be on HRT for the rest of my life.

Good Luck, oh and I got your message, feel free to contact me with any other questions. 

Cortisol 1mcg/day

Testosterone 75mg/week

DHEA 100mg/day

The thing is that if you really need HRT then it is highly unlikely that Testosterone is the only hormone that is deficient in your body

Props to Superman for getting in here with some good info.

My wife was just diagnosed with celiac. She is nit a fighter or anything like that but I appreciate anyone who can get further info out there on this thing.

NHBSuperman -  Nhbguy, if your wife has already been off of gluten for a few years and still has bad cardio problem then the odds are that her inestines are damaged to the point that they still need time to fully recover, and depending on the age that she found out that she had the disease, (I was 34 when i found out) she may never recover from years of literally poisoning her body.  Have her Dr test her blood levels for the following;
Pregnenolone
DHEA
Progesterone
Cortisol_____this is the one that for me makes the difference with cardio
Testosterone Free and Total
Total Estrogens
Complete Blood Count
Serum Iron
Vitamin D
Thyroid
Reverse Thyroid
If her problem is Gluten related these tests should identify the problem.
I get these tests every six to eight weeks and after being off of Gluten for a year, sadly my Pregnenolone, Progesterone, DHEA, Testosterone and Cortisol levels have not returned to normal. I still hold out hope but my Dr tells me that it is likely that I will be on HRT for the rest of my life.
Good Luck, oh and I got your message, feel free to contact me with any other questions. 


Thanks very much for responding, the info you provided is very much appreciated. My wife was actually 25 when she was diagnosed, she's 31 now, but it's been a constant struggle. She started to get sick a lot when she was about 22 or 23. It's certainly a lot better now, but the cardio thing during extreme exertion has still been a bit of a problem.

Again I really appreciate your taking time to respond and for all the help. Best of luck with Ebersole in August!

I send my best to your wife, nhbguy. I hope she can solve this.

Oh and thanks also to Porkchop for digging up Dennis's earlier post.

Thanks Funaki, she went to sleep already but I'll show her Dennis's response in the morning. It's been really frustrating for her and her trainers as well. She lost her last fight to a girl who really had no business getting a win over her. I know I may not be the most objective observer, but she absolutely dominated this girl in the 1st round but her body completely shut down in the second. Our trainer said her lips were blue between rounds. She went the distance but could barely punch or kick by the 3rd round.

Dennis, what's your diet like?

nhbguy -

That was great you got such a quick response. Its nice to see this kind of support and fellowship among good people.

Much respect to your wife for competing under these conditions. Impressive! Must be a tough couple :)

onepunchJD - nhbguy -

That was great you got such a quick response. Its nice to see this kind of support and fellowship among good people.

Much respect to your wife for competing under these conditions. Impressive! Must be a tough couple :)


Pretty cool isnt it? My wife's a muay thai machine, and she has heart for days, absolutely won't quit ever. I'm a little bit bigger and stronger than she is, but if we were the same size she'd probably whup me.

Dennis, did you get the prefix wrong or do you really only take one microgram of cortisol a day?

nhbguy - 
onepunchJD - nhbguy -

That was great you got such a quick response. Its nice to see this kind of support and fellowship among good people.

Much respect to your wife for competing under these conditions. Impressive! Must be a tough couple :)


Pretty cool isnt it? My wife's a muay thai machine, and she has heart for days, absolutely won't quit ever. I'm a little bit bigger and stronger than she is, but if we were the same size she'd probably whup me.


Yes Sir.

Very cool!

One option would be to consult someone like Chris Kresser who has extremely deep knowledge in gluten related matters, cortisol problems and auto-immune diseases and how to treat them with diet. http://thehealthyskeptic.org/consultations

Has she had her thyroid levels checked?

NorthFromHere - One option would be to consult someone like Chris Kresser who has extremely deep knowledge in gluten related matters, cortisol problems and auto-immune diseases and how to treat them with diet. http://thehealthyskeptic.org/consultations

Has she had her thyroid levels checked?


I'll have to check with her in the morning about what she's done testing wise. Thanks a lot for the link though.

Appreciate all of the good info that people have provided in addition to Dennis. Thanks guys!

Celiac disease also has other associations. As NorthFromHere said, get her thyroid checked. In addition, other autoimmune conditions such as SLE and Sjogrens can be co-morbities. Other food allergies causing low levels of inflammation leading to the "leaky gut" also can arise. Celiac disease can be pretty complex.

heavy dose of probiotics son... to heal up the gut.

vsl#3

natural product with the most amount of probiotics you can get.

really, she needs to go on a fast and then consume probiotics.

20 grams of spirulina and 10 grams of chlorella mixed with 16 to 24 oz's of water should always be the last meal before bed.

Hey Dennis,

Any improvements in your T production?

Maybe you should ask gluten guru Robb Wolf about this. You can submit a question to the podcast at his website.

Thanks guys.