Dr. Weyrich's Naturopathic Functional Medicine Notebook is a collection of information on topics of interest to Dr. Weyrich that may be of interest to the world wide audience. Due to limitations of time, not all information that Dr. Weyrich knows or would like to further research is published here. Dr. Weyrich welcomes financial contributions to support specific research topics, as well as copies of non-free access journal articles for him to review on a topic. Constructive criticism is also welcome.

Overview of Celiac Disease (Sprue)

An autoimmune disease that is triggered by consuming gluten-containing products, notably wheat, rye, and triticale. Treatment is by careful avoidance of gluten-containing foods.

It is noted that many people who have complaints that are related to gluten sensitivity do not have the GI-symptoms of Celiac Disease; furthermore, gluten sensitivity is statistically correlated with a number of other auto-immune diseases.

Complimentary and alternative treatments for celiac disease that are considered below include:

  • Immune System Balancing
  • Low Dose Naltrexone

Hypotheses regarding Celiac Disease (Sprue)

Please see conventional, complimentary and alternative medical treatments for important background information regarding the different types of medical treatments discussed below.

Naturopathic, Complimentary and Alternative Treatments

Immune System Balancing

[McCulley2018, pp 28, 35, 60, 89, 203-209] reports that celiac disease is a TH1-dominant, localized, autoimmune disorder, and proposes an approach to treating this disease, which should be supervised by a properly trained medical professional. Dr. Weyrich has considerable interest in this topic, but has not treated any cases of celiac disease with Immune System Balancing.

Please see What is Immune System Balancing? for more information.

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)

Low Dose Naltrexone has been shown to be effective in treating Crohn's Disease, due to it's immune-modulating effects [Farmer1985], [Smith2007], [Smith2011]. Dr. Weyrich suspects that Low Dose Naltrexone may also beneficial as an adjunct to gluten avoidance in treating Celiac Disease.

Dr. Weyrich has been trained in the use of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). However, Dr. Weyrich has not treated any cases of celiac disease with LDN.

Please see What is Low Dose Naltrexone? for more information.

References for Celiac Disease (Sprue)