Two blood chemicals cause the pancreas to release insulin, glucose and endorphin. Conventional diabetes treatments concentrate on the glucose pathway. This is about the endorphin pathway.
The body uses insulin as a vehicle for transporting glucose into cells, mostly adipose cells. Cell mitochondria convert the glucose into ATP for energy.
The reason why opiates kill pain is they plug into nerve receptors designed for the body's own pain killer, endorphin. During exertion the body uses endorphin to prevent muscles from devouring themselves (catabolism). The pancreas's islets of Langerhans has nerve transduction cells which monitor exertion-induced endorphin. Upon contact with endorphin these nerves signal beta cells to release insulin.
Besides using insulin as a glucose vehicle, muscles use insulin to switch from devouring themselves to devouring other sources of energy (anabolism).
There are probably many food proteins which mimic endorphin and/or insulin. The most widely studied of these proteins are part of the gluten molecule, the protein in wheat, rye, barley and oats. The reason gluten is studied so thoroughly is that it is the cause of celiac disease, the only autoimmune disease with a proven cause.
Celiac disease has been linked through large solid human experiments to type 1 diabetes.
Gluten is an incredibly complex protein, containing hundreds of complex proteins. The three worst offenders are HWP1, A5, and Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA). All three proteins mimic other critical proteins and cause ...........yes, cause .........both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. As I will explain, there are many causative levels.
In the small intestine HWP1 mimics the attachment protein of the fungus candida albicans. Two aspects of candida albicans are critical to disease progression. 1) Candida thrives on ingested sugar 2) The immune system clears candida by releasing the protein zonulin into the gut. Zonulin causes the small intestine walls to become porous. This washes the contents of the gut into the bloodstream, where the blood's immune system can deal with the candida.
Because gluten HWP1 mimics candida, a person with compromised immunity can initiate zonulin dumps in the presence of either candida or gluten. In such people, the zonulin dump places undigested gluten proteins into the bloodstream. These proteins include gluten WGA and gluten A5. Gluten A5 is a strong opioid. It mimics endorphin. A5 can plug into pancreas islet receptors in place of endorphin.
Autoimmune diseases are diseases where the immune system attacks tissue because it thinks the tissue has been compromised by an invading antigen. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. Type 2 diabetes is not.
Gluten A5 plugs into islet nerve receptors, fooling them into thinking the blood is full of endorphin. The pancreas responds with a constant flood of insulin. In type 1 diabetics the immune system responds by attacking the gluten and associated islet cells. In type 2 diabetics, there is no immune response. Type 2 diabetics continue over-producing insulin. Type 1 diabetics stop producing insulin.
Meanwhile type 2 diabetics face another problem with gluten WGA protein. WGA mimics insulin, but does not transport glucose. WGA clogs the insulin receptors in adipose cells, and does not allow insulin to transport blood glucose into the cells.
Clogged insulin receptors leave type 2 diabetics with loads of circulating glucose. Poor insulin production leaves type 1 diabetics with the same condition.
If it seems like I'm saying all autoimmune diseases (not conditions) have the same cause? .......I am. They tie together at the same nexus which makes it possible to treat type 1 diabetes with diet.
I'm not aware of a non-celiac autoimmune disease characterized by an immune attack against any tissue except nerve tissue. Again .......autoimmune disease, not autoimmune condition. Ingested sugar and complex ag proteins place the ag proteins into the bloodstream, the ag proteins attack nerves, and the immune system attacks nerves.
However, other pathogens also attack nerves. Most notorious is varicella zoster, the chicken pox and shingles virus. Autoimmune diseases are, as in my case and another poster's case, heavily tied to thyroid disease. The thyroid axis is controlled by the brain's hypothalamus. Recent research has identified a nerve system which connects all organ transduction nerves to the hypothalamus. It is the orexin/hypocretin nerve system. The orexin system controls wakeful vs sleep states, and controls digestive vs exertive states. It does so by turning on and off potassium ion channels used by organ transduction nerves .......the nerves attacked by ag proteins and by the immune system.
As I described above, the organ failure in type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases is characterized by loss in the immune system's ability to distinguish between pathogens and ingested ag proteins. This ability is a function of organs which are also ........wait for it .........controlled by the orexin nerve system. These organs include the thymus and spleen.
So autoimmune disease has an additional cause, viral orexin system infection. Think of it as the internal equivalent of shingles.
Now! How can one use this information to treat type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases? By my definition they are not necessarily defined by total destruction of nerve tissue, but by destruction of nerve environment, of nerve platform.
1. Fight the zoster virus. Build up your immune system. Start ingesting reasonably large doses of vitamins C, D3, B complex, omega 3 oil. You might also consider getting a doctor prescription for a course of antiviral drugs, effective against the zoster virus.
2. Fight the gut candida. In diabetes sugar in the blood is a big problem, but sugar in the gut is a HUGE problem. Stop ingesting ANYTHING resembling sugar, including fruit and artificial sweeteners.
What? You're addicted to sugar? Take heart. Remember? I said gluten A5 is an opioid. It is the primary opioid which addicts diabetics to sugar.
3. Fight the ag proteins. Start performing elimination challenges. Eliminate as many possible culprits from your diet as possible .......starting with gluten. Suspect milk casein, legumes (peanuts, soy and beans), nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant), onions, garlic and various salicylate dyes like MSG, turmeric and annatto (the yellow die sometimes used in cheddar cheese). See what happens.
Eliminating gluten will, if I'm any example, de-mask the effects of other harmful proteins. So first eliminate gluten and sugar. Start the other protein challenges a few days later.
After two weeks of elimination, start reintroducing suspect proteins in two day increments. If any protein gives you trouble re-eliminate it and stabilize before proceeding.
I would not expect immediate restoration of pancreas insulin production, but I would watch for substantial improvement. Test blood sugar often until you get it nailed down. Throttle injections accordingly.
Very low carb diets work substantially against the effects of type 1 diabetes. Minimal insulin injections are still required for feeding nerves with gluconeogenesis-created blood glucose. My regime does not deal with the effects of type 1 diabetes, but with the causes. Low carb diets avoid mitochondrial metabolism. My regime attempts to restore mitochondrial metabolism.
http://www.canibaisereis.com/download/celiac-disease-surprises.pdf
http://www.patienthealthyself.info/Celiac_Disease_Article.html
http://www.albatherapeutics.com/Default.aspx?tabid=168
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:6107317/pmid/cit
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12826451
http://members.cox.net/harold.kraus/gluten/anno_symptoms_files/diabetes.htm
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0306987706006037
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/new-genetic-link-between-cardiac-arrhythmias-and-thyroid-dysfunction-identified-25334.html
http://www.zombieinstitute.net/General.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6322356
