The Magic Bullet - The healing power of ketones on AIP

The Autoimmune Protocol diet is the miracle cure for some cases of serious mental illness and other autoimmune diseases that no one is talking about. Gluten free is not enough; it won’t work!

I’ve not been well. Nothing too serious but I’ve had enough symptoms to merit being referred for monitoring by the local psychiatric team. This ‘blip’ I can only attribute to some dietary changes.

My recent symptoms are all classic signs of gluten encephalopathy: migraine, cognitive decline (brain fog), depression, mild visual & auditory hallucinations, and mood swings which are mostly characterised by short bursts of elevated mood and irritability before lapsing back into depression. Not enough to really have much impact on my daily life, but concerning nonetheless.

I’m pleased to say they’ve now all gone into remission.

I’d been trying more and more reintroductions on the autoimmune protocol diet, particularly cheese and rice, as well as trying to enjoy the occasional meal out at ‘coeliac certified’ restaurants, and the occasional sugar filled ‘gluten free’ treat, particularly over the Christmas period. And why not, after all a very strict diet and never eating out can lead to feelings of social isolation. And let’s not forget that eating feels good!

But it only feels good to a point and it really wasn't a good idea. Slowly symptoms crept in. But it was insidious; I didn’t know it was happening until it was too late. Mild cognitive impairment, the occasional mild headache, muscle aches, sleep changes, irritability. All quite mild and almost unnoticeable, but enough to cause some concern. If I'd carried on I suspect I'd have continued to get worse.

But then I got exposed to enough of whatever part of wheat, barley or rye makes me sick. My feeling is it was a ‘gluten free’ yeast extract in a chicken sausage eaten with my turkey on Christmas day, but it may have been something else or cross-contamination. Gluten at 12 parts per million, the legal definition of gluten free in the US and UK is not safe for people like me, the trace amount I was exposed to hit me hard. My body, already in an inflamed state thanks to the sugar and dairy I’d been eating, couldn’t cope and I was quickly struck with a significant worsening of the symptoms I describe above.

I tried to ride it out, I tried avoiding any and all products that contained gluten at below 12ppm that are ‘safe for coeliac’ but there was no change in my health. This went on for almost 4 weeks; I felt like I was falling apart.

So, last week I went back onto the strict AIP diet that saved me the first time, and 8 days later every symptom vanished. Not just the one’s in my brain either, my body aches and stiffness have gone too – a week ago I couldn’t touch my knees, now I can almost touch my toes. I also look better; I am no longer pale and puffy.

I have been wondering what the magic component of AIP is and I believe it is a biological state called ketosis. Just to be clear, AIP is NOT the keto weight loss diet, and nowhere in the literature does it state that AIP will induce a state of ketosis – but that’s exactly what it does. I am still eating two pieces of fruit per day and sweet potato with my other vegetables, but my carb intake is low enough that I am producing trace amounts of ketones that are detectable in my urine. I use Bayer Ketostix which are normally used either to monitor for ketoacidosis in diabetes or to monitor weight loss on a low carb diet.

I never monitored whether I was in ketosis before, but it appears that the ketones I am producing may have an active role in treating my symptoms, or perhaps altering my state of inflammation. Whatever is happening, I am much better for it.

My former psychiatrist shared some literature regarding a study conducted last year where the keto diet used to treat epilepsy was administered to two women with schizophrenia. This diet is very restrictive, but both women went into remission and were able to stop their antipsychotic medication.

I know that gluten free has been helping my brain heal, and this can be seen on my MRI, which Prof Hadjivassiliou says shows significant improvements that can only be attributable to the gluten free diet, however, and I will emphasise this because it is important: THE COELIAC DIET DOES NOT WORK.

Spectroscopy MRI of my cerebellum showing my N-acetylaspartate (NAA)–to-choline (Cho) ratio is less than 1:1, indicitave of Gluten Ataxia.

The coeliac diet is no good for me or others with gluten encephalopathy; I need to keep my body in a state of low ketosis, metabolising fats and avoiding any and all possible trace amounts of gluten. There are no halfway measures.