If you are a world Traveler like me: Giardia and gluten allergies as a result

You have possibly at one time or another been exposed to Giardia whether you had symptoms or not.
If you  ever swam in lakes, rivers and streams in the U.S.  or ever drank any untreated well water or water from any spring or stream in the open it is also possible you were exposed to Giardia as well, especially if you got water in your mouth or choked on water while doing this.

It turns out exposure to giardia protozoa that migrate to your intestines and set up camp there (50% of the time there are no symptoms) will tend to make your body gluten intolerant. In other words when the protozoa attack your intestines they want you not to be able to process gluten sugars because this is their favorite food. As a result of their attack on your ability to process gluten sugars you become gluten intolerant (allergic to gluten in wheat, barley and oats). And as a result of this it tends over time to cause your immune system to attack your thyroid glands and you become hypothyroid. (I wasn't diagnosed with a hypothyroid condition until I was 58. But the condition even though it wasn't diagnosed until I was 58 nearly caused my death at age 50 because of a heart virus. Likely, without hypothyroidism my immune system would have thrown off the heart virus that almost killed me for 7 months time and forced me to retire at age 50.

So, exposure to giardia will likely greatly reduce your lifespan and quality of life if it isn't diagnosed quickly.

Within 24 hours of going off all gluten I felt 20 or more years younger immediately and I'm presently 65 and I finally was diagnosed with a gluten allergy in March through blood tests.

I just got off the phone with a friend who is a retired Fire Captain from the Navy and he said he got giardia bad in the Philippines when he was on duty there with his ship. And he has had the same symptoms as I have had at about the same ages. He got a heart virus in his late 40s, he has now been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and both of us have had difficulty losing weight since our early 40s (which is another symptom of a gluten allergy).

So, even though he is about 10 to 15 years younger than I, one by one he has the same symptoms as I at about the same ages as I except he is ahead of the game because he is 10 or 15 years younger. So, just going off gluten likely will save his life too and extend his life by 10 to 30 years.

If you go past where I am now my aryuvedic practitioner told me that the next step would have been Lupus, or other auto-immune diseases and eventual death from the gluten allergy caused series of illnesses.

So, even though giardia doesn't in most cases kill you the long term effects of a gluten allergy will.

I believe I just saved my own life by going off all gluten in March. My friend realized a few moments ago that he is also gluten allergic and if he changes his diet he will lose a lot of weight and his immune system will stop attacking his thyroid glands.

Also, in my case my throat has been hurting for  about a year. So, I went to an Ear, nose and throat specialist last week. He put novacaine on a cotton swab and stuck it in my nostril to numb it and then 10 minutes later he put the scope through my nostril and into my throat and told me there was nothing wrong with my esophagus or throat that he could see. So, to me this likely meant that my thyroid gland was hurting on the right side because since I stopped eating gluten this symptom of pain in my throat is also reducing daily now.

Time line in my case: In 1985 and 1986 I was likely exposed to Giardia protozoa from the dust in Kathmandu, Nepal because most roads were not paved then in that area and since there always was feces mixed with dirt and dust because often there were no toilets for people to use in those areas, the feces in the dust also carried giardia cysts I think they are called when they are dormant like that. So, if you track my health form 1985, the first symptom then was that I lost starting in February 1986 about 20 to 30 pounds and looked like someone starving for about 6 months. In April the 5 of us (myself, wife, stepdaughter, stepson and son) all returned to the U.S. We visited a foreign disease specialist and I realize now because of our children she didn't want to give them medicines that might destroy their livers. So, she told us she thought it was best just to let it sluff off. I had no bad symptoms from the time I left Nepal and flew to Bangkok, Thailand on our way back home through Tokyo, Japan to San Francisco. But, when I got home I often saw black spots before my eyes. Within 6 months we all started to gain weight again (4 out of the 5 of us had giardia symptoms) and I in my ignorance about all this thought that was the end of it. But then, I believe now what happened is it started to harm both my wife's and my health in different ways. Then she had another baby but wasn't quite right after that and within 5 years we eventually divorced because we both I realize now had bad symptoms that we didn't know the causes for.

In 1998 in the fall I got a heart virus after remarrying in 1995 and having another daughter. The only reason I likely lived through my heart virus was I had a 2 1/2 year old daughter and a 7 year old daughter from my previous marriage and I refused to die because I refused to leave them fatherless. It was a complete act of will power to stay alive by the Grace of God. My son was in his early 20s and so were his stepbrother and stepsister at that time. So, though I was forced to retire because of my heart virus I was not diagnosed as being hypothyroid until I was 58 in 2006. I was not diagnosed as being allergic to gluten until March 2013 through a bevy of blood tests. But now, I feel at least 20 years younger and drove to Portland, Oregon and back in my 4wd truck when only a few weeks before I thought there was a 10% chance I was going to die this year. So, if you are a world traveler like me you need to see if you are allergic to gluten. It might save your life or lengthen your life by 20 years or more.

Also, I have heard Sam Farr Speak about how people who have been in the Peace Core like him when he was young often carry all sorts of things from tropical places in their intestines. Giardia it appears is something most people once exposed tend to always (to a greater or lesser degree will be exposed to). Also, anyone you live with in your life including friends, relatives and children likely will be exposed to it as well because they are living with you and sharing food and water with you. So, this is something to think about as well.

In the 1960s to 1980s none of us knew about the long term potential effects of traveling around the world. But, if want want to travel a lot like I have over your life it is relatively certain that at some point you likely will be exposed to giardia protozoa. They don't usually kill you directly, but it is important to understand that whether or not you have the cramping and uncontrollable bowel movements or not and even whether or not you lose 20 or 30 pounds and see spots before you eyes like I did or not, that you might still have problems like a hypothyroid condition and become allergic to gluten which causes your immune system to attack first your thyroid glands and sometimes if it isn't diagnosed eventually result in something like Lupus or some other auto-immune disease that might be fatal. Also, if you have been exposed and are over 40 now it likely will greatly reduce your quality of life unless you give up gluten as a way to protect yourself from your immune system from attacking various things you need to function well in your body.