A 38 year old single mother consulted me about her chronic hepatitis C infection because she believed it was the only cause of her chronic fatigue. She felt like going to bed by 2 pm every day due to her unrelenting exhaustion. She was not depressed and held an interesting job but could not keep up with the demands of her work and her young son.

I told her that we could look for other causes of her fatigue. Several clues emerged as to why she was so tired. She suffered with psoriasis of the skin and scalp and her finger nails had widespread white spots indicating zinc deficiency. Her serum iron levels and body stores of iron (ferritin levels) were very low, even though she had a good diet, took multi vitamins and minerals, did not smoke and did not have heavy menstrual bleeding.

To me this all added up to undiagnosed gluten intolerance! I have found that psoriasis is often present in those who are intolerant to gluten containing foods. Gluten can aggravate the immune system causing inflammation, which results in various autoimmune diseases including psoriasis. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease and there is often a family history of other autoimmune diseases in those with psoriasis. There is more information in my book Healing Autoimmune Disease: A plan to help your immune system and reduce inflammation. Gluten intolerance does not always cause celiac disease but may still inflame the intestines in other ways so that digestion and absorption of essential nutrients is impaired.

This was happening in this woman and caused her deficiencies of zinc and iron as evidenced by her nails and her blood tests. Deficiencies of iron and zinc can cause fatigue and a weakening of the immune system so that it is less able to fight the hepatitis C virus.

I was pleased to be able to tell this patient that if she followed a strict gluten free diet, her fatigue would gradually diminish. The avoidance of gluten would enable her intestines to be repaired so the absorption of iron and zinc from her intestines would normalize; thus her body stores of iron and zinc would increase to normal. The avoidance of gluten in her diet would also clear up her psoriasis. I prescribed Selenomune Designer Energy capsules to replenish her body stores of selenium and other minerals quickly.  This greatly improved her energy level quickly, which gave her the motivation to stick to a gluten free diet.  I often find that my patients are so chronically fatigued that they find a diet too hard to stick to because they are just too exhausted.  Selenomune helped to remedy this situation.

I prescribed a supplement of zinc and iron and fish oil. She was quite happy with this diagnosis and was prepared to give it a go.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.