Sorry, this entry is only available in Русский.
Sorry, this entry is only available in Русский.
Connie Mullens was an attractive woman in her early thirties. She appeared to have many of the things which would help to make a person happy: a loving spouse, a beautiful home, a good educational background, and a rewarding job. Yet before she came to the Ecology Unit, she was contemplating suicide. Mrs. Mullens had many illnesses and problems practically all her life, but was completely unhelped by conventional treatment. In fact, her health was endangered by being prescribed amphetamines. Clinical ecology helped her, in part by breaking her dependence on these drugs.
During her childhood, she had had many illnesses, some of them bizarre. She had had asthma so badly that her parents doubted at times that she would live. This problem went away after the family moved to a new house. In high school, she had frequent stomach problems, diagnosed as the result of a “virus.” One such “virus” lasted for over a year.
In college, she demonstrated superior academic ability, got straight A’s most of the time, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Nevertheless, during this same period a curious sort of malaise started to creep over her, imperceptibly at first.
At times, especially in chemistry lab, she would feel a kind of euphoria. She was known as the chemistry class prankster and would devise complicated practical jokes to play on her instructors. Of course, this sort of behavior among college students is “normal” when looked at in isolation. It is only when seen in the context of her overall development, and the onset of her more serious symptoms, that it begins to take on medical significance. In retrospect, some of this behavior may have been a lesser stimulatory reaction (plus-one) to the presence of chemicals and natural gas (in the bunsen burners) in the classroom.
At the same time, Mrs. Mullens had an increasing number of bad days. On these occasions, she had headaches of ever-increasing frequency and intensity. On some days, she could not get out of bed, could not concentrate, and could barely stay awake. To combat these doldrums, she relied on junk food. She would drink cola beverages or eat chocolate and candy whenever she had to “cram” for a test. Every day she would go down to the drugstore and have a chocolate malt and a piece of pie, which seemed to temporarily relieve her tiredness and headaches.
Because she was, not surprisingly, overweight, she consulted an internist, who prescribed diet pills which contained amphetamines. “With these,” she later recalled, “I could leap tall buildings at a single bound.” She stopped taking them when she realized that she was becoming addicted.
Connie was married in college, but the marriage did not work out, This was mainly because of her irritability, she says. She would throw temper tantrums in the house, fling shoes at her husband, or force him to watch his favorite television shows with the sound off (she was very sensitive to noise). She kept on eating, too; her husband called her the “cookie monster” because of her insatiable sweet tooth.
By the time she reached graduate school, her problems were worse. She now had headaches once or twice a week, but each lasted a couple of days. She began to consult doctors, and each had a different diagnosis and solution. One internist, she says, prescribed twenty different pills, mostly amphetamines. She was instructed to try each of them in turn and keep a record of their effects. None of them did anything for her head pain.
She also saw an endocrinologist (hormone specialist), an otolaryngologist (ear-nose-and-throat specialist), and, of course, a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist analyzed her psyche in depth and at length. He came to the conclusion that, as an only child, she had had too much pressure put on her to achieve. In fact, except for her illnesses, she had had a particularly happy childhood. Her parents were both successful and well-educated and probably expected their daughter to be the same, but did not force her to emulate them in this regard.
Connie could not drive an automobile. If she attempted to she became confused and could not interpret traffic signs or even make sense out of a simple stop light. Rather than look for something in the environment (for example, automobile fumes) that might cause such a condition, the psychiatrist interpreted this problem as a psychological need for perfection. He recommended that she relax more.
After finishing graduate school, Mrs. Mullens undertook a job which brought her into contact with industrial chemicals. All of her symptoms worsened. She got married again and gave up the full-time job.
As bad as all these symptoms were, her condition took a sharp turn for the worse (from minus-two or -three to minus-four) when her new home was sprayed with powerful pesticides, inside and out. Winter came, and the gas-fired heater was turned on. Soon afterward she started to feel so weak that she could not get out of bed. She was depressed to the point of dwelling on suicide. Her new husband would come home each day and find her crying uncontrollably.
Her psychiatrist prescribed amphetamines again, this time for ten days, to bring her out of what he called a “short-term depression.” At the end of this period, she was worse and had developed a numbness in her fingers and a tingling in her limbs. To all of her other problems, she now added a fear of multiple sclerosis—an unfounded fear, it now appears.
When she was admitted to the Ecology Unit, her symptoms were particularly bad. The water fast accentuated her symptoms; she developed a terrible headache and cried almost continually at first. After a few days on the fast, however, she underwent a remarkable recovery. “I got completely better,” she recalls. “I became absolutely convinced that my problem was related to the environment.”
Mrs. Mullens reacted to most of the foods she was given. Some brought on arthritislike aches in her fingers and other joints. The worst food for her was beef. After eating a portion of beef, she told the nurse on duty that she wanted to kill herself. She wandered the halls, crying aimlessly. The next day she said that she felt as if she “had been run over by a bulldozer.”
All of her many symptoms were reproduced in several weeks of food testing. What is more, tests with chemicals in various forms showed that this patient had the problem of chemical susceptibility. Mrs. Mullens has made excellent progress in controlling her food and chemical difficulties. “In the real world we face serious problems,” she has said. For example, it is difficult for her to avoid all exposure to natural gas. The gas heater and range have been removed from her house, but she still runs into them in other peoples’ homes, as well as in stores. In certain shops, she becomes so irritable that she feels like strangling those who get in her way. It is only in gas-heated stores that she has this problem. Despite periodic setbacks, her mental state recently has been cheerful.
An understanding of the food and chemical problem has brought with it many rewards. But it also has added responsibilities. Once, when she was in a hospital for some physiological testing, a conventional doctor “caught” her making lists of her reactions to artificially colored and flavored medicine. He actually took papers which she had discarded out of the wastebasket, read them, and remarked, “I see that you are involved with your symptoms. You apparently want to be sick!” When she tried to reason with the man, who was a gastroenterologist, he said brusquely, “I have forty other cases in the hospital. I don’t need you.” To his amazement, she promptly checked herself out of the hospital.
Mrs. Mullens’ case thus represents both the triumph and the tragedy of treatment by the methods of clinical ecology. On the one hand, like many other patients, she was brought back from the brink of suicide by coming to understand the multiple environmental factors responsible for her reactions. She credits it with saving her life. Yet, on the other hand, the world itself sometimes seems hostile to this new approach. Much yet needs to be done to make the environment completely livable for the Connie Mullenses of this world.
In summary, it may be said that the concepts and techniques of ecologic mental illness are opening up new horizons for patients with the symptoms of depression and related psychiatric disturbances. In contrast to the longstanding artificial distinctions between physical and so-called mental illnesses, both physical and cerebral and behavioral manifestations of allergy/ecology represent different levels of reaction. At long last, large sectors of the field of psychiatry are yielding to medical management based on the demonstrability of cause and effect.
*89\110\2*
Patients with the autoimmune disease SLE illustrate the sort of symptoms that can be produced when immune complexes are deposited in the blood vessels. Among other things, they suffer from skin rashes, painful joints, and damage to the kidneys and lungs.
All these symptoms are produced by the deposited immune complexes causing inflammation in tiny blood vessels known as capillaries. In the case of the joints, the capillaries supplying blood to the joints become inflamed and this causes pain.
In the kidneys, immune complexes can become deposited around the delicate membranes that do the important job of filtering the blood. Their task is to remove excess salts and certain toxic compounds from the blood so that they can be flushed out of the body in the urine. Proteins in the blood are not normally allowed to escape into the urine, but when there is damage to die structure of the kidney, then this can occur. Because the body’s much-needed proteins are being lost in the urine the general state of health will eventually deteriorate, especially in children, who need protein for growth. The failure of the kidneys also means that excess water is retained, so there is puffiness in various parts of the body (oedema).
*85\180\8*
Bronchodilators are used in the control of asthma by making the bronchial muscles relax. There are two types of drugs used as bronchodilators – beta-adrenoceptor agonists, and xanthine drugs.
Beta-adrenoceptor agonists can be given in aerosol, powder or tablets. They relax the muscles around the lung airways and are primarily used to relieve, not prevent, bronchospasm; they are sometimes taken before steroid inhalers to free the airways so that the steroids penetrate throughout the lungs. The effectiveness of an inhaled dose lasts for up to six hours. Slow-release tablets or syrup can be useful overnight. They may cause side effects, but usually only briefly if used in excessive doses; these include tremors, palpitations, and headaches. The beneficial effects of the drugs cease once use is stopped.
At present, it appears wiser to prevent asthma using avoidance, desensitisation and, if necessary, inhaled steroids so that relief medication of this kind is not required too frequently, as there is some evidence that prolonged regular use may increase the twitchiness of the airways. Some doctors prefer prevention of asthma to prescribing these drugs indefinitely.
The most commonly used types are as follows:
• Salbutamol: Ventolin, Ventodisks, Volmax, Cobutolin, Salbulin,
Salbuvent, Asmaven, Aerolin-Auto
• Terbutaline: Bricanyl, Monovent
• Pirbuterol: Exirel
• Reproterol: Bronchodil
• Rimiterol:- Pulmadil
For people sensitive to excipients – other ingredients used in preparing the drug – the powder form of an inhaler is usually well tolerated.
One of the most important elements in the effectiveness of these drugs lies in operating the inhaler properly so that the right amount of drug reaches the affected parts. Many inhalers now have metered doses – in forms of turbohaler, diskhaler, or rotohaler.
It is particularly important for children to learn to operate an inhaler properly on their own. Many GPs now run asthma clinics and can advise. The National Asthma Campaign (address in CHARITIES) also offers advice and local support groups.
If a child has problems using an inhaler, bronchodilator drugs can be given as slow-release tablets or in syrups. If the child is highly sensitive to many things, however, a powder inhaler is probably the best alternative.
*415\117\8*
There is a bewildering array of competing systems for water treatment, purification and filtration on the market. They vary greatly in price, running costs, performance and capability. It is very difficult to compare like with like. The main things you need to consider are:
• Purity
How pure do you need the resulting water to be?
• Initial Cost
How much do you want to pay to instal the system?
• Running Costs
How much will it cost to run it over its life?
• Coverage
What parts of your water system do you want to treat?
Do you need just drinking water and cooking water, or do you want
more coverage?
• Convenience
Do you want a plumbed-in system?
Do you want a system that requires frequent cartridge or membrane replacement?
Do you object to a low flow-rate of water?
• Taste
Do you mind a de-mineralised taste to your water? The main types of purification and filtration methods are:
• Reverse Osmosis
• Kinetic Degradation Fluxion (KDF)
• Activated Carbon
• Distillation
• Softening
The way that these work and their principal benefits and drawbacks are explained below. The three methods which are useful for most chemically sensitive people’s needs are reverse osmosis, KDF and activated carbon. All of these provide cheaper water than using bottled water.
Systems can be plumbed in variously, either undersink to supply one tap, or end of tap or showerhead to supply that outlet. Free-standing, or jug versions are available for some methods. Some methods are only suitable in certain variants – if you want a whole system version, or nitrate-reducing method, you only have limited choices.
*400\117\8*
If you are sensitive to vehicle exhaust fumes, you can adapt the way you drive in order to help yourself. Keep windows closed as much as you can. Unless you have a car with a re-circulating air system, do not use heating and fan unless you have to, and keep vents closed unless you really need ventilation. A sun-roof can be useful for ventilation – it draws air in and out of the car, directly away from your face.
If the car gets too cold, or too hot, or condensation develops, use the ventilation and heating system in short intense bursts, then close it down again. Shut off if you have to wait in heavy traffic.
Hang back from the vehicle ahead – especially in busy or stationary traffic – do not stop close to someone else’s exhaust, allowing fumes to be drawn directly into your car. Leave as much space as you can. Select a route, or a time, to drive that avoids traffic queues, or sitting stationary at junctions.
When filling your vehicle with fuel, keep windows and vents closed so that fumes from the pumps do not get into the vehicle. If you can find one, go to a service station where someone will serve you, rather than to a self-service garage.
Avoid car journeys in very hot weather if you are very sensitive to vehicle exhausts, or chemical vapours from materials. Materials in cars heat up and give off more vapour in hot weather. It is also impossible to keep windows closed. Only do essential journeys when it is extremely hot, and travel at a cooler time of day if you can. Go earlier to or later from work if possible.
If you are extremely sensitive, try wearing a face mask or use a car filter. If you cannot afford a filter, hanging damp cloths over air vents will reduce the amount of residual vapours which pass through.
*385\117\8*
Depilatories
Shave with an electric razor without soap if possible, rather than use a depilatory or wax agent.
Hand Cleansers
Some sensitive people find that they can use a cooking oil (one which they tolerate or to which they are not allergic) to clean off substances like paint, thick grease, oil and stubborn dirt. Massage the oil into the hands until the substance dissolves, then rinse the oil away.
Shaving
For shaving, use an electric razor which will not require soap or lather. For a wet shave, Simple, Gillette and Wilkinson make shaving foams or gels for sensitive skins. If you want to use soap, choose one of the soaps given below. For aftershave, use Witch Hazel, available from pharmacies, which is an astringent.
Soaps
Use soap sparingly. You only really need it to remove grease or severe dirt.
Two soaps that are tolerated well by people with sensitive skins and other allergies are Kays’ Vegetable Oil Soap (available in Superdrug and most supermarkets), and Simple Soap by Simple (available in most chemists). Most supermarkets also sell their own brand of ‘pure’ soap or ‘simple’ soap. These are worth trying. Beware of fragrance-free soaps and look for unperfumed. Health food stores sell pure olive oil soap. Wash E45 is tolerated well by some sensitive people; ask your pharmacist.
Tissues
To avoid formaldehyde and bleaches, use handkerchieves rather than tissues.
Toilet Paper
Toilet paper will contain formaldehyde for wet strength. Some brands will be chlorine-bleached. Some toilet papers are perfumed; avoid these.
Try different brands to see if one suits you better than others. Sniff before buying. If the smell is unpleasant or you get symptoms, try another. Air the rolls before using if you can. Keep supplies out of the toilet, in a cupboard or outhouse, until you need them, to keep down the fumes.
Try using non-chlorine-bleached or unbleached toilet paper. Some people tolerate these better; others find they make little difference. If you find you cannot use toilet paper, use pure cotton handkerchieves instead. To disinfect and kill smells.
*369\117\8*
Burns and Scalds
Cool the area of the burn or scald to relieve pain. Keep the burned area in cold water or hold it under a cold running tap until the pain stops, or for at least 10 minutes. Do not prick or burst any blisters, or apply any ointment or lotion.
If the burn or scald is serious, seek emergency medical help. If the bum or scald is superficial, but rubs against clothing, cover it with a dressing of pure cotton lint and secure it with a cotton bandage. Do not use fluffy cotton wool.
Cystitis
Drinking alkali salts can ease the symptoms of cystitis. Dissolve a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate in a glass of water and drink it. Consult your doctor if you are on a low-salt diet.
Diarrhoea
Taking arrowroot will stop diarrhoea very effectively. You can buy this as a powder at a pharmacy and make a paste by adding water. Consult your pharmacist to get the right dosage.
If you need rehydration salts after severe diarrhoea, do not take any of the proprietary ready-mixed products which can cause reactions. Rehydration salts are a mixture of sodium and potassium salts, and glucose in the right ratio; ask a pharmacist to mix these for you.
Earache
If you tolerate olive oil, warm a teaspoonful of it. Drop it into the ear, then close the earhole with pure cotton wool.
An alternative to this is sodium bicarbonate BPC, which is available in an eardrop solution.
Eyewash
For sore and itchy eyes, use a sterile saline solution to ease the itchiness. Either make a solution yourself, buy Normasol or Steripod in sachets from a pharmacist. Bathe the eyes with the solution in an eyebath, or put a few drops into the eye with a dropper.
*353\117\8*
To avoid wheat, you have to stop eating foods made entirely or mainly from it:
Breakfast wheat cereals Wheat bran Bread Wheat germ
Pasta Cracked wheat (bulgur)
Most of the following foods are commonly made with wheat;
unless you know for sure they are made totally without wheat, you must avoid them:
Biscuits Breadcrumb stuffing
Crackers Batter
Pastry Battered foods (e.g. fish)
Pies Pancakes
Sausage rolls Waffles
Cakes and bakery Yorkshire pudding
Puddings Dumplings
Breaded food (e.g. fish, chicken legs) Suet puddings
Gravies and mixes Pretzels
Sauces and mixes Snack foods
Stock cubes Croutons
Soups Baking powder
Wheat is commonly used as a cereal filler and thickener in processed foods. Read labels and avoid foods containing the following which are usually wheat:
Cereal binder Cereal protein
Cereal filler Flour
Avoid the following ingredients which are derived either from wheat or corn:
Cereal starch Modified starch
Edible starch Starch
To avoid wheat as an ingredient in processed foods, you may have to avoid the following which often contain it. If not absolutely sure, avoid the food.
Sausages Pastes
Frankfurters Spreads
Luncheon meats Powdered beverages Pates
Wheat is often, with other cereals, a base material for beers, lagers and spirits. Avoid these while excluding wheat.
Wheat is used in tabletting some drugs and home medicines. Take advice from your doctor about avoiding prescribed medicines. Stop taking any home medicines.
Wheat is sometimes used as a glue on envelopes and similar uses. Avoid licking envelopes and stamps.
Communion wafers are made of wheat. It is best to avoid swallowing or licking these if you can. Your minister or priest will be able to advise you on what to do. Holding the wafer in your mouth without touching it, or touching it without licking it, is often a satisfactory solution.
*117\117\8*
Laboratory tests for allergy include the eosinophil test. Eosinophils are white blood cells always present at the place where an allergic reaction takes place. Samples of blood, or of sputum, or of secretions from nose or eye, are taken. The cells are stained with a red dye, eosin, and are counted under a microscope. A high count indicates an allergic reaction is taking place, but it can be an indication of other diseases as well, and it can also be found in symptom-free individuals. Steroid tablets suppress the level of eosinophils and can cause misleading results. The eosinophil test cannot identify allergy to specific sub-stances.
A useful but expensive laboratory test for allergy is the radio-aller-gosorbent test, or RAST test. It can measure the levels of IgE antibodies in the blood specific to a particular allergen, such as pollens, house dust mites or food proteins. The blood sample is passed over an extract of the allergen attached to an inert substance. The IgE antibodies will bind to the allergen if they are present in the blood, as during an allergic reaction. Then another liquid, containing anti-IgE antibodies marked with radioactivity or colour, is passed over the sample. These will adhere to any IgE bound to the allergen, or will simply wash away if none is there. The level of IgE in the sample can then be taken by measuring the level of the marked anti-IgE that does not adhere.
The RAST test is more helpful than skin tests in cases of food allergy, and its results are not influenced by medication. However, results can vary – some people allergic to seasonal allergens, such as moulds or pollens, will have negative results outside the season, but positive results when exposed to their allergen. Similarly, if you have not eaten a problem food for some time, you may get a negative result, whereas you could get a positive result if you eat it regularly.
A modified version of the RAST test can identify false food allergy, as well as true allergy.
*48\117\8*
What Are Resins?
A significant proportion of allergic reactions and sensitivity to clothing are caused by resins, applied to give easy-care properties. The resins used are mostly formaldehyde polymers. They make fabrics more resistant to shrinking, creasing, and going out of shape. They improve dye absorption and restrict fading. The feel of clothes, and the way they hang, can also be improved. Formaldehyde resins are used for stain and grease resistance, waterproofing, and permanent pleating and pressing.
Resins and additives other than formaldehyde resins can also be applied (such as acrylates to reduce creasing and silicates to improve the feel of fabric). Catalysts can also remain in the fabric but are removed when the garment is first washed. These are not generally known as major causes of reactions.
Which Clothes Are Treated?
Fabric resins are not applied to silk, nor to pure synthetics. They are rarely applied to wool or to linen. Virtually all cotton, viscose and polycotton fabrics are treated with formaldehyde resins.
Some sensitive people learn to develop the ability to judge whether a fabric is highly treated or not. There is often a distinctive, sweet, aromatic smell to the fabric which a sniff (gentle, just in case!) can detect. Some people can tell by the feel of the fabric; some say that their skin prickles when they hold it. Another test is to place one drop of water with an eye-dropper on the fabric. If it holds in place without being absorbed, then there is a finish to the fabric.
Generally speaking, the more glazed, stiff and shiny the fabric, the more likely it is to have high levels of resins. If clothes are labelled, ‘Easy Care’, ‘Permanent Press’, ‘Sanforised’ or any variant of these, then they will be treated heavily. Cotton poplin, stiff cotton drill and denim are often treated and may be best avoided.
Conversely, cotton jersey (including cotton loopback), cotton fleece, towelling, knitted cotton sweaters and cotton corduroy are much less treated and are often no problem once washed. Brushed cotton is also sometimes untreated. Some cotton lawns and voiles are treated; others are not. Indian and Third World cotton fabrics are less likely to be treated heavily, and thus are often acceptable to people who are sensitive to most other fabrics.
Watch out for shirt collars on men’s cotton shirts. These are sometimes much more highly treated than the shirt itself. Look for shirts with softer collars.
*322\117\8*
If you do not know where to start, your simple course of action is to:
• Take precautions against house dust mites
• Use the Pillow Test to work out what fibres you react to before making any major changes
• Do not replace everything at once. Try out one piece (e.g. a pillowcase or pillow) of a new material to see how you go
• Use anti-dust mite bedding and covers if you tolerate synthetics
• Use pure cotton bedding unless you are allergic to cotton
• Test out bedding in small samples before making any major purchases
Allergy and chemical sensitivity are very idiosyncratic. What works for one member of your family or for a friend may not work for you.
So keep an open mind, stay flexible, take it one step at a time, and with luck you will not waste time and money. Use the Pillow Test to test out materials before deciding what to buy. Borrow bedding from relatives or friends to test them out before replacing yours. Buy one pillowcase, or one pillow rather than a whole set at once.
It is often enough just to replace the bedclothes that immediately surround your head, where you inhale. Some people find, for instance, that if they replace their pillow or pillowcase, or use an anti-mite pillow cover, it can be enough to stop problems. Another trick is to place a piece of fabric which you tolerate over the top of the sheet, duvet or blanket where you breathe in. If this works, you may not need to replace sheets or duvets. It is also a good way of testing out fibres fully before making a major purchase.
*254\117\8*
If you are exceptionally sensitive, be careful about where you or your child go if you visit people who have animals, or be careful with visitors coming into your home. Get them to leave coats and jackets outside the door. Research has shown that cat allergens, for instance, have been found at surprisingly high levels in cat-free homes, brought in by visitors. Beware of travelling in cat owners’ cars.
When choosing holiday accommodation, ask whether pets are allowed in the place. If so, and you need to avoid them, stay elsewhere.
If looking for a new home, check whether pets have previously lived in the house or flat, and which parts of the place they have particularly used. If you have any concerns, do not move into somewhere where pet-owners lived previously. Remember that you can develop allergies to lingering allergens months or even longer after you have moved, and that you can be allergic to saliva and urine, not just to hair and fur. Be prepared to have to replace flooring and do a rigorous cleaning programme (see above) if you find that you do become sensitive to a new home.
Finally, if you have a strong family tendency to allergy to pets, it is preferable to avoid keeping a pet if you have a baby or young children. Children under two are particularly vulnerable. If you do have a family pet, then follow the avoidance measures above and keep your home as free as you can of allergens. Preventative measures with young children may help them avoid lifelong problems with allergy. If you must keep pets, try goldfish or tropical fish – maybe not as lovable as a cat, dog or small furry mammal – but allergy free!
*186\117\8*
Compulsive eating can develop in those non-drinkers who developed their particular food sensitivity as children or young adults. Many young people when they leave home to live with friends are too busy socialising and having fun in their out of work hours to take the time to cook balanced meals with a good variation of foods. Eating on the go becomes the thing and the diet is usually made up of refined takeaway foods and TV dinners which are vitamin and mineral deficient and made up basically of the same things—white sugar and white flour. Chemical flavourings, colourings and preservatives give this monotonous diet its variety. Ambitious young high achievers fall into this food category as well. They’re too busy working to cook balanced meals.
Many of the over-weight compulsive eaters I’ve treated developed their food cravings as a result of over-exposure to a given food as a child (in the manner previously described) or as a young person who left the nest and Mum’s home cooking. These food cravings can manifest in one of two ways. Either as a craving for the food in question or as a craving for sugar. Allergic hypoglycaemia is the term used to describe this latter phenomenon. Hypoglycaemia means a sudden dropping in the levels of glucose in the blood. When this happens, a message is sent to the brain that glucose levels must be restored immediately, and a craving for sugar results. Those people whose allergy withdrawal symptoms trigger hypoglycaemia are driven by an unbelievable compulsion to eat sweets or white flour foods, lots of them and often. Uncontrollable over-weight soon becomes a problem for them, is of great benefit to people with allergic hypoglycaemia.
*27\18\9*
A fixed allergy, to a food, chemical, gas, dust, pollen, grass or mould, is one that you are born with and will have till the day you die. It’s something you have inherited a propensity for. Sometimes it can be controlled so that its effects are minimised. This is particularly so in the ease of inhalant allergens, such as dust, grasses and moulds, where vaccines can be administered to desensitise the sufferer to the allergen. In the case of a fixed allergy to a food (for example, strawberries, tomatoes) the best treatment is to avoid the food completely. Fortunately, only 5 per cent of allergic people suffer from a fixed allergy.
Not everybody experiences their allergic reactions in the blood. Some allergic reactions are confined to the intestines and make up any or all of those symptoms listed under ‘Gastro-intestinal’ later in this chapter. Blood tests are of little use to these people as the foods causing the problem are seldom absorbed through the intestinal wall into the blood to register their presence there. However, the mechanism of the gut-mediated allergic reaction is the same as that of the blood-mediated one, except that in this case it is the white blood cells lining the intestinal wall that have become over-sensitive rather than those floating in the blood. Celiac disease (massive gluten sensitivity) and Crohn’s disease are extreme examples of gut-mediated allergies.
The trial and error removal and reintroduction of foods—one at a time—is the only way to test for the offending gut-mediated allergies. However, this can’t be done until the stress levels have been reduced and any existing Candida yeast infections in the intestines have been contained. Stress and Candida yeast infections give rise to the same symptoms as gut-mediated food allergies.
*19\18\9*
Although many over-exposure allergies can develop from a sudden massive exposure to a given substance (for example, by being overcome by fumes during an industrial accident, or getting smashed on a particular alcoholic beverage while tired or suffering from a cold or ‘flu), over-exposure allergies can develop slowly over a longer period of time. The continual eating of a given food, especially if it is a refined food such as white bread, can give us an allergy to wheat. In this case eating the white bread day in, day out, wears out the digestive enzymes in the wall of the small intestine and the liver, causing the semi-digested food to be absorbed into the blood. A semi-digested food is a foreign body and is recognised by an over-sensitive immune system as an allergen.
Because the digestive enzymes are made from vitamins and minerals, the cells need vitamins and minerals to replace enzymes that are wearing out. Refined foods (white bread, canned and frozen foods, processed meats, take-away foods) don’t carry the nutrients they need to build replacement enzymes. Thus malnutrition contributes significantly to over-exposure allergies. It is significant that stress and malnutrition go together—most highly stressed people skip meals altogether and so completely miss out on their vitamins and minerals.
The slow drip-feeding into the blood of the toxic waste products, particularly acetaldehyde, from the yeast Candida albicans, can produce over-exposure to this chemical over a long period of time. Allergic reactions thus ensue.
Cyclic allergies are those that develop as a result of over-exposure to a food, chemical, pollutant, fume, gas, pollen or grass. Cyclic allergies account for 95 per cent of all allergies (the remaining 5 per cent are fixed) and can usually be overcome if you haven’t been exposed to the allergen for too long. The majority of cyclic allergies begin as a result of over-exposure to a chemical or food. Many children are born with a cyclic allergy as their mothers were suffering from a cyclic allergy during pregnancy. As time goes by the sensitivity can spread to other foods and chemicals and on to grasses, pollens, dusts, yeasts, fungi and dust mites. Ninety days’ avoidance of the allergenic substance is usually enough to desensitise the body to that substance.
*13\18\9*
‘Not only will men of science have to grapple with the sciences that deal with man, hut—and this is a Jar more difficult matter— they will have to persuade the world to listen to what they have discovered. If they cannot succeed in this difficult enterprise, man will destroy himself by his halfway cleverness.’
Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970
An allergy is an over-reaction of the body’s immune system in its efforts to protect the body against what it (the immune system) perceives to be a threat. When resistance is down, sensitivities are up and allergies easily develop.
The immune system is the body’s main line of defense against invading foreign substances that can damage it. It is made up of the white blood cells, known as lymphocytes. These are clumped together in lymphoid tissue, which is found in the spleen, the lining of the small and large intestines and the lymph nodes of the neck, armpits and groin. The lymph nodes are well evident during periods of infection when they swell up arid are frequently referred to as ‘swollen glands’.
Collectively, these foreign substances are known as antigens and may come in many different shapes and forms—viruses, bacteria, fungi, toxic chemicals from polluted water and air, and the preservatives and colourings in artificial foods. Evidence suggests that the major toxin (acetaldehyde) released into the blood by the yeast Candida albicans is a potent antigen.
In rendering the antigen harmless to the body, the antibodies have given us an immunity to that antigen. Once sensitised by an antigen, the lymphocytes remember that antigen and, in some cases, are able to successfully produce antibodies against it for the rest of our lives. In this way we enjoy lifelong immune protection from that substance. The diseases measles and chicken pox are good examples. Once contracted in childhood, our resistance to them usually becomes so great that they seldom bother us again through life.
Unfortunately, not all immune systems function perfectly all of the time. Sometimes there are imbalances in the immune system (resulting from imbalances in the body’s metabolism) that give rise to excesses in the immune reaction. These excesses cause side effects and these side effects are known as allergic reactions.
Allergic reactions occur when there is an excess of histamine released into the blood and tissues.
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‘Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful needs and will not be deceived. And your body is the harp of your soul, And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.’
Kahlil Gibran. The Prophet
As a 23-year-old woman living in the 80s, I have, like many other people, tried to eat well and get some exercise. The media had made me very body conscious, and if I didn’t keep my weight down, I became depressed, felt unattractive and my self-esteem plummeted. In order to keep it down, I had to eat very small amounts. I became convinced that I had a fat-storing metabolism and to keep my weight down I had to eat very little.
Like many women, I have agonised over my body, spending literally hundreds of dollars on cellulite treatments, and there have been many years of not a morsel passing my lips without a calorie count. Looking back on it, it was an awfully stressful, anti-social way to be treating food. You could say I was at war with my body.
At 60 kg in July 1987, I decided to go on one of my severe diets, which consisted of cereal and skim milk for breakfast, Ryvita, salmon and salad for lunch and steamed vegetables for dinner. By November I had lost 6.5 kg. I experienced weakness and hunger pains, but the psychological high I was on overrode feelings of drowsiness and lethargy.
At this time, I was studying part-time and had taken over the job of Section Head in a nursery caring for children under three years of age. Wanting to achieve recognition from my colleagues, I set myself the task of getting the nursery into good working order. Basically, I put my needs last and burnt the candle at both ends. I began a downhill run and by March 1988 I had deteriorated physically and mentally and needed a week off work for what the doctor diagnosed as stress. The week off work helped alleviate the severe headaches and back pain, but on returning to work I still did not feel 100 per cent better.
I spent the Easter weekend at my parents’ property on the outskirts of Bathurst, and all Mum’s lovely cooking went down very well. So well, in fact, that within three weeks I had gained the 6.5 kg I had lost and kept off over a nine month period. I was unable to start dieting again; I was tired of it all. Depression set in severely.
I was also extremely sensitive and emotional. I would snap at people without meaning to. Regarding the poor concentration and loss of memory, I can tell you, when you’re twenty-three and find it impossible to recall one bit of conversation you had ten minutes earlier, it’s very scary.
At the time I consulted Phil Alexander in May 1988, I was beginning to doubt my professional capabilities. Talking to Phil was very encouraging. Yes, he told me, I would recover, my symptoms would be alleviated; but I must rest, as I was suffering from stress as well. He told me that my sinusitis and resultant bad breath was of physiological, not psychological, origin and gave me a referral to an allergy clinic for tests.
Although I wasn’t allergic to any foods, I was allergic to moulds, house dust mites, grasses and pollens. Phil placed me on the Anti-Candida Program, with the prescribed drug Nystatin to kill off the Candida yeast over-growth in my body, and a vitamin supplement to help balance my out-of-kilter metabolism, unbalanced by my many years of crash/semi-starvation diets. To think that for years I thought I was doing the right thing by my body. How wrong I was!
The meals set out for me were incredibly substantial and I thought I would put on weight. Not so at all. Although the first week of my Anti-Candida Program was unpleasant, with headaches, sinusitis and stomach pain (all Candida yeast withdrawal symptoms), I lost 2.25 kg of fluid in five days, as I had more of a fluid problem than a fat problem. After a fortnight I felt 100 per cent better and had lost another 1.5 kg. I was sitting down to beautiful meals each night and I was very hungry in between meals. There was no bloating associated with eating and my metabolism was speeding up considerably. As well as sticking to the program religiously, I kept my house free of mould and dust and made sure I got plenty of rest.
By the time I went back to see Phil, after four weeks on my program, I was so excited I literally bounded into his office so eager to tell him how wonderful I was feeling, how much energy I had. I had lost 4.5 kg altogether, and the high I was experiencing was indescribable, very different from the highs I had experienced when I had lost weight before.
Phil was pleased for me and instructed me to carry on as I was. During the second month my appetite decreased a little and I no longer needed rice wafers in between meals. It was at this time that I came down with inflamed back muscles, due to heavy lifting. As rotten as I was feeling physically, I still felt mentally well and made sure I didn’t spend my days off work feeling sorry for myself. I kept busy with sewing and recovered rapidly without the aid of prescribed drugs from my doctor. I wondered if 1 would have recovered as well two months earlier, before my program.
To sum it all up, after being at war with my body for four years, I am discovering what it is like to have energy, not feel over-stressed, feel restored after a good night’s sleep and be happy. When people ask me if the program is working for me, I tell them that I am an entirely different person from what I was two and a half months ago. That is the absolute truth too! I feel attractive, confident; my self-esteem is riding high and I am learning not to compare myself to other women, to love me and my body for what it is.
I am discovering new, tasty nutritious meals and there are no guilt feelings attached to sitting down and eating a beautiful veal and veggie casserole. Farewell to calorie counting forever!
What is so exciting for me is that I am still in the healing process. I have some way to go, but I am already reaping the benefits. People are commenting on how well I look -my skin, my hair, my eyes. My parents are thrilled and relieved to see that, at last, the answer to my problem has been found. My boyfriend tells me how attractive I have been looking lately and I know my state of physical, and mental/ emotional health will improve more. Like my newly found love of cooking and eating, I am exercising more because I have the energy and really want to. I don’t feel I have to -there is now a challenge to be the healthiest person I can. My current exercise is martial arts and I love it more now that I am on my anti-allergy program. I feel better than I did when I lost weight on a diet at the ladies’ gym and was doing four aerobic classes a week, as well as weights.
I shudder to think what would have happened to my health if I had not investigated further the real cause of my complaints. I’m sure I would have crash dieted more, and in doing so deteriorated more, perhaps irreparably. I stick with this program and take it seriously, and so 1 should. This is my life and my body, the only one I have been given. I will not break this program.
Realising how biochemically different I am I would never again pick a diet that doesn’t have the research and experience of a practising physician backing it. Never again would I skip a meal. When I see young women skipping meals and eating minuscule amounts, I now try to explain what they are doing to themselves. They don’t listen, because they think they know it all, and know their body’s needs just like I thought I did.
Thanks to the expertise and knowledge of the author of this book, I am learning to love me, and love my body for what it is. I am healthy, alive, vital, energetic and attractive. I am indebted to Phil Alexander for all his help in making what really is the ‘new me’.
I hope readers will see me as a success story and an inspiration to overcome their complaints.
As I re-read my words, the excitement and challenge builds up in me more. I really believe in what I am doing. It all may be hard for you to comprehend, it is even hard for me sometimes, but if you have success in overcoming your allergies, you will understand the message I am conveying.
Paula Jackson, 1988
POSTSCRIPT—1990
Paula is still fit and well though she’s been through a rough patch that saw her health decline for a while. Like so many people who’ve regained their vitality, Paula began to embrace life with great enthusiasm. Too much enthusiasm in fact. She burnt herself out. Tiredness, aches and pains, fluid retention and confusion began to return. Not because of allergy and Candida infection this time, but because of fatigue. Paula, like so many others, believed her new found energy was boundless and in an effort to make up for lost time began doing all those things she was too tired to do before. Admittedly pre-wedding nerves and adjusting to married life played it’s part but the major cause of her symptoms was overdoing it.
We human beings have a very short memory of matters pertaining to our former ill health. We easily forget what it was like to be down and Paula fell into this trap. She now realises that although the spirit may be willing the flesh has limitations. She has now learned to pace herself by recognising her particular early warning symptoms of stress and slowing down before these symptoms become full blown.
UPDATE—1995
Paula is now 30 and feeling better than she did at age 19. She’s married, pregnant, works part time and has a healthy two-year-old boy who shows all the signs of being an advanced, even gifted, child. All this she attributes to her continued adherence to the Metabolism-Balancing Program and supplements. She maintains high energy levels, trouble-free pregnancies (no toxaemia) and optimal weight levels during and between pregnancies. The learning experience of overcoming her previous illness has put her in tune with her body and there has been no return of her Candida and allergy symptoms.
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