ALLERGIES: HYPERACTIVITY (PLUS-TWO REACTION)
One of the major forms of plus-two reactions is hyperactivity. This is also sometimes called hyperkinesis. Far more common in males than females, it is marked by distractability, inappropriate responses, and irritability. Supercharged and jittery behavior can occur at any age but is particularly common among children. It is often accompanied by aggressive actions, temper tantrums, poor schoolwork, and sometimes by overweight. This was first described in 1947.This sort of behavior has become increasingly common among children, and many theories have been advanced to account for it, ranging from Freudian interpretations of family life to the incrimination of television violence. Often, however, the problem is an allergic/addictive response to some food eaten in a compulsive fashion or to some chemical encountered in the course of everyday life. Removal of these substances and overall environmental control can often help such children in a dramatic way.
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THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF ALLERGIES: THE WATER SUPPLY
Water is something we all take in, every day. It is obvious that the quality of that water will have a bearing on health and well-being. To prevent the spread of infectious diseases, such as typhoid fever, our cities began adding the chemical chlorine to the drinking water in 1912.
Chlorine was admirably effective in stopping the spread of infection. But, as a historian of this topic notes, “In discovering that drinking water could be purified by different filters, and made doubly safe through chlorination, interest in pollution declined.”6 Thus, there was very little reaction when two allergists, S. H. Watson and C. S. Kibler, showed, in 1934, that chlorinated drinking water could cause asthma in certain susceptible individuals.7
Chlorine is, in fact, a common cause of symptoms in individuals who are generally susceptible to chemicals. For this reason, in my special diagnosis and treatment facility, the Ecology Unit (Chap. 17), patients are given spring water to drink and treat chlorinated tap water as a “suspect” beverage. Some patients also react to swimming in chlorinated pools or even breathing their vapors. Some people are made sick by standing over a tub of steaming water in a closed bathroom. The contribution of fluoridation to this problem has simply not been studied adequately to permit us to make any definite statements about it.
In some parts of the country, the water is very “hard” (that is, saturated with mineral salts) and difficult to use in washing. There is a tendency in these areas to soften all water entering the kitchen or the laundry room with chemical water softeners. This is one of the built-in hazards of present-day home construction. If the softened water is drunk, it is apparently tolerated by many but a minority may become highly susceptible and be made ill by it.
The solution is to use softened water for all other purposes, but only unsoftened water for drinking and cooking. This requires having an extra tap in the kitchen. Some patients have a separate tap of unsoftened and filtered water, which is the only kind they use for internal consumption.
Even a “safe” source of water can easily become polluted. Certain wells, known to have been approved for use by chemically susceptible persons at one time, have since become chemically contaminated, as judged by several patients with this type of problem who are no longer able to use waters from such sources. The same holds true for several recently diagnosed patients.
Ideally, drinking waters should be rotated in the same way as foods. Of the recently hospitalized patients whom we have tested, approximately 70 percent reacted to one or several of the seven different waters which we routinely employed in testing. As with foods, a currently tolerated water may eventually become the source of individual reactions at some later time, especially if it is abused. Unfortunately, water rotation often is not practicable, since many locations lack an adequate variety of water supplies.
It should be said in summary that, as with other aspects of the food and chemical susceptibility problem, no two patients are found to have exactly the same water problem. For instance, there is no readily available water which seems to agree with all chemically susceptible patients, and a water which is agreeable to one person may be a major cause of symptoms in another. In short, the water problem remains not only highly individualized, but is also a common cause of persistent unexplained symptoms in otherwise controlled patients.
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DRUGS THAT CAN PREVENT MIGRAINE ATTACKS
There are various drugs that, taken regularly, can prevent migraine attacks, or at least reduce their frequency. Beneficial effects may not be apparent until they have been taken for several weeks.
In conventional migraine treatment, these are not generally prescribed unless migraines are fairly frequent and severe, and other measures have been tried without significant success. Those ‘other
measures’ might include reducing stress, avoiding situations that trigger migraines, and avoiding foods such as chocolate, cheese, red wine and citrus fruits. By extension, it would seem reasonable to investigate food intolerance, using an elimination diet, before starting on (or continuing with) these drugs.
12A Serotonin antagonists
Serotonin, or 5HT, is a chemical messenger produced by the blood platelets that is known to play a part in migraine. Drugs that block the receptors for serotonin seem to help prevent migraine. Some of these drugs also act as antihistamines. The main drug used is pizotifen (Sanomigran) which is generally safe but can cause weight-gain and drowsiness in some people. Methysergide (Deseril) is equally effective, but it can, very rarely, cause serious side-effects with lasting damage. Anyone taking it should have close medical supervision. It is advisable to stop taking the drug for 1-2 months twice a year, to check that all is well.
These drugs block (3-receptors for adrenaline, the hormone that produces the ‘flight or fight’ reaction. Their main use is in other diseases, principally heart disease, and it is not entirely clear how they help to prevent migraine.
Some of these drugs block the effects of adrenaline generally and they should not be taken by asthmatics, since they have the opposite effect to (32 bronchodilators (see section 4A). The ones in question are nadolol (Corgard), propanolol (Angilol, Apsolol, Berkolol, Inderal LA) and timolol (Betim, Blocadren). Others are more selective, only affecting (3-receptors in the heart, and they can be taken by asthmatics, although good medical supervision is needed. The principal drug of this type is metoprolol (Betaloc, Lopresor).
All these drugs have certain side-effects, including cold hands and feet, disturbed sleep, stomach upset and wheezing. If dry eyes or skin rash develop this should be reported td the doctor immediately as it can indicate a severe reaction to the drug. The drugs should not be stopped abruptly, but gradually withdrawn.
Clonidine
Clonidine is used to lower blood pressure and when taken at low dosage (Dixarit) it can prevent migraine in some patients. It is a relatively safe drug, but some patients may suffer from drowsiness, dizziness, dry mouth or insomnia.
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UNEXPECTION ALLERGIC CROSS-REACTION: CROSS-REACTIONS BETWEEN PLANT PRODUCTS
Many of those who are allergic to birch pollen cannot eat hazelnuts. This is not particularly surprising, since birch and hazel belong to the same plant family. What is unexpected is the cross-reaction seen between birch pollen and apple – a very high proportion of those with birch hay-fever are allergic to apples. It is thought that this is due to small molecules called phenols that are widely distributed in plant products. The suggestion is that apple and birch just happen to have the same sort of phenol, despite their unrelatedness. There are other odd cross-reactions between different fruits and vegetables which may be explained in the same way.
Shellfish
Some people seem to be sensitive to both crustacean shellfish and molluscan shellfish. Why this should be is a mystery – it is unlikely to be a cross-reaction, in the conventional sense, since the two groups are not at all closely related. Biologically speaking, they are as similar to humans or birds as they are to each other. Again, the use of an imprecise name for both groups -’shellfish’ – is a confusing factor.
For certain people, it may be something other than the shellfish themselves causing the problem. Toxins acquired from their food, or the preservatives that are liberally added to shellfish might be to blame.
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PREPARING FOR THE ELIMINATION DIET: SORT OUT OTHER PROBLEMS
The idea of the elimination diet is to create a period of ‘silence’ in which you can listen to your body answering specific questions. Any sort of background noise is going to confuse you, so you need to eliminate other things that cause symptoms before you start. The three main items to consider are airborne allergens, hyperventilation and chemical sensitivity.
You should suspect airborne allergens if your symptoms include asthma, hay-fever, a year-round runny nose or congested nose (rhinitis), red, watery or itchy eyes, sinusitis, or recurrent ‘colds’. Eczema and urticaria may indicate allergens in the air that land on the skin – or things that touch the skin directly. Consult pp64-5 for likely sources of trouble. Avoidance measures are described on pp66-8. Put these into effect for a few months before starting the diet.
Hyperventilation is suggested by dizziness, faintness, tingling in the hands and feet, numbness, spaced-out or confused feelings, shortness of breath and a variety of other symptoms. A full list is given on pl56. It appears that hyperventilation often accompanies food intolerance, but it can sometimes be the sole cause of symptoms.
There are no typical symptoms reported for chemical sensitivity, but most people who react generally know that they do because certain things always make them feel ill – travelling by car, smelling perfume or swimming in chlorinated water, for example. Complete avoidance is difficult, but try to clean up your environment as much as possible, and wait for about two weeks before starting the elimination diet, so that you can assess the effects of doing this.
If you respond to any of these avoidance measures, however slightly, they should be continued throughout Stages 1, 2 and 3 of the diet.
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WHAT CAUSES FOOD INTOLERANCE? REBECCA’S STORY
Rebecca began to have problems with severe sore throats when she was in her teens. At the same time she suffered ‘swollen glands’ (swelling of the lymph nodes) producing painful lumps in her groin, armpits and neck. The pain was often so bad that she had difficulty in walking. She also felt bloated, with a noticeable puffiness around her face and neck, and she suffered spells of dizziness when she would sometimes pass out. Eventually her tonsils were removed, but this did not bring much improvement: her throat was less sore, but it was still painful and swollen. In her early twenties, Rebecca married, and although she was very happy with her new husband, her symptoms began to get worse. She frequently felt as if she had flu
coming on, with aches and pains, headaches and swollen glands. Severe catarrh, recurrent mouth ulcers and stomach pains were also making life difficult.
All these problems came to a head when she was 25 and they moved house. Looking back, Rebecca thinks it was the stress of moving which precipitated a crisis in her state of health. All her symptoms became more frequent and more severe, and she felt as if her body was ‘totally out of control’. She also developed some new problems, including aching joints and bouts of severe depression. She had to give up her part-time job and even simple tasks around the house became impossible.
Rebecca had seen many different specialists over the years, and none had been able to do much for her. But at this point she heard something about ‘food allergy’ from a friend, and asked her family doctor if he thought this might be worth investigating. The doctor was sceptical but made an appointment for her to see a specialist, who put her on a strict diet, starting with a three-day fast. Then she went on to a diet of lamb, pears and mineral water. Within a week she felt so much better that she could scarcely believe it. Almost all her symptoms had gone, except for a few aches in her joints. ‘I had been ill for so long, I’d forgotten what it was like to be well – it was an amazing feeling,’ she recalls.
The long process of testing foods then began. Eventually Rebecca identified the following culprits: most types of additives, wheat, oranges, lemons, butter, strawberries and alcohol. Eating any of these would produce swollen glands, depression, headache, stomach pains, aching joints and general flu-like symptoms within a few hours. It took her a long time to test all foods and establish a workable diet, but she now enjoys very good health and can eat a variety of foods. She can even tolerate small amounts of wheat and her other culprit foods occasionally, but has to avoid additives.
Cases like Rebecca’s are rare but they raise some interesting questions about what causes food intolerance. The swollen lymph nodes suggest that her immune system was affected by her reactions to foods, even though her symptoms were not those one would associate with allergy.
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THE CLASSICAL ALLERGIC DISEASES: HAY-FEVER
Pollen, produced by plants and carried on the wind, is the most notorious of the airborne allergens – it causes the symptoms known to doctors as seasonal rhinitis and conjunctivitis and to the rest of the world as hay-fever. Not all
hay-fever sufferers respond to the same pollen, and the timing of the symptoms will depend on which pollen is the culprit.
Mast cells in the nose and eyes respond to the proteins in the outer coat of the pollen grain. The mediators that are released cause inflammation of the delicate membranes, which the hay-fever sufferer experiences as red, itchy, watery eyes, and a runny or congested nose. Some people also suffer from itching in the mouth or ears. Irritability and fatigue may accompany these physical symptoms, although whether these occur as a direct effect of the allergens on the nervous system, or simply a secondary effect of the unpleasant physical symptoms, is debatable.
Food can probably contribute to hay-fever, though pollen is always the major allergen. Some people find that by avoiding particular foods they reduce their sensitivity to pollen, and a lucky few lose their hay-fever symptoms altogether. Sensitivity to foods can also mimic hay-fever, if the foods concerned cause rhinitis and are only eaten in the summer, or in much larger amounts then.
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SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS: STRESS
On top of each kidney is a gland called the adrenal. The adrenal glands have a number of roles to play in the body, one of them is to enable us to cope with the many different stresses we encounter in life. When we are under stress the adrenal glands release the stress hormones adrenalin, cortisone and testosterone.
Adrenalin is released to speed up the metabolism of all cells of the brain and body giving us the energy we need to meet the stress. It achieves this by stimulating the liver to release all its stores of glucose. It also shuts down the digestive processes by sending the blood from the digestive tract to the brain, eyes and muscles. Because of this we don’t digest and absorb our food properly when we’re under stress and run the risk of malnutrition if the stress is prolonged. Unfortunately, we need extra nutrients during times of stress to sustain the high revving metabolism. Imbalances in the metabolism develop when these nutrients are not forthcoming. Putting food in the stomach at this time causes the abdomen to distend giving us that same uncomfortable, bloated feeling we get from eating a food we’re allergic to or feeding a gut-borne Candida infection with sugar- and white-flour-containing foods.
Cortisone is released to dissolve the proteins collagen and elastin into amino acids. These amino acids are converted to glucose by the liver in an effort to prevent a glucose shortage. (More glucose is needed when we are under stress.) A glucose shortage would produce such severe metabolic imbalances as to cause serious shock, fainting and even coma. Sluggish, unhealthy livers have trouble converting amino acids quickly enough and shock and fainting spells are common in highly stressed people with unhealthy livers. (Lack of oxygen and vitamins and minerals as well as excess of alcohol, drugs and nicotine are the major cause of an unhealthy liver.)
Unfortunately for us, collagen and elastin are the major structural proteins of the skin, muscle and blood vessels. If they are dissolved faster than we can replace them the skin, muscles and blood vessels lose their tone and elasticity. In this way stress ages us prematurely (wrinkles, stretch marks, blue spider veins and purple patches in the skin). Weakened blood vessel walls are prone to leaking water and plasma proteins into the tissues, causing fluid retention. Vitamins C, A and B6 and minerals zinc, manganese and silica are the principal nutrients needed for collagen and elastin manufacture and should always be taken in supplementary form during times of stress. To be fully effective they must be taken with all the other vitamins and minerals, that is, in a complete multi-vitamin tablet.
As well as dissolving proteins to provide glucose, cortisone acts as nature’s own built-in anti-inflammatory. Adrenally produced cortisone has served man well since the dawn of time, reducing the inflammations encountered from the stresses of hunting wild animals and fighting invaders. These stresses for the main part were significant but short lived. When the danger was over the adrenal glands would relax and the levels of stress hormones would return to normal. The more subtle but prolonged stresses modern man is subjected to keeps high levels of cortisone in the white blood cells. This suppresses their normal function and predisposes the body to allergies and infections. Resting levels of cortisone do not have this effect.
Testosterone accelerates the processes of growth and repair of damaged tissue that results from stress. Broken bones, hair line fractures, bruises and sprains encountered as a result of over-exercise (running marathons) and heavy contact sports are examples of this. It also stimulates the sebaceous glands to produce extra sebum which pours out into the skin giving it an oily appearance. This oil acts as an insulator which retains body heat.
Increased body temperature speeds up tissue repair and protects us from the cold which, in itself, is a major stress. Unfortunately, the sebaceous glands often become so stimulated during times of stress they produce sebum faster than they can release it onto the skin. The glands swell and burst, releasing the sebum into the dermis of the skin where, being a foreign body, it causes allergic reactions that give rise to acne.
The adrenal stress hormones served ancient humans well. Adrenalin to give them the energy to cope, cortisone to reduce inflammation and provide the glucose (sugar) energy, testosterone to speed the repair of damaged tissues and beta endorphins to kill the pain encountered during fighting or running barefoot over rough terrain.
So often do modern humans misuse their adrenal glands that this misuse becomes part of everyday life and hard to recognise. Hard-chargers are the main culprits here. Being highly motivated people they force themselves on, even when the body has had enough and wants a rest. This pushing of themselves whips the adrenal glands, forcing them to produce more and more of the stress hormones.
Tired bodies come to rely on adrenalin for energy instead of normal cellular respiration. They rely on cortisone to suppress the inflammation of allergies that can develop in tired bodies, instead of letting normal body resistance prevent sub-clinical allergies from flaring up. They rely on beta endorphins to kill the pain that wouldn’t exist if allergies hadn’t flared up and to buoy the spirits that would be naturally high in a body that isn’t stressed. Hard-chargers become more and more reliant on bodily produced chemical highs lo maintain feelings of well-being. In time the adrenal glands become so tired they are unable to produce enough stress hormones to satisfy demand and the symptoms of stress, particularly chronic fatigue, set in. By this time beta endorphin production has also dropped significantly.
The adrenal glands are tough and can take a lot of stress before they become seriously fatigued. It takes time to wear them down. During this period of wearing down, the major symptom that the glands are tiring is tiredness on the cessation of activity. In those who have allergies, a worsening of allergy symptoms usually accompanies the onset, of tiredness after activity.
Because it can take years to completely wear the glands down hard-chargers get into the habit of whipping their adrenals every time they want energy. So responsive are the tired glands that hard-chargers become lulled into a false sense of security, believing energy will always be there if they just use their willpower to push on.
Some people get so into the habit of this practice over the years they believe it’s natural and can’t understand it when chronic fatigue sets in and significant allergies develop. However, not all people experience the onset of their allergies at the point of adrenal exhaustion.
Some experience their onset during the wearing down period and get locked into the vicious cycle of pushing themselves to produce more cortisone to reduce the inflammatory symptoms of their allergy, not realising that the same cortisone is lowering their resistance and thus aggravating the allergy in the classic Catch 22 manner.
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SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS: DIABETES
Late onset diabetes is one of the most common symptoms of a significant imbalance in the body’s metabolism and is caused by a deficiency in the mineral chromium. Late onset diabetes develops slowly over the years and is recognised as a glucose resistance to the hormone insulin. Insulin’s job is to latch onto glucose in the bloodstream, take it to the cell and push it through the cell wall into the cell where it’s burned to produce energy. Chromium’s job is to bring glucose and insulin together and ensure a secure bond between them. If there is a deficiency in chromium, glucose and insulin float through the blood ignoring each other. Because the cells are now missing out on their major energy source they have to fall back on their second choice energy source, fat.
The blood fat and cholesterol levels rise as these reserves are mobilised for energy production. High fat and cholesterol levels born of this metabolic imbalance don’t respond well to strict anti-cholesterol diets that are designed to treat cholesterol born of overindulgence in saturated fat foods (all processed meats, fried foods, hamburgers, chips, TV dinners, packaged foods, butter). This is because such foods as beef and liver that are considered too high in cholesterol to eat are rich in chromium. Whole wheat also contains chromium. White flour has all its chromium removed in the milling process.
The only other significant source of chromium is brewer’s yeast and there was a time when beer provided plenty of it. Unfortunately these days very few brands of beer are brewed from yeast (they’re now chemically brewed) and a good source of chromium has been lost. Very few people will take brewer’s yeast in its natural form. Is it any wonder that late onset diabetes and high cholesterol are on the rise? Chromium deficiency is on the increase as more and more manufactured foods are replacing natural foods at the dinner table. Imbalances in glucose metabolism are on the increase and account for under-functioning, sluggish livers, lack of mental acuity and intractable over-weight problems as well as late onset diabetes and high cholesterol levels.
Not only dietary deficiencies are involved in overall chromium deficiency. Each pregnancy can cause white blood cell chromium to drop by 50 per cent. The glucose drips that accompany surgical operations cause chromium levels to drop to one-third of normal and if the patient has a postoperative viral infection the end results can be disastrous if chromium supplements are not taken.
Diabetes, like heart attacks, offers very few early warning signs. Most people don’t know they’ve got it till they’ve got it. Intractably high cholesterol levels are seldom recognised as an early diagnostic sign. The gradual loss of tolerance to alcohol from mid-life on is a classic sign of chromium deficiency and impending diabetes.
The removal from the diet of such cholesterol-containing foods as beef and liver doesn’t help reduce cholesterol in those with late onset diabetes or the beginnings of it. In fact it aggravates the condition. These foods are rich in chromium and actually help to lower the cholesterol levels in those whose high cholesterol is linked to chromium deficiency diabetes. I’ve found that those patients of mine whose cholesterol levels are still above normal despite sticking to the standard cholesterol-lowering diet are invariably chromium deficient. It’s amazing how many high cholesterol sufferers fall into this category and how quickly they respond to chromium (plus all the other vitamins and minerals) supplementation. High cholesterol, for most people, is the result of imbalances in the metabolism. Balancing the metabolism with the Metabolism-Balancing Program is the best way to treat it.
Evidence to support the importance of balancing the metabolism with adequate vitamin and mineral intake can be found in the dietary habits of different groups. Eskimos eat a diet high in saturated fats yet rarely have atherosclerosis. Liver is prized among these people, and with good reason, as it contains just about every vitamin and mineral known. It is rich in chromium and all the support vitamins and minerals needed for chromium to be effective. Vegetarians who eat a diet low in saturated fats often develop atherosclerosis. This is not surprising as most vegetarians do not supplement their diet with brewer’s yeast or sugar beet molasses. Both these foods are rich in chromium and the principal support nutrients of iron, selenium, manganese, vitamin B12 and folic acid needed by chromium to complete its metabolic chores. Guinness stout (made in Ireland) is a good source of sugar beet molasses and brewer’s yeast. Australian stout is made from cane molasses which isn’t as nutritious. Don’t overdo it though. If too much stout (alcohol) is consumed the liver will be damaged and the metabolism unbalanced once more.
It’s no coincidence that Grandma took molasses during and after pregnancy and that she mulled stout and gave it to those with infections and those recovering from surgery. The mulling process involves the plunging of a hot poker into the stout to burn off its alcohol content. Her winter/spring remedy of molasses and sulfur powder was a great tonic as well as a cleanser.
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THE ANTI- CANDIDA PROGRAM: THE KILL-OFF
Don’t be dismayed if at first you feel worse. Your symptoms may well Hare up at this time. This is the result of the Nystatin or garlic and Caprinex killing off the yeast, not the result of an allergy to Nystatin. As a result of the yeast drying, extra acetaldehyde and bits of dead yeast are released into the blood. The waste products arc carried right through the body to the kidneys for elimination.
As these waste products pass through the system they can make you feel ill. The symptoms vary from mild to severe depending on the size of the yeast colony and can last for two to seven days. All you can do is drink lots of fluid between meals to dilute the toxins, stay on the regime and rest. Painkillers won’t work, just bear with it. Sometimes extra Nystatin or garlic helps to shorten the kill-off period. Use cortisone creams if eczema flares up and keep asthma medication handy. Some people find that going back to antihistamines helps mitigate the kill-off symptoms. Use cortisone puffers if asthma is bad.
Don’t be alarmed if your urine is dark and odorous and your bowel motions greeny yellow in colour. This is the result of your bowel, blood and liver cleansing themselves. It indicates a significant Candida infection and a toxic liver and that your body is responding positively to the program. This is a good sign.
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