That winter, Barry had gotten into the habit of kicking his mother in the shins and placing all responsibility for his problems on the poor woman. He terrorized and beat up his younger “playmates” both at school and on the street. The principal and other school officials declared that he not only was unreachable, but that his irritability, hyperactivity, and uncontrolled behavior disturbed the entire class. The school urged the parents to remove Barry from school and take him to a psychiatrist. Their theory was that Mrs. Carter had “rejected and dejected” her son. He was put on Ritalin, a drug often used to treat hyperactivity. The parents had tried this psychiatric route; they also had tried spanking him repeatedly. Nothing seemed to work.

Several interesting facts emerged from his history. One tell-tale clue was that Barry’s symptoms were always accentuated in winter. In particular, he had become increasingly disrespectful, hostile, and sassy since the beginning of the heating season. This suggested a chemical cause—particularly, something connected to the home heating system. Upon learning that an auxiliary gas-fired space heater had been installed in his bedroom the previous summer, it was recommended that he exchange rooms with his older sister. Although his behavior improved, he still remained too hyperactive and distraught to read with any comprehension.

By this point, the child and his mother were not even talking to each other. An experiment was tried, to see how the child would react to a new environment. He went with his grandmother, to stay in a hotel room, which was free of those environmental chemicals which frequently cause or perpetuate chronic symptoms.

Within the first three days of fasting, drinking only spring water, and taking no drugs, Barry’s pulse decreased from 90 to 70 (an increased pulse is often a sign of allergic reactions). Barry now read incessantly, the first time he had been able to do so in months. After completing a battery of food allergy tests, he returned to his home city, on good terms with his mother. Upon returning to school directly from the hotel, he apologized for his past behavior and asked for makeup work. However, that afternoon upon returning home for the first time, he developed a headache. By the following morning he was tired, listless, pale, and puffy around the eyes, and within three days had returned to his previous level. For example, upon arising he ripped his favorite Boy. Scout uniform to shreds, kicked the baby, and attacked his mother.

His parents removed the gas space-heater from his room but did not change the gas-fired hot-air system which heated the entire house. Thus, although his symptoms improved greatly that summer, they were back in full force when the heat was turned on again in the fall.

Changing the gas-fired system for an all-electric heating and cooking system brought about a complete change in Barry’s behavior. His hyperactive, irritable, and destructive traits disappeared. He remained quite well, only suffering relapses when exposed to other sources of gas outside the home, or to heavy smog or pollution.

He was suffering from the chemical-susceptibility problem, which was mainly exhibited as a plus-two hyperactive reaction to environmental chemicals, particularly gas.

*57\110\2*

The vast majority of drugs are synthetic and almost all of these contain petrochemical derivatives. Not infrequently, a patient who is unknowingly susceptible to petrochemicals will go to a conventional doctor for treatment. Let us say that the patient’s problem is headache, caused by exposure to natural gas, synthetic fibers, and fumes.

The doctor diagnoses the headache as being stress-related, and tells the patient to try to relax more. In addition, he prescribes a pain-killer containing aspirin and other synthetic substances. When the patient takes this pain-killer, however, he may aggravate his already existing susceptibility to chemicals. In other words, instead of getting better, in the long run his headache problem may become worse. In addition, now he begins to suffer from mental confusion. Because of the increasing chemical load, he has moved, at least temporarily, from a minus-two category to a minus-three.

And so he returns to the physician, complaining of fatigue and possibly depression or “brain-fag,” as well as intensified headache. The physician, not seeing the root cause of the problem, prescribes stronger drugs and advises the patient to take a vacation or see a psychologist. The stronger drugs bring on other reactions and visits to other specialists, in a downward spiral of symptoms and misguided treatments. By this point, the effects of the original chemical exposures have become more burdensome, since chemicals react in a cumulative fashion.

The patient may suspect that the doctor’s prescription pad is the cause of some of his reactions, but he rarely suspects the full extent of problem. Consequently, even a cessation of all medication is unlikely to bring complete relief. The patient muddles along, with temporary improvements and persistent relapses in a generally downward course. The result is usually a frustrated physician and a patient who has become a very bitter dropout from the conventional medical system. This problem is especially serious because in recent years there an explosion in the use of drugs as medicines in industrialized countries. Sales of prescription drugs alone, at the wholesale level, total over $9 billion United States. This figure is practically double what it was a decade ago. Some of these drugs, of course, have been highly useful, even lifesaving, they have been misused and overprescribed, especially to those who are susceptible to their effects.

It is generally well known that drugs can, and often do have serious side effects. Usually, however, these well-publicized side effects are of the kind: they bring on an immediate and highly visible reaction. As with allergies to rarely eaten foods, allergies to uncommonly encountered drugs are fairly easy to detect. If a person with little exposure to penicillin develop an allergy to it, the physician who dispensed the medication can usually tell that a is taking place. Treatment then consists in finding an acceptable I and avoiding penicillin.

Acute reactions to drugs, however, are only the tip of the iceberg. Often a drug will initiate or complicate a general intolerance for synthetic chemicals in the patient. These reactions are difficult to detect, since they come On insidiously. Usually, neither the patient nor the physician connects the heightened symptoms with the drug. The effects of the drug merge into the general background of chemical exposures.

All drugs, no matter how innocent they seem, can have side effects. The reactions may be caused by the active agent in the drugs, but they also can caused by hidden ingredients such as flavorings, colorings, preservatives and excipients, which are binders used in the manufacturing process. Few people realize the complexity of most drugs or the number of ingredients they contain. The ingredients of pharmaceuticals are rarely given on the label. An investigation of one over-the-counter preparation of synthetic vitamins revealed the presence of dozens of chemicals. In addition to seventeen vitamins and minerals the pills contained calcium stearate as a lubricant, gelatin, sugar, sodium benzoate (a preservative), calcium stearate (a lubricant), calcium sulfate, wax, carnauba wax, sesame oil (polishing), Blue Dye N0 2, Yellow Jjj 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, titanium dioxide, polyvinyl pyrolidine, and edible white ink.

Many of these substances cause allergic reactions in susceptible individuals even in such minute amounts. So-called natural vitamins also contain many excipients and additives. While some of these are made from vegetable sources, one can develop susceptibilities to them as well. In general, I urge patients to get their needed vitamins through eating wholesome foods in rotation, according to the principles of the Rotary Diversified Diet.

The first examination of the role of additives in drug reactions was carried out by Dr. Stephen D. Lockey of the Lancaster General Hospital in 1948. Dr. Lockey reported four cases of hives and three cases of asthma caused by additives in drugs. Lockey’s patients became sick when they were given various pharmaceutical preparations which contained petrochemical products. When they were given pure preparations, without these petrochemical additives, they did not become sick. A 58-year-old woman, for example, with a long history of allergies, had frequent attacks of rash and itching. It was eventually learned that these attacks came within half an hour after she had taken synthetic vitamins and an estrogen, a drug used to counteract the effects of the menopause. The only thing that the two capsules had in common was that they both contained Yellow Dye No. 5, a Food and Drug Administration approved coloring. When this patient washed the dye off the two capsules, she was able to use the pills without trouble.

Another patient, a 53-year-old man, took one teaspoonful of elixir of Phenobarbital. This brought on an attack of itching, hives, and swelling around the mouth. The drug preparation was colored with the now-banned Red Dye No. 2. In fact, any drug or food containing this dye brought on the same symptoms. The man was able, however, to take sodium phenobarbital tablets without trouble, since the pill form of the drug did not contain any dye.’

These are not isolated cases. In my first study of this topic in 1952, I found that over fifty percent of chemically susceptible patients reacted to aspirin and that, in a slightly different group, fifty percent reacted to sulfonamide. This was before the extent of the chemical-susceptibility problem had been worked out and, in particular, before the natural-gas problem was realized to exist. Most chemically susceptible patients are susceptible to synthetic drugs and, in general, the more advanced and long-standing the problem, the greater the number of drugs which are related to such problems.

Although it is best to obtain vitamins from fresh organic food, it should be noted that chemically susceptible patients who take supplements generally react worse to synthetically derived vitamins than to those of natural origin. This is so despite the fact that the two substances seem to have identical chemical structures. Vitamins prepared from food sources may also cause allergic reactions. For instance, Vitamin B1 prepared from wheat often reacts specifically. Vitamin C may cause reactions in some patients allergic to corn, as the synthetic product is made from com sugar.

In sum, reactions to drugs in susceptible people may occur to the active chemical ingredients, their bases, artificial colors, scents, preservatives, or other chemical ingredients or contaminants. In view of the number of such possibilities, involving both synthetic and natural ingredients, it is often difficult to trace reactions to the responsible material or materials. At times, combinations of ingredients and circumstances give rise to reactions.

*27\110\2*

Problems caused by rhinitis

The nose is intimately linked to several other organs and problems here are likely to have effects elsewhere. Because the nose is connected to the middle part of the ear by a tube (the Eustachian tube), perennial rhinitis can affect the ears as well. The Eustachian tube’s function is to drain any fluid from the ear and allow air to get into the ear so that the pressure on either side of the eardrum is equalized. If the tube becomes blocked with mucus from the nose, air can no longer reach the middle ear and the air already there becomes replaced by a thick, sticky secretion produced by the ear itself. This mucus sticks to the delicate bones that play a vital role in our hearing, and thus causes deafness. The condition is known as chronic secretory otitis media (CSOM) or glue ear, and although it may be caused in other ways this is undoubtedly an important one. The problem is particularly common in children.

Children suffering from this problem are likely to complain of popping or itching in the ears, or say that their ears feel ‘blocked up’. The first signs of deafness are sometimes mistaken for disobedience because they fail to do as they are told. In younger children there may be little outward sign of the problem, although some shake their head in a characteristic way or repeatedly scratch at their ears. Deafness may result in the child being slow to begin speaking – often the first indication that anything is wrong. Needless to say, there are a great many other reasons for delayed speech, and it would be a mistake to jump to conclusions on this basis alone.

*48\180\8*

From these results Selye extrapolated that strong, healthy adrenal glands in humans were needed if humans were to cope with the stress of allergies and he was right. When the adrenal glands are tired they produce less adrenal hormones and our resistance to allergies goes down. Significant or prolonged stress tires the adrenal glands.

Doctor Herbert De Vries of UCLA in his book, Physiology of Exercise for Physical Education and Athletics, noted in his experiments with athletes that the human adrenal glands begin to wane after sixteen weeks of stress. He noted that in the short term the adrenal glands respond to stress by increasing in size and producing extra adrenal hormones.

This increase in size and production progressed for eight weeks leveling out at a maximum size and production for a maximum of a further eight weeks. After that adrenal gland size and hormone production fell inexorably and would not increase again unless sufficient rest was taken. Four to five weeks was needed for the adrenal glands to build themselves up to a point where they could respond positively to stress again.

Based on this adrenal rhythm Dr De Vries advised his athletes to rest for four to five weeks after every twelve to fourteen weeks of training. The stressful exercise load of Dr De Vries athletes is no different to the stressful work load, socialising load, emotional load and commitment load that many stressed non-athletes subject themselves to. After ten to twelve weeks of stress the beta endorphins are flowing and, along with what adrenalin there is in the system, are masking the symptoms of adrenal fatigue of which physical fatigue is a significant one.

Despite the contrived feelings of well-being promoted by the beta endorphins adrenal hormone production and resistance to allergies is down. Because many people have minor allergies that under rested conditions don’t manifest, they experience their allergies for the first time when under stress.

*217\18\9*

1. Allergies can target the brain cells as readily as they can target the skin, nose, joint and bronchial cells of the body.

The histamine released into a brain cell during an allergic reaction can significantly disrupt the function of that cell. Some authorities maintain the swelling (localised fluid retention) that accompanies allergic reactions puts undue physical pressure on the cell, slowing down its release of waste products while at the same time reducing the flow of oxygen, water and nutrients into it. Others maintain that the histamine revs up the metabolism of the cell to the point where it fatigues very quickly and that symptoms of brain allergy are symptoms of brain fatigue.

All seem to agree that the brain cells are the most sophisticated of all the body’s cells. They are not unlike the engine of a high performance motor car, very delicate and finely tuned. The more complicated and sophisticated a motor car engine, the more likely it is to break down. In other words, the more parts there are to it, the more there is to go wrong with it—high performance motor cars are more temperamental. If moisture gets into them on a rainy day and they stall at the lights it usually takes a mechanic in a workshop to get them fully operational again. A spray of WD40 will often get a standard car going but not the sophisticated one. In like manner, allergies tend to upset the delicate and finely tuned brain cells more profoundly than they do the less sophisticated body cells.

Because allergies can target different parts of the brain in different people we can get a variance in symptoms. Some people become emotionally disturbed yet remain fully functional intellectually. Some remain emotionally balanced and content yet intellectually impaired. Some become both emotionally and intellectually affected.

2. Vitamin and mineral supplementation improves and increases the body’s ability to make neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that form a bridge between individual brain cells. Over this bridge pass the nerve impulses that are the communication medium of the brain cells. It is the travelling around from brain cell to brain cell of these nerve impulses that allows a group of brain cells to co-ordinate their functions to produce thoughts, feelings, memories, decisions, etc. These neurotransmitters are made from proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and nucleic acids. One neurotransmitter called acetylcholine is made almost entirely from the B vitamin called choline. Nucleic acids are found abundantly in fish which gives some credence to the old wives’ tale that fish is brain food.

On this point it’s interesting to note that in 1929 a survey was done to ascertain why there were a disproportionately high number of Scottish graduates from English universities. The survey concluded that the only major difference between the Scots and English was that the Scots ate more fish and more porridge. This is not as far fetched as it may seem. The cold water fish of Scotland are rich in marine oils that keep cholesterol down as well as the nucleic acids and vitamins and minerals needed to build neurotransmitters. The oats the Scots used for porridge in 1929 were unprocessed. Being rich in oat bran, porridge helped keep the cholesterol down and the blood vessel walls clean, allowing good passage of oxygen and nutrients into the brain cells. Oats are among the most nutritious of all the herbs, being rich in a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals. Oats are herbal calmatives (not to be confused with the full blown, sedative effect of other herbs) and help produce a state of mind that is conducive to study and learning. European and Nordic cultures have for thousands of years used oat straw tea and various tinctures of oat as nerve tonics and anti-depressants.

*199\18\9*

If your sinus, hayfever, stuffy nose or post-nasal drip isn’t responding, you might have a Candida colony in your nose. Just before taking the Nystatin powder, shake the bottle vigorously, unscrew the lid and inhale the smoke. This will help kill Candida in the nose. Don’t do this if you suffer from asthma unless your doctor gives you permission. Have your asthma medication handy just in case inhaling the powder triggers an attack. This is less likely to happen if you inhale gently.

Nystatin is listed by the health authorities as completely safe for pregnant women, as it’s not absorbed. However, if pregnant, check with your doctor before taking Nystatin. Get him or her to assess your particular situation. I have never had any problems with pregnant patients taking Nystatin—but you can never be too sure and it pays to err on the side of caution.

*181\18\9*

• You must have at least 120-240 g (4-8 oz) seafood, twice per week.

• Poultry (skin and other fat peeled off) must be eaten twice per week. Egg and cheese dishes may be substituted for the poultry dishes.

• You may substitute one vegetarian meal a week.

• Egg and cheese may be used in any recipe.

• Green and coloured vegetables must be included with each meal, as must some form of carbohydrate (potato, brown rice, pasta, bread, sweet potato, yams, taro or pumpkin).

• The evening meal must contain salt—sea salt preferably, or iodised table salt if sea salt crystals are not available. A lack of salt in the diet will cause you to continue craving salted junk foods. Active kids have a lot of trouble giving up such things as crisps and Twisties if they are not getting salt in their main meal. It becomes impossible for those kids to stick to the Anti-Candida/Anti-Allergy Program later on. Active kids lose a lot of salt in their perspiration and in their urine if sunburnt. They need to replace this salt to keep their energy up.

• Any herbs or spices that take your fancy may be used.

• Sauces and gravies may be used if your cholesterol levels are normal. However, don’t consume too much sauce or gravy or have very rich sauces too often.

• You may draw your recipes from any ethnic cuisine you like, be it Italian, French, Greek, Russian, English, German, or whatever. In fact it pays to eat a broad spectrum of ethnic cuisines. This way you are assured of eating as wide a variety of foods as possible. By not restricting yourself with the main meal of the day you won’t suffer from that tied down and constrained feeling that so often accompanies diets. This feeling is a stress to many people and the Metabolism-Balancing Program is defeating its purpose if it’s stressing you.

• You may sip one or two glasses of wine or beer with the evening meal most nights. But not if you are a recovering alcoholic, member of AA, pregnant, breastfeeding, hypoglycaemic, have any sort of liver complaint, are diabetic or on any medication that conflicts with alcohol. Have at least three alcohol-free clays per week.

• If you desire a dessert, have only a fresh fruit salad, or stewed fruit—yoghurt, dried fruit, carob powder and desiccated coconut can be added. Absolutely no chocolate or other cocoa derivatives should be consumed. The oxalic acid in cocoa blocks the absorption of minerals from the supplements and foods. If pays to have a small dessert, and to wait thirty to sixty minutes after the main meal before eating it. Eating too much dessert, too soon, dilutes the digestive juices, interfering with the digestion of the main meal.

*163\18\9*

Perhaps the greatest hurdle to overcome is the guilt feelings that accompany resting and recreation. I have found that the best way to deal with these feelings is to take oneself aside, sit oneself down and give oneself a good talking to.

• ‘There’s nothing wrong with taking time out to rest. Rest is constructive. It’s during times of rest that my tired cells and worn out tissues build themselves up and make necessary repairs. It’s during rest that I make new, energetic white blood cells t o replace the old tired ones.’

• ‘Because my body can’t do this while I’m busy and because eight hours’ sleep isn’t enough time to do it in, I have to take time out for recreation.’

• ‘Recreation means exactly what it says, re-creation.’

• ‘By recreating myself in this way I’ll be more productive.’

• ‘I’ll do more in less time, with less mistakes.’

• ‘This will more than offset the rest time I’m taking.’

• ‘I’ll enjoy sitting down after the evening meal with a good book/ to listen to music/to watch TV/to have a pleasant conversation.’

• ‘I won’t waste the evening by doing the ironing, putting on a load of washing, doing paperwork.’

• ‘I’ll hire someone else to do the washing and ironing or I’ll organise the kids to do it.’

• ‘I’ll do the paperwork at work.’

By saying these things often enough for long enough it will start to filter through to your subconscious mind where all our habits are stored. At present, you have bad thinking habits.

*145\18\9*

Allergy and intolerance also respond to different types of treatment, and, perhaps most importantly, to differing ways of managing your diet. It is often possible, for instance, if you are intolerant of a food, to keep it in your diet, provided you do not eat too much of it too often. However, if you are severely allergic to something, you may be unable ever to eat even tiny amounts of it. It can therefore be crucial to know whether you have food allergy or intolerance, especially if you have a very restricted diet and need to take care with its nutritional balance.

Unfortunately, there is no quick nor totally conclusive way of telling whether you have food allergy or intolerance. Skin and laboratory tests for allergy – for the involvement of the immune system – can be inconclusive and misleading, although very helpful if they show positive results that correspond to your pattern of symptoms and history of illness.

Exclusion dieting – leaving out foods and reintroducing them in systematic fashion – is the most reliable method of sorting out what you react to and whether you have allergy or intolerance. Such dieting takes time and patience and can be confusing if you turn out to be sensitive to several foods, but it is really the only way to be sure.

*93\117\8*

Moulds in foods can explain cross-reaction to foods. Following a mould-free diet, and following the advice for eliminating moulds from your environment, may help control reactions.

If you suffer from candidiasis (overgrowth of Candida), you can be allergic to the yeast Candida itself, as well as experiencing symptoms specific to candidiasis. Candida can also cross-react with moulds; following the mould-free diet and elimination programme can sometimes help. The mould-free diet is distinct from the anti-Candida diet which eliminates foods which feed the yeast.

*24\117\8*