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DISEASES which are severely intensified by dietary indiscretion. HIVES AND HYPERACTIVITY SALICYLATES AND HIVES "I'd rather see an elephant walk into my office than a patient with hives." Several million doctors. If you are not completely familiar with the Feingold program then become so. Feingold learned the Mayo Diet from Dr. Lockey. Dr. Stephen Lockey originated the diet which he called the Mayo Clinic Diet. The Mayo diet was based by Lockey on earlier work in Germany where all the interrelationships among the relatives of sulfa drugs were well understood. Several authorities have claimed that the Feingold diet has been 'disproved'. What has been disproved is that when you make the Feingold exclusions for all ADHD children it doesn't help all ADHD children. But saying the diet doesn't work is like taking all children off chicken, and then saying "see, chicken exclusion doesn't help". Of course, it doesn't help if your child isn't sensitive to it. If your child is sensitive to salicylates, the Feingold diet (which is the Mayo diet) will be very helpful to the child. If you suffer from hives and no one has ever given you this diet, then you will be grateful indeed. You have to determine if the individual is sensitive to salicylates. If the child is sensitive to salicylates then their hyperactivity will abate if they don't eat any salicylates. The hive patient won't get hives. Individuals who suffer from hives (urticaria) must follow this diet closely. Do not eat:
Do not eat artificially flavored foods and drinks, particularly not those which contain FD&C Dye No. 5 (Tartrazine). Do not take any medicines containing aspirin such as Bufferin, Anacin, Excedrine, Alka-Seltzer, Empirin, Darvon and all medicines containing salicylates like Pepto Bismol. Tell every doctor you consult that you are allergic to all sulfa drugs, and drugs with Tartrazine and Salicylates. BE VERY WARY OF NSAID medications, like MOTRIN etc. STOP USING PERFUMES which are highly chemicalized. Check all labels. SOME GENERALLY USEFUL INFO REGARDING ASPIRIN AND ITS RELATIVES Modern dyes, chemically known as azo dyes, are related to the natrual salicylates. These natural substances include the willow bark that American Natives used for treating headache and other pains, and to dye their clothing. In 1939 researchers discovered that an azo dye, Prontosil, would kill bacteria. Prontosil became the first sulfa drug, so called because the chemical companies figured people would rather be treated with a drug than with a dye. It hadn't bothered the Indians but generally Indians are more sensible than European white people. Today, allergies to sulfa drugs and to aspirin are widely attested. German physicians documented so many allergic reactions to dyes in the early part of this century that today fewer than 20 chemical substances are approved for use in European food chemistry. Americans use more than 50,000 chemicals in their food. Lucky Americans! In the 1950s Stephen Lockey, M.D., pioneered work in the United States with the diseases caused by food and drug additives. He documented allergies to food dyes and to the chemicals related to salicylates, to aspirin and to sulfa drugs. He found that hives (urticaria) and MANY OTHER SYMPTOMS were common reactions to salicylates. Many medicines contain dyes for no seeming good purpose except to be visually distinctive. Mycostatin, for example is purple with a bright yellow inside made with Tartrazine which is a malignant dye . You can't even see the yellow unless you break the pill. Be aware that when you are allergic, chemicals, even in your medicine, can be devastating to your well-being. I just consulted with an old friend whose wife reacted to Aleve (a relative of aspirin) with anaphylactic shock and came within a micrometer of dying. No previous history of allergy. HIPPOCRATES, the medical magazine, had a very interesting article on Yellow #6, Sunset Yellow (more an orange color, like sunset), in the May/June 1991 edition. A doctor had been made sick by his doctor, neither one of them realized that the medicine had #6 in it, nor that he was hypersensitive. Beware! Many odd symptoms can be caused by these chemicals, and your doctor often doesn't know enough to suspect the dyes in the medicine's he is prescribing.
GOUT AND PURINES PROBABLY the most painful disorder which is closely and quickly associated with diet is gout, the severely painful, crippling arthritic pain, which when unchecked leads to damage to the kidneys and death. Indication, depression, unexplained pain syndromes, gouty arthritis, ADHD.
When I was a kid I always thought I had weak ankles, I was always having a sour soreness in one of my ankles, and sometimes some slight inflammation. "Oh, you've turned your ankle again", was the adult explanation. Well as I entered my thirties I was discovered to have high blood pressure and was put on medications which included diuretics. I also developed severe pain in my ankles. "Phlebitis" said my internist who gave me injections of Decadron when I was in real trouble and had to give a speech . Wow! Decadron worked like magic. Of course, artificial steroids have a high price, but I went along with this regimen for years. Finally, I went to a podiatrist. "Gout" says he. " Well, my internist is ......", said I, and the podiatrist asked me if he was to treat me or an MD who was 1000 miles away. Ok! The pain, by now, was truly breathtaking. At the next episode I took the little white pills, one an hour, and about midnight I said "You know that guy doesn't know any more than any of the rest" and I went to the kitchen and fetched back a jug of tequila. Fortunately, I had waited a full 9 hours and shortly before I began to dive into the jug of tequila I remarked, "Hey, it doesn't hurt any more." I assure you that the pain was such that I had resolved on a career of alcoholism rather than to tolerate that pain any more. Well, at the time I was living near a medical college and took advantage of their library. The typical case of gout took 7 years to diagnose! Gosh, my internist was no dumber than the rest of them. The typical case of gout is accompanied by angry depression. My, my, I had a reason for me grumpiness! Grumpy or even shy little boys who wet the bed may be purine sensitive so keep them away from uric acid. Gout is entirely manageable by diet. Don't eat purines. THE GOUT DIET may help your grumpy hyperactive child. Principle: To supply foods which are low in their content of purines, high in calories and moderately low in fat. The protein in this diet is to be derived from foods which contain little or no purine. Note, if you aren't sensitive, purines are wonderful proteins, and diets which in fact are somethat anti-aging, and which lead to a youthful appearance are high in purines. If you have heart disease, and DON'T HAVE GOUT or its prodrome then eat the diet which gout patients cannot eat. It is as if there had to be proof that Satan has his ugly fingers in everything. If you have heart disease and gout you are really in a bind. The food which is good for your gout is bad for your heart, and the food which gives you gout is good for your heart. Arghhh! It is OK to eat these foods (if you aren't sensitive to them separately); Milk, egg, fruit, most vegetables, cheese, enriched bread and cereal, butter, olive oil (no other oils) and other foods which are not prohibited. Restrict: asparagus, cauliflower, lentils, beans, peas, spinach, mushrooms, oatmeal, whole wheat bread and whole grain cereals. Meats, fish and seafood (except those listed below) may be eaten once a day. Distilled liquors or beer may be taken only in moderation; ie., 3 oz of spirits, or 36 oz of beer or 500 ml of wine. DO NOT EAT A SLIGHT DROP OF THE FOLLOWING FOODS: Sweetbreads, kidney, liver, brain, meat extracts or gravies. Essentially no organ meats and no rendered or 'distilled' products of cooking meat. Alas! NO sardines and no anchovies. No means NO! The entire diet should be severely fat limited. The gout diet will help SOME children. There is no diet which is good for everyone. You have to be thoughtful, creative and suspicious. Try hard.
VULVADYNIA and oxalates I personally am very fond of a summer soup made in Slavic and Jewish kitchens, shchaff. It is made from a sour green, sorrel. In Florida we have a plant with a butterfly shaped leaf which grows in many lawns. It is called Cuban or Florida Sorrel. Like all sorrel it is tart to taste because it is loaded with oxalic acid - its scientific name is oxalis intermedialis. It makes a nice tasty summer soup. Well, all of this is very delicious to me, but to one of my patients, this soup is an absolute no-no for she suffers a particularly unpleasant disease, vulvadynia. The medical name for the female sexual organ is the vulva and the medical name for burning slashing pain is dynia. In fact, pain is measure in dynes. If you have vulvadynia you have slashing, burning, cutting pain of the sexual organ. Ouch! Well, what is this doing in the middle of an essay about depression and other problems including hyperactive and attention deficited little boys. Well, wouldn't you know it, the devil was never so stingy as to make one bad thing do only one bad thing. Its a good idea to put your ADD child and especially your ADHD child on an oxalate free diet for a couple of weeks, and see what happens. FOODS TO AVOID IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO OXALIC ACID
THESE FOODS ARE NOT HIGH IN OXALIC ACID BUT HAVE A BAD REPUTATION AMONG SUFFERERS OF VULVADYNIA
TESTING There is no simple straightforward test for sensitivities to these foods. They simply occur in histories of unusual cases more often than other foods. There are half a dozen good reasons for any one of the foods to cause problems. Eliminate and then challenge with a big serving and see what happens. Elimination and challenge is also the best, if not the only way to discover foods to which you are allergic. I advise my clients to eliminate the food for a week. Give a little bit of the food on Friday evening, then if the evidence of reaction hasn't appeared give a big amount of the food on Saturday. Observe and write down. Unfortunately, combinations of foods may cause problems when the food alone does not. Isn't that a horror? ULCERATIVE COLITIS and IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME DIET Once again I am going to give you good advice for an adult with a well defined painful disfunction or disease. Parents of kids who have problems must keep a high index of suspicion about the fact that your child's grumpiness, hyperactivity, distraction, depression or other symptoms may be because he (less likely, she) suffers a disorder which will not bloom into its adult form until he is an adult. However, you may find great benefit from following the same rules for the child as if he had this adult disorder. This happy outcome, of course, is much more likely if your child, right now, has a lot of stomach complaints. I myself suffered endless GI complaints until, some time in my 30s, I stopped drinking milk. It may be a wonderful healthy food, but for some of us it is a dreary cause of discomfort, sleepiness, brain fag, and irritable guts. Try a milk free, dairy free diet for your child if your child has any chronic condition at all. If you have a painful gut, and a history of watery stools, sudden onset diarrhea, bowel discomfort, or if a doctor has told you that you have ulcerative colitis, or just colitis, or irritable bowel syndrome, if you get the grippes. Then you may have a sensitivity to sugars. Parents whose ancestors came from rural Switzerland probably don't need to read about this diet. Many Europeans have the right genes to manufacture lactase which digests milk sugars, and certain fruit sugars quite well. So those with African genes, unless they are Masai (herders and milk drinkers), probably need to read with close attention. Of course, Europeans don't digest fruits as well as Africans. It could happen to you, even if you are Heidi or from The Swiss Family Robinson right out of the books. How could a Swiss family be named be Robinson? Some sugars are poorly digested. These unassimilated sugars ferment and produce gas, diarrhea, irritation, bloating and pain as well as the grippes. These sugars are fructose, lactose, mannitol and sorbitol. Don't eat them. DO NOT EAT THE FOLLOWING FOODS: LACTOSE is a natural sugar in milk. No milk, no chocolate milk, no ice cream, nothing with whey or casein. Butter and cheese are permitted - the lactose has been removed. Cottage cheese and yogurt have had most of the lactose removed but be careful. READ ALL LABELS. FRUCTOSE is a natural sugar in fruits and corn syrup. No orange juice, no sweet fruits, no oranges, no apples, no pears, no grapes, no bananas, no pineapple, no melons, no sweet fruits. No honey. Nothing sweetened with corn syrup. No corn sweeteners. READ ALL LABELS. SORBITOL AND MANNITOL: No "sugarless" chewing gum, "diabetic candy", "sugarless" toothpaste or breath mints. Processed meats may contain sorbitol. READ ALL LABELS. NO WHEAT BRAN. NO CHILI POWDER, NO PEPPER, AND NO HOT SPICES OF ANY KIND. This list of exclusions was prepared by De Lamar Gibbons, M.D., Director of the Academy of Health (a Medical School for Patients) at the SHOSHONE MEDICAL ARTS CENTER, 204 Oregon, Kellog, Idaho 83837, 208-783-1252. Good health depends on paying attention, reading labels, and following instructions to the letter. After you have been clear of these sugars or other chemicals, a very little bit can cause a very big amount of symptoms.
BE THOUGHTFUL, BE CAREFUL, BE CHEERFUL, BE WELL. George von Hilsheimer, Ph.D., F.R.S.H., Fellow, International College of Applied Nutrition (1969), Associate Fellow, Academy of Environmental Medicine (1969) |
