BRAIN ALLERGIES

This is taken from the website http://www.alternativementalhealth.com-sometimes you find a great article but just do not have time to read the whole thing so here is some highlights/condensed version. Read the whole article at the web address above. Anything italicized or underlines will be my thoughts.



Janet was diagnosed with manic depression at the age of 15. At times she would become completely hyperactive and manic, and at other times become completely depressed. She was put on three drugs - Lithium, Tegretol and Zirtek. These helped control the severity of her manic phases, but she was still frequently depressed and anxious. Two years later she consulted a nutrition counselor who found she was deficient in many nutrients, especially zinc, and allergic to wheat. As soon as her nutrient deficiencies were corrected and she stopped eating wheat her health rapidly improved. She was able to stop all medication and, provided she stays off wheat, no longer gets depressed. She is now doing her final degree exams and continues to feel good and achieve well. However, if she has any wheat, even inadvertently in a sauce, she becomes depressed, confused, forgetful and anxious for 3 to 4 days. Her manic phases, however, have never returned.

This is the same with me, not the manic or the drugs part. If I eat wheat or other allergic foods the symptoms linger for 3-4 days. I have got to the point to where I say "what did I eat I don't feel like me". 

The idea that food affects the mind is an alien concept to many people. But since the brain is perhaps the most delicate organ of the body, using sometimes as much as 30% of all the energy we derive from food, this should be no surprise. Allergies to food can upset levels of hormones and other key chemicals in the brain, resulting in symptoms ranging from depression to schizophrenia.

The knowledge that allergy to foods and chemicals can adversely affect moods and behaviour in susceptible individuals has been known for a very long time. Early reports, as well as current research, have found that allergies can affect any system of the body, including the central nervous system. They can cause a diversity of symptoms including fatigue, slowed thought processes, irritability, agitation, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, hyperactivity and varied learning disabilities. Food intolerance, lack of absorption of food and relief with fasting are three key pointers to the food-allergic patient. These patients usually have a low blood histamine, a fast pulse and food idiosyncrasies which may be expressed as strong likes and dislikes. Favourite foods are often the offending foods so the patients is like an addict, eating the offending food to obtain a psychiatric high.

While food dyes or additives may cause symptoms, the most commonly implicated types of food are milk, wheat, egg, beef, corn, cane sugar and chocolate.(Cane sugar, wheat and corn are all from the grass family. Cows and chickens are fed dried processed gmo corn. Unlike grass fed cows that are eating the whole fresh plant)  A similar syndrome in adults has been called simply 'cerebral allergy'. The allergy often appears in a masked form, in which the individual actually feels better after ingesting a favourite food. However, in a variable number of hours a severe let-down occurs and the patient experiences symptoms which may be diffuse and non-specific and often include headache, depression, nasal stuffiness and sleepiness.

Adults are also affected by food and/or chemical allergy. When Dr. Philpott, a US allergy expert, examined 250 emotionally disturbed patients for a possible presence of food/chemical allergies, using elimination and challenge diet, he found that the highest percentage of symptoms seemed to occur in patients diagnosed as psychotic [x]. For example, out of 53 patients diagnosed as schizophrenic, 64% reacted adversely to wheat, 50% to cow's milk, 75% to tobacco and 30% to petrochemical hydrocarbons. The emotional symptoms caused by allergic intolerance ranged from mild central nervous system symptoms such as dizziness, blurred vision, anxiety, depression, tension, hyperactivity and speech difficulties to gross psychotic symptoms. At the same time, the individuals also experienced various adverse physical symptoms such as headaches, feeling of unsteadiness, weakness, palpitations and muscle aches and pains.

Patients suffering from anxiety, depression, confusion or difficulty in concentration were tested, using a placebo controlled trial, as to whether individual food allergies could really produce mental symptoms in these individuals. The results showed that allergies alone, not placebos, were able to produce the following symptoms: severe depression, nervousness, feeling of anger without a particular object, loss of motivation and severe mental blankness. The foods/chemicals which produced most severe mental reactions were wheat, milk, cane sugar, tobacco smoke and eggs.


Several vitamins are noted for their effectiveness in reducing allergic symptoms. Vitamins C and B6 are probably the most effective. Dr. William Philpott has used both of these vitamins intravenously to turn off allergic symptoms provoked by testing for allergies. the patient on adequate vitamin C will have fewer allergic symptoms. B6 should be given to the point of nightly dream recall and the minerals calcium and potassium should be in plentiful supply in the diet. Zinc and manganese are also needed by the allergic patient. Elimination of the offending foods may be needed for several months. For multiple food allergies, in which this approach would severely limit the diet, a four-day rotation diet in which each food is eaten only once every four days should be tried. 

Allergic patients may react adversely when exposed to food dyes, aspirin, foods with salicylates, food additives, food preservatives, and the insecticides used to reduce spoilage of food. Organic food eating is therefore recommended and carefully chosen vendors become most important. Was insecticide used? Were crops sprayed? Was a preservative added? The members of one allergic family were literally driven from their home in Connecticut when the government officials decided to spray the whole landscape to kill the gypsy moths. Air deodorants and perfumes may also be offenders. In air travel one can smell the surge of deodorant wafting through the cabin at regular intervals, to the dismay and discomfort of those allergic to petrochemicals.

Our Deadly Bread

Hidden sensitivity to one's daily bread may well be the cause of compulsive and ritualistic behaviour, impaired speech development and mood and behaviour changes. Not everyone can digest wheat, rye and other cereal grains. This condition is known as 'coeliac disease', and secondary symptoms may result. In coeliac disease, food may go through the gut undigested. Recent studies have indicated that coeliac disease may be responsible for many cases of 'schizophrenia'. Evidence is accumulating which links various psychiatric disturbances with malabsorption caused by cereal grains, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that for many individuals, daily bread is much less than a blessing.

One of the earliest observations of the relationship between cereal grains and schizophrenia was reported by Dr. Lauretta Bender in 1953. (61 yrs ago!)