First, it is well known that chemical products can make the immune response stronger.  As a matter of fact, they actually put aluminum in Gardasil, (the vaccination recommended for all pre-adolescent children to prevent the virus that is associated with cervical cancer) as an “adjuvant” to make the immune response stronger, and create more antibodies to the virus.

How does that apply to corn?  First, corn has been a known allergen for a long time.  It follows logically that having traces of extracting chemicals on processed corn products may then increase the power of corn to cause allergic reactions.  This is even more of a possibility as we eat more of the processed corn products.  And they are everywhere!  There is corn syrup, cornstarch, and corn sugars in a huge percentage of manufactured foods.  Why?  Briefly, the food industry has overproduced corn, and turned it from a commodity that can go bad and lose money (corn itself) into “shelf stable” commodities that last more or less forever (corn syrup, sugars and starch.)  And, overproduction leads to overconsumption.  The industry has to find something to do with all those corn products, so they go into our foods–cereals, bread products, snack foods–the list is endless.

How to avoid the chemicalized corn?  That’s the “simple solution” part.  Cut way back on processed foods, or stop eating them completely.  Notice I said simple, not easy.  Manufactured corn products have been injected into so many foods, they can be challenging to avoid completely.  If you have seen the documentary King Corn, you will remember the scene in the grocery store which had a whole aisle of cereals, crackers, and other packaged foods, tall shelves on both sides, and they discovered that every single item on those shelves contained processed corn products.  If you haven’t seen the film, it is well worth seeing.

If it is too big a challenge to avoid processed foods completely, you can cut way down.  Make sure your bread has no corn products.  Look at the labels on dressings and sauces, or make your own; and eat mostly fresh fish, chicken, meats, and fruits and vegetables.  Avoid sodas and fruit juices.  You’ll most likely lose some weight too!  More about that next time.

These little filter have three ways of getting nasty stuff out of the air:  HEPA, (for dust and other particles) charcoal (for fumes) and UV light.  Some of them have an ozone generator as well.  You have to be careful with an ozone generator, but it can be very useful, especially for mold.  You need to be careful using the ozone feature, and make sure that there are no plants, people or animals in the room when you are running the ozone.  Then, you air out the ozonated air, and run the HEPA/charcoal filter when you are in the room.

Another advantage of this filter is that its entire HEPA/charcoal insert is easily replaceable.  This is especially helpful if you are using it for a moldy space, because you have no worries of mold growing in the unit after you are finished using it there.  All you need to do is pull the whole insert out, discard it, and put in a new one.   This costs about $24, but that is a small price to pay for being sure that you will not contaminate with mold any other space where you use the filter.

Happy traveling.

Using these every two to four hours during allergy season can also tame other allergy symptoms like sneezing and sinus congestion.

More about other homeopathic allergy remedies in a day or two…

If you start sneezing around this time of year, try these tips.

1. Keep your windows closed and your air conditioning on.  Be sure the filters are clean.  It’s tempting to want to open the windows on those first cool, sunny fall days, but pollen will get into your house and recirculate in your indoor air.  You need your home to be a place where you can get a break from your allergies.
2. If you know you have fall allergies, start your antihistamines now.  There are several types that can be bought over the counter and don’t make most people sleepy.  If you wait until you have been stuffed up and sneezing for a few days, it will take longer to get your immune system to calm down.
3. Eat a non-inflammatory diet–that is, high quality proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables, and only small amounts of rice or potatoes.  Try a fruit smoothie for breakfast, a salad with fish or chicken for lunch, and grilled fish, chicken or turkey, vegetables and salad for dinner.  I love turkey burger with thin sliced tomato, wrapped with lettuce or a rice tortilla along with a big salad  You won’t be hungry, and you will feel better! Packaged and canned foods, starches, flours, food additives and dyes all add to inflammation and more allergy symptoms.  Who knows?  With a diet full of fresh food, you may hardly notice your fall allergies at all!

“Louisiana Warns of Ameba Infections Linked to Improper Neti Pot Use

Two people in Louisiana have died this year from primary amebic meningoencephalitis [a severe brain infection caused by ameba] after using tap water to irrigate their sinuses with neti pots, prompting the state’s health department to remind consumers to use only distilled, sterile, or boiled water in neti pots.

To avoid infections caused by Naegleria fowleri, the CDC also recommends thoroughly rinsing neti pots after each use and letting the devices air dry completely.”

And I would add the following: rather than simply rinsing the neti pot, I would wash it with hot, soapy water, rinse, and air dry, in the same way that you would wash dishes.

My patients said that all too quickly the doctors had stopped looking for causes and started focusing on different combinations of drugs to suppress the reactions.  They got tired from Benadryl, were up at night, gaining weight, and feeling “crazy” from oral Prednisone.  Most of them felt that after a very short time topical steroid creams were not effective.

With a very careful, detailed medical history, and comprehensive testing for allergies, we began to look for the causes of the hives.  One was blue clothing dye, another was nickel, but most were foods or food additives.  Among the many allergenic foods, the most common, and the “sneakiest” cause of hives was processed corn products.  These are especially hard to find because very often people who do not react when they eat plain, unprocessed corn, do react when they eat products that contain corn starch, corn syrup, or corn sugars–dextrose, maltodextrin, sorbitol (there is sorbitol in most toothpastes–see below!) and erythritol–there are too many to name here.

I believe there are two reasons for that:

• First,  more and more processed corn products have been injected into the marketplace.  For any of you who saw the documentary King Corn, there is a scene where the filmmakers show a supermarket aisle.  They have examined all of the products on both sides of the long aisle, and there is not one that does not contain corn.
• Second, the processed corn contains traces of all the chemical extractives that were used to process it.  These chemicals function as haptens, or adjuvants which in immunologic terms means substances that increase the allergenic properties of another substance.  So corn, which is already a common allergen, is made even more allergenic by processing.

It turns out that the patient with the increasingly severe reactions in her mouth was allergic to processed corn, and was reacting to the corn sugar sorbitol, in her toothpaste.

Everyone else was also allergic to corn, and some were allergic to dairy or eggs or gluten as well.  Some of them had been scratch tested for food allergies as well, and came up negative–I believe that this was because the processed form of the corn products was not tested.

The most severe allergic reaction to processed corn we have encountered was to the corn sugar in the IV solution known as D5W–which contains 5 grams of dextrose (corn sugar) for each 100 ml of water.  This man was dying in the intensive care unit, had been given D5W despite being told that he was allergic to corn, and recovered very quickly when his IV was changed to plain saline (salt water.)

The other source of corn products in addition to foods is body products.  It is amazing how many of them now contain corn starch, syrup or sugars.

Although not everyone is equally vulnerable to reactions from processed corn, it is in so many forms, in so many products that it is all too easy to get an overdose of it, day after day, and to be sensitized to it as an allergen.

Bottom line:  eat as many whole foods as possible, and avoid processed foods that contain corn starch, corn sugars and corn syrup, and that have labels a mile long, and that contain words like “hydrolyzed vegetable protein”  ”autolyzed yeast extract” “dough conditioners” “artificial coloring and flavoring,” etc.  Also, avoid artificial sugars like aspartame and saccharin, food additives like MSG and sulfites, and food dyes.  And watch out for too many processed corn products and other chemicals in your soaps, lotions, shampoos, cosmetics, and other body products.  You will be amazed at how much better you feel and how much energy you have!

What does that mean for us on the other side of the world?  If anything we are in even more danger from reactions to clothing because almost all the clothing we wear (unless it’s undyed, organic cotton) has anti-wrinkle agents, dyes, and in the case of children’s clothing, fire retardant.

Reactions can vary from hives to rashes to a “scalded” appearing redness on the skin.  I have also had patients who have systemic reactions that include pain, swelling and fatigue.   If you suspect you are reacting to an article of clothing, stop wearing it for a week, and then do a “challenge.”  If your symptoms go away during the week that it was sidelined, and come back when you put it on again, you can be pretty sure that it is the culprit.  If you are still reacting, you may need to get tested for reactions to formaldehyde, dyes, p-phenylenediamine, and other tongue-twisting, skin irritating chemicals.  Make sure you see an allergist that is familiar with testing for chemicals and dyes.

Obviously, we can’t all switch suddenly to wearing white caftans made of organic cotton.  However, here are some things you can do:

• Use plain white cotton socks for sports and athletic activities
• Use lighter colored clothing against the skin, rather than clothing with heavy red, black or blue dyes
• If possible, get cotton or khaki pants (especially for children) that are not treated for wrinkle resistance and just take them out of the dryer right away, or have them pressed
• Be sure your children’s clothing does not contain fire retardant chemicals
• Avoid underwear with exposed latex elastic
• Avoid clothing that has tight bands, or rubs and irritates your skin

1. Mangosteen   OK, maybe you haven’t even heard of this one.  It’s a fruit, strong in antioxidants.  It was touted as a cure for practically everything for a relatively short time and then eclipsed by acai berries.  But recent research on mangosteen reveals that it actually inhibits two big allergy mechanisms:  IgE mediated mast cell relase of histamines (the process that makes your nose swell and run when you are allergic to cats and get a face full of cat hair).   The second mechanism that mangosteen helps to halt is prostaglandin synthesis.  Prostaglandins are “messengers” in the body, made of essential fatty acids, that cause fever, pain and swelling as a protective response in when there is tissue damage.  This response can be helpful, but in the case of allergies, it goes “over the top.”   Mangosteen can calm down both of these allergy responses–the histamines, the prostaglandins, and all the swelling, sneezing, and mucus that goes with them.  I like Ultra Mangosteen made by Trace Minerals Research.  The recommended amount is an ounce a day.  If I’m making a smoothie, I throw it in there, otherwise I just measure out an ounce (two tablespoons) and toss it off.  You know I’m not going to admit glugging it from the bottle!
2. Vitamin C   Yes, good old Vitamin C.  Linus Pauling did all that great research on it back in the day, and it always seems to me that no one has really paid adequate attention to it.  There have also been numerous attempts to discredit it.  Linus Pauling discovered three things.  First, we do not make our own Vitamin C.  Second, the average person needs 1500 to 2500 milligrams of Vitamin C a day for optimal immune and tissue repair function.  Third, you only absorb about 500 milligrams of Vitamin C at a time, but it goes out of your body in 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Bottom line, take at least 500 milligrams, with 6-8 ounces of water, three times a day.  You can add more, if you suspect you are one of those people that needs more like 2500 milligrams a day.  If you do, just take 500 milligrams 5 times a day instead of 3 times a day.  Take it to what Linus Pauling called “bowel tolerance”.  If you develop loose bowels, cut back 500 milligrams.

I’ll take on Quercetin, Bromelain and Butterbur in the next blog.  In the meantime, you can get up to speed on the Mangosteen and Vitamin  C.

We tested him for reactions to foods, additives, dyes, chemicals and the “usual suspects” like trees, grass, dust and molds.  He was highly reactive to all dairy products, and to gluten.  His two highest reactions were to cheese–and wouldn’t you know it, that has been his “go-to” snack for a long time.  So he is on his way home to get rid of all the dairy (cheese, milk, cream, ice cream, etc.) and gluten (bread, other baked goods, pasta, breading, “food starch”, etc.) from his diet.  OK, no cheeseburgers, but how about steak, roast, chicken or fish with a big salad or grilled veggies and a baked potato?  Doesn’t sound too bad.

But then, the question is, why wasn’t he getting headaches all along?  That’s one of the characteristics of delayed-type allergies.  It’s not that your throat closes up and you go to the ER.  It’s a long, smoldering, irritating, inflammatory process that happens in your body over time, and can “cross the line” all of a sudden into a new symptom.  Remember, our friend with the headaches had already had some allergies, and some evidence of swelling in his head (the sleep apnea.)  And he had eaten more than the usual amount of wheat and dairy in the three holiday weeks beginning with Thanksgiving.

What happens when delayed-type allergies give you headaches is this:  your body makes antibodies to the food you are reacting to, and the combination of the food and the antibody makes an irritating “antigen-antibody complex” that can cause inflammation anywhere in your body and cause:

• headaches
• chronic sinus congestion
• joint and muscle pain
• fibromyalgia
• “irritable bowel syndrome”
• ADD
• asthma
• eczema or psoriasis

The symptoms are different with each individual, and even though the allergen is food, the main symptoms may not be digestive.  We have had people whose main symptoms are as unusual as insomnia, or dry and swollen eyes.

If you have chronic inflammation or pain, and suspect that foods might be a “player” be sure to get tested.  We have had 9 years of experience with a non-invasive and highly accurate form of biometric testing that is computer based.  Other centers may use ELISA testing, which requires a blood test.   Getting away from the foods that cause these chronic health problems has fabulous rewards.  I just got a call from a young man who had psoriasis (those big, round, scaly looking skin sores that make everyone wonder if it’s contagious, and want to avoid you) whose skin completely cleared up on his allergen free diet.  He said “You’ve changed my life, and you’ve changed my children’s lives.”  What a happy ending!!  And he’s bringing in an out-of-town relative next month.