Hello.
I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I am improving, finally after 15 years. That occurred in 1984 when I got the Asian Flu, and later had Mono three times. I have always had bad allergies. As a baby, I was given Antibiotics often.
I suffer with SINUSITUS and different types of hives.
The regular ones occur and itch.
The bad ones turn to blisters.
I have found the culprits. (MY CULPRITS!) The sinusitis starts with my diet. I eat YEAST. I love Vinegar which is the base of Ketchup, Mustard, Mayo, Terriyaki, BBQ and other sauces. I eat them, I get stuffed up, in minutes, I get itchy nose and face, and later sometimes I get itchy hives.
I love bread, which is bakers Yeast, and that causes the same effect, but the next day. Then I eat sugary stuff, and that feeds the yeasts that are alive in my system and the problem already started increases.
If there is pollen, and I am already flaring from the allergy to yeast, I get full hay-fever.
Now to address the blistery painful hives, that if left untreated become giant wheals that go over 3 inches in diameter! They are red and ugly and painful. I have discovered they are caused by any form, and any tiny amount of HYDROGENATED OIL. Whether they process natural oil or not, if they add HYDROGEN, and I eat it..... HIVES!
I can no longer eat in any restaurant without talking to the manager, to find out what I can eat. If they lie..... HIVES! It happens within an hour, and continues to get worse. HYDROCORTISONE CREAM must be put on each hive immediately, if I want it to go away within a day or so. If I let it fester, I will suffer for weeks with it. These hives or blistery things hurt. Even tiny.
Now, Denny's, IHOP, BRENT's and most restaurants are still using HYDROGENATED or PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OIL on the grill, and in the deep fryers! ASK THE MANAGERS! TELL THEM YOU ARE ALLERGIC! That word strikes fear in them. They don't want you dying in their restaurant!!!
It is also in all NON-DAIRY CREAMERS, MARGARINES, SOME CANDY'S, MANY CHOCOLATES, many bread and pastries, and CRISCO!!!! YOU MUST READ LABELS!!!!! PLUS if it says "Zero TransFat", that means NOTHING! IT IS A LIE!! The government is allowing less than .5 per gram to be labelled as ZERO! That means you eat 10grams and get FIVE GRAMS of HYDROGENATED OIL! (If my math is correct!) If your hives are caused by HYDROGENATED OIL you have to check for the content of everything you eat!
MacDonald's, Burger King, and the rest all use this oil in the fryers. MacDonald's say they don't use it on the grill for the burgers, so you can test that one yourself! I have been able to eat the burgers and salads. Watch for fried foods. If they are using plain Canola oil-- no problem! Plain "any" oil, Lard, Butter... no problem!....As far as allergy to Hydrogenated oil anyhow.
"Smart Balance" makes a pastry-worthy shortening from FRAGMENTED OIL, which is the same process without adding the HYDROGEN. I do not get hives from this product. Good for pie crust. I use half butter, half Smart Balance.
I take a homeopathic product for "CANDIDA", but it seems to work with ALL YEAST for me, it is called AQUA FLORA. That reverses the sinusitus fairly quickly. I use it a few days and stop. It costs! I also use Colloidal Silver. It works as well, also costly.
I tried the YEAST FREE DIET. They say it is really easy to follow,
"IF IT TASTES GOOD---SPIT IT OUT!"
It worked. I lost 20 pounds, I looked immaciated! I was always tired! ...And was always depressed! Not my idea of a solution! You can cut back on the bad foods, but you still need grains and meat and vegies!
So, I now know what causes MY allergic reactions. I can be cautious, and eat less of what I enjoy, and feel better, or live with the runny, stuffed nose, the weepy eye (just one?), the sinus headaches, and the rest. But not the blistery painful hives! That I had to cut out those processed and junk foods. But plenty of Junk food remains without Hydrogenated Oil!!!! Plus Trader Joe's and Whole foods are carrying more and more items.
READ ALL LABELS EVEN AT HEALTH STORES!!!!
I take a few over the counter products when needed, but try to stay HOLISTIC whenever possible.
I hope I have helped some of you. For the rest, I hope and pray you find your culprits! For every hive, there is a cause. Drugs only treat symptoms... not the cause. You can try to log everything you eat, every day, and see if there is something or things.... that seems to coincide with your flare ups. Some red flag. Then cut that out for a while and see if there is a change. Yeasts are in a lot of foods. Vinegar, fermented alcohol and bakers yeasts are the most concentrated. Many soups have YEAST EXTRACT! If you boil the soups over 10 minutes (add extra water) it will kill off the yeast. Most people are not allergic to dead yeast, just the live. One of the byproduct is ethanol, which forms in your body. So you may have sensitivity to any alcohols too. (If you are like me I get drunk on one glass of wine!)
We can't always control our environment, but filtered water, and air filters knock out some culprits. Natural foods, no artificial sweeteners help also. I even changed out all my fillings to get rid of metals. So you can't control everything, but you can control what you put in your mouth.
I work on building up my immune system, and alleviating some of the causes of the allergy. Most drugs mask the symptoms and cause side effects that actually weaken the immune system, so beware. Doctors are quick to seek a "FIX" that doesn't solve the problem, but prolong it. If you can find a holistic practitioner, or MD who also works with alternative methods, you will have the best of doctors.
If anyone is interested in a larger list of my HOLISTIC expenses and products, Email me.
To quote Al Gore..... It is a "Question of BALANCE!" ;-)
SugarSugar723(at)yahoo.com
Candy
Post Edited (Sugarx2) : 6/16/2007 4:45:19 PM (GMT-6)