In my office, she was found to be highly sensitive to milk. By avoiding milk and dairy products in all of their forms, she was able to control her headache problem and return to school. As time went by, however, it became increasingly difficult for her to avoid all forms of milk. She lived in a college dormitory and ate institutional food. While the regular cook had cooperated with her requests, he was not always there. For example, her vegetables were cooked and set aside before butter was added. A substitute cook, however, did not do this, and Joan unknowingly ate the buttered vegetables. Within an hour, she suddenly fell to the floor in the nurse’s station, overcome by violent head pains. The cause of this reaction was traced, in retrospect, to the seemingly insignificant amount of butter on her vegetables. Such inadvertent exposures to milk were fairly common and most troublesome.

To alleviate the pain, she began to take codeine tablets, until she became addicted to them. She also became dependent on other pain-killers to which milk sugar was added as a filler. Thus, while these drugs appeared to give relief, they were actually perpetuating her basic problem.

Miss Kowan was so amazingly susceptible to milk that I thought it would be worth recording some of the features of her case for the medical record. She agreed to take an EEG (electroencephalogram) test, which records brain waves, while drinking a minute amount of milk.

To make the test “blind,” she was given two drops of milk in a glass of water. This, at least, is what she was told she was receiving. Actually, the first sample she chose contained several drops of an inert antacid, aluminum hydroxide (Amphojel), in a glass of water. The water became slightly cloudy, just as if it had had milk added. She drank this with fear and trembling, since she anticipated one of her characteristic headaches. Nothing happened. She was then given two drops of actual milk in a glass of water, but she was told she was receiving more of the previous substance. This time she rapidly went into agonizing pain. In her writhing, she pulled herself free of the EEG machine, ruining that part of the experiment.

Her case made clear, however, the ability of even small amounts of an incriminated substance to cause severe and chronic headaches.

Miss Kowan eventually managed to get her allergy under control and to graduate. Years later I received a letter from her. She had obtained an excellent position with a large manufacturing concern and had a good work record, with few absences. “Since you saw me last,” she wrote, “I have not faltered in my quest for a new future.”

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Kitchen devices with motors may be another source of indoor air pollution. These time-saving appliances are proliferating, often without a thought being given to their possible drawbacks. If a refrigerator, food processor, electric hand beater, can opener, and air conditioner are all operating in a kitchen, this can represent a considerable source of oil fumes. In addition, it should be noted that such electric motors emit minute amounts of ozone, a rare form of oxygen, which is highly toxic. American and Soviet scientists have found that humans may be endangered by exposure to fifty parts per billion of ozone in the atmosphere. Susceptible persons may be even more likely to incur damage from ozone in a closed environment.

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The patient who understands something about allergies is at less of a disadvantage in such circumstances, and may be able to help the doctor in unravelling the complexities of cause and effect. But it is important to stress that self-help should only be an adjunct to proper medical treatment, never a substitute. Some allergic conditions can be life-threatening, others can deteriorate to the point where they produce irreversible damage to health. No-one should attempt to treat them without medical supervision.

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If you are taking supplementary vitamins and minerals to nourish yourself there should be some left over to neutralise the waste products as they pass through the body. Vitamin C and the B vitamins neutralise the toxins in the urine (turning it yellow) thus protecting the walls of the bladder and the tubes leading to and from it. Vitamin C, E and A are very important for protecting the walls of the bowel against the toxins in faecal matter, particularly the putrefying fats. It is no coincidence that bowel cancer is second only to lung cancer as the major cancer killer. The foods we eat today don’t contain enough vitamins and minerals to nourish us and protect our organs of elimination. For this reason supplementation of these nutrients is imperative.

Although it is intended by nature that, we lose some, vitamins and minerals through the bladder and bowel, some people do lose more than they should, because:

1. There is a lack of minerals in the food they cat or in the supplements they take. Minerals hold vitamins in the body.

2. Lack of exercise causes greater vitamin and mineral loss. (Bedridden hospital patients can lose from their bones up to 300 mg of calcium per day in the urine.) Exercise raises the metabolic rate and puts the tissues of the body to work. Working tissues (especially muscles) require greater amounts of food. Vitamins and minerals are thus retained and used in greater quantities by these working tissues.

The longer you are on a complete vitamin and mineral supplement the less you lose. As your metabolism balances, your metabolic rate increases and your health improves, you use more of the vitamins and minerals you ingest. In time only a small portion is spilling over into the urine and bowel for protection purposes.

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Prolonged stress also causes cortisone and testosterone to be released by the adrenal glands. Cortisone breaks down muscle cells into amino acids releasing cholesterol into the blood. Testosterone affects the metabolism by negating the effect of oestrogen. This can give rise to the growth of body and facial hair in women. Many women experience a thickening of their body hair or growth of a light moustache when under prolonged stress.

It has been demonstrated that tears of happiness are chemically different to tears of sadness. The bile secreted by the liver to help digest fats is normally green in colour yet when we’re depressed it turns black. The word melancholy means literally ‘black bile’.

Feelings of anger, rage and hostility can cause the release of the chemical neurokinin from the end of the sensory nerves into the skin, blood vessels and sub-skin tissues, so disrupting the metabolism in the area of release as to cause significant inflammation. The ruddiness of face seen in those who’re angry and the blush of those who are embarrassed are examples of neurokinin’s ability to change the metabolism of the skin.

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A. Have as much fruit juice as you like—within reason—on the Metabolism-Balancing Program and none if you are on the Anti-Candida Program. Fruit juice carries mould and is too concentrated in natural sugars for the Anti-Candida Program. The commercial brands are OK if you are not allergic to anything in them.

Q. Can I have tea or coffee when I first get up?

A. Yes. After you have had your water.

Q. Should I avoid tea and coffee?

A. Not completely. Only one hour before taking your supplements and three hours after. The acids in tea and coffee block absorption of the minerals. No more than four or five cups of tea or coffee (total) per day. Sometimes mould can grow on tea and coffee if it’s been in storage for too long. If you are not responding to the Anti-Candida Program as you feel you should, go off tea and coffee and observe your response.

Q. What can I drink after dinner?

A. Fruit juice or water if you are on the Metabolism-Balancing Program. Vegetable juice and water only if you are on the Anti-Candida Program. A squeeze of lemon juice may be added to give the water taste. (No lemon if you are amine and salicylate sensitive.)

Q. Is rainwater OK?

A. Yes, if you catch it in a clean pan in the garden. Don’t catch it off the roof. Chemical fall-out from industry and agriculture collects on roofs and runs off in the rainwater.

Q. Are all the commercial mineral waters the same?

A. No, they are not. Some are made from tap water, others are from European Alpine streams (=contaminated by acid snow), and others from European springs. Unfortunately, the European subterranean water table has been polluted by seepage from toxic chemical clumps and is high in nitrates from nitrogen fertiliser run-off. The Australian water table is vast, and for the main part, pristine. Very rarely does it contain any nitrates at all. Drink only those mineral waters from recognised Australian spas. Look for the name of the spa or spring on the label. Nitrates are not only potent allergens, they can cause cancer and will reduce the amount of oxygen carried by the blood. Babies under three months can turn blue from nitrate-containing water.

Q. What type of water filter should I buy? Do I need one?

A. Tap water is so full of chlorine and other chemicals it frequently causes allergic reactions. The only tap filters that work are the expensive ones (they cost around $500, with regular replacement cartridges at about $100). You would be better off getting home-delivered, fresh spring water. I’ve found it gives the best results.

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OPTION 1

A 230 ml (8 oz) glass of vegetable juice, freshly juiced. You may have more than 230 ml if you like. Carrot juice is fine and mixed with celery it’s even better. This is a good drink for kids.

OPTION 2

A cup of black, unsweetened tea or coffee—don’t worry about the taste, you will be used to it in seven to ten days and won’t be able to go back to sweet tea and coffee again. This is a good habit to get into as it helps you keep your weight down. A little lemon juice may be added to the tea. For the six weeks of the program that you are allowed milk you may add a little milk or cream to the tea and coffee. Otherwise a non-dairy coffee whitener may be used, though not if you are allergic to coconut. Non-dairy whitener is made from emulsified coconut oil as is the cream supplied with your coffee on airlines. Read all labels carefully. If any word on it ends in -os, -ose, -one, -ona or -ol it has sugar and is, therefore, prohibited.

Herb teas are permitted if you are not allergic to grasses or pollens. Have only those that are in a bag, not the powdered variety. Cereal coffees are malted and therefore not permissible.

OPTION 3

A glass of mineral water, office- or home-delivered spring water or filtered tap water. The water must be filtered as many Candida sufferers are sensitive to chlorine and other chemicals in tap water. If a water purifier is not available then boil the water for ten minutes in a pot with the lid off to evaporate the chlorine. Boiling for more than ten minutes will solidify fluoride and that will place a strain on the kidneys. Pour the water into a half-filled bottle and shake it well. This will put oxygen back into the water and give it back its taste. Freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice may be added to the water.

OPTION 4

Only if you are hungry or feeling faint.

Brown rice cakes/wafers (the big round ones from the health store) with butter (if you do not have an allergy to milk) or with soya or olive oil brushed on them or one of the nut butters (cashew, almond, hazelnut, but not peanut). Tahini is OK but not the brands that are mixed with honey. Candida Killer sandwich filler/ dip may be used on top if desired.

Or, 60-120 g (2-4 oz) raw nuts and/or sunflower and sesame seeds.

OPTION 5

A sandwich for growing kids if they are hungry. Stay away from the nut butters that have sugar added. Read all labels carefully. Remember: -os, -ose, -one, -ona and -ol.

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Although the cortisone in the commonly used asthma puffers can, in time, damage the lining of the windpipe and lung (telangiectasia again), it must be recognised that these puffers can save lives and should not be discarded without a doctor’s advice. The side effects of cortisone puffers are:

Becotide- the aerosol inhaler can produce Candida yeast infections in the mouth and nose of those who use it for any length of time. This perpetuates the allergy and makes the patient more allergic.

Aldecin- authorities admit there is no data on the long-term effects of Becotide and Aldecin inhalers on lung and gastric tissue. If you are currently using them and intend doing so for any length of time you are unwittingly volunteering to become a guinea pig for their database.

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The benefits of the single-food approach are that you are not excluding many foods at once, so that if there is absolutely no change, or if you feel substantially better straightaway, you know that you have a clear result from this food. If you go the single-food-exclusion route, choose your food and leave it out of your diet totally for a minimum of four days, and preferably for a week. This gives your system time to clear the food. If you are sensitive to that particular food, you may feel worse at first and get withdrawal symptoms, including cravings for that food. As your system clears the food, you should start to feel better and, by the fourth day, you should feel significantly improved if that food is the source of your problems.

If you feel a lot better, you may decide to leave the food out permanently, provided you can find ready substitutes in your diet. If the first food you exclude and test gets no result, then proceed on to another candidate and test that systematically, using the same total exclusion and reintroduction procedures.

There are drawbacks to the single-food approach, however. The first is that it is very difficult totally to exclude the common allergens, such as cow’s milk, eggs, wheat, yeast and corn, from your diet, unless you leave out virtually all processed foods. Cow’s milk products, for instance, are found not just in milk, yogurt, cheese and butter, but also in all sorts of processed foods like biscuits, pies, white sauces, even in pills, home medicines and margarine. You have to leave the food out totally to get results. If you get inconclusive results after testing one of the most common foods, look at the relevant box and check that you have excluded it totally. Retest a food, if necessary, before turning to another food. If you are in fact sensitive to more than one food, you may get only partial improvement in your symptoms on single-food exclusion and it can take a long time for you then to work through other suspects individually. If you suspect multiple sensitivity, you may be better starting off on a more stringent diet.

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• dilating of small blood vessels

• spasm or contraction of smooth muscle

• an increase in secretions, such as mucus

The classic allergic diseases are:

• angio-oedema • hay fever

• asthma • rhinitis

• eczema • urticaria

• dermatitis

Other allergic symptoms are headache or migraine; itchy eyes or conjunctivitis; gut spasm, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Infant colic can sometimes be caused by allergy. Joint pains sometimes accompany other allergic symptoms. Allergy is also among the possible causes of persistent coughs, sinusitis, and of glue ear and chronic infections of the middle ear – resulting from inflammation and swelling of tissues and the collection of mucus.

Anaphylaxsis, sometimes called anaphylactic shock, is the most severe type of allergic reaction, and extremely rare. It is most unlikely ever to happen to you. It is a violent, massive reaction to an allergen -often immediate, and usually in response to something swallowed or injected – a food, a drug or an insect sting. Its symptoms can include urticaria; swelling of the tongue, mouth, throat and breathing passages; nausea, vomiting, gut pain and diarrhoea; a sudden drop in blood pressure. Unconsciousness and even death can follow. Urgent medical attention is required.

The symptoms of allergy overlap to some degree with those of food intolerance and chemical sensitivity. Skin and blood tests can go some way to identifying allergy, but understanding the pattern of your symptoms, and knowing where allergens and other substances causing reactions are found, can often help you better to identify the cause of trouble. The conditions are not mutually exclusive; you can have an allergy as well as having intolerance or sensitivity.

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