Here is what you do. First, keep a journal of what you eat, smell or touch throughout the day that makes you feel sick. After a while you will notice a pattern. Like EM said, it is usually a food you crave.

Lets go for wheat first (since that was what caused my sinus problems) Do not eat anything with wheat in it for 5 days. Read the ingredients! Like the fact that frozen french fries have wheat on them to keep them from sticking. Pasta is also made from wheat. (don't panic, there are subsutites. Spelt bread is close to wheat in taste. And crackers come in rye) On the sixth day, on an empty stomach, eat something wheat (do not put anything else on it like peanutbutter and jelly or salami and definitely not cheese) Within 10 minutes you should start having a reaction of some sort.

In my case, with milk, it started as dizziness and lightheadedness. Followed by problems with concentration, unability to talk...make my thoughts known. The NEXT day I was nasty. I knew I was being nasty but couldn't stop myself.

If you get a real bad headache or a problem that makes you really uncomfortable, you can take a 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda in 8 oz of water. That usually dilutes an allergy problem. Also, record your reaction the next day. Do your sinuses fill full?

If you do react to wheat, all you would need to do is avoid it for a while to let your system clean out. Then rotate (not eat it every day) so your body can clean itself out. Is it a pain? Yes. Does it work? Yes.

I have found that semolina, although it is wheat, doesn't bother me as much. It is used to make pasta and breads. Sometimes whole wheat isn't too bad because it hasn't been processed to death.

After the wheat, do the same with dairy.

PS I live on a little island in the South Pacific that no one can find...

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2003

Answers

If you live on a small south Pacific Island . . . why do you need a truck? :^)(didn't get to weigh in on your earlier thread - way cool truck.)

Thanks for the advice - I've always sort of wondered how someone would start at finding out if some material does not work with their anatomy.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2003

Actually, another, easier way is to find a Chiropractor that pratices Keneseology (sp? for some reason, I can't think of how to spell it right. EM, can you help?) Anyway, you bring in the offending article and the chiro will test you to see if you have a muscle weakness for that product. If so, he will adjust you so that you can tolerate it. In the case of foods, it is sometimes called NAET. It also works really well.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2003

Okay, Dee. I've been off wheat and milk products since I posted. Forget when that was. Funny how sometimes I can get on here and respond to every post and at other times it seems that I just don't have time. Hate that!

Was that off topic? Opps. Anyway, we've also been cutting way back on the fat foods too. Not fanatical about it but we really aren't eating the things that we use to eat. Sure miss the pepperoni or Summer sausage, cheese and cracker snacks. But, I understand that that's not the way to lose weight.

I've made way too many changes too rapidly in the last month but I'm getting through them now. I was really cutting down on smoking but you know what smokers do when they get nervous?

Now, back to what you were saying. I've had a couple of days where I really felt good. Almost clear headed. Thought the meds were finally working. However, this morning after sleeping all night for a change, I woke up clear headed and feeling better than I have in over a month. Hadn't had a chill pill since 10 last night and didn't need one. Sometime after noon, I had a bowl of canned beef stew. Around two, I was plugged up again. Six hours later, I started clearing up again and I haven't done anything that would clear me up.

I'm going to check the label on the can to see what ingredients were in it. Could be one of the additives that's causing it. If I'm clear headed tomorrow, I may eat another can to see if it does it again. Don't know if I want to go through that for another day or not or I may avoid anything with those additives in it until I see if I'm going to be clear headed for a few days. I know that the Monosodiumglutamate in Chinese food gives me a headache so I try to avoid Chinese food. Unless it's offered to me and then it's aspirin time!

In answer to your question, yes, the cavities do fill up. I'm no physics major, but I know that the cavities cannot hold that much stuff because the head isn't that big. You cannot have something inside a larger object that contains more mass than the larger object! Almost screwed up didn't I? I meant volume, not mass. Period. It's the pills!

I figured EM would answer my questions but then I realized that I hadn't sent the message that I wrote! I get e-mail responses from the forum and then I go to the site and click File on the answers to each post, save them in my Document folder and then answer them off line. I just forgot to send the one that I wrote. It was still in my draft folder. Opps, again. I'm making a lot of Opps lately but I blame the medicine. Even after I get off of it, I'm still going to blame it. It's really a neat excuse.

Dee, don't try to throw me off with that small island in the Pacific either. I'm sharper than that! I'm pretty sure you live somewhere that has a pronounceable name and none of those islands have one unless you're a native. I'm checking all the phone books for "Dee" right now and circling them. It's really time consuming because some of the people only use an initial and if one of them is you, then it's going to be harder to find you but, fear not, I will.

I'm with JR, I didn't know how to do it either without fasting and when Sandy told me that that meant that I couldn't eat anything, I deep sixed that idea in a hurry. After fasting, the idea was to eat only one food at a time. I think I'd be way too hungry to follow that plan.

Dee, funny that you should mention the chiropractor. I was thinking about treating myself to an adjustment just the other day. I just found out that we have one in our small town about 20 miles from here and he's suppose to really be good. I haven't had an adjustment in years and right now my back shoulders and neck hurt like hell. When my 6'6" son comes to visit, he has me fold my arms over my chest and he gets behind me, lifts me off the floor and it sounds like firecrackers going off. Notice, "crackers" is in that word? I actually don't crave crackers or bread but they're something that I just eat with certain foods. You know, like peanut butter. It's just not the same on a spoon. Pizza and beer. I don't crave beer but I really like it with Pizza. Like crackers in my soup or stew, etc. Really like bread on my sandwiches. Makes holding the slippery meat, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and Mayo easier. Did I drift again? What was the topic?

Good suggestions so far. Any more? Am I cured?

Wildman, (getting better)

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2003

No, no, no, you stop eating that particular food for 5 days. Not all food. Gee, you'd starve. See if that chiropractor is a Kenesyologist. If he is, you hit pay dirt.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2003

Good for you, Wildman. I hope it all works out well.

I think it's spelled kinesiology. Hey, Dee, I thought Jersey was small island in the English Channel, not the South Pacific? ;-P

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2003

I told ya they hide wheat everywhere! There's almost always flour in canned stews and soups. You must learn to read labels carefully. sometimes it's hidden as : dextrin (which can be made from various grains, but the label only has to state 'dextrin.'),HVP or HPP, modified food starch.

Eating out is hazardous; you must brave and ask lots of questions, and be very specific because most waitpersons seem clueless about wheat allergies, and of course many have no idea that flour is made from wheat! Honest! Avoid 'grills' because the meat will all be cooked on the same surface as the sandwiches are grilled, so the food will be contaminated. White vinegar is usually made from wheat. Use real apple cider vinegar; it's very health-giving anyway. Charcoal briquets contain wheat straw. The adhesive on stamps contains wheat. Drywall paste contains wheat, so stop eating that too. In fact, sanding it may make you feel bad too.

Finding a chiro who knows applied kinesiology is quite unlikely, so like Dee said, iffen you do, consider yourself blessed. I personally don't like the way most chiros operate anywho, but lots of folks like em just fine. My chiro never does any cracking; too violent for whimpy me anyway. She uses a devices that gently taps things into place, and it never hurts or sounds terrible. But you really can teach yourself how to do the kinesiology, which is just muscle testing. It's fun, and a very helpful skill to have.

If you are truly reacting to wheat, you may have to give it up for some time before you can start rotating it, and there is the posibility that you may have to give it up forever. Bren has recently discovered she can now tolerate an occassional piece of spelt bread (spelt is an ancient wheat, now popular in health food circles), but otherwise can have no wheat whatsoever. Her symptoms are totally different than yours though, so you may very well be able to eat it again in rotation.

I'm so proud of you! (unless you're making this all up for sympathy!)

Maybe you should give us Sandy's email address, so we can keep tabs on you.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2003

Hey, corn is worse then wheat in being hidden. Did you know there is corn in milk cartons? They use corn starch to keep the containers from sticking. Then ther is corn syrup to sweeten practacally everything.

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2003

Joy, I was using Afrin once and was really careful with it because the doctor had warned me about it. It was a prescription item at that time. I don't like anything that I can get hooked on so I'm really careful with addictive things.

I used Tur-bi-kal Phenylephrine HCI 0.17%, no rebound effects. Unfortunately it's like $8 a bottle if you could find them. Most places don't carry them but a pharmacist can get them. Now we use the Equate nose drops (Wal-Mart) that has 1% Phenylephrine HCI Less than $2 a bottle. At one time it was $.96 cents then jumped to almost $3 and is now back down to under a dollar.

Like you, I have them with me all the time. I like the drops over the sprays because it usually lets me get rid of some of the mucus.

Right now, I can hear that little guy in my sinus cavities crinkling tin foil. That's a good sign. Means it's breaking up. I hope!!! Still have fluid behind the ears but it's getting better.

Have an follow up appointment Monday. Won't the doctor be surprised when I tell him it's wheat that's causing my problem?

Did you know that doctors use to be told that 90-95% of their patients would get better if they didn't screw them up? That's why they usually give you something innocuous and tell you to come back in a week or two. Makes you think they've done something for you when you actually heal yourself. Not a bad business to be in.

The sinus problem is the only problem I thought I had but I'm also tired all the time. It doesn't matter how much sleep I get, I could go back to bed an hour after I get up. That may disappear now, too. Now that the body has stopped fighting with itself all the time.

That was yesterday. Not feeling as well today. Haven't eaten anything different. Wonder what happened? Did only get 4 hours sleep last night and had a busy day today.

Dee, are you saying I can't eat corn either?

Wildman, (healing slowly)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2003

This is what happens when I type off line and then copy and paste. Sometimes, it gets into the wrong thread!! It's the drugs.

Okay ladies, I know that ya'll have been extremely worried that I might not get to feeling better since going off the wheat and milk products. Especially since I've promised to track you down and threatened you with extreme bodily harm if I gave up my crackers and cheese and it didn't help. Well, I want to take some of the pressure off of you, just a little bit. Don't go getting too comfortable yet because like EM said, I'm kinda set in my ways and a little hard headed so I'm not positive that that was part of the problem. However, all the signs indicate that ya'll might have been right and I might have been wron... grrr. Wrooon....um! You know what I'm trying to say! Anyway, ya'll are pretty gutsy ladies for weighing in on this problem.

As I told you, I had the beef stew the other day and was plugged up within an hour. Six hours later, I was clearing up and eight hours later, I was fine. Fine as I expect to get anyway. For the last two day, I have been clearer than I've ever been. Now, do you really think I want to test the wheat to see if it's what's causing the problem? Not really! I like being able to breath!

Yes, EM, you're absolutely right. The beef stew did contain wheat flour. Right there on the label. In plain English! Thanks for the words that mean "flour" but don't really say "flour". I didn't know about them. Sneaky little devils, fooled me by actually telling me it was there.

I understand that this chiropractor is the old fashion kinda guy and doesn't use a lot of the new machines. My last one is the one that got me started on acupressure. Problem is that he didn't do the whole body so the pain kept coming back. I found a book and practiced on Sandy. She felt great and I've worked on many people in the past who are now pain free. One was told she would have to have a back operation! Never happened because it wasn't needed.

Dee. Of course you can live without eating for 5 days. Just not comfortably. Actually, I understand that after the second day, that it's not that bad. However, I get the munchies too often to fast. I'm afraid you're right, I'd die.

Wildman, (breathing again)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2003

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

The corn was just knowledge of something that is really hard to live without because so much is hidden.

I'm off my island now that it's safe.

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2003

Dee, ya'll were never in any danger. I'm way too lazy to come after you. If you didn't stumble over my gun and shoot yourself, then you were pretty safe.

Wildman, (lying)

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2003