Republicans for Satan. Health News and Information

The subject of nutrition brought to light an interesting discovery. The doctors reported that infantile eczema was fairly prevalent among the affluent families of Nigeria, who live according to European standards, whereas among the natives who have held on to their traditional way of life it was rare or unknown. On the basis of this finding it can be concluded that the incorrect nutrition and living habits associated with our civilisation are contributory factors to the incidence of infantile eczema.

The statement, or rather claim, that infantile eczema is an allergy does not have much support. The search for an allergen or a specific antibody will probably have little success. So why not take advantage of a natural therapy that has proved to be simple and harmless in treating infantile eczema and which, in the end, does not offer just temporary relief but in many cases results in a complete cure?

*74/28/1*

A year later the mother sent us the following brief note: ‘Last year you helped us cure our little girl’s cradle cap. Thank you ever so much.’

Another letter we received from a nurse reads:

‘At the moment I am looking after two children. The boy, now 15 months old, had cradle cap last year. You sent me a calcium complex (Urticalcin), Viola tricolor and whey concentrate. Thanks to your excellent remedies the condition cleared up within a fortnight.’

In this particular case, diluted whey concentrate (Molkosan) was used to dab on the rash. Excellent results have also been achieved by dabbing on Echinaforce, a fresh plant preparation made from Echinacea. Water and soap are quite unsuitable for cradle cap and must be avoided. Instead, use oil, preferably St John’s wort oil, to cleanse the baby’s skin. It is indeed good to know that cradle cap can be successfully treated with these natural remedies, sparing the children permanent harm.

*71/28/1*

There are many ways of tackling or managing stress, and mastering these techniques inevitably pays off by promoting an antidepressant lifestyle. Improving interpersonal skills, for example, is one way of reducing the feeling that others are a constant source of unavoidable and uncontrollable stress. When I first began to supervise research assistants, I would observe that they often seemed harried and anxious. On one occasion, as a result of a shuffling of government personnel, a senior manager was temporarily assigned to me as a research assistant. I delegated several tasks to him and, after the first week of working under my direction, he asked to meet with me. He explained that the number of tasks I had assigned him were more than he was able to manage competently in the course of his working hours. Would I be good enough, he asked, to indicate to him my priorities so that if he was unable to complete all the tasks by the week’s end, only the least important task would remain undone. This research assistant taught me two invaluable lessons: Not only did I learn to become a better manager, to set priorities and be more realistic about what could be accomplished in the time available, but I learned how someone who is subordinate in an organization can politely set limits and manage his or her level of daily stress. If you are feeling under pressure at work, take some time to analyse the situation. Make a list of all the sources of stress and then try to figure out solutions to each of them. It is in the interest of the other parties involved to have these stresses resolved as well. Consider ways of presenting the problem to your boss, co-workers or even those working for you in such a way as to point out how it would be mutually beneficial if the stresses could be alleviated. For example, the final product might be superior, production might be more efficient, or the working environment more conducive to creativity or productivity. All of these goals can be legitimately presented as being in the interests of both workers and management.

Exactly the same principles apply in a marriage or other type of relationship, only more so. In these situations all parties involved usually have major investments at multiple, different levels. For example, in a marriage or relationship it is in both parties’ interests to get along, not only because it is more pleasant to do so, but also for the sake of mutual investments in the form of children and other common goals. Once again sources of stress can be identified and communicated to your partner, and if this is done in the right way the outcome can diminish levels of stress, relieve the tension in the relationship and promote an anti-depressant lifestyle. The key is always to present the situation as a shared issue which it would benefit both individuals to solve together. Let us say, for example, that a husband comes home from work and goes straight to the fridge for a can of lager, ignoring his wife in the process. She is bound to feel neglected, angry and perhaps depressed. At this point she has a choice. She can attack her husband for his callous and brutish behaviour or she can take a more collaborative approach. Attacking him may make her feel better in the short run but is bound to make the problem worse. A collaborative approach may have a better chance of working in the long run. This could involve: (1) empathy – ‘I understand that you are stressed and tired at the end of a hard day’; (2) communication of her feelings – T feel the same way after running after the kids all day’; (3) involving him in solving the problem – ‘Can you think of some way that we can unwind together?’; and (4) demonstration of what’s in it for him to do so – ’so that we can support each other at difficult times and maybe even figure out a way of having some fun in the process.’ Obviously the way in which she chooses to handle the communication is likely to influence the outcome of the evening and either exacerbate or ameliorate her depression.

Part of the skill involved in such communications is picking the right time. A perceptive husband might recognize, for example, that the three days before his wife’s period are not the best time to discuss the large charges they have run up on the credit card. Conversely, an insightful wife learns to discern her husband’s moods and bides her time before discussing with him how she could use more help from him around the house or with the children.

It is also important to recognize that depression frequently causes stress in a relationship. This is of course an additional reason to treat the depression biologically. The partner of the depressed person often feels neglected. Feelings of depression can be contagious and there is a natural tendency to want to avoid a depressed person, which can isolate the person further and deepen the depression. There are some important pointers for the partner or family member of a depressed person to bear in mind. First, don’t take the depression personally. It is not your fault. Frequently the family member feels responsible for the depressed person’s mood, which makes him or her angry since at times nothing seems to cheer the depressed person up and there is a tendency for friends and family members to give up on the depressed person and withdraw. Second, it is not your responsibility to turn the depressed person’s mood around. You can and should be supportive. It is particularly worth trying to help your friend or loved one get appropriate assistance. But you cannot expect to have a direct effect on the other person’s mood. It is too much of a burden to place on yourself and is bound to leave you feeling resentful. Finally, don’t ignore the depressed person and enhance his or her sense of isolation. Do what you can to include the person in activities in a non-demanding way. For example, a husband might suggest going out to a restaurant for dinner with his wife, who may feel cheered up by the food, the setting and the friendly attention. On the other hand, suggesting that it might cheer her up to have guests over is unlikely to have its intended beneficial effect because of the demands this will place on her to perform and be sociable, which might be the last things in the world that she feels like doing.

There is a great deal that a depressed person can do to keep his or her loved one involved even while in a depressed state. Simply acknowledging the depression and its impact can be helpful. For example, a wife is likely to respond favourably to her depressed husband if he says T know I have been down and not much fun lately, but I am trying to turn things around as best I can. Thanks for hanging in there with me.’ The partner of a depressed person becomes starved for any positive feedback and comments such as this are generally greatly appreciated. Even if you are feeling sad and detached, as is often the case when one is depressed, it pays to make a point of expressing appreciation to your friend or loved one for gestures of kindness. It can be also useful to pinpoint specific things that your loved one can do that would make you feel better. This helps him or her to feel useful and counteracts the powerlessness typically experienced by those who surround and care about a depressed person.

So important are interpersonal skills in helping people overcome and avoid depression that an entire type of psychotherapy for depression, called Interpersonal Therapy, has been developed around these principles.

There are many types of stress other than interpersonal difficulties which may confront a depressed person and make matters worse. These include physical illness, financial difficulties and loss of a loved one. For all these different types of situations, help can be obtained from different types of experts, for example a sympathetic and competent doctor, a financial advisor or a religious or spiritual leader. A good doctor should not only provide specific help for symptoms but also comfort and reassurance. I have seen people in serious financial difficulty who have been greatly relieved after turning their affairs over to a debt counsellor or obtaining help and guidance from a financial planner. And innumerable people have been comforted and supported over the centuries by their priests, ministers or rabbis. Of course, caveat emptor applies whenever one turns to any guide or authority figure for help. Ultimately you have to be the judge as to whether a so-called expert is helping you or not. As always, stay tuned to your mood barometer to judge the quality of assistance you are receiving.

*68/75/2*

These are among the most troublesome and mistreated forms of environmental disease. In the following paragraphs, the overall scope of systemic problems related to the withdrawal stage will be surveyed and an overview provided of the complexity of the problem.

HEADACHE (MINUS-TWO REACTION)

The pain may be localized in one part of the head, or it may be generalized. It may occur with or without nausea, vomiting, visual disturbances, or muscle involvement. It can meet the classical picture of migraine, with visions of flashing lights, and a general malaise. It is frequently accompanied by blurring of vision, weakness of the limbs, or pains in the nape, shoulders, and upper back—for this reason headache qualifies as a systemic, not just a local, problem.

Sometimes a headache is followed by a period of relative good health in which no pain is present. This “breathing space” tends to occur in the earlier stages of the problem, however. As it develops, headaches tend to become increasingly common and more severe.

MUSCLE ACHES AND PAINS (MINUS-TWO REACTION)

Both fatigue and headache are commonly associated with myalgia, or muscle pain. The frequency of this association has led some doctors to refer to it as the “tension-fatigue syndrome.” While the term suggests that the syndrome is caused by psychological tension, it is most commonly related to food and chemical susceptibility.

Myalgia, although frequently centered in the nape of the neck, may involve many other muscles. Muscle spasms (such as torticollis, lumbago, and sciatica), muscle cramps, aches, pains and weakness, chest pains (through the involvement of muscles of the chest wall), and abdominal pains are all possible symptoms.

Ignorance of the allergic basis of these pains sometimes leads to incorrect diagnoses of pleurisy, appendicitis, and even heart attacks.

JOINT ACHES AND PAINS (MINUS-TWO REACTIONS)

Arthritis of all types, arthralgia (joint aches), joint swelling, and bursitis all frequently have an allergic basis and can be controlled through altering the environment, as the case histories will make clear.

fatigue (minus-two reaction)

By allergic fatigue is meant tiredness which is unrelieved by the customary, or even an excessive, amount of rest. Fatigue is possibly the most common systemic symptom caused by allergy.* Although there are many variations on this theme, fatigue resulting from food allergy is usually at its worst in the morning and gradually improves as the day advances. This is due to the daily schedule of the food addict. Allergic fatigue is associated with general weakness, drowsiness, and the sensation of heavy limbs. It is also frequently associated with other allergic responses, such as swelling, headache, irritability, and low levels of confusion and depression.

Fatigue caused by exposure to pollen and other inhalants is also known, but is usually seasonal and easier to recognize and control.

brain-fag or impaired thinking ability (minus-three reactions)

“Brain-fag” is a designation for a rather severe, but unfortunately common, condition. This is the minus-three category, and its symptoms are systemic, but predominantly “mental” rather than physical. Such patients suffer from mild depression, with sadness, moodiness, and sullenness; mental confusion and disturbed thinking; impaired memory and reading comprehension; minimal brain dysfunction; indecisiveness; mental lapses, including aphasia and blackouts; and, in general, the whole gamut of “neuroses,” hypochondria, and so-called psychosomatic illnesses.

All of these problems can occur, but more commonly only a few of them are found in a single individual. The condition may get somewhat better for a while, or it may change back to a minus-two reaction (systemic and physical). But the general tendency is for it to linger or to get worse with the passage of time.

In a sense this is the most characteristic form of food and chemical allergy, for it represents the “bottom-of-the-barrel” for a great many advanced cases.

severe depression, with or without altered consciousness (M1NUS-three and minus-four reactions)

Depression straddles the fence between minus-three and minus-four reactions. In its most severe form, the patient experiences stupor, lethargy, and impaired responsiveness. Childish thinking, disorientation, amnesia, paranoid feelings, and even hallucinations may occur. Apathy, lethargy, and stupor are seen. The patient at this extreme level may lapse into a coma.

The minus-four stage also includes the various forms of “psychosis,” including manic-depressive disease and schizophrenia.

Most allergy patients never reach this extreme level of depression. However, once they do, it is difficult to treat them or even to obtain a history. In the latter stages of this kind of illness, a patient often cannot take care of himself and often cannot even give his correct name, much less a coherent history of his illness. The cause of the problem can usually be detected, but a great deal of family support is necessary for complete recovery. Schizophrenics who have become used to, and comfortable with, state welfare support or institutionalized care often make poor patients and may not be properly motivated to get better.

It should be obvious, then, that the scope of environmental disease is great. It includes many of the common chronic ailments which send people to doctors, although of course other causes of these ailments are also possible and should be investigated along with food and chemical susceptibility. It would be impossible in a book such as this to give a more thorough treatment of all of these syndromes. Instead, four common illnesses will be discussed at greater length below. The first is a physical ailment—headache—which is often erroneously diagnosed as psychosomatic in origin. The second is a physical, systemic illness—rheumatoid arthritis. The third is “brain-fag,” the most characteristic form of illness caused by food and chemical allergy. Finally, the most severe form of the problem, depression (which straddles minus-three and minus-four categories), is examined in greater depth.

The case histories in each chapter should add a human aspect to the rather bare bones of theory and show how even the seemingly incurable cases can be properly diagnosed and treated, and how many patients have been enabled to start leading normal lives once more.

*67/110/2*

The surgical treatment of epilepsy is becoming increasingly useful, particularly when the seizures are not controlled by anti-epileptic drugs. However, surgery must only be undertaken after a careful detailed assessment of the patient. This, and the operation, should only be carried out in recognized specialist centres. This is because both the assessment of the patient, and the operation itself involve expert and sophisticated procedures—and clearly surgery is an irreversible treatment.

Surgical treatment depends on two main principles or ideas. The first is that a local abnormal area of brain can be entirely removed, leaving behind only healthy, normal brain. The second is that the spread of the seizure discharge, can be prevented by cutting the nerve fibres which cause the discharge. Penfield and Rasmussen, two Canadian neurosurgeons, were the pioneers of surgery for epilepsy and much of the surgical assessment and treatment of patients today is based on their early work. One of the most important questions that must be answered before surgery can be considered is from where

precisely within the brain do the seizures originate. When the cause is a tumour or cyst, then this is relatively easy, but frequently the cause is an area of brain that developed abnormally in fetal life. The identification of the abnormal part of the brain relies upon magnetic resonance imaging, and the use of special electrodes to try and record or ‘capture’ the epileptic discharge. The scalp electrodes (used in a routine EEG) are not usually sensitive enough for this task, and so other electrodes, called depth electrodes, are frequently used. They are also called ’sphenoidal’ or ‘foramen ovale, electrodes because this describes how they are placed close to the brain. Electrodes may even have to be placed directly on the surface of the brain, or, as fine silver needles, within its substance. Because these special electrodes are in very close contact with the brain, there is a much greater chance that they will pick up the epileptic discharge.

As well as these assessments, people being considered for surgery may also need detailed psychological evaluation, specifically to try and identify which side of the brain is responsible for language and memory, so that these areas are not damaged during the operation. Consideration must also be given to avoid operating in those parts of the brain responsible for movement—it would be unacceptable to stop the seizures at the expense of causing a paralysis on one side of the body (hemiplegia), which might result in losing the ability to walk or write.

Before a patient is considered for surgical treatment of their epilepsy, it must have been shown that the patient’s seizures could not be adequately controlled using anti-epileptic drugs. For how long a patient should not have been controlled is dependent on individual circumstances. It is unwise to operate too early, as the epilepsy might remit (stop) spontaneously, although this is unlikely in the difficult epilepsies. However, if surgery is delayed for too long, then this may limit the potential success of the operation, either because the patient has suffered irreversible educational and social consequences of repeated seizures, or because other parts of the brain which were previously normal may have developed abnormal foci of electrical activity as a result of the continuing activity of the primary focus. Generally speaking most patients with difficult, drug-resistant epilepsy are being considered for surgery too late; surgery can safely be undertaken in children—even young infants. Most specialists would now consider that if acceptable seizure control has not been achieved using optimal doses of anti-epileptic drugs after one to two years, then surgery should be considered as the next step in a patient’s treatment. It has been estimated that many patients in the UK might currently benefit from surgery, but only about 200 operations per year are at present being performed.

There are four types of surgical procedure that are currently undertaken:

• removing a large, identifiable lesion such as a tumour or cyst.

• removing an entire cerebral hemisphere. This is done when the whole of one side of the brain is abnormal, this being associated with a hemiplegia (weakness down one side of the body). The operation sounds dramatic, but is often successful leading to a complete resolution of seizures and, frequently, an improvement in the hemiplegia. Hemispherectomy is particularly useful in children with the Sturge-Weber syndrome.

• removing a small or large lesion which has been identified on the basis of detailed specialized EEG recording and imaging. This procedure is the one frequently used in temporal lobe epilepsy, where different parts and amounts of the temporal lobe are removed. Advances in imaging have led to the identification of subtle structural abnormalities in the temporal lobes, which are responsible for seizures.

• carrying out a disconnection procedure; this is to try and separate the focus (site of abnormal electrical activity) of origin of the seizure from other parts of the brain, by cutting the nerve fibres which allow the epileptic discharge to spread. Operations attempted have included division (cutting) of the corpus callosum. This is a large band of fibres which transmits electrical information from one hemisphere to another. A more sophisticated, technically difficult procedure (called subpial transection) appears to be more successful.

Overall, the results of epilepsy surgery are encouraging, as many as 60-70 per cent of people who have operations for epilepsy have no further seizures, whilst another 10-20 per cent are much improved. Patients undergoing a hemispherectomy or temporal lobectomy do better than patients who have a corpus callosotomy. For some patients who have had to live with uncontrolled seizures for many years, a cure of their epilepsy following surgery may come as something of a ’shock’, requiring a major adjustment in their lives. These patients need careful and expert support and counselling.

It must be emphasized again that patients must be assessed carefully in specialist centres before undergoing surgical treatment of their epilepsy. No one person can have a guarantee that their seizures will stop.

*66/188/2*

Diane Witherspoon was in her early forties and had started having a problem with alcohol when she worked as a stewardess, more than a decade before. Her excessive drinking continued when she got an influential job in politics and became exacerbated when she got married and had a child. Within three days of giving birth, in fact, she got drunk, and, she says, remained intoxicated for most of the next three years.

This period of alcoholism was preceded, during her pregnancy, by a craving for sweets and a weight gain of sixty pounds.

During her three-year period of alcoholism, she drank a fifth of vodka a day. At times she became so nervous that she shook violently. The only way that she could relieve this shaking was to drink more vodka. She could no longer read, since she had “floaters” in the form of dots, threads, beads, and circles drifting across her field of vision. On one occasion, while bathing her child, she was overcome with uncontrollable rage at some meaningless remark and violently beat the youngster.

After living as a virtual recluse, she managed to drag herself to a local church and appeal to the minister for help. He referred her to Alcoholics Anonymous. AA exhorted her to abandon drink.

None of this seemed to help. She still had “cobwebs” in her head, nervousness, fits of anxiety, visual distortions, and “floaters.” And she still had a craving for alcoholic beverages.

Mrs. Witherspoon drank tea compulsively and began to suspect that it was not agreeing with her. She suspected the sugar she added to the tea, and so she eliminated it, with no beneficial effect. She then tried other beverages, such as herb tea and even plain hot water. Everything seemed to make her feel worse. Her psychiatrist predictably accused her of being “neurotic” about food. (It was not until she came to the Ecology Unit that she discovered that she was sensitive to all chlorinated water.)

A perceptive woman, she began to find clues of her food susceptibilities, although she had never heard of clinical ecology. After eating a salami sandwich once, she felt as if she were about to explode from nervousness. She waited a few days and then experimented by trying salami again. Again she experienced a nervous attack. She did this four times.

Having learned about clinical ecology through a lecture, she was admitted to the Ecology Unit. In her initial interview, she cried constantly and was in a state of nervous exhaustion. After a few days of fasting on pure water, however, she was symptom-free and almost euphoric. When she began to test various waters, in sequence, she had a serious reaction to one particular water. It turned out to be from Lake Michigan sources, the same kind she drank at home and out of which she had made her tea.

Upon testing she was found to have some degree of susceptibility to almost every food tested. We call such persons “universal reactors,” and they have a serious problem indeed. On her second morning, she was given pears for breakfast. “My mind closed down,” she later recalled, “and my brain was floating around as if on water. There was no way to lock it into place. I could not talk or converse. I could hear words coming out of peoples’ mouths, but I could not respond.”

Usually, but not always, one reacts most strongly to those foods which one eats regularly, more than once every three days. Pears were not listed among such foods in her history. Upon further inquiry, it turned out that she had had a pear tree in her backyard as a child and had eaten them compulsively and to excess at that time. It is entirely possible that this early, excessive exposure had left her with a fixed allergy to the fruit.

Her most dramatic reaction was to potato. She had finished her first boiled potato and was eating her second when, five minutes or so into the test, she crumpled over in agony. She later said that the pain was the worst she had ever experienced in her life, worse than her difficult childbirth.

When she left the hospital, Mrs. Witherspoon’s prescription was to avoid those foods to which she had the strongest reactions, try to find new, compatible foods, and eventually try to reintroduce some of her “failed” foods back into her diet. In her case, however, all alcoholic beverages were taboo, because she was susceptible to various components of all of them.

To summarize, the treatment of alcoholism by the methods of clinical ecology has been successful in many cases. It even has been possible to permit some alcoholic beverages, in limited amounts, to former alcoholics, provided they only take compatible beverages, in a rotated schedule. Whether this can be done depends on the individual nature of the case.

Alcoholics, like schizophrenics, need a supportive atmosphere in which to recover. If the family unit is still intact, the patient frequently does very well. But an alcoholic who has no family, and who eats in restaurants frequently, has a much smaller chance of making a full recovery through the methods of clinical ecology. The reason is that most American alcoholics are highly corn-sensitive, and there is some form of corn in almost every commercially prepared meal.

In order to go on this program, then, the reformed alcoholic must either make his own meals, according to his individual needs (as determined by food tests), or have someone with the necessary knowledge to prepare them for him. In practice, these needs could best be met inside a functioning family unit. The homeless alcoholic is likely to leave the Ecology Unit in decent shape, go out to eat, and immediately resume his addiction to com, wheat, or whatever was making him sick in the first place. This “up” phase may last an hour or two, as in the case of Mr. Parsons, before he starts to come down and experience a kind of “hangover.” The experienced alcoholic, however, knows very well how to ward off a hangover—and before long he is in a bar, drinking down his dose of corn or wheat in convenient liquid form.

Similarly, an alcoholic who has not worked out his food allergies along the lines indicated in this book has little chance of breaking the addiction for good, since he is constantly being restimulated by contact with the very foods which lie at the basis of his problem. It is as if a heroin addict were given a small amount of his craved substance just as he was trying to get over his addiction. Yet the alcoholic is unaware of the real nature of his craving and takes the wrong substance unintentionally. He is left with a constant craving for alcoholic beverages and must exercise extraordinary willpower to fight off his physiological need.

The safest course for anyone who fears alcoholism is not to drink more often than once every four days and only to drink those beverages (or eat those foods) to which he knows that he is not allergic.

*64/110/2*

This theory was confirmed in the case of Ted Parsons, whom I first saw in 1948. Parsons had been a successful executive, on the way up, associated with a large company in Chicago. After a rapid rise he had become, over a period of years, an alcoholic. He was suspended from his job and actually became a “skid row” type of drunkard.

With his family’s help, he had managed to pull out of this nosedive and had become a founding member of the Alcoholics Anonymous group in his area. But after ten years “on the wagon,” he had begun to backslide. Another interval of alcoholism ensued, followed by a period of abstinence. This time, however, he recovered his sobriety but not his health. When he was not drinking, he suffered from extreme fatigue and almost constant headaches.

In preparing to perform food-ingestion tests with corn and wheat (which from an allergy point of view is virtually identical to barley and malt), he avoided these foods for four days. His fatigue was greatly accentuated for two days as a withdrawal reaction, following which he felt much better. During the test with wheat porridge, he developed progressive nasal obstruction and fatigue, as well as tautness of the nape of his neck and delayed dizziness. Reactions persisted for several days.

Some nasal symptoms and fatigue were still present prior to Parsons’ corn test four days later. The trial ingestion of corn porridge and com sugar was also followed by a progressive increase in fatigue and some staggering upon leaving the office. Fearing that he might head for the nearest bar on the way home, I placed him in a taxi, paid the driver to take him home directly, and called his wife to tell her what I had done. His fatigue increased during the night.

Parsons called me the next morning and commented, “It is funny to have a hangover twenty-one months after having stopped drinking. There is no difference between the fatigue this morning and a bad alcoholic hangover.” He went on to describe how he had to crawl to the bathroom because he was too weak and dizzy to walk, but that his lassitude, dizziness, and uneasiness could be relieved just like that (as if by a snap of the fingers) with a drink.

When he asked, “What is wrong with me?” I explained that he was having a true hangover—not from bourbon, but from corn, its principal ingredient. He had apparently been allergic to wheat (barley malt) and corn, as well as certain other foods, for years without realizing it. His addiction to bourbon had been an attempt to get a high level of cereal grains into his system as rapidly as possible and to maintain that level of stimulation. His more recent headache and fatigue could be explained by the perpetuation of his corn and wheat (barley malt) addictions, but at a much lower, unsatisfactory level, by the use of more slowly absorbed wheat- and corn-containing foods.

By the avoidance of wheat, com, and a few other incriminated foods, Parsons’ headache and fatigue not only subsided, but what is more, his craving for alcohol disappeared.

This craving is, of course, the bane of many ex-alcoholics’ existence. One can, with extraordinary willpower, stop drinking, but it is far harder to conquer the desire to drink. Parsons’ case suggested a possible reason for this. The consumption of other grain-containing foods would perpetuate the underlying problem—food addiction/allergy. Thus, in a sense, the alcoholic is never completely free of his “alcoholism” as long as he is consuming the foods which constitute his addictant.

Parsons, for instance, carried around with him a pocket full of candies containing corn sugar, which he sucked whenever he had the urge to drink. This was, in fact, the standard operating procedure of his Alcoholics Anonymous unit. Through practice, these individuals had found that they could relieve their craving for grain-containing alcoholic beverages by sucking on another rapidly absorbed form of grain. They had, in effect, transferred food addiction in its highest form—alcoholism—to food addiction in a less severe (and from the addict’s point of view, less satisfactory) form, corn sugar addiction. When Parsons realized that he was actually perpetuating his problem by eating this candy, he stopped immediately and avoided all contact with wheat, corn, and related foods which had been implicated.

It was through Parsons that I became acquainted with the members of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Chicago area. In the late 1940s, I carried out a study of forty-four members of this organization. I attended meetings, but instead of participating in discussions (which was forbidden to outsiders, under the organization’s rules), I stayed in the kitchen and interviewed members. Their histories, at least, suggested a strong correlation between alcoholism and susceptibility to the various food components of alcoholic beverages.

What are these food components? It soon became apparent that the study of alcoholism from the point of view of clinical ecology was hampered by the lack of information on the manufacture of liquor. Through much detective work, it was possible to track down the components of various drinks, though some of this information was guarded as trade secrets. Government regulation in this respect was lax, and alcohol was not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration but by the less food-conscious Treasury Department.

Gradually it was possible to put together a comprehensive theory of alcoholism as the apex of food allergy (the term “food addiction” did not come into use until 1952). According to this view, alcoholism is the acme of the food-allergy problem because alcohol is rapidly absorbed all along the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the stomach to the intestines. Food, on the other hand, is mainly absorbed in the intestines, and more slowly at that.

There were four facts about alcohol which did not seem to fit into the theory. Their existence threw doubt on the entire concept. Wanting to obtain pure samples of corn mash whiskey, and other pure items for testing, I called a meeting with the research and technical directors of a major Illinois distillery. 1 presented my theory to them and pointed out the four existing discrepancies:

Why did corn-sensitive patients react to Scotch whiskey? Scotch comes from the British Isles but no corn (maize) grows there.

Why did grape-sensitive patients react to Puerto Rican and Cuban rum but not to Jamaican rum?

Why did corn-sensitive patients also react to apple brandy? The public relations officer of the producer of the brand in question had assured me that no corn went into the manufacture of their product.

Why did corn-sensitive patients react adversely to a popular American brandy but not to French brandy?

The research and technical directors of this distillery had been polite but somewhat skeptical, when I first presented this possible interpretation of alcoholism. But as I explained apparent exceptions to the theory, they became increasingly interested. They not only knew some of the answers but began to fill in some of the holes in the theory themselves.

First, all-malt Scotch whiskey is made of dried, roasted barley or malt, which, from the allergy standpoint, is closely related to wheat, if not virtually identical with it. But blended Scotch whiskey manufactured for export to the United States is blended with cereal-grain whiskey made from corn which is shipped from the United States or Argentina. Thus, persons sensitive to corn could be expected to react to it.

Second, Jamaican rum, like other rums, is made from cane. However, the laws of Jamaica demand that rum manufactured there be bottled on the island, whereas Cuban and Puerto Rican rums are shipped from their home ports to the United States in big hogshead barrels. Most of these were then blended with up to two-and-one-half percent grape brandy before bottling. Hence, grape-sensitive patients could be expected to react to the Cuban and Puerto Rican rums.

The distillery experts were not sure why the patients sensitive to corn reacted to apple brandy, however, and the whole theory was put in doubt when the manufacturer told me that the product did not contain corn. But after testing a few more patients highly sensitive to corn and confirming my earlier impression, I wrote the president of the company manufacturing this brand of apple brandy and suggested that the person answering my earlier inquiry had misled me. In the meantime, I had learned about trade practices in the liquor industry and asked specifically what the source of the caramel was which was used to maintain uniformity of color in the brandy. No one knew, off-hand. But upon corresponding with the manufacturer of this product, they learned that it was made from half corn sugar (dextrose) and half cane sugar.

Fourth, the possible corn content of the popular brand of grape brandy which precipitated reactions in corn-sensitive patients could not be confirmed through correspondence with the manufacturer of the product. But upon visiting their California plant in the early 1950s, I learned that corn sugar was used in its production.

This interpretation of alcoholism has not been widely accepted, either by those responsible for the policies of Alcoholics Anonymous or by those who teach courses on alcoholism. One apparent reason is that many alcoholics were quick to grasp an implication of this theory: namely, that some reformed alcoholics could drink compatible alcoholic beverages as long as they avoided both drinks and foods prepared from those substances to which they were allergic. In other words, a corn-sensitive patient who was a confirmed bourbon alcoholic could drink some wines and rums, provided these alcoholic beverages were free of cereal grains and he was not susceptible to grape, cane, or yeast. The effects of alcohol per se on the body did not seem to be an appreciable cause of alcoholism.

It should be emphasized, however, that the prospect of social drinking of compatible alcoholic beverages is not for all alcoholics. Although such a program may be possible for an alcoholic having a very limited food allergy problem, it cannot be considered if one is yeast-sensitive, because yeast is present in all alcoholic beverages. Also, the person who already has a wide base of food allergy usually also has a tendency to develop new food allergies readily, even though he indulges in a compatible alcoholic beverage in moderate amounts and only once, or at the most, twice, weekly. Not only the foods used in manufacturing an alcoholic beverage but also the foods eaten while drinking must be taken into account, due to the extremely rapid absorption of food-alcohol mixtures. In order to minimize the chance of sensitivity spreading to other items of the diet, all compatible foods—including those entering food-alcohol mixtures—should be used according to the principles of the Rotary Diversified Diet.

The only way to know whether one is actually sensitive to corn, wheat (rye, barley, malt), or other grains, yeast, grape, potato, or other ingredients of alcoholic beverages is to undergo extensive food testing. And only in the presence of a food allergy problem of limited extent (a distinct minority of cases) should social drinking of compatible alcoholic beverages by reformed alcoholics be considered.

In the great bulk of addicted drinkers of alcoholic beverages, abstinence from drinking, according to the Alcoholics Anonymous approach, is still the most highly successful rehabilitation program. However, there are obstacles in the application of this program, because this concept of alcoholism is not widely known.

My interpretation of alcoholism was first published in various medical journals starting in 1950.1,2 This view has also been confirmed by several clinical ecologists, including Richard Mackarness of England and Marshall Mandell of this country.3,4 My list of the food sources entering the manufacturing of alcoholic beverages has been published recently.

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For cleansing the skin it is best to use a mild, super-fatted soap, ‘baby soap’. Remember, the daily use of soap is not absolutely necessary. After bathing the baby a good skin oil should then be applied, but one that does not contain strong essential oils. One of the best is St John’s wort oil with a tiny amount of mandarine, orange or lemon oil added {Bioforce Body Oil).

It is enough to oil the baby’s whole body twice a week. The legs may be oiled every day, using St John’s wort oil. Oiling is always better than powdering, as powder blocks the pores, absorbs the urine and encourages the growth of bacteria. Experience has shown that oiling is the better way and that it also prevents sores. If redness or soreness should appear, rub the skin lightly with a good woolfat cream, either genuine lanolin or Bioforce Cream, which also contains St John’s wort oil.

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The diagnosis of depression has always been – and continues to be – made largely on the basis of a person’s subjective history. Although a skilful clinician will see traces of depression in a person’s face, observe sluggishness or agitation in the body’s movements and hear the slow cadence in the voice, it is the depressed person’s own story that will carry the day in making the diagnosis. A few decades ago there was great optimism that a laboratory test for depression could readily be found. No such luck. For better or worse, in your recollections of how you have been feeling and your accurate take on your present mood you hold the key to determining whether or not you are depressed. What the skilled clinician does is to organize these recollections and evaluate whether or not they meet modern diagnostic criteria for depression.

I remember well, before modern systems of diagnosis had been developed, how the question of diagnosis would be debated in teaching hospitals. A patient would be interviewed and there would be discussion to and fro as to the exact diagnosis. Finally the professor would opine as to whether he (and yes, it was almost always a man) thought that the patient was depressed or not. And his opinion would prevail because he was the boss. Well, clearly that was a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. For clinical, research and, more recently, insurance purposes, it became necessary to define depression.

The latest diagnostic classification system is called DSM-IV, a handbook referred to by insurance companies and others to determine a person’s clinical diagnosis. Each diagnosis is given a specific code number. The diagnosis for many psychiatric conditions, including clinical depression (referred to officially as major depressive disorder), was reached by the so-called Chinese menu approach. In Chinese restaurants, the fixed-price menus permit you to have a certain number of items from Column A, a certain number from Column B and so on. That’s how it is with the DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder, which I have modified and listed below. It is worth checking whether you meet the criteria for major depressive disorder. It is important to remember that these are strict criteria.

DSM-IV Criteria for Major Depressive Disorder

A Five (or more) of the following symptoms have been present for two solid weeks. This is different from your usual functioning. At least one of the symptoms must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, either experienced by yourself or observed by others

markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities, most of the day, nearly every day

significant weight loss when not dieting, or weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day

sleeping too much or too little nearly every day

being agitated or depressed to such a degree that others could notice it – not just internal feelings of restlessness or being slowed down

fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day

feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt nearly every day – more than just feeling guilty because your depression doesn’t enable you to function adequately

decreased ability to think or concentrate, or difficulty making decisions, nearly every day

recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent ideas of suicide or attempting or planning suicide

AND

B These symptoms cause significant distress or impairment in your social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.

AND

C The symptoms are not directly due to the physical effects of medications, drugs or alcohol, nor the result of a medical condition, such as underactive thyroid functioning.

Now, many people who feel quite depressed do not exactly fit into the DSM-IV criteria for major depression. The diagnostic schema allows for these types of depression as well. These include briefer depressions that occur premenstrually (premenstrual dysphoric disorder), milder depressions (minor depressive disorder), and recurrent depressions that can be very severe even though they may last for only a few days at a time (recurrent brief depressive disorder). The good news is that all of these depressions, as well as those that accompany medical conditions or may be associated with drugs and alcohol, may be helped by the same treatments that are helpful for major depression.

One diagnosis, which has its own code in DSM-IV, is dysthymic disorder, a milder form of depression that causes a great deal of misery because of its chronic nature. I have modified the DSM-IV criteria for dysthymic disorder and have listed these below.

DSM-IV Criteria for Dysthymic Disorder

A depressed mood for most of the day, for more days than not, either experienced by yourself or observed by others, for at least two years

AND

B presence, while depressed, of two or more of the following:

poor appetite or overeating

insomnia or sleeping too much

fatigue or low energy

low self-esteem

poor concentration or difficulty making decisions

feelings of hopelessness

AND

C during the two-year period, you have never been without the symptoms in A or B for more than two months at a time AND

D the symptoms are not due to the direct physical effects of medications, drugs or alcohol or to a general medical condition, such as underactive thyroid functioning.

As you read through the criteria, it will become obvious that they are somewhat arbitrary. What if you were free of symptoms for two-and-a-half months? Does that mean that you are not dysthymic or wouldn’t benefit from treatment? Although systematic diagnostic schemas have been useful for standardizing diagnoses for research and other purposes, the seasoned clinician and the clued-up patient should realize that diagnosis is not a precise science and not get too hung up on whether someone exactly meets the criteria or not before deciding on whether and how to treat.

It is clear that when we are dealing with depression in all its forms, we are dealing with a continuum, with happy normal mood at the one end and serious depression at the other and all sorts of gradations in between. The same treatments that help the more severe forms of depression will generally also help the milder forms and vice versa. The most important determinants of whether or not you seek and receive treatment are therefore how bad you feel and whether you are willing to reach out for help.

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There are many other alternative therapies that can help in certain situations and these are described in this chapter. But first, let’s consider why sufferers may turn away from what can be called the ‘mainstream’ therapies to try others, whose record although good, has less documented evidence to back up their efficacy.

Many forms of back problems, including sciatica, while chronic, do tend to come and go, waxing and waning in intensity with there often being little obvious reason why suddenly there is a worsening or improvement in the condition. While the correct treatment, coupled with sensible lifestyle adjustments and the taking of proper precautions will usually bring great relief from any acute attack of back trouble, this does not necessarily mean that any underlying condition has been cured permanently. As most back pain sufferers will testify, once you have had the problem you’re always going to be particularly susceptible of it happening again.

Because people with back problems don’t always get all the help they would hope for from conventional medicine, it’s not surprising that many of them eventually turn to practitioners of alternative medicine. There are many reasons why this should happen, but these are the main ones, according to a recent survey: Patients often feel that their family doctors do not treat them with the seriousness that they feel their symptoms deserve. In fact, once the possibility of any dangerous underlying condition has been eliminated, doctors can be somewhat dismissive of what they consider to be ‘minor’ back problems, saying, more or less, that it’s up to the patient to take the recommended steps to avoid the symptoms. Many of these recommendations are, however, sometimes a whole lot easier to offer than to follow, and a patient may well feel that his doctor has ‘abandoned’ him after offering the minimum advice.

While specific attacks of sciatica or other symptoms of back trouble occur because of a direct cause at the time, there is nevertheless often little obvious reason why the problem should be so much worse during one period of time than another. As we’ve already discussed previously, this ‘waxing and waning’ can be at times directly attributed to greater or lesser stress. Conventional Western medicine is by no means always terribly successful in dealing with ongoing and changing personal problems that exacerbate physical problems, leaving sufferers to wonder whether they might fare better with other therapies. Busy family doctors, especially in today’s over-worked National Health Service, tend to look primarily at physical causes, and patients may feel that a better overall solution to their problems may be found by alternative practitioners because they usually focus their attention on what they call the ‘whole person’, and not just the particular complaint being presented. Another prevalent reason for seeking alternative help is because the patient may be desperate for improvement. When this doesn’t seem to be forthcoming from conventional medicine, despite his having tried all it had to offer, he will then quite reasonably also look elsewhere for help.

Some patients also turn to alternative medicine, especially to those disciplines that preach ‘mind over matter’, for help in complying with some of the health recommendations they have

received from their doctor. For example, a patient may find it easier to lose weight when supported in his attempt by some alternative therapies, especially those that concentrate on developing the power of self-suggestion.

Other reasons why alternative or complementary practitioners can help include:

The mere fact of consulting an alternative practitioner can in itself make a patient treat more seriously the recommendations he receives that way. It’s a fact that when you have to pay for advice, you tend to listen to it more carefully than when it comes free. The additional motivation this effect can produce may at times be enough to allow a patient to do all that’s needed to bring about an improvement, such as taking the right kind of exercises, losing weight, and so on.

One more important reason why alternative therapy may at times be more successful than conventional medicine is that many of the techniques commonly used by alternative practitioners are specifically devised to increase a patient’s confidence in himself and his own ability to take the necessary steps to bring his condition under control, or to, at least, be less affected by the symptoms when they occur.

While there’s a great deal to be said in favour of alternative medicine, it must be pointed out that patients would always be well-advised in being extremely cautious in deciding whether to follow this course and, if so, how to go about it. These tips will guide you:

Before seeking help from other sources you should always see your own doctor first to ensure a proper diagnosis is made initially. This is absolutely vital, if only so that other possibly more serious reasons for your symptoms can be safely excluded. It might also be useful to ask your doctor whether he believes that one or another form of alternative medicine could help you; not all doctors have closed minds about the possible benefits of alternative approaches to treatment.

Should you decide on a course of alternative therapy, you should immediately consult your doctor once again if any new symptoms were to develop or if your existing ones were to become more severe or frequent while you were being treated by someone else. What’s more, it’s also a good idea to check out with your doctor the safety aspects of any alternative treatments you’re offered. As far as choosing a specific therapist is concerned, do make sure

that it’s a properly-trained and reputable one. These suggestions will

help you do just that:

Make sure that the alternative practitioner of your choice is a fully accredited member of a professional body whose standing is generally recognised.

While medical doctors usually aren’t keen to recommend alternative practitioners, it’s quite possible that your family doctor may be willing to do exactly that, but you may perhaps have to read somewhat between the lines of what you’re told. The positive contribution that alternative practitioners can make in some instances has received wider acceptance from mainstream medicine in recent years.

Personal recommendations from people whose judgement you trust are another excellent guide.

Which particular alternative therapy might be worth a try is largely a matter of individual choice, each and every one of them having their ardent supporters. Here to help you make your choice are brief details of the main ones most likely to be able to help with sciatica or other back problems.

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