For example, he is given precise instructions on how to take his own pulse—5 minutes before, and 20, 40, and 60 minutes after the end of each meal. The pulse must be taken for a full minute, and the patient cannot be active or even go to the bathroom immediately before taking it. Any form of physical activity will invalidate the results.

The patient must be disciplined enough not to leave the unit for several weeks nor to eat any substance other than what is ordered for him by the doctor. He also must not smoke at any time while under treatment.

Most of all, the patient must cooperate in learning. There is a great deal to learn: new concepts, many of them quite at variance with conventional wisdom on nutrition and health. This is not an easy task for many patients who come to the hospital in a confused or even a bewildered state. They have been sick, often for years, and have usually been through a gamut of unsuccessful medical experiences. Suddenly, they are confronted by concepts and techniques which seem alien to everything that went before.

Unless the patient has some intellectual curiosity, then, it is difficult for him to get the most out of this program. Some patients are so befuddled by their disease that they find it too much of a challenge. Most patients, however, are eager to try something truly different—an alternative approach to their problems.

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Distinguishing between these two distinct types of food reaction is important to researchers, seeking to understand food allergy and establish its prevalence. As far as the patient is concerned, the distinction is less important, because the consequences and treatment are much the same. In most cases avoidance will be necessary. If drugs are used they will be ones that prevent mast cells from degranulating or counteract the effect of the mediators – in either case, it does not matter how the mast cells are being triggered.

It is possible, however, that those with false food allergy have some underlying deficiency that may make them more susceptible. It has been found that 50 per cent of patients with false food allergy are deficient in the element magnesium. A shortage of magnesium is known to affect histamine release and increase sensitivity to histamine. A nutritional assessment might be advisable for anyone known to have false food allergy.

Surprisingly enough, it is possible to ‘grow out of false food allergy. Children who have such a reaction to a particular food sometimes lose it, usually by the time they are eight years old. Exactly why this should happen is far from clear. There could be a change in the structure of the tissues that surround the mast cells in the gut, making them less accessible to food molecules.

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At one visit, Mrs D. yet again voiced her anxiety about the harm that the intrauterine device was doing to her insides. The doctor decided to take the bull by the horns and told her about the way she made her feel and wondered if this reflected the way she was feeling. Mrs D. then began talking about her mother who made her feel that having babies was a normal, natural thing to do and that they should not be prevented. However, she also knew that her mother had found it very difficult to look after all her children (though this was usually blamed on their father). Admitting all this made her feel she was being critical of her mother and she hated doing it. The doctor said she did not have to be like or unlike her mother, she could be herself. They agreed that it was obvious that she loved her children but knew she did not have endless patience or energy, and that what could be managed with four children could not be with 14. This seemed to free her in some way and there were no further complaints with the coil.

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Homeopathy works on the principle of treating like with like. Specific symptoms are seen as the manifestation of the body’s own natural striving to rid itself of disorders – be they infections, viruses, genetic disorders, emotional stress or whatever. The remedies which are given are based on substances which, in a healthy person, replicate the ill person’s symptoms – as if the remedy is giving a nudge to the healing system of the body, helping it to throw off and shed the stresses upon it.

Remedies are chosen either for specific symptoms or as a constitutional remedy which fits the person’s temperament, constitution and nature. The constitutional remedy works at a much deeper level, often more slowly, sometimes clearing symptoms and unresolved ill-health which has been with the individual for a long time.

If you consult a homeopath, he or she may give you a specific remedy for your pressing symptoms, and/or a constitutional remedy. The substances on which the remedies are based are natural or mineral substances, such as plants or naturally occuring chemicals. They are given at minute, almost unidentifiable dilutions. Scientific tests have shown that traces of the dilutions can be detected as electrical charges, but not by chemicarmeans.

You can become worse when you first take a remedy, as the body clears old symptoms, especially if you take a constitutional remedy. But improvement can come rapidly – most people can expect benefits within months, although if you have many problems, it can take longer.

Homeopathic treatment for pollen allergy can be very effective. This is done either with a remedy based on a pollen mixture, or on a remedy to relieve specific symptoms. Therapy is most effective if started in advance of the pollen season.

If you are extremely sensitive to foods or chemicals, you may need to take care in how you take a remedy. Most are tableted with lactose or sugar. You can have remedies dispensed in distilled water and this may be a better way to take them. Distilled water remedies are also better for giving to children or babies – they can be given as drops under the tongue.

If you are very sensitive, you may also react to the remedy itself, even if it is the right one for you. Try it at different dilutions to find a dilution which does not upset you. This should then work well.

preservatives and do not suit the very sensitive. Tinctures are usually based on purified water and are often well tolerated.8

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Earlier types of antihistamine, such as Piriton, cause drowsiness as a side effect and cannot be combined with alcohol. Other more modern drugs, such as Triludan, do not cause drowsiness.

Some people find that the effectiveness of anti-histamines wears off after a while. There are six separate classes of anti-histamine from different chemical groups and it can often work to try a drug from another class if one drug has ceased to be effective. A drug that has lost its effectiveness often regains it if you take another one for a while and then return to it.

Anti-histamines can be taken in tablets or syrups. Syrups are available without colouring and with the minimum of sugars for highly sensitive children (or indeed adults). Anti-histamines are also available as creams to apply to the skin, but you can become sensitive to preservatives and other substances in the cream, and their use is best kept to the absolute essential.

The anti-histamine drugs which have a sedative effect can be very useful if you have a child who is distressed by itchy skin or hives at night, in helping them to sleep through the discomfort.

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Water companies are also legally obliged to supply you, free of charge, with a drinking water quality report – an analysis of substances your water contains. These analyses are not complete, however. They only check for a limited range of chemicals. Ask for this, together with a list of the maximum permitted levels of substances under the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulation, if you want to know something of what is in your water and whether the levels of selected chemicals are high or low.

Bottled Water

Some people who are sensitive to tapwater use bottled water as an alternative, but bottled waters are not always free of problems. Bottled waters are drawn from groundwater sources – springs or boreholes -and some of these can be polluted with chemicals from the environment. If you are exceptionally sensitive, these will trouble you. Some bottled waters are consistently better tolerated than others.

Bottled waters have a higher bacteria count than tapwater which has been disinfected. If you use them for babies, or for children or adults vulnerable to infection, you should boil them for five minutes before using, and keep refrigerated once boiled and cooled.

Mineral waters have high alkali salt contents. If you are on a low-sodium diet, you should take medical advice before using them. Spring waters do not generally have high salt levels.

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If you think you are sensitive to your partner’s semen or mucus, use a condom for sexual intercourse to protect against direct contact. Use Durex Allergy condoms as above if you are sensitive to latex and spermicide. To be extra careful, do not touch sexual organs with hands, and wash hands, body and face thoroughly after intercourse. See if things improve.

It is very rare to be sensitive to someone else’s saliva or skin. If you think you are, make sure your partner has been absolutely scrupulous about using no toiletries, cosmetics, perfumes, etc., on skin, and that you both are using low hazard laundry agents. Use no toothpaste, mouthwash, home medicine or anything else that might pass from the mouth. Check whether you react to tapwater.

If you do react to skin, the parts that are most commonly affected are the mouth, face, neck and upper body. Bathe these parts (or others if they require it) in either a solution of alkali salts, or in Cream of Magnesia before and after sexual contact. Bathe your partner as well to help protect you.

One last thing that you can try to help you tolerate a partner’s semen, mucus, saliva, or skin, is for her or him to avoid foods to which you react. If you are very highly sensitive to a food, you may just be reacting to minute traces of it in your partner’s body fluids and skin. This is only likely to be the case if you are exceptionally allergic or sensitive. A tiny number of people find that it can help them if their sexual partner avoids the foods that upset them particularly badly. It can be worth trying if nothing else helps you.

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Fine silk liner gloves are available by post from Orvis, Patra, Sander and Kay and Survival Aids. These are finer than cotton gloves and are useful if you are allergic to cotton. Some makes have a synthetic cuff but you can turn this up so that it does not touch your skin.

If your hands are irritated when doing washing-up, it can help to use tepid rather than hot water, as well as to wear gloves. Also try using a low-allergen washing-up liquid in case inhaling fragrances or other chemicals upsets you.

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Step one

Most people find that the core of their diet, around which the rest is organised, are the proteins, milks, and grains and starches. Start with these, using the headings of the chart in Table 6 if you like, and allocate the proteins, milks and grains that you tolerate to the number of days that you want for your rotation.

Observe the food families unless you know that you have no tendency to cross-react. Allocate related foods either all to the same day, or keep them at least two days apart.

Step two

The next step for most people is to allocate other carbohydrate-rich and filling foods to balance up days on which there is not adequate proteins, grains or milk. Foods which are important here are potato, sweet potato, parsnip, swede, turnip, soya, lentils, nuts and seeds, mushrooms, avocado, and vegetable grains such as buckwheat, sago and tapioca, if these are not already allocated. Follow the food families.

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Metals can cause allergy, but do not cause sensitivity. Some chemicals are extremely simple in their chemical structure, as well as being inert, and again do not cause reactions – for instance, sodium chloride (ordinary salt), sodium bicarbonate, Borax and washing soda. Additives in table salt sometimes cause reactions, but pure sodium chloride dcas not.

There are three prime characteristics of those chemicals that commonly cause reactions. One category includes chemicals that are highly toxic at high levels of exposure, such as chlorine, ammonia and benzene. The second category is chemicals with complex structures, which appear more prone to cause reactions than other chemicals, for instance, complex hydrocarbons, such as organic solvents or many fragrances. Thirdly, and most important, are chemicals that release vapour or are more volatile so that they are readily inhaled or absorbed into the system.

It is worth emphasising that natural chemicals can be as troublesome as synthetic chemicals. Some natural chemicals (especially those that are volatile, give off fumes and have complex structures) can be very troublesome. These include natural plant oils and fragrances, such as menthol, lavender oil, oil of wintergreen, oil from orange or lemon peel; resins such as natural turpentine or rosin; terpenes such as grass sap; and other natural vegetable and plant products such as latex, acetic acid (vinegar), Balsam of Peru (a flavouring and perfuming agent), pyrethrum and derris (used as pesticides in organic gardening).

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