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Some people with multiple food sensitivity find that ‘neutralisation therapy’ – a form of desensitisation – can help them eat foods to which they react. For some people, it works very well. For others, it is less successful and still usually needs to be combined with a rotation diet. High doses of vitamins and minerals can also be of benefit.

If you are very short of money on a special diet, then use cheap, filling foods that you tolerate as much as possible. Use potato, sweet potato and unusual grains, such as buckwheat, if you can, and beans and pulses for cheap protein. Fish can also be good value if you tolerate it.

Severe reactions to a food can be relieved by a dose of alkali salts.

It is common for people with a tendency to multiple food allergy and intolerance to develop new sensitivities, especially when run down and already reacting severely to other foods or other allergens. These are often temporary intolerances and disappear with managing your diet, but they can be demoralising and confusing. You may suddenly find you react to something you thought relatively safe. Be warned that reactions like this sometimes occur during exclusion dieting. The way to cope with them is, again, to manage your diet. In particular, it is a good idea not to binge on or eat any food in excess, as this seems to pre-dis-pose to sensitivity. If you leave a food out, for instance, do not binge to compensate on its substitute or on other foods. Eating a varied diet in moderation is the best policy to keep new food sensitivities at bay. It is often very difficult on a vegetarian diet to eat a sufficiently varied range of foods.You are also much less likely to react to foods that you have eaten seldom, infrequently or never. This is why, if you have even just a few food sensitivities, you are often advised to eat unusual foods and to make your diet as wide and as varied as you can. This helps the body to maintain its level of tolerance.

Some people cross-react to foods which are closely related. A rotation diet is usually planned to avoid problems of this kind.

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Comments (0) Mar 30 2009

If you are chemically sensitive, it is important to know where your specific troublemakers are found so that you can try and avoid them. Often you start out like a detective, when you first learn that you are chemically sensitive, trying to track down the contents of every product or item that you use, to find those you can tolerate.

The process soon becomes overwhelming. Take a look at Table 5, which gives information about chemicals that commonly cause allergy and sensitivity – formaldehyde, chlorine, ammonia and rosin. Formaldehyde, also called formalin, has many, many uses. It is used as a preservative in cosmetics, cleaning products and pharmaceuticals; as a coating, it confers wet strength and grease resistance, so it is used extensively in paper production and as a fabric finish. It is used as an adhesive resin in all kinds of manufacture, and as a protective treatment on some building materials. It gasses off from some types of plastic foams, melamine sheeting, from computer plastics and some car interiors. In short, you find it almost everywhere in modern life. However, not every kind of cosmetic or cleaning product, nor every type of product named, contains formaldehyde, but how would you know, and what if you are also sensitive to other chemicals that may or may not be contained in things that also contain formaldehyde?

Chlorine, ammonia and rosin are also other common troublemakers. Each of these chemicals is potentially found where other potentially aggressive chemicals are also found – in household cleaners, cosmetics, toiletries, paper, fabric finishes and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, these chemicals are not necessarily found in all products in any category – not all soaps contain rosin, not all toothpastes contain ammonia – but soon you realise that you begin to feel quietly (or not so quietly) desperate about working out where chemicals are and what to use -let alone detecting what you react to.

A much more helpful and workable approach is to turn things around and to look at areas of your life where you come into contact with chemicals and to work out what the major potential troublemakers are in each.

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Comments (0) Mar 30 2009

Silk Clothing

In the High Street, Monsoon has a wide range of silk clothing for women. Next and Wallis also sell silk fashions for women.

By mail order, the supplier with the widest choice of silk clothes at reasonable prices is Patra. For women, their range includes raincoats and suits, as well as blouses. They have silk/cotton blend clothes, and a range of silk jersey T-shirts. One of Gillie’s make silk bikinis to order, as well as a range of co-ordinates and dresses. Table 15 gives names of further suppliers of silk clothes.

Linen Clothing

Linen is a natural fibre (sometimes called flax) which is expensive and not very practical in everyday life because it creases easily. It often has fabric finishes when new to prevent creasing, but once washed, loses its finish and some people with allergies and sensitivities tolerate it well. Table 15 gives names of suppliers of linen clothing.

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Comments (0) Mar 30 2009

Do not paint or repaint radiators. They give off stronger fumes when hot and can be persistent sources of chemical vapours. If already painted, do not redecorate. Leave them be, even if shabby. If you have to repaint them, use a water-based metal paint.

If you have persistent damp problems, these can aggravate allergy to moulds and to house dust mites. It is important to get them sorted out and treated; there are ways of doing this which are relatively trouble free.

If you have cavity wall insulation of the urea-formaldehyde foam type, this is a potent source of formaldehyde vapours, especially when new. There is no practicable or economic way to remove this, and if this affects you badly, you may have to move house. If extensive woodworm or rot treatments have been carried out in the building, persistent chemicals remain and there may also be no alternative to moving if you are badly affected.

If you are planning to move flat or house, check what chemical treatments, if any, have been done to the place. Beware of urea-formaldehyde cavity wall insulation; see whether fitted furniture and other places where particle board has been used are newly installed. Ask what type of damp-proof course is in place. Check what type of lagging is round the central heating pipes. Use the information in the alphabetical list of materials below to help you know what to look for.

Registered disabled people can apply to their local authority for grants for alterations to their home, under the Local Government Housing Act. These can be awarded to people with allergies needing work done if you are registered disabled.

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Comments (0) Mar 30 2009

If you are planning to have a baby, try if you possibly can to plan the month of birth of your baby to avoid significant exposure to pollen in the first six months of life. People born between September and February are much less likely to develop allergy to pollens, while those born in March and April are most susceptible. There is evidence, particularly with tree pollens, that babies exposed to high pollen counts in the first six months of life go on later to show greater sensitivity to pollens.

If you are very severely affected by pollen allergy, you may think of moving to a different part of the country. Generally speaking, upland areas, coastal parts, and the western side of the UK have lower pollen counts than other parts of the country. The Pollen Research Unit (address above) will be able to give you specific advice on particular locations if you send them £1 and a stamped addressed envelope.

Look very carefully at the immediate surroundings if you are thinking of moving house. Avoid living near any plants, trees and grasses that you know particularly upset you. Find out which way prevailing winds blow, and try and live upwind of any woods or grassy areas.

Ask the local doctors’ practices if there are any particular patterns of allergies and if there are any parts of the local area which seem more favourable.

Some tree pollens cross-react with certain fruit and nuts. If you are allergic to these pollens, you may get reactions if you eat these related foods.

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Comments (0) Mar 30 2009