Beyond Food Allergies, Allergies, and Asthma - or Why I can't stop thinking about giving my son worms

Anyone who lives with food allergies and/or asthma knows - it can really make life, regular life, school life, travel life, social life... challenging.  Depending on the severity and the number of food allergies, for example, it can make eating out frightening, if not impossible.   Doing things spontaneously, or longer than planned, can be problematic if you have to get home to prepare food that is safe.  You just can stay later and then catch a bite on the way home.  Distances traveled, and the amount of time you can be somewhere, are dictated by the proximity and access to safe foods and emergency medical care if needed.

This has been our life for the past 7 years.  My son has yet to eat the food in a restaurant (not that most food is something so palatable that I bemoan it's absence, but...).  I've flown with him once, when he was about 5 months old and "food allergies" wasn't yet part of our vocabulary.  We've missed parties, playdates, events, trips.... all because of food.  Well, food, fear of food, and then my own fatigue at somehow coordinating these things safely and prepping something that he'd actually eat - which sometimes just becomes too much for me - so I cheap out and we avoid.  I'm not proud of this - but I am doing the best that I can.

Enter:  an article of interest

There is a health group that I belong to from whom I get frequent emails.  Always interesting, sometimes impressively informative, and just persistently present.  One day I got an email "Article of Interest."  These are the emails I wait for.  They are usually relevant publications with scientific backing that add to my arsenal of information.

And so I opened it, and clicked Men's Health: The New, Ancient Cure for Immune Disorders.
The article is a tear jerking (for me and others living with food allergy) and fantasy provoking story about two separate individuals, who for health reasons (one life threatening food allergies and asphyxiating asthma, the other for debilitating Crohns), allow themselves to be infected with helminths... worms... parasites.

"Yuk," my mother gagged as I read this to her in between my son's music classes.  "Why would anyone want to do that?"

Good question.  So I thought about it.  Why would anyone want to do that?  Why would we maybe want to do that?

Let's go back to the article for a moment.  In it, a man, Bear C he is called, the one with the food allergies and asthma, the one who previously would be thrust into anaphylaxis if he ate a peanut... that one - mistakenly eats half a bag of potato chips fried in peanut oil.  Upon realizing this - what do you think he does - of course, I must reveal at this point that he is hosting a tapeworm - does he panic and call 911?  Inject himself?  Die?

None of the above.  He finishes said bag.

That's where I wanted to cry.  Not that I'd necessarily feel comfortable enough, even if my son was hosting a tapeworm, to give him peanut products - but the fact that he lived.  That his immune system was quiet while he enjoyed, and after he enjoyed, these chips.... that's where the joy is.

Why would anyone want to host worms?  Why would we want to host worms?

I can imagine eating out.  I can imagine traveling.  Not even traveling, I can imagine going to a party with my son, and not having to huddle and hide from the food table... not have to ask everyone before we shake their hand, they touch him... What did you eat?  Can you go wash your hands?   Take flack from disgruntled parents who just don't get why they can't send their kid on the field trip with a peanut butter sandwich.  Worry about spilled milk.  Buy bread baked at a bakery without worrying about sesames or eggs.  Eat grapes and melon in the spring without itchy lips and mouth.  Work more since I could send my son to school with a safe lunch that he would actually eat.  Be a part of more things.  Travel and stay in hotels and areas without worrying about an asthma attack, or where the ER is, or why he just coughed.

I know that we are currently committed to our protocol - but I can't get those worms out of my mind.  It's like being in a serious relationship and just wanting the guy in the next cube so badly, you can't even focus on your work.  Well - a bit like that.

It's actually better.  Freeing my son of food allergies and asthma, would be the best thing I could even imagine.  Nay, it will be amazing and I can't wait. 

Guo Lin QiGong Lessons and Traveling with Food Allergies and Asthma

So we are preparing to travel to see the Master and learn the Guo Lin QiGong.  While the fundamentals of each of our exercises will be the same (myself, my son, and my mother), the Master has prescribed some different exercises for each of our ailments.

Our goals for learning are:

My Mother
Normalize her high blood pressure
Get rid of chronic cough that plagues her
Stop and possibly reverse the progression of rheumatoid arthritis
Address her hypothyroidism

Mine
prevent cancer
heal the painful ovarian cysts that I have been having in the last several months
improve my digestion and reflux
gain more energy
and also - I'd like to strengthen my kidneys

My Son's
Heal the food allergies and asthma
Address the issue that makes him sweat most nights (it is not uncommon for me to change his shirt in the middle of the night because he's wet with sweat - not soaking, but wet).  His father had a sweat during sleep issue, but according to Chinese Medicine, this causes him to lose much energy - so we will be addressing.
Heal the food allergies and asthma

Of course in total pre-trip chaos, my son woke, after nighttime coughing,  this morning with a red pussy eye, cough, and now he's got a little fever.  Lovely.  Trying to break through this before we set out on our journey.  Giving 3-4 grams vit C every 24 hours, along with quercenase (quercetin and bromelain), an additional supp with zinc, magnesium, cod liver oil - sheesh.

Another issue - or stress rather - is food.  Of course, we are driving about 12 hours - so I will be feeding my son on the road because we cannot eat any of the food on route.  But then we will need to either consume or dump and fruits and vegetables before we hit the border, since they will not be allowed to cross with us.  So our target, before even the hotel, will be the nearest organic stocked market so that we can stock up on what we could not bring.  We will, as I've been instructed by Canadian Border Department, be able to cross with our dried packaged goods, possibly some of our meat, and hopefully some bottled things like tomato sauce... little things that I am not sure I'd be able to get at another store.

We have a suite with kitchen - thankfully - this trip will not entail cooking on my electric double burner.  I sprang for the extra money because I felt like there's already so much to deal with - having to worry about getting kicked out of the hotel because of our vagabond cooking - would put me over the edge.  Especially since I'll be baking bread in the slow cooker (which I'm bringing).

One of our trips to New York city  was somewhat awful because we got trapped in a fancy hotel in Manhattan,  that basically said I could not cook in the room because they not only had smoke detectors but heat sensors directly wired to the fire department.  So we were stuck with only a microwave - needless to say my son lived practically on our only safe bagels for about 24 hours - until we could high tail it out of town.

Here is our usual food allergy travel set-up - usually the less expensive motels are best for this set-up - but those hotels can also suck for asthma issues.  So now we're kind of middle-brow - hoping that the room is not too dustmite infested.  At any rate, some images from one of our trips - our cooking for food allergy set up.

Traveling with Food Allergy pots, pans, dishes

Traveling with Food Allergy - cooking on the double electric burners.

Traveling with Food Allergy - nothing worse than washing your veggies in tiny motel sink.

Traveling with Food Allergy - open the windows so we don't set off alarm

Traveling with Food Allergy - cramming tiny fridge with food.

Traveling with Food Allergy - I once roasted a lamb shank in a motel bathroom just like this.

Ginger and my Ovaries

The pain started back in January of 2012.  And honestly at first I thought it was a gas issue.  Nothing pretty to discuss there - but it was what I thought.  At the time also I was beginning Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang - which according to my herbalist can cause some intestinal distress.  So I shrugged it off.

Well months moved forward until the pain was totally taking me over.  I could not sleep on my right side because the weight of my own body on that side hurt.  It was a constant pain that woke me from sleep and followed me everywhere.  There were many instances where I would white knuckle it through until it subsided.  I didn't have insurance.  But in desperation, I went to the doctor, a primary care physician, who took my money and then sent me home telling me to avoid dairy (which I told her I did).  Needless to say, I ended up in the ER in August.

An ultra sound reported an enlarged follicle and ovary on my right side.  Crap that hurts.

I have drank apple cider vinegar, been taking Chinese herbs on and off, taking magnesium...   The pain has gone down significantly, but not all the way.  After my period ends the pain starts again.  Less, but still there.  Of course the obsessive worrier and researcher that I am, I found some interesting research with iodine and ginger. 

Currently, I take (about 3 days a week) 5 drops of lugols and I've been blending about an inch of ginger root with some apple/carrot juice.  This is an intense combo.  I did that 3 times this week and it brought the pain down further.  I took 3 days off, and I'll start again tomorrow.  The pain is still there, but greatly diminished - plus I'm just so damn sensitive to that area now - it makes me aware of every little ache.

I'll see how this week goes.  Ginger is a powerful herb and not something that I will take daily - there are many studies that show it has anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-viral properties - but side effects can also be things like it thins the blood, has in mouse studies been linked to bone loss and reduced testicle size (not that I am concerned about that)... But I am taking a log.  Bottom line it has helped change something inside my body to quell the ovarian pain.  I guess I'll see what that means when I return for an ultrasound at the end of this month.   Until then I plan on doing the intense ginger and iodine regime 2-3 days a week until all the pain is gone. 

Arsenic, Rice Dream, and White Coated Tongue

So, we quit all rice products about 6 weeks ago.  My son would eat rice noodles, rice grain, bars with rice in them, and especially Rice Dream in his morning oatmeal.  Since quitting we've found it somewhat challenging to fill that gap - but we now rely more heavily on camel milk.  So we've used that to fill the gap.  I am extremely disappointed in how this whole thing has gone down - and while I appreciate the efforts that Lundberg Farms are making to be transparent and work with establishing a testing plan - I am not comforted by the FDA's advice to not change rice consumption habits.

Apparently, 2015 is the target for setting safe limits of arsenic in food.  It is amazing how slow that is - in comparison to say the explosive speed in areas like fracking approval.  Three years to establish safe limits.   That to me is total lobbyist bull-crap at its finest.  I'm not interested in establishing safe limits - in my mind, they've already been established (the water limits seem like a good benchmark - although they could probably be even more strict) - I care about getting it out of the food immediately.

So, until that time comes, we are doing our best to stay off of rice.  I'm sure there are other problems with other foods - but we can only make decisions about what we know at this point (my own way of talking myself off the ledge of obsessing).

At any rate, my son has had for the last several years, a pretty perpetually white coated tongue.  Of course the pediatrician said - "eh, it's just the way he is."  The Chinese Doctor said, "he's got greasy tongue."  And me - well I think it's not so good.  But I have not been able to clean it up.  Today, I noticed that his tongue is the clearest its been since I've noticed.  The only thing I can attribute it to is stopping the rice products and rice dream especially (since that is huge no-no for kids according to consumer reports). 

So then I looked up "arsenic white coated tongue," nothing came back as of yet - I haven't gone very deep in the research.  But one forum linked arsenic to candida issues (like arsenic, in all it's glory, can also contribute to candida issues).   And candida is linked to a coated tongue.  I'm not saying it's for sure, but it is really the only thing I've done differently in the last 6 weeks - dump rice from our diet - and now his tongue is clear.  Interesting.

Has anyone else quit rice and found any interesting things happen?

This inspires me to think further about the ALA detox - not moving on that yet, but it is in my sights for further research.

GuoLin Qi Gong for Cancer and Other Chronic Ailments

I have not written in awhile.  I've been working for the last year - super slowly - on a documentary about our healing journey.  I have amassed quite a few interviews and am now in the process of editing - and ultimately looking for an editor - to work on putting all this together. 

I have also been working to prepare to study some GuoLin Qigong.  GuoLin Qigong was designed to heal a body of cancer and other chronic illnesses.  Traditional Chinese Medicine views cancer as a chronic illness.   And I am noticing - as friends and family fall prey to its grasp - that it is everywhere.  We are poisoning ourselves it is certain.  What's more alarming than it's pervasiveness,  is the kind of "well what are you going to do about it" aka "you can't do anything" attitude that prevails.  A kind of cloud of "well everybody gets it eventually."  Not so - I don't remember it always being this way. 

So, in my quest for healing information, I am happy to say that in the coming months, I will be traveling with my son, mother, and father to meet and study with a GuoLin Qigong master.  She is one of the original, having learned from Master GuoLin herself.  And, she is a forty year terminal cancer survivor.  So I am excited to meet her and her club members, most of whom are cancer survivors.  I am hoping that some of them will agree to be interviewed, as well as the Master.

At any rate, I encourage you to research GuoLin Qigong.  It is a specific practice developed by Master GuoLin when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  She was basically told by the doctors that there was nothing left for them to do.  Apparently, her family had a lineage of Qigong masters, and she used her contacts, knowledge, and access to ancient texts, to create a Qigong practice designed to conquer her cancer.  Needless to say, after many months of practice she herself was clear of cancer.  She then went out to teach others, who then were also healed in great numbers.  Some practitioners used chemo therapy, some used Traditional Chinese Herbs, some used other methods - all in combination with the GuoLin Qigong practice - to outlive their prognosis' by decades.  Ultimately, Master GuoLin died of a stroke some 40 or so years after her terminal diagnosis. 

This is a powerful practice, that is not just any form of Qigong. 

My family and I will be learning specific elements of the practice to address our health issues.  We have communicated our health challenges to the Master, and will go over them when we meet.   She is going to then teach us specific regimes to help strengthen and heal our bodies.  I am very excited.
I will write and post links to any video as it transpires. 

Aresenic in my Rice Dream?

With dietary limitations, you come to count on certain products if only because they are are the only options available.  Rice milk and rice products have been mainstays for us for over 6 years now.

We drink rice milk, use products with rice syrup, eat rice noodles, rice crackers... rice - rice and more rice.  When the first reports came out about the arsenic - I was alarmed but then continued on - somehow blocking it out.  Part of me just couldn't deal with taking it out of the diet.  Then more articles came out and I have decided to cut our rice consumption way down - eliminating rice milk and rice as much as possible.

I called the Rice Dream makers to ask what testings or protections they have in place to deal with the arsenic contamination.  Here is the response I got - after many  many minutes (like 12) on hold:

So Hain Celestial DOES NOT TEST its product.  They are standing behind their products and they consider them safe.  My question - is how do they know that their rice milk is safe?  Seems more like they are ignoring - and just not dealing with it until they are forced.  And we all know how long that could take especially given that there are no regulations on arsenic levels in food (as far as I can tell).

My point is I pay on average $8.00/gallon for Rice Dream.  This is premium stuff.  And the operator, nice as pie, only had the company line about - the report being recent, the FDA not recommending any recalls, the company standing behind the product, the naturally occurring arsenic in the soil (not the problem)  - but the bottom line is for $8/gallon Celestial Hains does  NOT TEST THEIR PRODUCT.  I don't care about what the FDA says and whether or not they are being forced to recall or test.  I care that I pay a premium and I am getting a cheap unreliable product.

If you are going to charge a premium price - behave like a premium product - or else let's pay what it's really worth (if you want to chance it) - $.99/gallon seems more reasonable to me.  

In the meantime, I will be returning all my Rice Dream products and not buying any more.  Lundberg rice - on the other hand - has a plan for testing and has admitted to the levels found in their rice matching the EPA test results.  While I will continue to keep rice peripheral in our diet - I appreciate their effort and openness.  Although best case scenario I'd like to see is figuring out how to get the arsenic out of the soil so that rice is safer.

October 24, 2012

I did find a report of results of arsenic in rice products.  You can see what they tested and what the results are.  Sadly, rice dream, which I am horrified to think since my son drank lots of it in the last 5-6 years, is not recommended for children to drink at all.  So, if you are reading this and giving rice dream to your children - STOP.  We stopped all rice products about a month ago.  It's meant increased quinoa, wheat, and potato (not so in love with the wheat).  But with our limited diet - we are  not left with many options yet. 

On a high note.  Interesting article that warrants further study - linked elevated arsenic levels in children with allergy issues.  The children were detoxed using ALA (alpha lipoic acid) and other supplements.  After the detox, the allergic symptoms subsided, resistance to infection went up, basically the immune system somewhat rebalanced itself. 

Here is the link:  Alpha Lipoic Acid, A Novel Therapeutic Agent for Intervention of Childhood Allergies. 

I am now keeping ALA on my radar.  And I plan on getting  a heavy metal test done on my son - in the coming months.  An ALA detox is not something I would like to embark on without a trusted professional.  Further research necessary. 

Ovarian cysts, Chinese herbs, Lugol's Iodine

It has been about a month since starting the Chinese herbs.  And I just got my period - this time, without explosively painful cramping that has preceded the last several periods.  My pain is down - to nearly all gone.  Thankfully.

My protocol
Stopped proteolytic enzymes after about 2 weeks - cannot explain why
Continue Chinese herbs
Started lugol's iodine - about 1 week ago - 5 drops in about 8 oz of water first thing in the morning on empty stomach.  I try to not eat for an hour after the dose.  Definitely noticed a difference in my energy level and I feel that it put the lid on the pain - pretty much bringing it down to it's present nearly non-existent level.