MCS FAQ's & Info

Food Allergies & MCS

I hope to write something soon on food allergies--how they begin and how they affect MCS. In the meantime, I would like to let you know that I have ejoyed a great deal of improvement by giving attention to food allergies. Let me tell you about it.

About six months ago I received the results from blood testing for food allergies. The test involves growing cultures of foods--100 tested--for a few weeks and checking for antibodies. It detects even mild sensitivities. It turned out that I was sensitive to about 40 foods, including broad groups like gluten, dairy, etc. I did not know how I could possibly give up 40 foods, as I had tried several times to give up just wheat and corn, as I knew I had a problem with these. But I was determined to give it one month.

The foods that are allowed are eaten on a rotation basis, every four days. After the first few days it wasn't as difficult as I expected. Because I was eliminating ALL the foods that made me ill, I felt much better. When I gave up just wheat and corn, I still didn't feel better since I still had 30-some foods that I didn't know were affecting me. That is probably why I couldn't stick to that.

After about three weeks I noticed a startling difference. After several years of not being able to go in public places, I found that I was not affected by things like I used to be. Stopping to use restrooms on the road and running into unexpected scents no longer bothered me like before, so I began testing out other places. After finding I was doing better, I decided to test my limits and went to a baptism ceremony of a close friend. I was in a chlorinated pool area with fragranced individuals and experienced no problem whatsoever. I even went out to eat after with no problem.

It has now been about four months since then. I have not been totally faithful to my diet, as I was for the first few months. For the most part I stick to my food list, but I have not been observing the rotation. I have to say that I did better while rotating foods. I can still handle situations I could never have handled six months ago, but I did better while rotating foods. Oh, and you may be wondering about weight. I lost 20 lbs in the first month. Then I quit rotating foods, and stopped losing, though my tolerance was still much better. A few months later I got back to rotating foods for a few weeks and lost another ten pounds.

The rotation part of the diet is difficult because it takes careful planning and also because it cuts out a lot more foods. For example, I can have rice and I can have potatoes, but on the rotation diet I cannot have both on the same day. So, technically, I can't have a gluten-free mix containing both rice flour and potato starch. Still, the rotation part of the diet seems to play an important role, and I try to get back to it whenever I want to be at my best.