RE: Re: Acyclovir & Thirst

[Guest guest]

Just a side note, I don't personally believe that high eosins are

'exclusive' to food reactions. I believe they may also be from bacteria,

pathogens, etc. JMO - not a dr, just a mom...

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Jerri

Gann

Sent: February-01-11 11:50 AM

Subject: Re: Re: Acyclovir & Thirst

Thanks so much Marcia! Our problem is we can not get the Eosinophils

down no matter what I do. I think once we got it down to 1. I was so

happy. I stuck with that diet and the next time it was up to 5. I can't

seem to find anything with the diet that makes sense with the blood

work. My son does not react to things now but it shows in the blood that

the diet is not helping him. But I just do the best I can for all of us.

Like you said I can't make myself any crazier or I will give up and I

can't do that. We have seen little progress but when we quit, it gets

bad. So I have to be happy with what we have. My son is so precious and

people see that. He has always been adored. I know we are on the right

path. As far as testing for Lymes or Bartonella (or whatever that was)

or XMRV, doesn't it all come down to the same thing? We have to take the

load off the immune system to help it deal with all these things or are

their specific treatment for specific culprits. I know it's different

with Strep/Pandas, you have to treat with long term antibiotics and I

suppose Lymes is in that catagory. Thanks again, Jerri

>

> Please note: Dr. Goldberg does not agree with how we did the diet. Now

> that

> 's immune system works more normally he can eat almost anything and

> doesn't react. Although, we still don't do dairy, the following is how we

> did the diet when was younger.

>

> Allergy tests on kids who have immune problems sometimes indicate they are

> allergic to almost everything. They really aren't, it is just that their

> immune systems aren't working properly and they react to everything. The

> goal was to strengthen the body by eliminating stress on the immune

> system.

> This meant that foods and substances to which the child is highly reactive

> are eliminated. I usually tried to always avoid dairy and only the things

> that came up in the highly allergic category on his allergy test.

>

> As they get better they are no longer as sensitive to anything diet or

> things they are allergic to. When we began we were allergic to everything

> according to his allergy blood tests. But he wasn't really. When we

> repeated the blood test years later, he was no longer allergic to all

> those

> things. When we first started it was almost like he was standing on one

> foot. If he ate something he would react to, it pushed him over the edge.

> But as time went on he was standing on two feet and much more difficult to

> make him fall. His immune system was working with all we did to help

> it. So

> he wasn't affected when there was a diet infraction.

>

> For most kids, the big triggers are usually dairy, whole wheat, and milk

> chocolate. If you can remove the foods they are allergic to while at the

> same time addressing the problems with their immune systems, it can

> greatly

> improve their ability to live their lives.

>

> Like many children with autism and immune problems, my son could not have

> dairy products and had to limit his sugar consumption. When our family

> began life without milk, it seemed so difficult. I was overwhelmed at the

> concept of changing his diet. I thought I had to cook everything from

> scratch (sheer torture for someone who hated to cook).

>

> Before you take any of my suggestions I must preface them with the

> fact that

> I am not a physician or a nutritionist (just a mom) and our family

> does not

> always eat the healthiest foods. Since needed to be on a diet

> restricted in dairy and sugar, I didn't try to eliminate things like

> NutraSweet or diet drinks. I found, for , diet soda pop without

> caffeine was a better choice than regular pop, although we usually just

> drank water. 's body did better with diabetic maple syrup as

> opposed to

> more natural choices. It seemed he could process sugar substitutes better

> than sugar.

>

> I didn't worry about the fat content in French fries, chips, and other

> junk

> food. His diet was restrictive enough without trying to eliminate junk

> food. There are trade-offs in life and I just eliminated the foods that

> caused a reaction or were in the highly reactive column of his allergy

> tests.

>

> I hesitated before trying to eliminate dairy from 's diet. Before life

> without milk, our favorite foods and almost everything we ate was

> prepackaged and contained dairy. We ordered pizza at least once a week and

> loved eating out. I was afraid that my other child and the rest of the

> family would all be deprived because could not have milk products. I

> was convinced that for each meal I would be cooking from two different

> menus. But that wasn't true. We changed from casseroles to a more meat and

> potatoes diet, which was much healthier for all of us. We usually drank

> water with our meals. It really wasn't that difficult and we are all

> healthier as a result. Imagine the savings of thousands of dollars

> over the

> years when you don't purchase a beverage in a restaurant and just drink

> water. By changing a few things, I really made a difference for my child.

> There is life without milk!

>

> Bill Klimas was so right when he said some time ago, " You are all making

> yourselves and each other crazy.Some kids will be allergic to Soy or Corn

> while it will not hurt another kid. Also, as you kids immune system heals

> he may well get over some issues with certain foods. " can even have

> dairy without a reaction, now that his immune system is better. However, I

> don't recommend doing that.

>

> In the beginning, I was not sure what to feed my child. I drove myself

> nuts. When I woke up in the morning, my first thought was what I could

> feed him that he won't react to. I was convinced that if I was going to

> help my child I had to be chained to the kitchen counter cooking from

> scratch. It took some time to figure out that wasn't true. We learned how

> to eat at restaurants, have prepackaged foods and still eliminate

> dairy from

> 's diet.

>

> I had no idea what foods to substitute for dairy and spent hours in the

> grocery store reading labels. It almost paralyzed me at times until I

> realized I needed to concentrate on eliminating the big triggers

> instead of

> wasting hours on this and cooking from scratch. I got rid of the

> dairy, the

> things that showed up on his allergies tests in the highly allergic

> category, and too much sugar from too many fruits. That being said I did

> give him one cookie in his bag lunch so he didn't feel different from the

> other kids. (Dr G hated that. We fought about it all the time until I just

> stopped telling Dr. G)

>

> Like Bill said, there are only a finite number of hours in each day

> and you

> need to spend your time on the things that will make the biggest

> difference

> for your child instead of sweating the small stuff. My time was better

> spent working with my child to teach him social skills instead of cooking.

> Each kid is different and you need to do the best you can without making

> yourself or your child apprehensive about what they eat.

>

> It is important that your kid not feel totally deprived and different. I

> think that is far worse than a diet infraction. is now 21 and many

> years ago when we started the diet, there were not as many restrictions.

> Tropical fruit, berries, nut, peanut butter was allowed. The only

> restrictions other than dairy were whole wheat or chocolate (but only milk

> chocolate).

>

> It took me a while to realize we could still eat at Mc 's. Back then

> we ate hamburgers or chicken nuggets (which have an insignificant

> amount of

> milk in the breading) instead of cheeseburgers. When we had pizza,

> took off the cheese and put the pepperonis back on. You can also order

> pizza with all the fixings except cheese. It actually has more flavor that

> way. At Taco Bell, ordered a taco and took off most of the cheese

> except a few sprinkles to help make him feel like everyone else.

>

> My kids made it in spite of all the things we ate. He is now in college,

> number 2 in his engineering class, drives, and has a ton of friends. He is

> happy and one of the best people I know. This is the same kid who the

> shrink said would be in an institution. Now the only institution he is at

> is college.

>

> I'm going to share a secret about what to do if they react to some

> food they

> eat. Increase the exercise, (swimming and trampoline are best) and

> increase

> the water they drink. One thing I don't think Dr. G stresses enough is

> that

> exercise is key for our kids. This is coming from a mom who was always

> overweight and never exercised in her life.

>

> In the early years when there was a party at school, I used to bring

> different food for . Sometimes I made things that would not affect him

> that all the kids would like. Rice Krispy treats come to mind). But in

> time

> I realized that making him feel different was worse than that occasional

> party. Instead, I kept his diet very clean at home and in his bag lunch so

> when the occasional food problem arouse it wasn't as bad. We were very

> strict on the NO DAIRY and only two fruits a day (not too much sugar), but

> other than that we didn't worry about berries, tropical fruits etc.

>

> Some parents find the diet so taxing and restrictive that they eventually

> give up the diet and even the medical treatments. That is a big

> mistake. The

> medical component is essential to recovery. But if you make it too hard on

> yourself there is no way you will stick with it. And don't underestimate

> how important exercise and water is to helping them do better.

>

> Hope this helps,

>

> Marcia

>

>