# IBS, Fibro & Food Allergies



## lindyh (Mar 7, 2005)

Anyone know how food and/or airborne allergies might be related to IBS and Fibromyalgia? I never thought I was allergic to any foods but now I'm not so sure. I have other allergies (pet, pollen, etc.) The only place I have seen so far that talks about it are sites that are looking to sell me vitamins, etc.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Hi LindyhFood allergy is rarely implicated in the IBS or FMS populations (which are comorbid-cross morbid?) about 30% (30% of FMS patients also suffer IBS almost always IBS with diarreic component)What IS implicated is local (mostly upper GI, with some lower GI involvement secondarily) and systemic activation of the adaptive immune system in response to benign antigens.Huh?Loss of Oral Tolerance to things that are safe (certain foods or endogenous chemicals in the foods) occurs. The normal response of the adaptive immune system is one of "attack" in defense of the body...anything that goes into the intestine is examined at, unless a certain process is halted, is attcked right there in the lumen, in the mucosa, in the lymphatics after transport there. and even in the plasma as antigens end up there too.Now the body normally "tolerates" benign antigens...normally the immune response is toned down/turned off, when the immune system sees an element of food which is safe.However, IBS-D and FMS (and some other like migraine) suffer one or more types of errors in identifying the antigens...the body loses some of its ability to differentiate benign antigens from bad antigens (pathogens). Not all, otherwise we would be rampantly ill from everything we ate except maybe salt and water, but anywhere from a few to alot of foods are misidentified as they are digested and examined in the upper GI (starting with the jejunum) and the normal reaction is NOT dampened.Sometimes if it is a small-molcule, the antigen is absorbed through the buccal mucosa and work starts on it right away in the lymphatics.So nasty chemical mediators end up being released by the variosu types of immunecells which start working together i "attack mode" (especially it seems the class of mediators called cytokines) which lead to the symptomology we experience.If you can (we can) identify which foods are highly tolerqated by the immune system and which ones are not so well tolerated, and which ones are rampantly rejected, you can set up an oligoantigenic diet for the patient to follow.By only eating foods which the immune system then sees as benign, the process is blunted as it should be and the inflammtory response doe snot occur. No bad chemicals no symptoms and all si right with the life.Airborne allergens can also influence systemic symptoms since there is cross reactivity, both in allergic reactions and non-allergic "tolerance" reactions, within plant families.This book provides, among other things, a guide for cross reactivity:Food Allergies and Food Intolerance: The Complete Guide to Their Identification and Treatmentby Jonathan Brostoff, Linda Gamlin http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books MNL


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## lindyh (Mar 7, 2005)

Wow, that was a great resonse. Thank you so much for the info. I am new to the site but I plan to come back often.Thanks again!


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