# LEAP is creating havoc in my life



## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

OH, but it's good havoc! I'm going away for the weekend with some friends and am very excited. It seems like now that I feel good most of the time I am always busy doing something. It feels really good to have a life again.







But now suddenly it feels like there aren't enough hours in the day. Havoc, I say!UPDATE:I have not been very strict about the 3 day rotation thing and I think it is starting to affect my reaction to apples. But at least I pretty much know it's the apples that caused my last problem. So, no more apples for a while, and back to the strict 3 day thing. It doesn't take a lot to whip me back into shape.When I do get a reaction, it's neither C nor D, but nausea, and gobs of it. The IBS per se is virtually gone, in that I have fairly normal BM's every day (sometimes twice). My reaction to ingesting something bad is nausea, from mild to severe, and a vague sort of "underwater dizzy" feeling. Thankfully it only lasts about a day and a half and then just sort of goes away. I have also been still having the spasms in my throat and the chest pains, so I'm still on the Elavil. The relaxation CD helps with that but I sure wish it would go away along with the rest of the IBS. I am up to 20-30 minutes a day of exercising with weights - yes!!! It feels so good to exercise again without feeling like I'm going to either yak or soil my pants. Remember, I was an athlete before the IBS so the inactivity (and the resulting weight gain) caused by the IBS symptoms was very bothersome to me. It just feels good to have a little bit of muscle tone back. Give me another year and maybe my body will reflect that as well. I am even considering joining a winter softball league, and have been golfing (all 18 holes!) without any hint of the IBS. Have I said I love LEAP? "I love LEAP!"I haven't been on the computer much because I am actually leaving my house (gasp!) a lot but I do lurk around now and then to see how everyone is doing. Bob, I'm SO happy to hear how well you're doing. I know what you mean about needing to eat at certain intervels as I'm the same way now. MIKE: could you answer the question as to why my only reaction is nausea? Believe me, I would much rather just have a bout of D and be done with it. I hate nausea; I don't deal with it very well. What is the reaction, cellularly speaking, that causes nausea as a reaction to the oral challenge?To sum up, other than a couple days of nausea every 3 or 4 weeks, I'm doing great.


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## Julia37 (May 9, 2001)

WD, I'm so happy for you!







I know how you feel - now that I have a job after more than a year I can stop networking and worrying and get my life back too!


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## ohnometo (Sep 20, 2001)

WD40Are you still taking your elavil ? and are you taking any other medicines, tylenol, ect....Rolaids or anything ? Glad you are doing so goodI dont miss throwing-up for nothing







I took a sudafed the other day and that made me feel alittle sick but I didnt eat before I took itWAY TO GO WD40


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Yup, still on the Elavil. Hate it, but it helps keep the pain in my chest down so I keep poppin' 'em every night.


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## ohnometo (Sep 20, 2001)

As long as it keeps the pain down in your chest you stick with the med's...


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

HI WD40:I am SO SORRY I missed your question I hve been so busy lately I miss some threads.This residual periodic nausea may be related to a pseudoallergy reaction-mild; from some food lectin or other chemical (like an exposure to a histaminic food).Not seeing your food diary and symptom diary it is hard to say. Ther are many different types of responses that immunocytes can manifest, and an array of possible mediators that numbers perhaps 100 different ones which can be involved in myriad combinations.So whatever it is you are having a type of reaction of which the only symptom is nausea...nausea is the precursor to emesis...so you have a sub-emetic reaction which makes me again think some form of hidden actual allergy or pseudoallergy as emesis is designed to immediately purge a grossly dangerous ingested bacterium or toxin for example...and is an integral part of allergy or false allergy dysfuntion in some people.CAN you link it to anything which is repeatable in your diet? If not keep an intake log of everything for at least a week and then send a copy to your RD and a copy to Ethan for all of us to look over....also be sure to enter the exact time the symptom appears and the duraction and disappearence. Three heads are equal to one...I mean better than! betther than!







The fact it lingers can also suggest either the late-phase reaction that occurs in certain allergic reactions (many hours after the intitial phase) or repeat exposure or both.ALSO do you have any inhalant allergies? If so you may be getting a cross-reaction from some food which can produce the same response as the inhalant. Brostoff has a section of the book which lists common cross-reactions...this is something else to consider.Anyway this is the point and advantage of this kind of protocol. IF you are precise with it when you do get some leftover symptom from an elusive reaction that cannot or is not detetced by an in vitro assay, it is much easier to figure out ONE like this with a controlled diet than MANY OVERLAPPINGT SYMPTOMS and dieta where you have to assess EVERY POSSIBLE FOOD IN AN ARRAY.Anyway there are some possibilities...we will skip the discussion of things like endogenous chemicals for now....Sorry so slow to react.[Get it? HAR HAR little ALLERGY JOKE there har har..slow reaction? Har Har OK if ya have to explain em they are no good]







MNLPSThat may not be globus either, for that matter, it could be related to the nausea as pat of the symptom array of an actual allergy or pseudoallergy..but it can be isolated with alittle careful observation. If a person pops antianxiety meds and the ansity symptom remains then maybe its not anxiety related.....


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Hi Mike,Talked to Jan last night and we are working on it. She suspects much the same as you. One strange thing, however. I always know when I'm feeling gnarly (meaning queasy) that when my chest starts to hurt, the nausea will go away. It's very bizarre but as long as the spasms are in my throat creating that crushing sharp pain in my chest, I won't have the nausea. During the nausea I won't have the throat spasms, or not bad enough to cause the chest pains. As I type this I am having major chest pain but otherwise feel fine. What's up with that?Still, I feel much better on LEAP than off of it, and the side effect of being able to exercise somewhat is a bonus I cannot begin to explain how much I treasure. I just wish that when I ingest something my body does not like it would just cause a big bout of D that'll go away in a couple of hours instead of the lingering, constant queazies that last a day and a half or more. My gastro doc once told me that the problem with gastric disorders is that when you help one section of the GI tract you will almost certainly disturb another section, and that I have to decide which section I want "sedated", and that even then it's pretty much hit and miss with the medications. The Elavil keeps the nausea to the level of moderate to severe queazies; off of Elavil I have actually heaved a time or two during the nauseous phases. What I wouldn't give to have just plain old D or C. I've always said anything below my waist I can handle just fine; it's the stuff in my tummy and above that cause me the most grief.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

"My gastro doc once told me that the problem with gastric disorders is that when you help one section of the GI tract you will almost certainly disturb another section, and that I have to decide which section I want "sedated", and that even then it's pretty much hit and miss with the medications. "that is true with drugs but not with comprehensive dietary therapy. You can beat it all. But sometimes you get down from 100 symptoms to 3 and the last 3 are the real nitty gritty which seemd to be just several among all the others, when in fact they are related to their own specific and seprate problem. There can be multiple comorbid causes at work. happens all da time.I am going to think through what you wrote mroe thoroughly beiofre replying, and go b ack and re-rad some things I think are related to this first before I comment further. 90% of knowledge is knowing where to find it. The other 10% is making the effort to research that which you are not sure of before you open your mouth.Let me ask around....







see what's up....be backMNL


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

PSwalk me through the progression and nature of these symptoms...what comes first? how does it feel? where does it exactly hurt? the nature of the pain? and how long does it last? and then it transitions to nausea and what else? and how long does that last? and what is evry medication you are on and how much and how often.Sorry it requiredSherlockeNL _________________________________"If you talk to the patient long enough she will tell you exactly what is wrong with her"William Osler, MD


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

DetectiveNL,Let me think. The symptoms build up kind of fast but the first physical symptom I'll notice is a slight headache, usually. Then I'll feel a bit dizzy on and off, and will sometimes start craving either sugar or salt. I will get very achy in my joints and feel like I'm dragging, though not really tired per se. I do tend towards power yawns and slight irritability at this point. Then I get queasy and that progresses in severity, sometimes to the point I think I will lose my stomach, but that hasn't happened in a very long time. I will sometimes get a burning pain in my stomach, but not all the time. By this point I will feel like my head is underwater (can't concentrate) and if it gets really bad I'll get semi-tunnel vision and extreme dry mouth. I will feel slightly hungry but be unable to eat as it feels like if I swallow food I'll yak, and sometimes my throat will "close up" on me if I try to eat anyway. I will usually have insomnia. This lasts almost 2 days and will just sort of go away. Those episodes that last only a few hours go away when I get the bad chest pain feeling, as if spasms have moved from my stomach to my throat. In a way the chest pains are sometimes a welcome change because it means the nausea will go away soon. Unless I eat every 3 or 4 hours and make sure it's fairly high in fiber and/or protein I will get this way, but not everytime. It used to be that I was nauseous all the time, constant queasies for years and years. On LEAP it is still here, but only every once in a while. Still feels just as gnarly, though! I have felt this way following ingestion of yellows (most notably anything with corn products, which also gives me an extremely itchy nose and ears), but even after a few greens (tuna, salmon, and mangoes mostly, and apples if I eat them too often). Nuts of all kinds still give me gastritis-type symptoms. Sometimes I have absolutely no idea what triggered it. Sometimes a couple hits of cannabis will ease the nausea enough for me to eat but I don't like to do that for obvious reasons and besides that I don't always have that option.







The only medication I'm on is 25mg Elavil at night. It gives me constant dry mouth, has made me gain weight, and makes me a bit prone to C if I don't watch my water and fiber intake. I'm not taking any vitamins but Jan has advised me to start doing so. She is suspecting a possible sensitivity to candida or yeast as I am very intolerant to mold (when I get near it my head goes wacky - very mucousy, teary/itchy eyes, draining sinus, phlegmy, etc). She also suspects a problem with blood sugar levels, although I have tested negative for both diabetes and hypoglycemia.During my weekend excursion last week I became very nauseated and dizzy after being exposed to a lot of smoke and not eating for about 5 hours. It was a fairly severe episode. The very first symptom was dizziness. It progessed rapidly from there (within 10 minutes I thought I was going to be sick). We went back to the hotel where I was able to lie down and I drank some 7up. The chest pains started but my head began to clear up. I was able to eat a little bit of banana bread. When the pain in my chest became uncomfortable the nausea went away and I was able to go to dinner with my friends (about 2 hours later). After that I was totally fine. The next morning I woke up as if nothing had ever been wrong. After I got home I was fine until Wednesday when I felt out of sorts again, and that lasted until yesterday morning. Today I feel normal, but I'm having the chest pains again. It's very bizarre. I can't seem to pinpoint any one thing that's getting me. I'm keeping a detailed diary for Jan until next week so we can see what's what, but so far nothing is standing out and like I said, I feel fine today except for the chest thing. The only thing different I did on the weekend was take some Pepto Bismol because the stress of the drive gave me indigestion.So, Sherlock, what d'ya think? OH, just to throw another monkeywrench in the mix, I have been either C or "loose stooly" during these episodes; it's never consistently one or the other.I eagerly await your analysis!


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Forgot to mention: during severe episodes I do relaxation exercises, and that usually prevents me from heaving. It also helps me sleep. I have tried to pay attention to stress, and have decided that it is worse once the episodes start, as opposed to being a trigger beforehand.


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

One other thing, Mike- was reading another thread and you mentioned RAFANI PLUS. Would you recommend it since I have the GERD thing going on and am prone towards C?


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## Jadair (Aug 28, 2002)

I read so much about eating, how one food can bother me, and not someone else. I noticed a new one the other day, soda. It really bothered me bad, and also brought on an anxiety attack. Please correct me if I am wrong, but from what I read, there is no specific diet for IBS. Jadair


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## Jadair (Aug 28, 2002)

I did forget to mention, I did read how the bubbles cause gas. I can see how this can bother one. I've been staying away from fatty foods, dairy products, and drinking a lot of water. As a matter of fact, it's about the only thing I've been drinking. (hope i don't drown myself, lol, just kidding).I also have an occassional glass of lemonade. Does lemonade bother anyone?? just curious.Jadair


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## Jadair (Aug 28, 2002)

I was wondering about smoking. Is there anyway we can take a poll on here, who smokes, who doesn't?? Then see if it bothers them. I haven't read anything at all in all the reading materials, and on the net, and else where, about smoking bothering IBS.Jadair


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## MALI (Jul 8, 2001)

Whatever happened to Funny Mike?


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

JADAIR ___________________________________________". Please correct me if I am wrong, but from what I read, there is no specific diet for IBS." _______________________________________________100% correct&#8230;one woman's meat anothers' poison. That is why protocols are developed to develop a patient-specific diet (one that isolates and removes each of the specific foods or food additives which provokes symptoms in a specific person). There are so many mechanisms possibly involved, and so many possible dietary combinations, that one has to use a very specific approach to isolating these&#8230;and the more tools you can use which are useful for isolating reactions in vitro, the easier it gets to end up with the best possible diet for that person.Also it is very common for cigarette smoking to aggravate IBS conditions due to the effects of the nicotine as well as the dozens of other toxins that are contained within the "proprietarys ecret blend of fine tobaccos and chemical flavor enhancers and nicotine releasers"&#8230;arsenic is one of my fav's. MALI:"Funny Mike" is around, but when SherlockeNL is at work he takes the day off. MNL is a Gemini if that helps explain things a bit. You know, psychotic.OK BACK TO WhoozyDebutante40:Hmmm&#8230;..yes you are showing symptoms that make it clear there is still something you are intolerant to which has eluded in vitro assays. This narrows it to either a chemical which is not tested for (kit is IMPOSSIBLE to test for everything&#8230;150 is huge but when it comes to both natural chemicals in foods, absorbed chemicals or injected chemicals during growth of vegetable or flesh foods, and additives for processing or enhancement, this is why the LEAP protocol is built like this. When you get a persistent symptom after all else is disbursed with at least you have a narrow range of things to consider).Now on the one hand what you describe sounds terribly close to a migraine symptom set&#8230;not all migraine is accompanied by visual disturbances with flashes or spots keep in mind&#8230;.but many of the symptoms, the way it comes on, and how it stays and what it responds to are very similar.Now that being said migraine is just a word to describe a set of symptoms that are repeatable and provocable&#8230;.and very often what you describe is not a series of reactions in the immunologic sense to a food (protein, carbohydrate&#8230;.yes carbs can be antigenic it has been observed) but this stinks to high heaven of a chemical ingestion more so than the inhalant aspect since you do not seem to emnation any known inhalant allergens which can result in cross-reactivity.Look at the foods associated with the onset of symptoms&#8230;is that list repeatable? That is the ones you listed, if you avoid them, does this nausea-headache-fuzzy barrel headed and GERD annoyed symptom set ever go away? Or does it STILL keep coming back?I would show all this to your dietician and re-select a rotation diet replacing the ones you know are reliable repeaters with other 'greens' that are not only "green" to MRT but are foods witout known possibly intolerant endogenous naturally occurring chemicals.OH GREAT OBSERVATION FOR A SIDEBAR: Does anybody realize how OFTEN that itchy-ears symptom comes up in people who are test positive for abnormal cellular reactions to food or chemicals? And how often this can be a problem in kiddies with persistent OTITIS MEDIA? If you got a kiddie who keeps getting middle ear infections this can be why&#8230;the local swelling slows normal drainage and clearance and makes a cesspool for bacteria to grow in the middle ear&#8230;and with each event the persistent inflammtion gets worse and it takes longer to recover and predisposes the kiddie to more middle ear problems until everyone surrenders and puts in the tubes before she goes deaf! [JustinNL was a case in point&#8230;] Sorry for the sidebare but the ear thing is classic&#8230;See your list includes some foods which have been linked to pseudoallergy due to chemicals in them (different chemicals for different foods). And if there is a direct-action on an organ or mast cell from an endogenous chemical you cannot pick it up with an with standard allergy tests (no immunoglobulins to the food involved) or with even combining it with the MRT to check the circulating cells (since it could be a direct action on mucosal cells, mast cells, OR a chemical itself to which the body is overly sensitivie&#8230;like histamine. Some people's nerves and blood vessesl react to histamine much more exquisitely than normal&#8230;takes a very low dose to provoke symptoms).Also, multiple chemical sensitivity can manifest itself with this kind of persistent low-grade but painful kind of systemic reaction (one of the doctors I work with is very "up" on this)...but not "sick building syndrome" but "contaminated food syndrome". thats is sometiems a person is very intoelrant of the traces of pesticides that remain on the surface of the fruits or that are absorbed from the soil so you cannot get them all out and have to work through a protocol of simple stuff like washing is not enough strip off the skin of any fruit before you eat it an avoid all enzyme contianing fruits as well...even go organic to see if that makes the difference.While an MRT panel could be contrived to etst for this it is so far so wide an array of thngs you would have to test for (I mean people can even potentially be reactive to certain thigs that leach out of the plastic you put over your food when you microwave it to reheat it if the plastic touches the food...it is surprising how toxic what comes out of there is...see a Condumer reports expose of about 3 years ago about that one!).Anyway you reall have to know your s---t about this stuff to get a tough one isolated. But between all the people who developed these prorocols there is enough knowledge to contrive methods to isolate sneaky little nasties if at all possible.Then of course the chest pain-GERD is hard to assess without an upper GI&#8230;sometimes what you describe sounds like comorbid GERD (which involves the sphincter at the entrance to the stomach not staying tightly closed so you get acid up into the esophagus&#8230;wow&#8230;this can be aggravated all by itself by certain foods directly with no involvement of the immunocytes&#8230;.your dietician has a list of things which are known to loosen up that muscle and aggravate GERD so she could double check your current diet against that list to for any smoking gun). And this chest pain separate and apart from the GERD. Does it ever get better if you eat something or does it just stay when it comes?Vis a vis Rafani, yes this may be helpful for the GERD and any bouts of occasional C BUT you must check the ingredients&#8230;the extracts&#8230;against your reactive list first. They are on the site. Now you could get a box or two and see if you pop one when the GERD comes&#8230;or you use them per separate instructions if you get some C, and see if they work for you.If not send back the rest and they will refund you without question.Anyway&#8230;you see that now there is something there to assess but it has to be approached systemactically and what system is used depends upon those few added questions. BUT my gut&#8230;(no that's stupid and a joke&#8230;.what I remember reading and from seeing so MANY PEOPLE with different hypsersensitivities) makes me think more about false-allergy of one mechanisms or another&#8230;and endogenous or exogenous chemical content not "food proteins" waves the red flag.I forget&#8230;are you working with Jan or with a private physician? Remind me as I am getting old and forgetful. I told someone just the other day, I think this year I will be able to hide my own Easter eggs. Oh yeah nevermind I see there you did say "Jan was suspicious&#8230;.". you know what, I am so BIZZY with so many people, places and things...ARRGGGH!!! And I am fixing to hit the road on a long business trip starting Wednesday&#8230;ask Jan to read this thread and then call me before I go. I want to bat your belly and your brain around with her and see what exact next series of steps makes sense to all of us to get whatever this sneaky little sucker is rooted out.MNL


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Mike, thanks for the lengthy response.







Yes, the chest pains stay despite food intake, which my gastro said was an indication of the visceral hypersensitivity associated with some of us IBS'ers. So far I haven't been able to find one repeatable thing that is causing the grief. I eliminated completely the tuna, salmon, apples, and mangoes and still get the same symptom set every once in a while. I suppose I could be sensitive to pesticides but I am famous in my family for scrubbing my fruits and veggies to death. I think one of the reasons I don't stick with the 3 day rotation to the letter is because I know certain foods cause no symptoms (carrots, broccoli, most meats, potatoes, etc.) so I stick to them almost like a security blanket. Unfortunately that blanket can get holes in it if I over-do it, which I am very conscious of. When I get more adventurous with the cooking and start rotating I get the symptoms again, but I am never sure if it was something I ate in the morning, the day before, or two days before. And, like I said, I can't find a common culprit. There are definately greens I absolutely cannot eat, mostly the citrus containing foods like oranges and lemons, etc. Also garlic and onions do a number on me with heartburn. I am beginning to wonder if I get this way when I over-consume carbohydrates without balancing out my proteins with them. That seems to be the only reliable link I can find to these episodes. That might also explain the low blood sugar symptoms I display every so often, perhaps? I have tried to consume more beans the last few days and it really seems to be helping. Today I feel great, very nearly normal in fact! I just wish I could do this with a little more consistently. *(that said, I want to stress that I feel extraordinarily better on LEAP, as these "attacks" occur with emphatically less frequency than before LEAP!)*So, I will keep noting all my little tidbits of food and symptoms and see if Jan can help me sort this all out. Thanks again and have fun (*snickersnicker*) on your business trip!







(I am soooooo glad my job requires exactly ZERO travelling!)


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## MALI (Jul 8, 2001)

Mike A Gemini! Es wohnen Ach zwei Seelen in meiner Brust! From the German, Two Souls live in a Gemini.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

Hi Winn Dixie: _______________________________________"still get the same symptom set every once in a while." _______________________________________Aha...The MD is correct in the sense that "the pain is related to the visceral hypersensitivity", but what does that phrase mean? It means something akin to "the pain is related to the crushed chest injury you suffered in the car wreck". Everyone understands that there IS "visceral hypersensitivity" and can even show the mechanism, as they can find abnormal immunocyte activity of various types which releases chemicals locally right there next to the nerves which will "upregulate" the nerves (an abnormal inflammatory response).BUT your statement strikes at the heart of the matter...it is not something that is there ALL THE TIME which means the "hypersensitivity" is not there all the time, it is episodic, and this is what sets apart practitioners who are rabid about not, for example, just saying "IBS is a functional disease with no identifiable physical defect". Everyone KNOWS that this is not true anymore. When you find a population of patients with all kinds of weird cellular activity in the small and large bowel, THATS NOT FUNCTIONAL...so on the flip side the search goes on for the "causal basis"...what CAUSES these weird reactions. The debate now has begun on the different possible CAUSES of these reactions....but the real key therapeutically while the academicians investigate "what makes the immunocytes misbehave" is clinically "what provokes this weird reaction".So in yuor case we have been able to isolate much of what provokes reactions within you which produce these symptoms...but still not everything.SINCE you have clarified that even when you remove these substances 100% as well you still get it "ONCE INA AWHILE" that's good BECAUSE1. the frequency is less than it used to be2. we know that there is eithera. still something you are ingesting which is triggering a reaction which results in this specific set of symptoms...and if that is so its like sonar....you may not know what is out there but when you hear the ping you know SOMETHING is there...just have to look at every possibility among what is leftb. you may be a patient who suffers this symptoms set in response to anxiety or anything which starts to increase your nervous system readiness for action...the normal episodic changes we all go through in life...c. could be both...one can be primary and the other secondary...both are possible. __________________________________"I don't stick with the 3 day rotation to the letter is because I know certain foods cause no symptoms (carrots, broccoli, most meats, potatoes, etc.) so I stick to them almost like a security blanket. Unfortunately that blanket can get holes in it if I over-do it, which I am very conscious of." _________________________________Sometimes we have to play daddy a bit. Benjamin Franklin once said "In the dark all cats are grey."







OOPS, sorry, wrong quote. Wait a minute.... oh yeah sorry.Benjamin Franklin said another time "Experience is a dear school and fools will learn no other way".So I reiterate for your consideration and that of others who are bound to undo themselves: one of the other characteristics which sets apart non-allergic food intolerances from ffod allergy is also that IF you are already someone who is prone, for whatever reason, to this "loss of oral tolerance" IF you do not take care to limit the amount and frequency of the foods you ingest that are safe at the time you are tested there is a HIGH PROBABILITY you will lose tolerance to more foods.I AM A WALKING TALKING LIVING EXAMPLE. Learn from my stupid mistakes. Even after all these years, or because of it, I became complacent and fell into the trap of just "avoiding my reactive foods" and got lazy, then 100% non-compliant with the rules of rotation. Especially with so much "going on" in my life, and being so busy and traveling and great adventures etc etc&#8230;until I started feeling cruddy again, very slowly, and started having episodes again!! After all this time&#8230;.so I retested myself and I basically had been eating chicken and corn and peas and some other things so often since they were unreactive, and I am not a wild pork and green bean fan, that chicken had become a full blown major reactive food! So is corn, and peas&#8230;.so no wonder I am feeling like "Mr IBS returns!" I lost my oral tolerance for the foods I overconsumed&#8230;.I mean which is easier? Fry up a chicken breast or shop for and prepare and cook some talapia? And chicken here is, what $2.99 a pound and talapia is $6.99 a pound? (I know, pork is cheap too but like I said I don't like pork patties!)So now, for the last 3 weeks, I am on a new diet of pork and fish and turkey and carrots and green beans and all the stuff I did not like that I slowly rationalized leaving out of my rotation so that eventually I was not rotating at all.







Can you imagine? MNL!! HOIST in his own pitard!!!You have (all) heard what I said, now (all) do as you wish.







MNLPSI know you are wondering....yes as soon as I changed diet again and stopped eating the chicken and corn and peas my symptoms went away again. Now my only symptom is a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the trip I leave on tomorrow...it was easy to eat on the road before....I could get quick chicken anywhere. Ever see a drive through "Pork strips" Happy meal?


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Hmm, drive thru pork? Acutally, wait, there is a place in my town that DOES have it! It's called teriyaki bowl and you can choose between pork, chicken, and beef over rice with the sauce on the side. I suspect my problem is milk. I have milk way too often because it is easy and it's always here even when I haven't done shopping for anything else. The food rotation thing does get a bit expensive (I am used to eating leftovers to use up what I already had cooked - I come from a large family and still cannot get used to cooking for only 2!) but I know I feel better when I do it. I sent Jan my food diary and I know she is going to bust me on milk and wheat.







I know my throat does that "closing up" feeling when I get stressed out or angry (i.e. PMS) but it doesn't tend to trigger chest pains on it's own. Having said that, I have triggered esoph. spasms by merely drinking a glass of water. I think my throat just doesn't want to be bothered, period. It's quite irritating! I even asked my old doctor if water can trigger heartburn because it always triggered mine. She said anything can trigger heartburn, it just depends on your system. You know what feels good going down for me? Soup. My yummmy homemade beef stew. I love it so I definately won't overdo that one. But water, hot or cold or lukewarm, triggers me half the time I gulp the stuff down. Right now I have PMS and drank some strong ginger tea. Now I have chest pains gallore! (well, at least I'm not nauseous!). Stress + spice = ouch (I gotta remember that formula)Well, I am off to cook my turkey stirfry. Haven't had it in a week so I know I'm safe.







Be well on your trip![and P.S.: I'm somehow encouraged by knowing that even THE GreatNL let himself slip; now I don't feel quite as bad about myself!]


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## bobby5832708 (May 30, 2000)

WD40,Thinking about how I've felt for the past few months I now realize that I've also had a few more nausea attacks than usual. This may be a good thing if I look at it in a somewhat 'distorted' way. When my guts first started acting up 31 years ago (at the age of 12), severe nausea was the main problem. Then, thru my teen years, the 'bottom half' started acting up and the 'top half' behaved itself. For most of my adult life I have had 'bottom half' problems and very rarely had any nausea or other stomach issues other than excessive acid which was easily covered up with Rolaids. Fast-forward to this year when I discovered the LEAP program. Most of the 'bottom end' issues have now been resolved and every once in a while I get some nausea for maybe a half day or so. It doesn't happen very often, maybe several times a month, but I can live with a day of nausea much easier than weeks of diarrhea and gut pains. I also don't have to take any antacid pills anymore because the offending foods have been eliminated from my diet. The reason I say the nausea might be a good thing in my case is maybe the IBS is regressing back to where it was when I was in my early teens. At this rate, the IBS might be almost gone in a couple of years (I can only wish!).One thing that I cannot do is miss meals. I have to eat at regular intervals and not try to stretch the time between breakfast and lunch. Almost every time I have eaten lunch at a much later time than I should have I pay for it! I have to eat breakfast about an hour after waking up, lunch no more than 4 hours later, a small snack in the afternoon, and then dinner at about 7. I've found it to be very important to keep to this schedule. I'm glad to see that you're feeling much better. Isn't this LEAP program great? It's a wonderful feeling to get your life back!Bob


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Bob, YES it's wonderful to have a life again, but therein lies the original topic of discussion - havoc! I now actually have a calendar of activities and can do favors for people and run around all over the place like I absolutely could NOT do before. So now, instead of having more daylight than I know what to do with (as an IBS homebody) I have to make sure my activities are not conflicting with each other....HAVOC!







(I'll take havoc with occasional queasies over heaving D, bloating, pain, extreme C, etc. any day!)


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

I sent Jan my food diary and I know she is going Glad the good havoc continues....but the residual symptom or two is always the toughest...if it wasn't it would have showe dup on one of the tests or been very repeatable on an oral challenge. BUT maybe it can be understood in the context of asthma, a condition linked surprisingly closely to d-type IBS.Oh but first __________________________________to bust me on milk and wheat. " ___________________________________Aha! You can rund from your dietician but never hide unless to falsify your dietary logs...but CHANGING BEHAVIORs that are so deeply ingrained, like what we eat which is about the deepst, is a process not a flick of a switch. Unlearning habits and adding new ones is not a road without potholes. _____________________________________"I know my throat does that "closing up" feeling when I get stressed out or angry (i.e. PMS) but it doesn't tend to trigger chest pains on it's own." ____________________________________A normal reaction of the collquial "flihg tor fight' response is this usually not perceived protective reaction.When it occurs to this degree chronically it is just confirmatory of a persistent exposure to something which has caused the upper airway to be ina constant state of "heightened tone"...or "twitchy" like and asthmatics airways. To wit: __________________________________"I have triggered esoph. spasms by merely drinking a glass of water. " _________________________________An asthmatic can trigger bronchospasm by just breathing...too deep, too dry, too cold, etc. as the airways may be ina state of constant irritation. Why? the person cannot avoid the allergen...it is something that cannot be fully avoided and they have a string reaction to it so this twitchiness is a result of the chemical mediators effects on the smooth muscle and nerves...exagerrated response.You show the same kind of thing in your upper airway and your esophagus.....some IBS patients can get diarrhea from eating anything, or drinking too much water...so this is foolishky interpreted by some as "see there is no such thing as food intolerance in IBS since ANYTHING can trigger the diarrhea...the exaggerated gastrocolonic reflex...". This is as thick as saying "see just bretahing can trigger bronchospasm in that asthmatic so it is not an allergy problem it is probably psychological, stress related..."This actually was believed at one time so firmly it was DOGMA!So the same thing goes here...the problem is to ISOLATE something....like getting the last Rice Krispie, this can be tricky. But there is something so it has to be looked for with ALL the tools in the box not just the hammer.MNLeven THE GreatNL let himself slip;


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

I am being more consistent now with the rotation and although I am still having the pain it does seem to be a bit less severe. I talked to my youngest brother today and he has to go in next month to get a stress test done because of chest pains he has been experiencing. His is normally on the left side of his chest and lasts only 5 or 10 minutes, but the last one lasted 2 hours so they did an EKG but found nothing. I told him my problem with chest pain and we both described the pain exactly the same way except that occasionally the pain goes both directions, left and right. The difference is that he has had hypertension (this kid is only 23!) and both sides of the family have a history of heart attacks at young ages (40-50 yrs old), whereas I only have it on my dad's side (we have different moms) and have always had unusually LOW blood pressure. I am curious to see what the stress test will show. He does not eat well and is as sedentary as I am, and often complains that he feels "grungy"-sort of queasy, tired a lot, stomachaches all the time. I wouldn't wish IBS or visceral hypersensitivity on anyone, but in this case we all hope that's what it is. He's way too young to be having heart disease.Anyway, somehow talking to him has strengthened my resolve to follow the LEAP protocol to the letter. If it turns out he has my same problem I can offer this program as a possible course of treatment, but only if I show absolutely positive results. Mike, what you said about asthma patients makes sense, but I've never heard anybody say asthma is a head case thing like they've said about IBS. Perhaps it's because I'm fairly young and the medical community is enlightened enough about asthma to see beyond that silly notion. I watched a local show called "Pulse" tonight and they did a piece on IBS. In the end they still made it sound like a problem dealing with stress!!! ARRRRRRRRGH! The only lady they interviewed has only been dealing with IBS for a couple of months and hasn't really dealt fully with the aggravation and frustration a long and extended life with IBS can cause, as if it is just a mild condition that we just have to learn to relax to deal with. Doh!


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## Julia37 (May 9, 2001)

Hey all,It's allergy season for me, and my inhalant allergies are worse than usual this year. One thing I noticed was I had more asthma and less sinus problems for about 2 weeks there. Sudafed wasn't strong enough and I had to switch to benadryl, luckily that worked.So I was having pains in my upper back and a few in my chest, and at first I thought I was tired or had pulled muscles, and then I realized it was from the asthma, inflammation, straining, etc.So that made me think of WD40's chest pain and wonder if hers is related to inhalant allegies and breathing. Just a thought...Then I started getting sinus symptoms again around last WEd. or Thurs, and I wished for the asthma instead because it was easier to get rid of - pop a benadryl and puff a primatene mist...On the other hand, I have more energy with sinus symptoms instead of asthma....(sigh) only 1 or 2 more weeks of this.


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Strange, but I just thought something like that yesterday. I was driving home from work and was looking at all the corn coming into harvest season pretty soon here. It was really windy and I was watching the corn plants get blown around and little bits and pieces floating around in the air. Since corn is in my reactive list I wondered to myself if all the corn particles in the air would affect me at all, 'cuz the stuff is everywhere right now.


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

________________________________"but I've never heard anybody say asthma is a head case thing like they've said about IBS. " _________________________________Remember I am an old Registered Respiratory Therapist so this is a history lesson, like discussing Joseph Priestly and "Deflogisticated air" ...like before anyone knew what oxygen was...so there was a time when asthma was considered psychological since you could observe symptoms observe the anxiety and stress response observe the worsening of symptoms but nobody had invented any invasive methods of studying the airways yet...so that dogma existed until someone did.So now people have invented ways of looking at the small bowel directly and the CNS indirectly and information pours from both ends...literally. _________________________________"...as if it is just a mild condition that we just have to learn to relax to deal with. Doh!" __________________________________Ignorance is bliss. ___________________________________"So that made me think of WD40's chest pain and wonder if hers is related to inhalant allegies and breathing. Just a thought..." ____________________________________Not bad...let's ask. hey Lube Spray, ever have a pulmonary function study done? What was the scoop? ____________________________________"Since corn is in my reactive list I wondered to myself if all the corn particles in the air would affect me at all, 'cuz the stuff is everywhere right now. " _____________________________________Since the method of replication is the seed kernel and this is where the antigenic material is I am off the cuff inclined to think that pieces of stalk even if inhaled are not likely to have any effect...maybe if one had an actual IgE allergy...???....is corn stalk effluvia antigenic????.....corn silk?....Beats Me Wheezer, as Spanky would have said.I have to ask about this. Where is my immunologist when I need him? MNL


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Nope, never had any part of my breathing apparatus checked out. I don't have asthma, but interestingly enough, as an athlete in school I could not play soccer or track because long distances made me wheeze. I could sprint up and down a basketball court all day and run out a triple on the diamond with ease, but couldn't do distances to save my life. It wasn't a stamina thing because it wasn't that my muscles couldn't go anymore, it was that I felt like I couldn't get any oxygen into my lungs. Hmmmm.....







Now, I do remember that as a child I was constantly getting EKG's done to check out my heart murmur, but as I grew up it never seemed to create a big problem for me. But, now I'm thinking the heart murmur prevented me somehow from getting the oxygen into my system to be able to do anything long distance. Any thoughts?


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

LUBE!







I just spent 45 MINUTES to compose and post a nice long detailed explanation about your symptoms suggestive of of stress induced asthma, the relationship between the gut immune system and the pulmonary immune system, Stefaninis early and compelleing work with cromolyn sodium in IBS patients, still roundly ignored in the US "IBS experts" community, and even some abstracts for you.APPARENTLY if there is a [greater than or less than symbol] within the text anywhere, as is typical when describing statistics in studies this system kills your post as this seen is "html code" in the text which is verboten. It does not even let you use the back button to fix it, it DUMPS your whole post and when you go BACk you get a white screen staring you in the puss!Expletives flowing now....DOUBLE














Anyway I gotta go so from what I just wrote you may infer what I may have said about your symptoms, and here is one of the abstracts you should find interesting and I think I got out all the statistical symbols this syetme does not like: ______________________________Am J Gastroenterol 2001 May;96(5):1511-6 Respiratory symptoms and pulmonary functional changes in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Yazar A, Atis S, Konca K, Pata C, Akbay E, Calikoglu M, Hafta A. Department of Internal Medicine, Mersin University Faculty of Medicine, Turkey. OBJECTIVE: Scientific evidence of functional interface between the immune and sensory motor systems of the gut and respiratory systems has been reported. In recent studies excess prevalence of bronchial hyper-responsiveness has been shown among patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The purpose of our study was to investigate the possible relationship between IBS and asthma. METHODS: One hundred thirty-three patients with IBS (108 women, 25 men) and 137 control subjects (105 women, 32 men) were included in this study. Both for IBS and the control group, the mean ages were 41.64+/-9.45 yr and 39.94+/-10.62 yr, respectively. Patients more than 50 yr old, with any organic GI disease, acute respiratory system infection, current or ex-smokers, and patients using drugs affecting smooth muscle and autonomic nervous system were not included in the study. Respiratory symptoms were questioned and pulmonary function tests were performed for every subject. RESULTS: There were 45 (33.8%) and eight (5.8%) subjects with respiratory symptoms in IBS and control groups, respectively (p less than 0.0001). Twenty-one (15.8%) patients from the IBS group and two (1.45%) patients from the control group had the diagnosis of asthma according to history, clinical, and PFT findings. There was no statistical difference between two groups with respect to percentage of forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 s-to-forced vital capacity. The difference between the two groups in forced expiratory volume in 1 s, flow after 50% of the vital capacity has been exhaled, peak expiratory flow rate, and maximal mid-expiratory flow rate was statistically significant (p less than 0.01). CONCLUSION: We found that the prevalence of asthma was more common in the IBS group than in controls. Our finding supports the speculation that asthma and IBS may share common pathophysiological processes. PMID: 11374691


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## WD40 (Jun 7, 1999)

Very interesting! Yesterday we took a couple loads of old fenceboards to the dump, and I don't know if it was all the old dust and spider webs or the physical exertion (which was really quite minimal) but I felt like I couldn't get enough air into my lungs, almost like they didn't want to expand or something. True I am still out of shape but I've exerted myself physically far worse than that with no problems. I think it was all the dust because where my arms made contact with falling debris I got very itchy and had to wash my arms off. My paternal grandmother has had bad asthma her whole life, my father and one of his brothers have had heartburn for years, my grandfather had ulcers - so perhaps some of my problems are hereditary?


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

There is dta to suggest that one would be "predisposed", as opposed to people with no familial history.MNL


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## Julia37 (May 9, 2001)

Mike,Funny I was just thinking about this HTML problem, I remember when it happened to you before. I use the greater, less, and not equal signs in the code for my database.Maybe next time you could write out the words greater than, less than, not equal - or you could use the programming code for not equal which is "!=". A fast way to change something already written would be to open it in Word and use Edit->Replace and replace all the HTML signs at once. Then you could save that version to post again in the future.The things we do for techology, eh?


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

yeah that is what I do when I have the time to be attentive to what the hell I am doing.







Do it in the word processor so we can find thsoe little signs and even those typos I so rarely make.But usually I am just doing this on the fly and going "direct to master" (like in video post-production..do an offline first? moi? who has TIME for that..lets just edit straight to master...and hope the 6 eyes in the room are enough!)I DO have to remember to be more careful when it comes to including abstracts, though.MNL


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## Jan LEAP RD (May 19, 2002)

WD40 wrote: >>I was driving home from work and was looking at all the corn coming into harvest season pretty soon here. It was really windy and I was watching the corn plants get blown around and little bits and pieces floating around in the air. Since corn is in my reactive list I wondered to myself if all the corn particles in the air would affect me at all, 'cuz the stuff is everywhere right now.>>This is interesting to me, and I'd suspect that YES, it could be an issue.My personal story: Years ago I had an old boyfriend that (probably guilt ridden) would give me a dozen roses a few times a year. On time, (maybe the 6th dozen or so) they were on my desk at work. Little buds and I was fine. When they opened up full I started having classic hay fever symptoms, with sneezing, itchy eyes, stuffy nose, etc. (This was the first time in my life I EVER had these symptoms.)Well, I learned not to get too close for too long, and never had problems after (included breaking up as well which was for the best).Well, 10 or so years later, I started having ear problems. Every time I flew, my ears would plug up upon landing. They wouldn't 'clear.' They would hurt. The next day, still in pain, I'd go to my doc. . . she'd say it was an infection. I'd go on antibiotics and be fine until the next time I flew. Now, I knew something must have changed in my life, because I flew for years with NO problems.Well, I got lucky. A middle Eastern friend invited me to dinner. She served a cookie at the end of the meal made with rose water. I admired the interesting flavor, so she gave me half a bottle of rose water to take home with me. I started using it in my pancakes, muffins, french toast or whatever, in place of vanilla. One night, after a meal, I noticed my ears itching more, as they had been for a few weeks. . . same thing next morning eating leftovers. Suddenly it dawned on me, IT'S THE ROSE WATER BUGGING MY EARS AT THE MOMENT!!! And, guess what? I'd been taking a particular brand of Vitamin C with ROSE HIPS for a couple years! Plus, drinking some herbal teas, with ROSE HIPS!I eliminated the supplement, the rose water, the herbal teas. . . all rose products. Guess what, the itchiness STOPPED, and the next time I flew I had NO EAR PROBLEMS/PAIN. EUREKA!!




























INHALING rose gives my hay fever symptoms.EATING rose products gets my ears (plugs up my eustation tube, mildly. . .)So, maybe inhalant corn is a problem.Just my observations!Check it out! We learn to 'play' FOOD DETECTIVE, but sometimes it's "Symptom Detective"


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

LOL: ___________________________________"...I noticed my ears itching more..." ___________________________________One of the truly amzing things about food and chemical hypersensitivity, which in the bgeinning of my conversion-to-the-faith I resisted bitterly was that this was one of the symptoms: itchy ears and even increased frequency of otitis media in kids.I shake my head still at how often this symptom is reported, and disappears, with dietary modification.Also, though a rank amateur on the subject, I would suspect that a person who reacts in the fashion described must have an IgE-related allergy to that substance. It is hard to envisoin any of the other mechanisms I have had explained to me being suspiciod for this.off to Tampa







MNL


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