Antidepressants Blog

Garry graduated from university as a solicitor believing he had found his chosen vocation. Before going away for an after-exam holiday, he secured a junior position with a large firm of solicitors in the city. Returning from his break, tanned, relaxed and fresh he couldn’t believe how badly he felt after his first week’s work. Putting it down to a readjustment to work syndrome, he didn’t pay much attention to it, believing it would soon abate as he settled in. This settling in period took about nine months and he was beginning to doubt whether law was really what he wanted to spend his life doing. On arriving at work he’d feel tired, make silly mistakes, experience erratic mood swings, forget things, get depressed, have trouble paying attention to what clients were saying and feel sleepy all afternoon if he had wine at business lunches. He thought it must be the job that was the problem because on the weekends he felt great. Stacks of energy, mentally on the ball, no headaches and no drowsiness after alcohol.

In time the long awaited settling in process was over. He found he was coping much better at work. So much so, in feet, he didn’t mind working back at night and even popping in on Saturday or Sunday morning to do a bit more. Working was now giving him a buzz; it was mentally stimulating. After a few years he realised he had become a workaholic, when during his summer vacation he kept wanting to go into work. The fact was he couldn’t relax at home. Home made him edgy, headachy, tired, bored, listless. Even escaping to his parent’s beach house with his girlfriend didn’t help. Being at work gave him mental stimulation, it gave him energy and enthusiasm, he felt optimistic and confident while there. Being away from work made him feel as bad as when he first started going to the office.

Although Garry felt much better at work, there was one thing that bothered him. Since starting work he had developed a stuffy, itchy nose and regular sore throats which, although not as bad as when he first started work, were still persisting. His girlfriend persuaded him to see me. That summer he had trouble relaxing as his nose was so blocked not even swimming in the surf would clear it.

To cut a long story short, I eventually persuaded Garry to take me into his office one weekend and sure enough, one whiff of the place said it all. That suffocating smell of synthetic carpet, synthetic upholstery, synthetic curtains, plastic-covered and synthetic-wood desks pervaded the place. The synthetic carpet still smelt as new as the day it was laid as the air in the building was recycled through the air conditioner. All the windows were sealed. Hardly a breath of fresh air had been through that room since the building was completed. In short, the building was sick. And smelt it.

Garry’s plight was obvious. He’d started off reacting vigorously to the chemically toxic environment, had adapted to it and then went into withdrawals while away from it on weekends and vacations.

Going on the Metabolism-Balancing Program reduced the intensity of his withdrawal symptoms on the weekend. He didn’t show up allergic to any foods which was fortunate as many people in his position show up allergic to those foods with preservatives, flavourings and colourings that are chemically related to the environmental toxins they are inhaling. I don’t doubt that if he had stayed in his place of work long enough, spin-off food sensitivities would have developed from the over-exposure to the ambient air chemicals he was breathing each day.

Garry saw the light immediately and sorted out his priorities very quickly. He is now working in his own small practice in one of the northern beach suburbs of Sydney where he can open the window of his office to fresh air. His office has slate floors and is lined with wood panels (real wood). All upholstery is leather, and wool and cotton covered in some eases. The office is not air-conditioned and plastic has been limited to pens and a few other essentials.

After going through the initial withdrawal symptoms, which knocked him around for a short while, Garry hasn’t looked back. He claims he hasn’t had a day’s illness since he moved and he’s happy working a forty hour week.

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The tendency to react allergically is passed on in the genes from parent to child. In some children this tendency is obvious right from birth. These kids are born with such typical allergy symptoms as asthma, allergic rhinitis, colic, hayfever, hives, rosacea, infantile eczema, runny nose or glue ear.

In others the tendency remains dormant only to be activated some time in childhood or adult life due to:

• the over-consumption of refined junk food, such as lollies, cakes, tinned foods, ice-cream, soft drinks, biscuits, white bread, chocolates, alcohol, etc.;

• stress—the major one being a deficiency in the essential nutrients;

• the consumption of solid foods before the age of ten months;

• Candida albicans yeast infection;

• over-exposure to environmental factors—mainly pollutants.

Because you probably won’t know whether you have a genetic predisposition to allergy it won’t pay to press your luck by eating junk foods. Junk foods are themselves a major stress to the body and also feed Candida yeast infections. Junk food consumption should be kept to a minimum, no more than 3-5 per cent of the total food intake.

A complete multi-vitamin and mineral supplement (one which contains the six essential minerals—calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, manganese and zinc, plus hydrochloric acid to facilitate absorption) should be taken once per day before the main meal to ensure optimum nutrition.

There are those people who eat a lot of junk food all their lives, don’t supplement their diet with vitamins and minerals and yet don’t develop allergies. These individuals don’t carry the predisposition to allergy in their genes. They are usually symptom free (thought often tired and lethargic) until later in life, when such c li generative diseases as heart attacks, ME, multiple sclerosis and cancer catch up with them. In a way, the allergy sufferers are luckier as they get early warning symptoms that something is wrong and have the chance to balance their metabolism before a serious disease develops.

Finally there is no such thing as a specific allergen always causing a specific reaction. For example, strawberries causing hives only or eggs causing migraines only.

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For many of us, our first massive over-exposure to an allergenic substance comes when we are babies. The substance is usually food. Up until the age of ten months the cells lining the wall of our intestines are still so under-developed that they are not able to absorb foods selectively. As a result, all foods are absorbed rapidly. This is the way nature has planned it. Up until that age we are supposed to be on mother’s milk exclusively and absorbing from it, not only nutrients, but her antibodies as well.

As antibodies are whole proteins and very large in size it is important that the intestinal cells be under-developed. Otherwise the antibodies would be too large to pass from the digestive tract into the blood. The passage of the mother’s antibodies to the child in this way is called passive immunity and is important for the development of the child’s resistance to disease.

Problems begin when solid foods such as eggs, meat, fish, chicken, cows milk and cheese are eaten before the cells of the intestine are fully developed. Because the baby’s intestinal cells are under-developed, proteins from these foods are absorbed into the blood. The proteins are not broken down into amino acids because the baby’s pancreas is not yet sufficiently developed to produce the digestive enzymes needed to do this.

Amino acids are the result of fully digested protein and don’t elicit allergic reactions in the blood. Whole proteins, on the other hand, are undigested foods and do bring about allergic reactions. Undigested food proteins are allergens.

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AllergiesHistamine is a chemical that is released by the white blood cells (basophils), the blood platelets and the mast cells in that area of the body that a foreign substance is residing. Histamine’s job is to dilate the blood vessels so that extra lymphocytes can arrive quickly on the scene, and speed up the metabolic rate of all the cells in the area, that they may have the energy to protect themselves from and, in the case of lymphocytes, defeat the foreign body (virus, bacteria, fungus, etc.). In this way histamine acts as a normal part of the immune reaction and is vital if we are to survive invasion by infectious agents. Normal amounts of histamine dilate the blood vessels only as much as is needed to supply the required number of lymphocytes to do the job. The arrival of the extra lymphocytes, the dilation of the blood vessels and the increased metabolic rate of the cells in the area, produces only a mild inflammation which, for the main part, goes unnoticed.

If too much histamine is released there is an excessive inflammatory reaction that leads to tissue damage. In these circumstances the immune mechanisms are protecting us at the cost of tissue damage and excessive inflammation (swelling, redness, pain).

Allergic reactions take place in those people whose immune systems habitually over-react to certain antigens. Any antigen that causes such an over-reaction of the immune system is known as an allergen. However individual and different allergic people may be, they all have one thing in common: an immune system that over-reacts to antigens/allergens, such as foods, grasses, pollens, moulds, dust mites, dust, that are normally not life threatening.

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Justin suffering from severe conjunctivitis leading to blindness. Allergic to barley, lamb, airborne moulds, house dust, dust mites and grasses.

Justin’s story has been included at the request of his mother who is determined that no other mother should experience the heartache and anguish of the possibility of losing a child to blindness. Because Justin’s story was still unfolding it was not written until the day before the 1988 edition of this book went to print.

It was after one of my many public seminars on how to cure allergies that I first met Justin. After question time, while I was packing up to leave, Robyn approached me with a little boy who was wearing dark glasses. At first glance I thought she was going to ask me about her swollen red eyes that looked allergic. As she got closer I could see she had been crying and when she spoke there was great anguish in her voice.

They say my little boy will be blind in twelve months and I can’t accept that,’ she said. ‘After listening to your talk tonight I can see that I was right all along. You don’t have to learn to live with allergies and surrender to dangerous drugs.’

Robyn took Justin’s sunglasses off to reveal the worst case of conjunctivitis I’d ever seen. He looked as though he’d been beaten up. His eyes were black and blue with streaks of red where he had been scratching. They were so swollen they were almost closed. Only the narrowest of slits still remained and they were partly covered with the goo that was oozing out of his inflamed eyes.

Robyn went on to tell me that the eyes had become suddenly inflamed three years ago and that the doctor had diagnosed Justin as being severely allergic. Many drugs had been tried in a vain effort to reduce the allergic inflammation of Justin’s eyes. As a last resort the doctor prescribed the cortisone drugs Maxidex and Predsol claiming they were to be administered as drops into Justin’s eyes each day. The doctor was quite concerned about the side effects of the drugs (prolonged use of them causes cataracts and eventually blindness). Despite this he insisted that cortisone was the only treatment medical science had that would reduce the inflammation enough for Justin to be able to open his eyes and that he and Robyn had no choice but to accept the inevitability of Justin’s eventual blindness. So concerned was the doctor over Justin’s prospects that he referred him to a professor in Sydney in the hope that more could be done for him. The professor was taken aback by the severity of Justin’s condition and would always have colleagues and students there to observe Justin at each visit. To use Robyn’s expression, ‘the professor would beat around the bush and not give me any straight answers.’ He told her to continue with the cortisone drugs and was very vague when questioned about their side effects. He just didn’t want to talk about them.

Justin began making regular trips down to Sydney to see the professor and each time he would chastise Robyn for taking Justin to homeopaths, herbalists and nutritionists. Robyn, for her part, refused to give in and wasted no time telling the professor she was going to try everything before she accepted the fate of Justin’s blindness. Deep down she knew there was an answer.

Not long after, while sweeping out her laundry, she noticed, by chance, an advertisement for one of my free public seminars on ‘Your allergies can be cured’. She saw it on the sheet of newspaper she was using to wrap up the sweepings from the laundry floor.

Grasping at straws but determined not to accept defeat she made it to the seminar to hear what she described as ‘common-sense on this subject for the first time’. She told me later that on hearing of the effects dietary change could have on curing allergies she realised Justin was going to be OK and that the sense of relief was so overwhelming she had trouble containing her emotions.

Robyn brought Justin to see me within a day or two of the talk. He was tested and showed up to be allergic to barley, lamb, malt and airborne moulds, which meant he had to go off all mould- and yeast-containing foods (see ‘Food tables’ at the back of the book). He was also allergic to house dust, dust mites, and grasses, particularly rye grass, which meant he couldn’t eat rye bread or Ryvita. Because Robyn had a history of vaginal thrush while carrying Justin and because he had oral thrush as a baby he was treated for Candida albicans yeast infection as well.

On the combined Anti-Candida/Anti-Allergy Program and Nystatin, Lactobacillus acidophilus capsules and a complete multivitamin and mineral formula supplement containing the six essential minerals—calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc and manganese—to build up his damaged eye tissue he made a remarkable recovery. Within a week of being on the program he was off the cortisone as his eyes were 50 per cent better. He is now 70-80 per cent better depending on how tired he is and whether or not there is a strong, dry westerly wind blowing the rye grass in from the grazing lands. He has not used the cortisone since being on the program and hardly ever needs to rub his eyes. Justin is a good example of how changes in diet can reduce one’s sensitivity to airborne and inhalant allergies as he’s able to play on newly mown grass and in the bush without any flare-ups of his condition.

Justin is still waiting on delivery of the dust mite cover for his pillow and mattress. This will improve his condition further as at present the dust mites that live in his pillow by day and come out to feed on his skin at night are gaining entry to his eyes and perpetuating the inflammation there.

The damage the cortisone has done to Justin’s eyes is also contributing to the present plateau in his rate of improvement. It will take some time to replace the collagen, elastin and delicate eye tissues destroyed by the cortisone. Fortunately, the vitamin and mineral formula will speed up this process of tissue regrowth.

On last contact with Robyn she remarked how much stronger and healthier his eyes are becoming with each passing month. Whether Justin becomes 100 per cent symptom free is hard to say as it’s difficult to accurately assess how much damage the cortisone has done to the delicate eye tissue. Even if he never progresses beyond 80 per cent improvement, he’s as good as cured as his eyes no longer hold him back and he’s now functioning on all levels without the use of drugs. He is now able to plan a future without the limitations of blindness and has the opportunity and freedom to be whatever he wants to be.

The thing that impresses me most about Justin is that he’s as dedicated to the program as Robyn. He exhibits great self-discipline for one so young and will not break the program for anything. He refuses’ all junk food, stays away from the school canteen, doesn’t swap lunches with the other kids and takes his own special food to birthday parties. He doesn’t succumb to the pressure of well-meaning adults who offer him foods that are contrary to his program. The words, ‘Oh, come on. Surely a little bit won’t hurt you,’ leave him unmoved. Fie and Robyn cope brilliantly with the whingers and knockers who ‘pooh-pooh’ the program despite the dramatic improvement they see in Justin’s condition. It seems to me that Justin’s potential tragedy is building great strength of character that will stand him in good stead in adulthood.

Although Justin is not completely out of the woods yet he is well on the way. He still gets the odd headache, stuffy nose and itchy eyes, usually when he’s hungry and fighting with his sister. Such emotional upheaval causes neurokinin to be released into the skin and mucous membranes of his eyes, head and nose and this inflames the delicate tissues there (see section on acne in Chapter 6 for more information on neurokinin).

POSTSCRIPT—1990

Justin made a 100 per cent recovery. The cortisone-damaged tissues completely repaired themselves and he was free of all his symptoms. He stayed on all his supplements during the food reintroduction process. Happily he had lost his sensitivity to all the foods he was previously allergic to. Now that he was back on the Metabolism-Balancing Program (with no more than 5 per cent junk food) I asked him to stay on the supplements. I explained to him that I was worried his resistance may drop if he went off them and he agreed to co-operate.

For fifteen months everything was fine. Justin was eating what he liked and there was no sign of his symptoms returning. It was about this time that he rebelled against taking the supplements. Without warning he put his foot down and refused to take any more. Slowly but surely his symptoms began to return though not to their previous degree of intensity. As distressed as she is Robyn can’t get through to him and this is the way it’ll be for a little while. Justin has reached that pre-pubescent stage that many boys go through when the male sex hormone testosterone hits the bloodstream for the first time. They lose their niceness and if they don’t have an adult male around to keep them in line can become stroppy and rebellious.

All that can be done now is to wait for him to settle down. I’ve learned that pushing kids who are in this life phase is the wrong way to go. They’ve got to come around in their own time. Justin knows what has to be done to regain his health and when he’s sick of being sick he’ll do it. Only this time it will be his idea and his decision. Right now he’s preoccupied with the important task of developing and advertising his individuality. When the novelty wears off he’ll go back onto the Metabolism-Balancing Program and supplements. I’ve seen this happen many times and have no doubt it will happen in Justin’s case too.

UPDATE—1995

Justin’s eyes, for the main part, are good. Since 1990, he put himself back on the supplements for a while and his eyes cleared up completely. Now that he’s left school, his old routine has been broken by his new work environment, friends and freedoms. As a result, he’s forgetting to take his supplements. For the main part he’s OK, but if he binges on junk food, his eyes flare up, though not as badly as before. Only time will tell how Justin’s saga ends, though for my part I’m confident the ending will be a happy one.

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