Optimal Health

Food allergies can be sudden. Most patients who come to me complaining of allergies have never experienced them before. They come in disbelief, thinking it must be something more serious. But in reality, food allergies are one of the most common causes of many health problems.

Symptoms can range from fuzzy thinking, fatigue, upset stomach, neck pain, headaches, pains in the stomach area, diarrhea, burning pains, skin rashes, eczema, asthma, difficult breathing and even fainting. Testing for food allergies can be expensive; many patients believe they have severe Candida, or parasites, which may in fact be the case. But the least expensive way of dealing with the problem is to choose to just eliminate the more common foods which can cause an allergy.

The most common foods which cause the symptoms are nuts, and especially peanuts, eggs, milk and milk products, shellfish, wheat, gluten containing products, soy, chocolate, and some fish.

Eliminating these foods for about 60 days and adding specific, targeted nutritional supplements, will often take care of the problems. Often the patient can eat the problem foods, once the allergy symptoms are gone. What we have found is that adding in the problem foods on a rotational basis will usually be fine, and not re-create the symptoms. But first you must eliminate the food completely, for about 60 days, in order to re-build your digestive and immune systems.

Some of the supplements which work well are herbal anti-histamines, digestive enzymes, pro-biotics, Chinese herbs to build and strengthen digestion, and other herbs and supplements targeted to increase overall health and energy.

We have found that it’s important for patients to ask questions when eating out, to determine the ingredients in the foods. Also it’s important to read food labels carefully, and to learn “code” words for certain ingredients, which may contain harmful derivatives of the problem food. In any case, it’s a great idea to start reading labels of the foods you eat, and to ask to see the packaging list of ingredients used in fast foods.

Testing is available for those who like the more scientific approach, including saliva tests, blood tests, and stool tests, but these are expensive and often unnecessary, if the patient is willing to just stop eating the problem foods without testing. But the good thing about testing is that you can really see, in black and white, the changes in the tests over time, as your body recovers.

Today, I received an email from a patient who I am treating for anxiety and depression, as well as for heart palpitations and irritable bowel syndrome.   Something she had not mentioned during my initial consultation with her was that she also had toenail fungus.

Her email today said she had seen a podiatrist in the morning and he was wanting to have her start using a topical ointment on the toenail fungus.   She was writing to me and asking me for guidance on whether to use it or not.

This was my response:

While I would love to be able to predict the future and say with certainty what you should do, in fact, there is no way to know to what extent the ointment will interfere or not interfere with your homeopathic treatments.   This is because the human body is very complex and complicated.

I know many homeopaths who would not treat you homeopathically if you used any topical ointments at all.

But I am not that traditional, nor rigid in my style of homeopathic medicine.

I always work with each patient and let them decide based on their own treatment goals.  In other words, questions you must ask are:

*how bad is the fungus;

*am I willing to risk that the homoepathic remedy will work less because of the use of the topical ointment;

I suggested that she read more about homeopathy on her own so that she can answer the question herself.

In theory, if you suppress symptoms with topical ointments you won’t have the same accurate barometer of how you are really doing.   In other words, how will we know if she is getting better, if she eradicates the symptoms she has with ointments?

I have had quite a few patients who had nail fungus.  Some of them who stayed with me long enough found that as their overall health improved, the nail fungus also went away also!

According to theory, to use a topical ointment will drive the imbalance inside to the deeper more emotional or serious levels.   In other words, using homeopathy, we always want to push the symptoms outward, and not drive them back inwards.

Any fungus is an indication of a systemic weakness.   If it grows on you it’s because you are a suitable host, and the object is to build your immunity and to make you unsuitable for fungus to grow on you at all.

So it is just a matter of how urgent this is to you!   If this is really important, then you should use the topical ointment.  If it’s not a big priority, than allow time to balance the system out and see how well the homeopathic treatment will work in the longer run.

You can do a search on my archives on my website for my articles on warts and moles.   I have written a few articles on that subject.  The theory is pretty much the same.

Either way, whatever you decide, I support your decision.  I do not believe there is one answer for everyone, nor that I know the right answer.  Again, the body is very complex, and the degree of interaction between natural medicine and Western medicine is not fully known.  We are only beginning to explore the compatibilities and to determine how best to integrate all types of medicine into a holistic framework.