Natural Health and Herbal Remedies Blog

Water

Water allergy (aquagenic urticaria) is extremely rare. Water of any temperature touches off itching and spotty hives. And like allergy to cold or emotional triggers, histamine release seems the basic mechanism at work. In one of the few cases studied, oral doses of hydroxyzine (an antihistamine) three times a day for one week effectively blocked the reaction to water.

Emotions

As a schoolgirl in Sweden, actress Ingrid Bergman was so shy that she used to break out when she had to recite in class. Her fingers swelled so badly she couldn’t bend them. Her lips and eyelids swelled, too. The doctor said Ingrid was allergic to shyness. Fortunately for Ingrid and the film world, drama school eventually cured her. But her case is a good example of how we can be allergic to strong emotions.

Emotionally stimulated allergy may be triggered not only by shyness, but also anxiety, anger, fear, embarrassment – any emotion that prompts an increase in body temperature.

Sperm

A few women have been surprised to learn that they’ve suddenly become allergic to their partner’s sperm. One woman experienced anaphylaxis while having sex with her husband -an extraordinary response by anyone’s standards. Skin tests confirmed that her husband’s sperm was provoking allergic antibodies. The woman’s doctors were able to desensitize her in much the same way they desensitize other individuals against pollen. She and her husband were able to resume their love life safely (Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology). ”

Condoms

Snicker if you will, but dermatitis from condoms isn’t all that rare. A reaction usually begins with a swelling of the foreskin, which may spread to the shaft, scrotum and inner thighs. In most men, the allergy is to rubber – in which case they’ve probably had other unpleasant brushes with rubber in clothing or other articles. Switching to another brand of condom may help.

‘Some men have found by trial and error that only certain brands of rubber condoms produced reactions, while others were well tolerated,’ writes Dr Alexander A. Fisher (Contact Dermatitis, Lea and Febiger).

Occasionally, the problem isn’t the rubber itself but a powder or lubricant it bears. Try a plain, untreated product. Otherwise, some rubber-sensitive men may have to switch to the original, old-fashioned condoms made from sheep’s intestine.

And of course, a partner’s condom should be suspected as a possible cause of an unexplained rash or other inflammation on the vulva or inner thighs of a woman, even if her partner isn’t allergic to the device.

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One out of five people (most of them women) get migraine headaches. A single attack can last a few hours to a few days, and attacks can strike three times a year – or three times a week. All too often, nausea accompanies a migraine, earning it the nickname ‘sick headache’.

If you’re a person whose life has been bedeviled by migraine, you’ve probably been searching for a solution. And you may have suspected that a food or beverage is somehow responsible for those painful episodes. You could be on the right track.

The notion that a food in the stomach causes a pain in the head isn’t new. Hippocrates, the Greek ‘father of medicine’, noted a connection between food and migraine. And modern research confirms his observation: a survey of 1,883 migraine sufferers in Great Britain found that 95 per cent of the attacks suffered over a three-month period were caused by diet (Headache).

Acting on this and other findings, the link between food allergy and migraine was investigated in a two-year study of thirty-three migraine sufferers by Jonathan Brostoff and co-researchers at the Department of Immunology, Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London. Both RAST tests and follow-up food tests strongly suggested that many of these people had food allergies. They were then treated with elimination diets and food rotation – and responded well.

‘In the twenty-three patients who were sensitive to certain foods, elimination of those foods from the diet resulted in relief (complete in most cases) from migraine,’ report the researchers. The most common migraine triggers in this study were milk, eggs, wheat, chocolate, oranges and tea.

‘We have shown that food allergy is important in some [migraine sufferers],’ conclude the authors. ‘Patients were allergic to more than one food – usually three – and on elimination of these foods from the diet many patients became symptom-free for the first time in several years’ (Lancet).

Ellen Ñ G. Grant, a neurologist at Charing Cross Hospital in London, also investigated the dietary factor in headaches in sixty migraine sufferers. The people studied had reactions to an average of ten foods each, the most common offenders being wheat, oranges, eggs, tea, coffee, chocolate, milk, beef, corn, cane sugar and yeast (much as in Dr Brostoff’s study). When those foods were avoided, all the patients improved, with a dramatic drop in the number of headaches per month. Dr Grant speculates that the few patients who continued to have occasional migraines were sensitive to tobacco smoke, gas or other environmental factors (Lancet).

Yet another researcher, Dr Edda Hanington, of the City of London Migraine Clinic, has noted that certain foods seem to have a distinct knack for triggering migraine. In addition to the foods noted by Drs Brostoff and Grant, Dr Hanington lists alcoholic beverages; fried, fatty food; onions; meat, especially pork; and seafood as prime offenders.

Many of those foods contain tyramines and other histamine-like substances. Some migraine researchers theorize that these substances cause the blood vessels in your head to swell, triggering a migraine. (Tyramines are also found in aged, fermented or pickled foods, such as strong cheese, red wine and pickled herring.)

Dr Hanington has also found that tartrazine (El02), a common additive in foods, beverages and medicines, can provoke migraine. So can sodium nitrite and monosodium glutamate, found in cured meats and some processed foods respectively.

Despite the work of Drs Brostoff, Grant, Hanington and others, the role of allergy in migraine remains controversial -there’s some disagreement as to whether these reactions can be considered allergic in the strict sense. Regardless of the mechanism involved, however, food-induced migraine should be handled like any other food-induced reaction: by careful observation and avoidance.

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Hay fever is like a cold without germs. When you breathe something you’re allergic to, histamine and other allergy-producing chemicals are released and the membranes of your nose and respiratory tract immediately become inflamed, swollen and soggy. The results? A runny nose. Itchy, watery, puffy, tired eyes. Constant bouts of uncontrollable sneezing. Sometimes this discomfort can leave you so irritable, headachy and tired that you don’t feel like doing much of anything. At night, sneezing fits interrupt your sleep. And you share your misery with about 3 million other Britons.

Hay fever (doctors call it allergic rhinitis) is more than a nuisance, however. Uncontrolled, it can lead to migraine headaches, sinus infection or hearing loss. You can’t just let it take its course.

Antihistamine drugs alleviate hay fever – but they leave most people too groggy to think straight. In small children and older people, antihistamines have the opposite effect, leaving people restless and unable to sleep. And after a while, antihistamines lose their effectiveness – you need to take more and more to get the same level of relief. Clearly, drugs aren’t the solution.

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Most bedwetters grow out of the problem after age three. But some don’t. And when physical causes such as a urinary tract defect or a chronic infection have been ruled out, the situation becomes emotionally trying for parents and child alike. In fact, 99 per cent of these children continue to wet the bed indefinitely, in spite of strategies such as denying them fluids in the evening or strapping moisture-sensitive buzzers to the mattress.

In the 1920s and 1930s, a few doctors discovered that some bedwetters lost urinary control after they ate particular foods, but had perfect control when they avoided them. Unfortunately for millions of bedwetting children since then, those observations went largely unnoticed for decades. Then in 1957, a scientific study once again showed that avoiding certain foods meant no more bedwetting for many youngsters.

A closer look at those children showed they had ‘oedematous’ (fluid-filled) bladder tissues, much like the swollen nasal tissues in a person with hay fever. A swollen bladder is a smaller bladder; it can’t stretch to hold the amount of urine it should. And if the sphincter muscle controlling flow out of the bladder is also swollen, the problem is compounded: the muscle tires more easily and cannot close tightly enough to hold back urine, especially when the person is asleep and relaxed. The result is overnight ‘accidents’. When food allergens are avoided, the swelling subsides and the bladder can hold urine during sleep.

‘Control of food allergy is effective in curbing bedwetting in four out of five patients,’ says Dr James Ñ Breneman, chairman of the Food Allergy Committee of The American College of

Allergists. He bases that assertion on a study of 400 bedwetters whose loss of urinary control could not be explained by physical problems other than allergy. Cow’s milk was the most common offender, followed by wheat, egg, corn, chocolate and pork (Basics of Food Allergy, Charles C. Thomas).

Dr Breneman suggests keeping a detailed diary of diet and night-time accidents to help identify foods at fault in bedwetting.

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Zinc is a key nutrient in skin health. When combined with vitamins A, D and E, plus essential fatty acids, zinc can help speed healing of eczema, one of the most common forms of allergy. Dr Jonathan V. Wright, of Kent, Washington, has used zinc-centered therapy successfully in over forty people.

Basically, zinc therapy begins at 50 milligrams, three times a day, combined with 1,000 milligrams of vitamin Ñ twice a day. During acute flare-up a tablespoon of cod liver oil (containing vitamins A, D and E) is added. After the eczema begins to subside, therapy is reduced to 25 milligrams of zinc a day, 1,000 milligrams of vitamin Ñ day, and daily cod liver oil in winter.

Zinc therapy takes from three weeks to six months to take effect, depending on the stubbornness of the rash. To speed healing, Dr Wright recommends the addition of essential fatty acids, which are found in vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower, sesame and others. ‘Very recently, research work has uncovered the zinc-essential fatty acid connection – showing zinc to be crucial to the transformation of some of the nutritionally derived essential fatty acids to their active form,’ explains Dr Wright.

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The hot flush. This is the most common peri-menopausal symptom. Hot flushes may precede menopause, or even the onset of irregular cycles. It is a feeling of warmth usually in the head, neck and body, and may last between fifteen and sixty seconds. It is sometimes associated with perspiration, and may happen as often as thirty times a day. Some situations may precipitate hot flushes, particularly being in a warm room, or bed, drinking or earing hot foods, or being anxious. It can be immensely frustrating and embarrassing. Even though the woman having the flush does not always look flushed she may feel like her face is on fire. It can interrupt her train of thought, her conversation, her work, her sleep.

Hot flushes have been linked to surges of one of the hormones produced in the brain (luteinizing hormone), and may persist for many years after the last period.

The vagina. Oestrogen helps to keep the vaginal skin elastic and well lubricated. When there is less of it around the vaginal skin tends to become thinner, and less lubrication occurs. This can lead to painful dry intercourse, and vaginal irritation. This can affect a woman’s desire to have intercourse, and her arousal.

The supporting structures around the vagina, the muscles and ligaments, can tend to lose their strength. As a result there may be sagging of the vaginal walls, and some prolapse of the uterus (the uterus tending to drop down into, and sometimes out of, the vagina). This may give rise to a dragging sensation, or even a ‘lump’ in the vagina.

The front and back walls of the vagina may sag. This can lead to problems with passing urine and bowel actions, or also give rise to a dragging feeling or lump. These problems are not confined to menopausal women. However they do tend to become more obvious around menopause and after, due to the decrease in oestrogen levels.

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Q. Do I need my partner’s consent to have a vasectomy?

A. Legally, only the person having the vasectomy needs to sign the consent form. Of course, if you have a partner, it is best if you have talked it over and both of you agree that your having a vasectomy is the best decision. Although it is not a legal requirement, some doctors may request your wife’s consent. You may want to check with your doctor to see if this is the case.

Q. How long do I have to wait after my vasectomy before I can have sex?

A. You should wait at least a few days, but basically you should wait until you feel comfortable. It may be a few days or a couple of weeks before you feel ready. It’s up to you.

Q. Will having had a vasectomy affect my erections or anything about the way I have sex?

A. No. Everything will function as usual. The only thing that will change is that when you ‘come’ there will be no sperm in the fluid you ejaculate. You won’t even be able to see or feel any difference there.

Q. I have heard that you can change your mind down the track and have the vasectomy reversed so you can have more children if you want to. Is that true?

A. Most men, but not all men, can have an operation to join the vas again, but after this they still may not be able to father a child. We don’t really know why a pregnancy doesn’t happen if the vas are rejoined and even if sperm is found in the semen again. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen. The main thing is that there is no guarantee that a reversal operation will work. In fact you should look at vasectomy as final. So if you have any doubts, it’s best to wait and use another method of contraception until you feel sure it is what you want. Then, if your life changes unexpectedly later on, you will know that it was definitely the best decision at the time and that you didn’t make it lightly.

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Some other questions people ask about Natural Family Planning

Q. I’ve heard there are personal fertility computers which can make the calculations of fertile days easier. Are these available in Australia?

A. You are probably thinking of Persona, which is a little handheld computer that analyses homones in a woman’s urine and gradually builds up a pattern of her fertile and non-fertile times. These are not available in Australia but it may be possible to order one from Britain where they are made and are used by many women using natural family planning.

Q. Can I successfully use natural family planning as I get older and my natural fertility decreases anyway?

A. Anyone can learn to recognise the changes in their body which signal the beginning of a fertile time in the cycle. As you get older, though, the cycles tend to be a bit more irregular and it can become a little more difficult to rely on your previous cycle length.

Q. Can I use this method to help me fall pregnant if I want to?

A. Yes the very same changes can be used to help a woman predict the most fertile time in her cycle and therefore increase her chances of falling pregnant if that is what she wants to do.

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DMPA is a liquid that contains the hormone progestogen, similar to the progestogen in the progestin-only pill. It is given as an injection into the muscle in your arm or buttocks. When people are talking about injectable “hormonal contraception they sometimes just call DMPA ‘the injection’.

The most important thing about DMPA is that it stays in your body and keeps working to stop you getting pregnant for three months at a time.

Are there different types of DMPA? At the moment mere is only one kind of hormone injection you can get m Australia. The same injection is available under two different trade names, Depo-Provera and Depo-Ralovera.

How does DMPA work? DMPA stops a woman’s ovaries from releasing eggs. It makes the mucus m the opening of the cervix thicker, so sperm cannot get through, and it changes the lining of the uterus, so that if by some chance an egg were fertilised, it couldn’t grow there.

How effective is DMPA? DMPA has a 0.1 to 0.6 percent failure rate, which means it is really very effective. If 100 women used DMPA as their method of contraception for a year, there is only a slight chance that even one of them would have an unexpected pregnancy.

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A 35-year-old man consulted his doctor and complained that his bowels were interfering with his job. He had to go to the toilet so frequently and had so much gas and bloating that meetings had become an embarrassment. The strange thing was that this disruption only occurred during the day. At night he slept soundly. He also looked well and had not lost weight.

The man explained how he would have cramps and need to defecate two or three times in the morning, again in the afternoon and again in the evening. He often had a feeling of incomplete emptying and sometimes there was mucus in the bowl.

This disruption usually lasted for two or three weeks, disappeared for a month or two and then returned in the same pattern. He couldn’t relate its re-emergence to any particular event and said this had been continuing for years. Recent publicity about bowel cancer had prompted his visit to the gastroenterologist.

This man displayed typical symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which is such a common disorder that one in seven people in the community suffers from it. IBS is also known as spastic colon, mucous colitis or nervous bowel. It should not be confused with inflammatory bowel disease, which is more serious and can cause ulceration of the bowel wall.

The bowel is basically a muscular tube which stores and digests food. IBS is a disorder of the nerves of muscles of that tube. Despite being so common, many aspects of IBS remain unknown. However, it is known that IBS does not lead to cancer and does not require surgery. Symptoms particularly include cramping (often on the left side of the abdomen, but it may mimic heartburn or backache), bloating and an urgent need to move the bowels. The stool may be loose and watery, and might contain white mucus. Eating may make it worse and defecation or passing gas brings relief. There is no fever or bleeding and no obvious reason as to what might have brought this on.

Mysteriously, the diarrhoea may give way to constipation, but abdominal pains and a lot of gas may persist. The condition can correct itself and then return when least expected or wanted. For example, before an important occasion about which a man may really feel tense.

A feeling of incomplete emptying of the bowel, nausea and swelling of the stomach which increases throughout the day, fatigue and lethargy are also common symptoms.

In the vast majority of cases the cause is unknown. Most people who suffer from the disorder have an oversensitive bowel, but the factors which trigger the sensitivity are mostly unknown, although stress and diet may be important.

Stress can affect muscular contractions and bowel secretions. In some people the oversensitive bowel overreacts to normal stresses. In others, lifestyle choices expose them to more stress. In all cases, however, worrying about the cause of the symptoms can create a vicious circle, making the symptoms worse.

The impact of diet varies between people. In some, too little fibre or too much may provoke symptoms. Insufficient fibre is usually associated with constipation. Fatty foods can slow the movement of the food through the bowel and make bloating and constipation worse. Sugars in milk and beverages, sweets and some fruits may provoke diarrhoea.

A bout of gastroenteritis can trigger symptoms. The symptoms may persist or even begin long after the infection has cleared from the bowel.

IBS usually starts under the age of thirty-five. Up to half the consultations with gastroenterologists in Australia are for this condition. There is no diagnostic test for it. Diagnosis is usually made by taking a thorough history and by doing tests to exclude other diseases, such as bowel cancer.

It is not necessary to test everyone, but if, for example, a man over forty began experiencing the symptoms, tests would have to be done, especially if he had rectal bleeding, weight loss or nocturnal diarrhoea.

There is no universal treatment for IBS. Treatment is usually individualised and may include diet modification, stress management and medication.

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