Dizzysillyak

Hi issie, Thanks for posting this. Sadly, my take away message from this was an overwhelming feeling of sympathy for the mice who were subjected to bullies for 10 days in a row. Fool me once shame on you, Fool me 10 times and I'd be depressed too. Lol. Hopefully some good will come out of this study. Fwiw tho, ever since getting sick, I've needed to do something for myself on a regular basis to keep my spirits up. Whether it's seek out a good movie or tv show, walk thru the mall, play in the water at the beach, or whatever. Just something that makes me smile. I actually didn't realize that I was doing this until this year. I'm not feeling depressed but obviously I'm not happy with my disabled / supine lifestyle. I eat great, laugh, etc just as long as I continue doing this. All this time, I just thought I was just going stir crazy. Tc .. D

Hi, Thanks for the article. I'm going to send this to my doc. Then see what I need to do next. I just started the mast cell protocal about 6 weeks ago and am a responder. I have most of the symptoms you listed but most of these are controlled via diet. I may flush but I don't think it's obvious in my skin. I just considered it either a blood glucose change or bp drop. I have petite mals too and I'm not sure how these fit into my dysautonomia. I hope they don't just look for hypertension because my BP runs low but still jumps 30 pts when I stand up for 10 minutes. I know that not everyone who has severe allergies, even anaphylaxis, gets Dysautonomia / POTS so I hope they can determine who does. tc ... d

Um, sorry in advance for the book / rant. I just got carried away. I can't say enough about how important it was for me to find a doctor who respects me and runs the right tests. My other docs ran tests if needed of course but not the ones that actually told me what was going on. Basically, my doctors just accepted that I had ME/CFS and there wasn't anything that could be done. Sound familiar ? Everything I said was taken as an exaggeration of my symptoms. That was after I saw a CFS specialist tho. Before then I was treated like a nut case by most of the local doctors. One got it but moved away. The doctors at MAYO clinic got it but they didn't help me either. And I was too sick to defend myself. I was never tested for celiac disease even during my endoscopy in 2004. The NIH said that sometimes celiac disease was being misdiagnosed as CFS back in 2006 at least. That's when I found it on their website. My DHEA and pregnenolone were never tested. Most of my nutrient levels, other than B12 were never tested. My B12 was low if you consider that these labs show a low number as being normal. I was walking into walls and using a motorized cart (ataxia) and no one looked into it even tho my CFS specialist noted that I'd failed the Rhomberg. I just got razzed for doing this by people in the medical profession who should've known better. My doctor's nurse used to humiliate me when I did this. So, I was embarrassed and just thought it was my CFS / leg and brain fatigue. NO .. That was probably gluten ataxia and it's gone now. No one ran a GTT + insulin to find my hyperinsulinemia. My blood glucose stays in the normal range and this tests showed that my body over produces insulin. BIG difference here ... I feel horrible when my glucose drops into the low 80's but didn't realize it was probably the extra insulin making me feel bad. I had a GP decide that I didn't need pain meds or immediate treatment for a stuck kidney stone. My urine was the color of cranberry juice, I was in extreme pain and I'd been vomitting and had diarhea for hours that morning. When I went for the xray she ordered, I purposely went to the local hospital and the Xray techs there strongly suggested I go to the ER. What a difference that made. I saw a gynocologist that decided my female bleeding wasn't a big deal even after the ER doc showed that if I lost any more blood I'd need a transfusion. My next gyno gave me a shot that stopped it immediately. Really ? ? All I needed was one shot to stop what I'd been going through for months. UGH !! Most of my improvements are from watching my diet. But I have a lot of food intolerances and allergies. I have digestive and neuro problems from gluten including celiac disease, ataxia, myoclonus, brain zaps, white lesions on my brain, facial twitches, insomnia and seizures. Soy causes phlegm in my throat immediately. Dairy causes Paget's of the skull flare (extreme pain associated with bone growth) and shiners. I just don't feel well if I eat grains or legumes. It feels like a blood glucose problem. I get the same feeling from eating too much fruit or sugar. My doc found that I have hyperinsulinemia tho. I was already on the paleo diet when I met this doctor. Otherwise I'd attribute my benefit from this diet to her recommending it. Diet was the first thing we discussed and we continue to discuss. My stool testing showed my antibodies to gluten, egg whites, etc. Having extra antibodies in our bodies is never good and had no idea I was reacting to egg whites. My stool tests also showed me how my body over produces antibodies to gluten. I was getting a high reading just from eating a couple of GF snacks prior to my stool test. I didn't do that the last time but still had low gluten antibodies. Treating my candida problem helped my thrush and some of my female problems. The low oxalate diet which I did because I got a kidney stone helped my pelvic pain. Fyi tho, pelvic pain can be from mast cells or nerve problems in that area from damage. I have a bad lower back disk. I've also treated nutritional deficiencies this doctor found. She ordered spectracell testing so we found more than other tests might. And she oredered the Metametrix stool tests that discovered my h pylori and parasites. I've treated these but we need to retest to see if I got them all. And taken other supplements my labs showed I needed like pregnenolone and dhea. Treating with the mast cell protocal is helping my oi and energy level. But I have a history of responding to a treatment and then getting my cfs fatigue back. I felt like a healthy teenager a year after eliminating gluten. At the same time I started walking normally. At that point, I went in a one month road trip and crashed. Tc .. D

Hi Nowwhat, Fwiw, if you read the info on what conditions can be associated with gluten, theglutenfile, then I'd say you need to be gf. However, no one I know at this time can predict if your body will respond. I've met several people over the last 7 years who had ataxia, thought it was from gluten based on having gluten antibodis, but didn't respond to the gf diet. So, I was either lucky. Or eliminating most of the toxins from my diet and adding brain foods at the same time helped. Or they were getting too much gluten from gluten cross contamination. The FDA has yet to establish any standards so we're at each manufacturers mercy. The gluten antibody stool tests are much more sensitive than serum. Even I'm negative on the serum tests and I just got my first low gluten antibody stool test result this year. It's a funny story .. I was eating a few "gf" foods prior to each stool test to see if I was still reacting. Duh ! I'm also a DQ2 tho and I "think" I read that we're more likely to respond. It's been years since I read about gluten ataxia. This should be in theglutenfile tho. In the world of restrictive diets, many of us discover that we feel better by eliminating other common intolerances such as dairy, corn, soy and all chemicals. It's all related to having what's known as leaky gut and the consequences. In a nutshell, our bodies will become over reactive to the foods we're eating regularly, pathogens are allowed to run rampant, etc. I have celiac disease so my gut becomes leaky anytime I get exposed to gluten. And it's freakin everywhere nowadays. In fact I just saw a pkg of seasonings on a food tray at a hospital with wheat as the first ingedient. Huh ? How insane is that ? And the lemon pkg said it contained soy. What's wrong with using real lemons ? As far as getting tested for a mast cell disorder after reading how hard it is to get the right tests, I started trying different meds. To my surprise, Wal-zyr helped my oi a little right away. I'm still playing with my regime and will run this past my integrative doc soon. I'll leave it to my doc to determine if I need to see a specialist. She's very good at understanding all this medical jargon so I trust her. Hth .. D

Katy, Sorry to hear you have such extreme allergies. Hopefully eliminating gluten will calm down your immune system. On an extremely selfish note, my apologies, it makes me feel better than you took the mast cell protocal route first and are now going gf. I was kicking myself for going the extreme, but healthy, diet route first. Fwiw, I firmly believe we should not be eating human milk past a certain age, toddler ?, or any other animal's milk. There are ingredients in these that our bodies or animal's bodies only need when growing at a rapid rate. I'm anti soy, grains or processed foods. But I'm just basing this on my experience, some reading and my desire to keep the foods going into my body as pure and healthy as possible. It's my computer background. Garbage in = garbage out. Lol.

I've been seeing a functional / integrative doctor for about 4 years now. It's been a real eye opening experience to finally see a doctor who knows what tests to run that actually show what's going on in my body. Imho Dr Wahls Ted video explains functional med perfectly. I like reading Dr Mark Hyman and Dr sarah myhill's info too. I was already on the Paleo diet when I met my doc but switched to the Wahls diet back in Jan 2012. I basically just added more veggies, sea veggies and am eatng less meat at each meal. Imho, after trying and reviewing other diet plans this one is the best choice. I don't follow it exactly but close enough. My tests over the years showed so many things that I couldn't begin to understand it all. But that's the advantage of having a doctor who does. All I know is that I had a candida overgrowth, too little good bacteria, low digestive enzymes, inabilty to process fats, low pregnenolone, low dhea, high esonophils, hyperinsulinemia, etc, etc. The diet or your supplements could be making you feel bad. I feel best on the paleo / wahls diet. I've had to pick and chose which supplements to take based on my reactions. I can't tell you how many I took back. Good luck. D

I had digestive problems (diagnosed with gastroparesis, gerd, diverticuli, etc via multiple tests including EGD and colonoscopy) all the time until I changed my diet to eliminate my food intolerances and started taking digestive enzymes and probiotics. I'm currently on a version of the Wahls diet. I'm just not eating as many veggies and fruits as she recommends. I'm not as regimented about my diet as she recommends either. I still eat 98% Paleo tho. FWIW. Most of the celiacs, definitely gluten intolerant, I know can't handle oats. Either they're cross contaminated or we just can't digest them. Even Bob's Red Mill gf oats are out for many of us. Currently I'm taking Solgar Pancreatin but Creon seems to work the best for me. Occasionally I'll need a stronger enzyme and will take Candidase or Virastop. Both are stronger than typical digestive enzymes. Homemade coconut kefir helps too. Most of the time this works better than taking a probiotic capsule. Ginger tea made by heating real ginger in water can help too. If I've tried all the above and my stomach still hurts, I can take a charcoal capsule. I avoid these since they pull good nutrients too. I obviously need a variety of digestive treatments depending on what I've eaten or missing at the time. Over eating will cause symptoms everytime but I just get carried away sometimes. I only need small meals but sometimes, I forget. Fwiw, I wouldn't take colostrum. It contains lactoferrin and we only need lactoferrin as children. It increases bone growth but I can't think of how to explain it right now. I know because I have Paget's of the skull and all lactoferrin makes it grow. Anyone with Paget's is told not to take this ... tc .. d

Good to hear you're not having any problems with the change. We all seem to notice changes / improvements at different rates. I stopped feelng jittery 24/7 within a few days but it took me a year to get over my ataxia. This info is probably in theglutenfile. Jsyk, many of us have other food intolerances, nutritional deficiencies, hormone irregularities, and gi dysfunction to deal with too. An integrative doctor can order specific tests for these or you can try to wing it. Imho, I'd test if I could afford it but if not I'd try eliminating all common food intolerances and eat a wide variety of healthy foods, inc sea veggies and kefir. The Wahls diet sums this up. fwiw, I wasted too much time, 7 years total, trying all these before using mast cell treatments. Granted I needed to know my intolerances, nutritional deficiencies, etc but those can be determined in months not years. None of the tests I had run helped me with my CHRONIC oi (orthostatic intolerance), pain, swelling or energy tho. These mostly helped with digestive problems by identifying candida over growth and digestive enzyme deficiencies. Finding h pylori and parasites via a stool test of course was an exception. These wiped me out until I treated them. Avoidance of certain trigger foods helped with pain and swelling but not nearly as much as the mast cell treatment. My oi, etc is so much better now. We have info on mast cell treatments here. Tc .. D

You're welcome Kelly. Imho, that's what we're here for. I've certainly learned a lot from forums. NM and Issie, Great to hear that you're both seeing an improvement via this protocal. THanks for calling it to my attention that I may need to see a doctor and get tested for specific treatment. So far I'm happy with how my body is reacting to these meds but I've been couchbound so long that my idea of feeling better is tainted. lol ... I don't feel well from either zantac or pepcid but I want to try it again. I read that aspirin is an nsaids and those are bad for our digestive tracts. As a celiac, I don't have much to play with in that area. NM, Sorry to hear you're dealing with MRSA. I have no idea what that entails but wish you the best. tc ... d

Hi. If you're interested, we thoroughly discussed this here ... http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/dr-terry-wahls-ms-recovery-plan.13579/ Great info and great doc. Loved her TED video. In June 2005, I started with the elimination diet, 3 months later went to gfcfsfcf etc free diet, then 2 years later started the paleo diet / low oxalate diet then in Jan 2012 I went on the Wahls diet. Each helped but not enough. I prefer the Wahls plan but I don't follow it exactly. That was just too many veggies for me. I tried juicing for about 3 months (?). I felt better initially but the effects wore off. Then it finally hit me that I was wasting my time. lol. I'm now using the mast cell protocal ( I have a thread here) plus this diet and feeling a lot better. TC ... D

I'm still doing really well with this. I went to visit family for about a month so I had to add some other supplements to help me keep up so at this point I can't say exactly how much this protocal is doing for me. And how the other supplements are working. Not that I care. I'm just enjoying being upright and more active. At this point, I have less swelling, less pain, reduced oi symptoms and more energy. Swelling and pain are down from a 10 to a 2. I hardly ever get the over whelming feeling to lay down now. But I can feel the blood returning to my upper body when I do. And my energy is so high sometimes that I have to remind myself to rest but on other days I can take several naps. I've been disabled with me/cfs for 23 years so I'm sure I still need to rest. I know we're all going to be different but my regime is 10 mg Wal-zyr when I wake up then 5 mg at a time throughout the day. Taking another 10 mg made me feel sick but 5 works. I'm also taking 90 mg Allegra and 1 tbsp dye free Benadryl at night. Imho, the Wal-zyr, 10 mg pregnenolone, 10 mg dhea twice a day, adenosyl cobalamin and methylcobalamin are helping my energy level. I feel a boost from all of these. Tc .. D

Hi issie, Good to hear you're a mast cell protocal responder too. I responded right away. Like after my very first Wal-zyr. I had chronic swelling so this should've been a no brainer for me. Lol. It's been about 6 weeks for me now. I'm on Wal-zyr, Allgra, dye free benadryl and nasalcrom as needed. No h2s yet. I still have oi but I'm no longer feeling the need to lay down quickly or as often. I've noticed a lot less swelling too. I still feel my upper body hypoperfusion reversing when I lay down. I'd love it if that stopped. On the bloating ... Do you take digestive enzymes ? I need to watch what I eat of course but I also have to take a good digestive enzyme. I've tried most of them but found Solgar pancreatin, fresh papaya and creon worked the best for me. Once in awhile, I'll take Candidase or Virastop for digestion. Tc .. D

Good to hear you didn't think I was overly wordy. I can get carried away .. Lol ... Everyone is different when it comes to what heals when. For instance, we think I had "full blown celiac disease " by the time I went wheat free in july 2005. I went gf in sept after reading about gluten on the web. It took 6 months for everything I ate, including homemade baby food, to stop feeling like I was eating glass. It took 6 more months to get off the bland foods and add onions, garlic, pepper, etc. yum. I haven't intentionally eaten gluten since 2005 so it probably would cause severe symptoms since I'm a celiac. I was recently exposed repeatedly while on vacation and I "think" it's causing some mild discomfort and "d". I always get insomnia and myoclonus tho. My worst gi problems nowadays are from over eating, corn on the cob (just had to try it this year), greasy foods, some meats, beef and shrimp for sure. Imho, the wahls diet is the best diet "plan" available. I don't take everything she says as gospel but eating more veggies, esp leafy greens, helps me a lot. Trying to eat 9 cups of veggies daily about killed me. Lol .. It's basically organic fresh meats, fruits, veggies, fermented foods (if not allergic), sea veggies, etc ... Probiotics can help. I prefer homemade coconut kefir. Digestive enzymes from fresh papaya, pineapple or mango usually help me. I tested low for elastace and am currently on creon. But other digestive enzymes have helped me at times. I just learned about enzymes in 2005. I seem to need stronger ones like Virastop and candidase. I use dpp-iv for gluten exposure - glutenease, gltenzyme, etc. Solgar pancreatin helped sometimes too. Also, fwiw, I had what we're pretty sure was gluten ataxia, problems with balance and walking. I always failed the rhomberg and I have the dq2 gene. It was almost 1 year exactly after giving up gluten that it simply disappeared. Granted my legs were weak from using a motorized cart but I didn't have ataxia anymore. But someone I met on the gluten free and beyond board was ataxia free in 3 months. I had low cortisol but it wasn't that bad. Mine wasn't tested until I'd been gfcfsf, etc for 2 years then on the paleo diet for one. A lot of my symptoms were gone and I was walking normally by then. I "think", it's been a few years now, that my doc prescribed pregnenolone, dhea and testosterone for this. I know the test results for the three things I listed came back low at the same time. Her biggest concern for me has been keeping me away from gluten. I'm super sensitive. I realize I just threw more new jargon at you. Lol. I had to learn all this when I started trying to heal my body as opposed to just listening to my traditional md and taking prescribed drugs. Watching Dr wahls videos should simplify this for you. Other integrative or functional doctors, like dr mark hyman or dr myhill have the same great info too. Good luck with your doc. Tc .. D

Welcome back. I've been working on understanding medical jargon for the last 7 years. My background is computer systems analysis so learning new jargon was normal for me back when I was healthy. But getting chronic fatigue syndrome, dysautonomia, etc completely disabled me in 1990. I didn't discover how great the internet was until 2005. Duh ! If it makes you feel any better, at this point, imho, I've learned about as much as I need to and have moved on to enjoying my life. Personally, there's only so much I need to know since I don't plan on becoming a medical professional. Imho, you can get this level of info from the dinet homepage. Learning how diet and nutrients affect our health and reading doozly's info on mast cells changed my life. Learning all the different types of dysautonomia / pots, all of the chemical interaction "theories" or all the medications isn't necessary for me. And I see an integrative / functional doctor who I trust. She recommends drugs or supplements depending on what works the best. She's not a dysautonomia specialist but she understands how the human body works. After experimenting for several years, I settled on a slightly modified version the Wahls diet (Dr wahls has videos on the web) so that I avoid common food intolerances and get as many nutrients as possible. I'm highly sensitive to gluten as many people with chronic illnesses are. Theglutenfile explains this. I'm also avoiding high oxalate foods due to kidney stones. And take supplements and meds for sleep and mast cell problems. Treating my mast cell problems appear to have been the missing link for me. Thanks again for those who pointed me in this direction. This has stopped or severely lessened my reaction to my unknown intolerances. I just started an exercise regime last month that I hope to continue. Good luck with your health. Tc .. D Ps. Sorry for the book. Lol

I do this too. I was dx with hyperinsulinemia via gtt + insulin. Meaning my body over produces insulin in response to sugar. So my body has trouble maintaining an acceptible glucose level. I start feeling bad when my glucose gets into the low 80's. I've found that eating something like raisins, dates or an orange followed by a few nuts bring it back up the quickest. I'm also on the mast cell protocal (self diagnosed at this point). I'm responding well as far as oi and energy go but my glucose is still a problem. If I'm active I have to eat every 30 minutes or else my glucose drops and I have a petite mal. I have no idea how to stop ths but I'm happy to have found treatments that work. Kow. Tc .. D

Yes, I've felt that way many times since getting sick. Do you have a good gp ? The last time I felt that way I had h pylori and parasites. I went in complaining that my oi had gotten worse all of the sudden. I was thinking it was supposed to get progressively worse. Luckily my doctor didn't listen to me and ran tests to find out what was happening. Fwiw have you tried taking grapeseed extract or pau d arco or something else that would kill a bad bug if you had one ? Or have you tried taking a strong probiotic or kefir ? Or have you tried a liver cleanse supplement ? Himalaya liver cleanse helps me sometimes. It might be worth a try. Jsyk tho, these wouldn't have helped my h pylori. Hope you feel better soon. Tc .. D

I'd go gf for life but that's just my opinion. Dr hadjivassilou recommends that his patients expect it to take a whole year to see results when trying it for gluten ataxia. It took me a whole year to recover from mine. Theglutenfile explains this. No one I know can tell you exactly how your body will respond to the gf diet. It's all based on damage, genetics and available nutrients. The paleo / wahls diet eliminated most of my symptoms but not oi. I'm trying the mast cell protocal now. I like fresh coconut water but it's a pain to get. The packaged coco water gave me a sugar boost and I didn't notice any electrolytes. I drink spring water + concen trace minerals. And eat my electrolytes. Oranges followed by a couple of nuts are a good pick me up. Tc .. D Ps. I had a bad reaction to the potassium in cheney's gookinaid.

I'm overly sensitive to most things on the planet too. I just started taking allergy meds, h1 so far, and it appears to help quite a bit. I'm just learning about mast cells but I started treating by taking allergy meds. I'm on the Wahls diet with a few limitations. There really are more foods available to us than we had in the standard american diet. Have fun experimenting .. Most celiacs I know tested negative several times before finally getting a positive result so I wouldn't waste my time getting tested. Gluten doesn't just affect the digestive tract. Theglutenfile explains this. Tc .. X

Hi batik, On the gall bladder. I'd suggest anyone skip the surgery until you've tried changing your diet. If my brain can heal enough for me to walk, I'm guessing a gall bladder might too. It's amazing how many organs are affected by gluten. It's all in theglutenfile. My freind's was functioning at 11% just about the same as mine when her doctor pointed out the gluten connection. It's been 5 years and she still has it. I'm not sure how much more wrecked a gall bladder could be tho. Mine's gone. End of story for me. I never googled it but I'm assuming the connection is on the web. I don't know how her doctor knew this. Tc .. D

Btw, I keep forgetting to tell you that gall bladder probles have been linked to gluten intolerance. I had mine out before going gf. A freind of mine had a smarter doctor than I did and was told to go gf. She still has hers. It's not a disposable organ like we're lead to believe. Definitely do your research before having this out. tc .. D

Congrats. I'm having similiar results from avoiding excitotoxins, esp gluten, getting plenty of sleep and taking Wal-zyr (Walgreens zyrtec). It appears that treating my allergies was the missing puzzle piece. It's taken me 7 years to get here but I've been healthy at rest since oct 2007. That was just from eliminating toxic foods, esp gluten, in 2005. I used a motorized cart from 1990 - 2006 due to gluten ataxia. My oi appears to have been from vasodialation from allergies. Unless there's some mast cell or other allergy triggered response in the brain, stomach, heart, etc that forced me to lay down that I'm not aware of. I still have to treat my gluten reaction / celiac, seizures and my hypoglycemia but so far that doable with the wahls diet, supplements and meds. I hate that anyone can claim their foods are gf and yet my body knows better. I just got nailed yesterday at a restaurant with a big beautiful gf sign on the wall. Fwiw tho, I've felt completely healthy, like a younger person, several times since I started my healing journey only to crash later. But I have me/cfs so I may not be able to sustain a normal persn's activity level. I won't know if allergies were involed until I've been on the meds for awhile. I just wanted to give you a head's up so you don't run yourself ragged and cause a crash. Been there done that .. Tc .. D Ps. I wanted to chime in here with my story for all those thinking this is some kind of miracle. It's not. We've just been lead to believe diet and chemicals can't make us this sick. The studies on these chemicals is based on being exposed to small amounts not ALL the chemicals we're exposed to on a regular basis.

Hi spinner, It looks like you quoted me. So .. I'm a celiac who ate gluten for 50 years. So in my case the root cause is more than likely gluten damage. Theglutenfile explains this. There are other ways to damage gut linings and cause leaky gut. The DAN (defeat autism now) community has some great info on this. I like "healing the 4 a's". Btw, I haven't seen anyone say that drinking lots of water helps pots. Some are helped by saline ivs, but not everyone. The homepage here has some great info on pots. Tc .. D

Hi spinner, Sorry, I guess I didn't explain this very well. I take klonopin for seizures and myoclonus so I know how it works. It does nothing for my allergies tho. But I'm not going into fight or flight mde when my throat swells either. My dd has anaphylaxus so I'm familiar with how to treat this. We realized a year or so after this started that Benadryl would stop her reaction most of the time if given soon enough. Same goes for me. We also realized how important is was to minimize our emotional responses to her problem. Living in fear of another episode kept us in an unhealthy state of mind. Granted it took me a very long time to learn how to stay calm when she couldn't breath. The first time was very traumatic. At this point, I'd be panicking if an epi pen didn't work and i couldn't dial 911 but so far, kow, that hasn't happened. In the article you posted, Cheney didn't mention how effective it was to get excitotoxins out of your diet. I would hope that if he had this condition, he'd have realized how important that was. I can't imagine his patients not telling him this tho. I only saw doxepin mentioned for allergies. Once again, he's using a drug that would sedate patients. Personally, the sedating antihistamines make my oi worse. Wal-zyr is helping my oi tho. Tc .. D

Traditional mds who are smart enough (by this I mean obviously these people have no trouble learning) to become integrative or functional medicine doctors treat leaky gut. These are mds who use traditional and holistic medicine. I see an integrative doctor and Medicare has paid for all my testing. Which has shown us what's really going on unlike traditional tests. I've had candida and treated it but found most of my symptoms were from food intolerances not candida. From what I saw Candida was responsible for yeast infections. I'm sure it added to my fatigue when it was really bad but that's just common sense. I'm now finding that treating my allergies / mast cells all the time is helping my oi. imho, Foods like gluten, dairy, soy and all chemicals, esp caffeine, should be eliminated from our diets. In fact, I keep hearing the ER doc on The Doctors telling us this. The idea that treating leaky gut is quackery is outdated much like the idea that chronic illnesses are psychological. Especially if it's a woman who's sick. Imho There are people who find it impossible to learn anything new despite evidence. Tc .. D

Issie, Thanks for reminding us that more than mast cells are involved in a histamine release. Another good reason for avoidance protocals. I need to be reminded that I can't go back to eating my known triggers. A positive or negative reaction to these meds or supplements is individual. I'm responding to Wal-zyr but the other h1s have caused problems. Vistaril knocked me out. Allegra and brand name zyrtec made me too drowsy to sit up. Walgreens claritin has lactose monohydrate which caused a Paget's flare so that's out for me. It could be that part of my positive reaction to Wal-zyr is the corn starch. I know from experimenting that this gives me energy. I actually consider this an excitoxin for me but am chosing to enjoy the energy boost for now. I prefer supplements but I could just as easily have negative reaction to quercitin. I'm not so sure that quoting Cheney helps us. imho, It's really not that difficult to repeat what one reads in a medical journal. Esp if you're familiar with the jargon. Imho, Evaluating all the info provided to draw realistic conclusions isn't happening in traditional or holistic world. If it was we wouldn't be here. The problem I see is that Cheney is a cfs specialist so he carries weight with some people. But imho, his record speaks for itself. Tc .. D