Thursday, March 12, 2009

MS and food allergies

Ed has had some fallbacks with his MS, a lot more numbness in his upper body and left arm. It is a huge disappointment. His thyroid functioning is very low and his latest blood tests have shown that he does have a severe intolerance to (hold on to your seats!) gluten, eggs, soy, dairy and corn. His doctor is not impressed with the effects LDN on Ed so far, and has told us that his Vitamin D levels are way too low as well, so he needs to take a supplement. We have both been very busy and stressed lately, but a break in that has allowed us to reassess the situation. Our latest plan of action, in order to maximize the effects of LDN (because it should be working better, and overall, has not caused any major relapses), is to change our diets back to where we were last year. Being that I have a high gluten intolerence, we had spent a lot of time finding wheat/gluten alternatives, but his diet has since strayed from my own gluten avoidance. Basically, the doctor recommends that he cut everything out that he is allergic to, as well as sugar. We have decided that he will do several salt water flushes, get back on the 'water cure,' which he has lapsed on, and go all natural with meats/fruits/veggies. At this point, there is no reason to not tend to the diet issue. I recently read an article that made a lot of sense and would recommend that anyone suffering from MS read it as well: http://www.chetday.com/msandfood.html . It is so very hard to follow a perfect diet, but we have avoided this topic overall lately. Ultimately, it may be the most important factor though. LDN is helpful to a lot of people, but if diet plays a major role in MS, then we are beating a dead horse by avoiding necessary dietary changes.
Ed did stop taking the thyroid meds for about a month after the last post, and his body fell into a bad state. Unfortunately, he was busy and failed to renew his prescription, so I am also thinking that his thyroid is upset...(as was I when I found out ;P). Regardless, he is back on the medication.