Updated 26th September 2008

PLEASE BE VERY STRONGLY ADVISED THAT YOU SHOULD SEEK ADVICE FROM A FULLY QUALIFIED PRACTITIONER WITH EXPERTISE IN ALLERGIES BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANY IDEAS THAT THIS ARTICLE MAY GENERATE.

Before the Perrin treatment, if I had just the sniff of something I am allergic to the reaction was very bad. I would sneeze, choke, throat would swell, not be able to breathe, feel cold, feel hot, have to lie down and not move or speak, and then the following day I would be slightly swollen all over and feeling dreadful.

I spoke to Ray Perrin at a meeting he took in Bridport last year about allergies.

‘You don’t mention allergies with your treatment programme, don’t they play a part in the ME scenario?’

I won’t quote what he said because I can’t precisely remember but it ran along the lines of:
With allergies one should never totally give up the food in question because the body will then stop making the enzymes for that food and then you do have real problems.

‘Does that mean I can eat small amounts of the foods I am allergic to?’ I asked with glee on my face.

NO he said emphatically, don’t start eating something you have not eaten for months or years or you might be very ill (I guess he was thinking about anaphylactic shock), you need to speak to Dr Sarah Myhill about this as she has a programme to help.

Interesting I thought.

A certain ‘nutritionist’ was always banging on about a leaky gut and in my naive days I went along with it as I did with many things this particular ‘nutritionist’ said and unfortunately in my naivety I have quoted him (putting a link to his site) from time to time.

But – a big – BUT – was forming in the deepest parts of my brain.

His thoughts about a leaky gut simply did not make sense. Why would, for example a poorly digested piece of wheat, ‘leak’ through to the blood stream in a size the immune system didn’t recognise and so an allergic reaction is stimulated?
Why only a piece of wheat (which is what causes a bad reaction in me along with milk).
Why doesn’t a piece of beetroot fall through the hole in the gut along with other bits of food so causing me problems? Beetroot doesn’t cause me problems by the way.

Ray Perrin had a much more interesting take on the matter of allergies. It was to do with the lack of enzymes.

This link gives more information about the role of enzymes: Quackwatch

Click on the link in Quackwatch and scroll down to the comparison chart. They are emphatic on one point as they repeat it again and again. The body cannot obtain enzymes from food, whether it is raw fruit and veg or meat. Enzymes are made in the body, by the body using amino acids from protein. Plants and fruits and animals do contain enzymes but they are broken down by digestion.

He also spoke about blood filters, that when the blood filter cannot transport the food particle because it has not been adequately digested because of the body not producing the enzyme type required, it will pass it through to the lymphatic system. The role of the lymphatic system is to take toxins and other matter not recognised by the body to lymph nodes and glands for break down and expulsion from the body.

So my little brain wondered if the pain I feel (I think it is fibromyalgic pain which I think means pain in the fibres) is due to the allergens in the lymphatic system not being able to get through and blocking things up?

This slots in with the Perrin theories about ME/CFS or CFS/ME. Perrin feels that congestion in the system causes back flow which in turn causes problems all along the system and the brain/spinal fluid (cerebrospinal fluid) to the brain.

So back to Perrin and his lack of enzyme thoughts.

Check this link Enzymes These people write lessons for schools for GCSE.

Enzymes are made from amino acids from protein.

The pH in the body which varies from area to area supports enzyme function.

The link also explains that heat will destroy enzymes. Some green plants contain enzymes for our use according to the Purchon link but Quackwatch disagree with this.

So an imbalance in the pH or not preparing food properly may cause a lack of enzymes.

Science changes things all the time according to the sophistication of technical advances so it is always tricky to get the information exactly correct.

This is why I am always saying check it out for yourself or I try to provide good links for your own research.

So where does all this information leave this article?

If you have allergies, eat more protein. Eat more raw green vegetables or gently quickly (quickly does not mean high heat) cooked green veg.

Green vegetables contain calcium and magnesium.

Since I started taking more calcium and magnesium, I find I am more tolerant. It may be that the calcium and magnesium in green plants are used by the body along with amino acids to make enzymes.

Since the Perrin treatment and the lymph being cleared, I find I am more tolerant.

I can eat ORGANIC bread and butter from New Zealand. I make my own bread rolls from Spelt flour, which I can tolerate but I cannot eat them every day. I have to regulate it. Which is difficult. Because I get greedy. Bread is lovely after all said and done!!

But I think a good rule of thumb would be one piece of bread or wheat family products twice in one week for 3 months. Then three times in a week for one month. Then every other day for one month.

But I am not qualified in this, it is just my best guess based on my own experience. And with all this during all this time, protein intake needs to be increased along with the calcium, magnesium supplements. But as I said, I have no qualifications in this and readers should seek out a qualified practitioner with the expertise in allergies.

I steer as clear as I can from additives because I personally believe that these and preservatives really do not help a sick body get better and I think they are a cause of ill-health.

Animals used in testing must be almost lab condition sterile I think and in the peak of condition so no wonder they show little effect from the tests of additives that find their way to our food. It is also animals used with relatively low stress as compared to testing on humans with huge amounts of stress so I feel that testing is seriously flawed.

I have found that eating foods without the additives have really made a difference to me. Even some organic produce has organic additives so beware! Additives and preservatives whether from organic sources or not I think are very bad for the body.

If I eat too much of the allergen, I can actually feel my lymphatic system groan and can’t cope and so I will feel ill. *So please do not experiment on yourself or you may go into anaphylactic shock.*

But one day, some few days I found I was eating mainly meat, eggs, bread or rice cakes.

And I wasn’t ill. I was so surprised. I expected to have terrible indigestion because I had hardly eaten any fruit or veg.

In fact the more I ate meat or fish, the better I felt.
( BUT – protein needs calcium for absorption so maybe I was able to eat more protein foods which are helping the lack of enzymes and so aiding digestion because of the added help from the calcium, magnesium and zinc supplements?)

Meat, fish, eggs and milk are all 1st class proteins meaning they contain all the 8 essential amino acids from which other amino acids can be made. So as enzymes are made from protein, it is the 1st class proteins that we will need to eat.

Interesting.

If you intend to eat foods you are allergic to please follow the following precautions:

Speak to a fully qualified practitioner with expertise in the area of Allergies before you do anything.

Take a calcium, magnesium and zinc supplement for 3 months (3 tablets a day) before embarking on such a programme.

Increase your 1st Class protein intake before embarking on a programme of this type.

A practitioner told me that their patient with ME was advised to eat more protein, she was a vegetarian. She wanted to be well more than be a vegetarian so she began to eat meat and was very surprised when she felt almost 90% better.