Below is a newspaper review of my booklet “Food It’s Driving Me Crazy!” in 1989! That was 33 years ago and the issues that were brought out that Allergists/Physicians were skeptical about then (and some continue to be today) are, based on my continued research, more relevant today than ever.
Food allergies gave the author plenty to chew on
by Sydney Trent/Staff writer
It all came together for Jenyce Johnson one night in 1980 when she and her husband went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.
Johnson had eaten lightly that day to save room for the big dinner ahead. Finally, the meal was served – shrimp cocktail in a rich tomato sauce, buttery bread, and a crabmeat dish. To top it off, Johnson ordered a brandy Alexander.
Suddenly, while sipping her drink, she began to shake all over. Her eyes became itchy and red. Hives the size of half a dollar erupted on her legs. She burst into tears at the table, her husband looking on in astonishment.
Since childhood, Johnson had suffered ailments for which doctors could find no cause. At 39 her body was wracked by every conceivable malady – severe headaches, muscle aches and pains, insomnia, tremors, severe fatigue, and countless viral infections.
One day she was so hyperactive she couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes: the next she was drowning in depression. “It had gotten to the point where I’d close my eyes and all I could see was my body in a casket,” says Johnson.
She visited doctor after doctor, only to be told the problem was all in her head.
The anniversary dinner helped confirm Johnson’s hunch that her strange symptoms were somehow related to the foods she ate. She went to an allergist, and over the next several years began to eliminate the food culprits from her diet.
In her recently self-published book, “Food…It’s Driving Me Crazy,” Johnson, now 50, recounts her lifelong nightmare with what she says were food-induced illnesses and symptoms.
“When most people think of allergies, they think of hives and sneezing,” says Johnson, a Virginia Beach human resources consultant specializing in stress management and wellness issues. “Most people don’t think of allergies as something that can affect the whole nervous system”.
“When I went to doctors, they treated me like I was crazy. I wrote this book to make people aware that non-traditional symptoms can be allergy-related.”
Allergists skeptical
Making generous use of references from books and magazines, Johnson claims allergies or sensitivities to certain foods can cause some mental and physical illnesses and mimic others, including depression, arthritis, urinary tract infections, vaginal infections, heart problems, criminal behavior, and alcoholism.
Not surprisingly, allergists are skeptical about Johnson’s claims that foods are at the root of many behavioral problems.
“There has been a lot written in lay magazines about behavior problems caused by foods but none of it has been substantiated by scientific studies,” says Dr. Harvey Davis, an allergist with Allergy Associates Ltd in Virginia Beach.
In the most commonly used study, subjects are given either a capsule containing a suspected food allergen or a placebo. Twenty-five to 30 percent of the time, the subject mistakes the placebo for the suspected allergen, exhibiting symptoms.
While acknowledging that some physical and mental problems may be related to undetected food allergies or sensitivities, Davis said adverse reactions are used as a “catch-all’ for many hypochondriacal illnesses.
“It’s not necessarily all in your head, but unfortunately, there are a lot of people who have problems in their head,” says Davis.
Body over mind
But in her book, Johnson says doctors are often narrow-minded and unwilling to accept the presence of a problem “which doesn’t fit neatly into empirical scientific studies and theories.”
“I can understand that there is a need to know what is there and what isn’t, but I’m tired of being penalized for knowing my own body and feelings and afraid to express these feelings for fear of seeming abnormal.” writes Johnson. “I am no longer willing to be placed under this type of pressure simply because there is no scientific proof.”
Johnson said doctors were quick to blame her problems on a total hysterectomy she underwent in 1978 which induced menopause. They suggested she see a psychotherapist, which Johnson refused to do.
“I was clinically depressed, but I knew there was nothing in my life which could’ve triggered such depression,” says Johnson. “I felt it was a case of body over mind, rather than mind over body.”
In 1981, an allergist told Johnson that she was allergic “to about 50 different things,” among them wheat, corn, molds, and cigarette smoke.
But Johnson wasn’t satisfied with the test results. “They told me I’m allergic to some things I’m not and neglected to mention some things I am allergic to.”
So, over the next several years, Johnson began keeping a log of her reactions to various foods and chemicals, discovering “through trial and error” which ones posed a problem for her.
“I thought I was allergic to fish, but I discovered it wasn’t the fish but the cornmeal I fried it in,” she says.
The list grew. Not only was Johnson allergic to wheat, corn, molds, and red pepper, but also alcohol, penicillin, sulphur, various additives and preservatives, and a host of other foods and chemicals.
Unique needs
Tall and lithe with the smooth, glowing skin of a woman 15 years younger, it’s hard to believe Johnson was once a woman with ‘hair like straw’ and parched, rough skin.
She claims, after years of almost constant illness, she hasn’t caught even a cold in four years.
‘If I get a headache, I realize it’s probably related to something I ate,” she says.
She is convinced her experience is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to food-induced illnesses.
“I believe this is an area we haven’t touched on enough,” she says. “We are all nutritionally unique. When nutritionists talk about health and foods, they talk about what’s healthy for all of us.
“But what’s healthy for one person may not be healthy for another. We need to listen to our bodies to find out what it’s accepting and what it’s not.”
This is the end of the article and there are areas I will update in future articles, but this article is so timely for what is happening in today’s research on how foods and chemicals affect the body.