posted 11-08-2001 04:39 PM            

My uncle has food 'allergies' ..not only food, chemicals, smells, and its become so chronic he has been put on a diet, so severe its limitied to almost nothing but organic rice, Soy milk... He has not had normal 'human food' in 2 years, and has lost about 100+ lbs...He was a body builder, he does not have much joint pain becuase of his years of lifting weights, but now has lost much weight but is gaining it back well the best he can. What happens is he will eat something containing a SMALL TRACE of a ingredident he is allergic to and he will go into hours/days of intense itching and breaking out in little red sores on his body, this itching causes him to go into 2 or 3 days and even more sometimes with NO SLEEP.... Its very depressing for him and the people that have to see him go through it, he lives with his parents still who are having a hard time coping with this. His FEW foods he can eat have to be cooked a certain way...If he smells perfume; he will have chest pains and itch ALL DAY.. He describes it as a tingling all over, someitmes a burning itch, and often a 'crawling' feeling under his skin with some pain (non-muscle) as a allergic reaction to these foods/smells.. This can last from hours to days--- he has to have a special vibrating bed just to get a few hours of sleep at a time... His few foods are getting expensive and hard to find, he cannot drink normal water, only purified...This is a drain on his life, causing him to go into severe depression - and a drag on his older parents because they have to take care of him. He had a few mental illness such as bi-polar disorder and depression already..he cannot take the medicines to treat them becuase he will 'itch' for days and have no sleep until he is to the point of wanting to die...like I said, he does not suffer form the usual 'pains' in those spots through out his body like most patients do, doctors said it was because of his fitness..I know this sounds a lot like mutiple chemical senitivity, but it's been said to be allergies to practically EVERYTHING he can touch, smell, and mostly eat... Anybody experience ANYTHING similar???? And what can he do? He can't take meds to treat it because it will stir him up in itching and insomnia...appreicate ANY feedback or advice, it seems we've reached a dead end with him on this disease...

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-JD

posted 11-10-2001 11:41 AM            

About 8 years ago, I discovered some sensitivity to my mercury-silver dental amalgams, and had them all removed. It's a long story which I have repeated many times on this healthboard.

The short version of this, is that I was told by a doctor to not run more than a 100 yards over 23 years ago, and now I run about 19.5 miles a week. I had severe FM symptoms, gum disease and loose teeth.

You can read more of what I had recently written in the dental section to Kellybelly. I don't know if your uncle has these type of "silver" fillings (which typically contain more mercury than silver), but I thought that I would let you know just in case you would want to look more into it.