From M.E. back to "me"

 

 

"I know I really should ______."

 

How do you finish that sentence? …exercise more? ..eat healthier?…quit smoking?

Most people know that changes to lifestyle improve health. But change is hard. It requires taking action. Doing things differently. It can be uncomfortable. Less pleasurable than your current lifestyle. It can be inconvenient. It may seem too hard or too costly. Or maybe its something you plan to do someday, but someday just doesn't seem to get here. 

 

Perhaps you are just like my family was.That is, before disaster struck and we were forced to make changes.

My family seemed to have a healthier diet and lifestyle than most. We ate the doctor recommended low fat diet with a decent amount of fruits, veggies and whole grains. I even planned meals with the food pyramid in mind. (who does that?) We rarely ate out and fast food was even more seldom. My son had no soda, except on special occasions. No fruit juice either. Just milk and water and the milk was low fat. I cooked most meals and stayed away from a lot of convenience foods. I looked at labels, to see fat or sugar content, but never really inspected ingredients. We thought we were doing great!

 

The thing is, everything usually seems great, right before the disaster. The calm before the storm as they say.

 

You often hear stories of the aftermath of hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. People may see the warning signs, hear the alerts on the news, but they think they have time. The sun is shining and life continues on as normal, when all of a sudden, WHAM! The sky turns dark and you're faced with imminent danger. You have to act NOW and hope its not too late.

 

In 2011, my husband made me watch a documentary called "Food Matters" which literally saved our lives. Had I not seen this film and began researching food's impact on health I may have lost my son.

I quickly became obsessed with health documentaries, especially those relating to food and nutrition. Food Matters featured Charlotte Gerson, which led me to research the Gerson Therapy (which I am currently using to recover from ME/CFS). That led me to a documentary called "The Beautiful Truth" mainly about the Gerson therapy, but this film mentioned the dangers of MSG and included an appearance by Dr. Russell Blaylock. I researched him and watched a lecture he gave called "Excitotoxins, the taste that kills" based on his research. This was my first warning. Like the weather man on the news showing the storm forming out in the ocean, that could soon be headed our way.

 

As I continue my story, you'll see how all this came into play.

 

The sky was turning dreary. Our family began making small changes. Switching to organic where we could find it. As we would run out of a product, we would look to replace it with a better one. But during this time we began to notice problems with our then 11 year old son. At first he was moody, then a little defiant. OK, he's on the brink of puberty, that's expected, right?

But then our world came crashing in. Like the siren telling you the tornado is coming and you need to seek shelter NOW!

 

We finally got our son to communicate that he was having headaches. What he was explaining sounded like a typical migraine. But when they would hit, his personality began to shift dramatically. He was easily agitated, hostile, and not his normal agreeable self. He began having what seemed like panic attacks and hyperventilated, but the next morning would have no recall of the event. The episodes got worse and worse. At the peak of it all, he would lose the ability to speak, stumble around like a drunk and his pain response was heightened. The inability to communicate was so frustrating for him, like he was trapped inside and couldn't get out. He would throw things and flail around like some sort of seizure. Standing there helpless, as a parent, watching your child suffer is horrifying.

 

From the very beginning we sought out medical advise. We saw all kinds of specialists. He had EEGs, MRIs and sleep studies. WIth no real answers our lives became very frightening. We had friends and family on alert. He was a big kid and very strong, so we often needed physical help. 911 was called several times, in hopes of getting him to the ER during an episode so they could determine the cause. By the time he would get there, it would be over and we were often made to feel as though they thought he was faking. 

 

Anyone who knows me, knows I am usually very agreeable, easy going and avoid confrontation of any kind. But when I had police officers tell me my child has a behavioral problem, healthcare workers telling me he was acting out, psychologists telling me he has an aggression disorder and needed to be on meds or institutionalized, well, my inner "mama bear" came out showing her teeth and growling. I knew my kid. He's not perfect, but he's a good kid. Always tried hard and never gave us much trouble. Even the hormones of puberty didn't seem like it could do all this.

 

Without any real answers or solutions I started to keep a daily journal. How did he sleep? Was there any stress that day? What was the weather? What did he eat, and so on. I examined every possible variable.

I began to compare what was different between good days and bad. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason, so I took a closer look at food. I though back to Dr. Blaylock's lecture on excitotoxins.

 

Excitotoxins are primarily food additives like MSG and aspartame. Without going into extensive detail, they cross into the brain, over stimulate the brain cells. Essentially exciting them to death. If you look up neurotoxicity, you'll find all the symptoms my son was suffering from and more. (I will add some links at the bottom, for those of you who want to know more)

 

At this point I was pretty sure I had found the culprit. So we experimented. Removing the foods with MSG. No easy feat. I challenge you right now to go into your fridge and pantry and (unless you have already made a conscious effort to eliminate all processed foods) find something without these ingredients.

 

So, you might be saying, "Well, I look for products that say NO MSG on the label." Oh, but wait. The food industry is tricky. According to the FDA, (you know, that organization that is looking out for us (wink, wink)) the list of ingredients does not have to say MSG or monosodium glutamate, unless the ingredient is more than 98% PURE MSG. And mothers beware, the FDA is also allowing Aspartame to be added to milk in your child's school cafeterias. I'm talking regular white milk. 

 

Here you will find a list of over 50 ingredient names that contain or may contain MSG or excitotoxins.

 

 

 

My son has become the canary in the coal mine and we have found many things that are NOT on this list that he reacts to.

 

• personal grooming products

 

• dental care products, even those used in the dentists office

 

• over the counter and prescription drugs, including many supplements

 

• vaccines contain an obscene amount of these toxins, chicken pox/varicella and the flu vaccine/flumist) are the worst

 

• some chemical pesticides and fertilizers contain MSG, since you never know what was used on the produce you buy, we switched entirely to organically grown fruits and veggies. (more info here and here)

 

• even meat and dairy products had to be switched to organic and grass fed animals, free from antibiotics, growth hormones, GMO feeds and soy. All of which can be laced with these toxins and affect a sensitive individual.

 

• cooking using a microwave can also alter the protein composition causing small amounts of these toxins that will affect someone as sensitive as my son.

• cereals and grains processed using high heat extrusion

 

• we also discovered he reacted to aluminum in cookware and cans

 

 

Within days of eliminating these additives and chemicals, we saw changes in his health and behavior. The seizure like episodes became less common, but showed us the many other places we didn't think to look for MSG. Over the six months that followed, we tirelessly looked at every product that came into contact with our family. It made us question why we never questioned these unpronounceable chemicals before. It made us question why are they even there. From cleaning products who rarely list their ingredients to toilet paper.

 

Today, 4 years later, he has not had even a slight reaction in over a year. We are extremely careful. And although the worst is over it has left its scars. He remains extremely chemical sensitive and has many of the symptoms of ME/CFS which many doctors believe may have a toxic component as a trigger (although he also had a stubborn virus prior to the neurotoxicity problems) so who really knows what may have caused what. Stored toxins in the body remain a concern and we are working on that presently.

 

There remain looming questions that I may never find answers too. Like why he became so sensitive and others do not. Like many illnesses including cancer, the turning point, when you discover the problem is not the beginning. Damage is being done to your body by these chemicals for years before it ever comes to your awareness. It could have been a genetic predisposition, the damage to my own body before and during pregnancy, the chemical overload in foods and vaccines during early childhood, including products we have trusted for generations…baby foods, formulas and bath products, you know the brands, all full of pesticides, and toxic chemical additives. Or just the never ending barrage of environmental toxins that wear down our systems. Sooner or later the damage rears its ugly head in the form of one of these modern day plagues, cancer, autism, MS, diabetes, infertility and so many others that have been linked to these chemicals.

 

But whatever the original cause of all this, I am thankful that even though I didn't heed the warnings immediately, I at least had the information in order to weather the storm. My hope is that others never have to go through what we went through, and if you or your child is experiencing unexplained shifts in behavior or other strange symptoms, has been diagnosed with a behavior disorder, ADD, autism or even has the signs of ME/CFS... Eliminate all the chemicals you can. It may seem like a big step, but its well worth the effort. And at the very least, it can't do any harm.