Possible PG food triggers and physical exertion

[Guest guest]

I don't know how I would ever be able to feel confident about

recognizing triggers. These lesions always seem to go away eventually.

Everything about them is so erratic. My best hunch is that they are

food or drug reactions. My immune system has always been very reactive.

Poison ivy you would not believe. Severe hay fever as a child, and

asthma now. Chemical and food sensitivities.

I think it worthwhile to explore the blood type diet recommendations

(Dr. J. D'Adamo's research and books). I think an excellent

question in the poll would be asking blood types, and whether or not

people have food sensitivities; whether their reactions are in

digestive track, skin, or lungs and sinusitis.

I believe type O is the most common. And they very frequently have

trouble with glutens and bovine dairy. Given the average American diet,

this means that the largest proportion of the population is eating a

diet extremely high in things they can't tolerate. Looking back at my

life, I believe that the severity of the reactions progresses over

time. I guess I was really wearing my immune system down over the years

because of my eating habits.

I can tell you that I had periods where I can definitely relate my

symptom flareups with dietary indiscretions. I got severe eczema (which

I have only gotten a few times in my 58 years, with only very small

areas) when I was eating a daily breakfast of bagels and cream cheese.

Bagels are particularly high in gluten. Most recently, I had my most

severe outbreak of PG after a big diet change. Because of D'Adamo's

book, I had gone years without drinking caffinated or decaffinated

beverages. This summer, I forgot and started drinking a decaffinated

iced tea every day. Also, I have avoided peanuts, cashews and

pistachios for years. This summer, I forgot and had a brief period of

binging on cashews. These nuts have an inflamitory precursor, according

to my naturopath. For most of my life, practically lived on pasta (or

bread, crackers), cheese and nuts because I have a very high metabolism

and I am hungary all the time. Now I eat rice almost exclusively as a

grain for pasta and crackers. I Only eat goat and sheep dairy. And i

eat almonds as my nut of choice. I have had REMARKABLE improvements in

my mood swings, joint pain, sinus headaches and no episodes of eczema.

Prior to these diet changes, my sinus headaches crippled me for many

days out of every month since I was in sixth grade.

The other factor that I would be curious about comparing with other PG

sufferers is physical exertion. I am fairly hyperactive and get a great

deal of exercise by choice. I suspect that the PG outbursts might be

related to especially high periods of exercise. this is nearly

impossible to determine since the higher periods of exertion coincide

directly with the highest periods of stress. Emotional, financial, and

physical stress has been a huge factor in my life in recent years,

coinciding with the onset of PG. All my jobs have intentionally

involved lots of exercise (hospice caregiving, massage therapist,

landscaper, housecleaning, housepainter). Add to this that I was an

avid hiker and horseback rider (and cross country skiing if we ever got

snow) until the PG knocked me out of those passions. On top of that, I

have not had stable living situation since my divorce twelve years ago.

I have moved a phenomenal amount of times since then (sometimes a few

times in a given year), which involves a great deal of lifting since I

move myself with minimal help (and STRESS of moving deadlines when I

had no place to go).

Hope this can be helpful to trigger recognition of similarities. The

best thing we could do to help each other is figure out what causes

outbreaks of EN/PG so we can avoid them and relieve them.

Happy New Year to you all. I am so grateful to have found you!!!!!!!!!!

Tina