If you want to see if any of your pain if food related- pick up some "Buffered C powder"- it's not too expensive and put it in a your drink- water, ice tea etc. and have it either before, after or while you have a meal. I think a normal amount is about a teaspoon- you don't need alot of it.

See if it helps at all with your pain. It has mine. This especially can be considered if you already knew certain foods made you feel crappy. Apparently the "buffer in the C" is what keeps your body from having a bad reaction to food if you are sensitive to certain foods.

Just a suggestion. It's been two weeks since I have seen this doctor and I think I can say all around I am about 75% better with fatigue and pain. I'm probably taking only on quarter or less of the regular meds I was on.

If you don't know what the heck I am talking about look at the posts hampton and I have made.

You might benefit from trying some of the things this doctor suggests without actually seeing him. We are always looking for things to help us so I just wanted to let you know~!

Buffered Vitamin C

If the government were to ask each physician to pick one medication and use that single medicine the rest of their career I would choose buffered Vitamin C powder.

This stuff is the most useful antidote to food allergies that I have come across. It is Vitamin C, but that isn't why I use it. While there are over 2,000 mgs. of Vitamin C in each teaspoonful, the Vitamin C is a bonus and NOT the reason I use it and suggest my patients use it.

When we react to foods it is usually because copious mucus drainage has caused an acid stomach. It is the acid stomach that seems to break the foods into unusual fragments that react at these levels of increased acidity. Many of us react to foods when we are really allergic to airborne particles. The airborne particles, like pollen and mold, cause us to swallow large amounts of mucus. There is the constant sniffling and clearing of the throat. When this load of mucus accumulates in the stomach it causes the stomach to release large amounts of hydrochloric acid.

The stomach is supposed to digest protein by releasing acid; the mucus is A PROTEIN. The stomach thinks we have eaten a large meal of protein and begins to try to digest it with acid. It can't do it because the mucus is a "buffered" protein, that means acid cannot dissolve it. But, that doesn't keep the stomach from trying.

When we drop food and drink into this acid bath they are "vaporized." This causes many unusual fragments that the sensitive lining of the stomach may react to. Through years of patient experience I have noticed that whenever patients are having a food reaction in their stomach the very best way to "neutralize" or "block" the reaction is to get magnesium into the stomach WHILE THE REACTION IS GOING ON.

If I can get magnesium into my stomach while the reaction is taking place it will stop the reaction and the discomfort within seconds of the time I swallow it.

The simplest form of magnesium is magnesium sulfate crystals. This is sold as Epsom Salts in every pharmacy and grocery store. This is straight magnesium and it is used as a laxative in the recommended doses. It is a pretty violent laxative too. However, in much less than laxative doses it can be mixed in water and taken to neutralize a food reaction.

For a laxative the recommended dose is "one to two teaspoons in water." For a food reaction I suggest a 1/4 to a 1/2 teaspoon in 6 ounces of water. There is only one problem with the Epsom Salts... they taste like sudsy ammonia! It tastes SO BAD you would have to be quite desperate to use it more than once. I have a FEW patients who use it but they have life-threatening reactions and cannot take a chance on anything less effective. It is also the only antidote that will work below the stomach. All the others work only while the food is still in the stomach. So, if it has been over an hour since the food was eaten the stomach probably has emptied and in that case the other forms of magnesium will not be very effective.

On the other hand, if the food has been in the stomach less than an hour then Buffered Vitamin C Powder will be quite effective. I choose the Buffered Vitamin C Powder not for the Vitamin C but for the chemical used to "buffer" it. That is magnesium. It has the magnesium that I need to neutralize the acidity of the stomach, and it will reverse any food reaction within seconds. And IT TASTES GOOD! Most of us who use it really like the taste of it.

Adults use a half to one teaspoon in 6 to 8 oz. of water, stir it in and drink the upper two thirds (the bottom gets pretty "gritty" and it isn't necessary to drink that). Kids use tiny amounts (1/8 teaspoon for 2 to 6 year olds and 1/4 or more for bigger kids). You will probably have to "hide" it in something at first, like apple juice, Sprite or 7-Up. Once they realize how much better they feel when they take it even little ones will come and ask their moms for it whenever they have an upset tummy or abdominal discomfort.

I am always amazed at the speed with which Buffered Vitamin C Powder STOPS a food reaction. If I forget myself and try a little tiny bite of chocolate, I often begin itching all over within minutes of eating the chocolate. If I can get to my Buffered C Powder and get a half a glass down fairly soon afterward, the itching STOPS within ten to fifteen seconds.

Try it. You'll like it.

It is especially useful when we first begin to introduce questionable foods to hypersensitive patients. They keep it at hand when they re-introduce foods so that they can reverse any reaction the food might cause.

It is also useful when patients (of all ages) KNOW they are going to react to something they feel compelled to eat (pizza or ice cream for kids) or that they cannot avoid (Aunt Emma's pumpkin pie at the annual family reunion). In these instances I suggest the patient mix up a dos of the Vitamin C Powder and load it into one of the 6 oz. bottled water bottles. When they are faced with this type situation they should shake up the Vitamin C Powder in the water bottle, drink a third of it BEFORE they eat the food, another third WHILE they eat the food and the rest of the mix AFTER they eat the food. This will usually PREVENT the reaction from happening at all.

craig