The Elimination Diet Step 111Casebook 8. Vitamin allergy
A thirty-eight-year-old woman went on a vitamin enhancement program
which called for quite large doses. She rapidly became suicidal and had to
stop. This was eventually traced to the niacin (B3) tablet, which was found
to contain potato starch. Potato was known to have this effect, and she
avoids it meticulously, but the tablets caught her out. This case, by the way,
is one in the eye for those doctors who claim that patients ‘imagine’ their
reactions to certain foods because they know they are eating them and so
fake the symptoms. This woman had no idea, until she phoned the vitamin
suppliers, that she had been eating potato.
You may not be taking large doses of vitamins, but this case is quoted to
make the point: you may unknowingly be causing symptoms by taking any
pills.
What about holistic remedies?
There is the question of homoeopathic remedies. It can be said with a fair
amount of certainty that such remedies are not incompatible with this diet;
however, the vehicle used can cause problems. The commonest of these is
the simple white tablet. Known as Suc-Lac, it contains sucrose and lactose.
You may recognize these as cane sugar and milk sugar, and you will readily
see that these are not acceptable on the diet; neither is the plain white powder
preparation soaked with the active ingredient, for that is also a sugar. Have
a word with your homoeopath; tell him or her what you are doing. Most
homoeopaths are very open to the subject of diet and nutrition. If you
explain the problem, he or she should be able to provide you with a liquid
to take as drops for this period.
It is important that you recognize herbal and other folk remedies
as drugs; in fact, many plant extracts used as treatments were later found
to contain quite potent drug substances, digitalis from foxglove being an
example. When people tell me that herbs are natural and safe, I reply: “You
mean opium, marijuana, hemlock?” This is not to compare the toxicity of
modern drugs with that of simple folk remedies, but the fact is that no
one knows the ingredients of most plant preparations. They are drugs and
- more important from your point of view – they are certainly potential
allergens.
In general, if you are in doubt, omit it. This is especially true if
your ‘cure’ has been taken for any length of time. It obviously isn’t curing