Cases, Cases, Cases 37every day yet had never suspected them to be the trouble: none had ever
caused an obvious symptom that had aroused her suspicions. Nevertheless,
within a few days on this plan, carrying out the correct procedure as
outlined by me, she was able to demonstrate a pronounced reaction to each
of the above foods. Incidentally, egg seemed to be the cause of most of the
flatulence: within minutes of the test dose she was breaking offensive wind
- long before any egg could possibly have reached the lower bowel.
Her work is now her greatest pleasure, and she accepts the hostess
assignments without hesitation, rubbing shoulders with VIPs and celebrities,
at ease and, by all accounts, popular – after all, she knows London better
than most native Britons do.
Case no. 6: Schizophrenia
A young man I shall call Tony came to my clinic, and I think it would be
no exaggeration to state that his life was in ruins due to unsuspected food
allergies. His story has all the human drama you could wish for outside the
fantasy annals of Dr. Kildare. He came from a good home, had enjoyed
normal health as a child, did well at school and at eleven-plus age there had
been no clouds on his life’s horizon. His secondary education had started
off well: he had shown himself to be very bright, and his teachers had
expected him to be very successful in the public examinations when he was
sixteen.
Then a double tragedy struck: his grandfather, to whom he was
very close, died suddenly, and within a very short interval a close friend
committed suicide. People die all the time, of course, with varying degrees
of impact on those they leave behind; but for an adolescent boy facing
the stress of preparation for major examinations it proved rather a lot to
cope with. Tony’s mood changed, and he began to suffer long bouts of
gloom. At times he became so indolent with despondency that it quite
worried his parents. They sought medical advice, with the result that at the
incredibly early age of fourteen he was put on antidepressant drugs. These
are a disaster at any age, in my opinion, but to prescribe them for a newly
forming adult personality was an unforgivable blunder.
Despite it all Tony struggled on at school, and few people knew
his troubles. There was therefore much consternation and surprise when
he failed badly in his exams. Doubtless being dosed up on psychotropic
(mind-altering) drugs had a lot to do with this. He was allowed to stay on
nevertheless, but in the sixth form his behavior progressively deteriorated:
his bouts of depression caused him to become truculent, moody and