I only knew about my soap/detergent/perfume allergy when I was very young (probably 7 yrs old) because I would get rashes and bad headaches. The reaction was so immediate, there was no doubt.

When I was a teenager, I got headaches to the point that my teeth and gums would go numb. They blamed it on my sinuses, but didn't say what caused it. When my daughter was born with severe allergies, I said "must be her dad" (allergies are often genetic) because I really didn't think mine were severe enough to worry about.

The only "sensitivity" I did take seriously (besides soap, perfume, etc.), was to dairy/beef when I was about 20 yrs old. My doctor told me I was getting cysts/boils due to some protein or calcium (can't remember) in dairy/beef . . . about the same time that my eye doctor told me I excreting excess protein/calcium deposits on my contacts . . . about the same time my hairdresser said it was calcium/protein that was causing a hair problem (can't remember what the hair problem was). I virtually cut dairy/beef out of my diet, for about 10 yrs, and was healthy.

I started eating beef/drinking dairy again when I lived in New Zealand. Shortly after changing my diet, I was dx with probable MS . . . but in retrospect, remembered similar sensations/symptoms from when I was a teenager. :cool:

No one mentioned allergies until my surgery for sinus polyps in the late 90's. It was only after that that I could actually recognize an allergic reaction (I tend to tune things out :rolleyes:).

When I first started researching MS, I found that it was a fairly new disease (except one isolated case from around the 1500's), and it dated back to the mid-1800's. I researched what changed then (industrial revolution), and discovered that it was called the "rich man's disease" back then because poor people never got it.

That was when beef started to be grain fed, to fatten them for quick sale. Poor people still ate the grass fed beef off their farms . . .

Grain also became a larger part of our diet, with cereals, breads, etc. . .

Yes, I think allergies contribute somehow to MS, and I think grain (and how cows process it) has something to do with it.

I love grains though. :(

Cherie

Folks in Africa or India don't have as many allergies either. Allergies are essentially a rich man's disease also. One of the theories is that we are too clean with modern septic systems and sanitation and therefore our immune systems are bored and have nothing to react to so they start to react to harmless things like foods and pollens. The autoimmue diseases are one step up from that when your immune system starts to react to your body.

That's an interesting theory too.

My step-son had terrible asthma. His mom used to freak out when there was cigarette smoke around him, and was a fanatic about cleanliness. I swear, you could eat off her floor.

It seemed the only time he wasn't sick with asthma was when we took him, and we both smoked (carefully).

It took his doctors to convince her that he had to leave the house for the entire day (at least) when she cleaned. We would take him to the campsite (with hot dog and marshmello roasts) on those days. ;)

Cherie

My DD has asthma and since I got rid of all the common cleaners in our house she has not had any problems with her asthma at all.
I was NEVER a clean freak tho, LOL :D