At 03:12 PM 5/28/98 -0400, Mark Feblowitz wrote:
>Don't feel too bad about missing this. Most of us do. It just surprises me
>how many docs do. I spend years trying to find a common link to my GI
>difficulties and my rheumatoid arthritis. It turned out to be milk. Even my
>rheumatologists, who surmised that I had some form of degenerative bowel
>disorder didn't make the connection. I did, when I eliminated milk in an
>attempt to reduce my hay fever symptoms. What a surprise when  the GI
>problems subsided, the arthritis went into permanent remission, and I could
>not only stop the anti-inflamatories, but also play soccer(!). It wasn't
>quite a surprise when I heard years later that researchers had found a link
>between dairy allergies and certain forms of arthritis.

Sorry not to quote, but I just have to answer to this. I have told you that
I am the mother of a 2-year-old anapylactic to milk. I have asthma and many
allergies (airbone) myself. The history of allergies comes from my mom's
family, with my grandfather dying of what they thought was kidney failure
but most probably provoked by a big anaphylactic reaction after a long
illness which affected his kidneys and I think was related to his many
allergies (but back then this was unheard of, at least here). He did go to
an allergist and knew that was allergic to a lot of things. My mom's only
brother is allergic to all anesthesics, and a lot of other medicines. My
mom is the only one in the family who claims that she has no allergies, but
she suffers from IBS and bad reumathoid arthritis, which both subsided
after she started medication for her long-term depression. I have
read about this before, and sometimes tried to get her to go on a gluten
or milk free diet with no sucess. She eats lots of bread and cheese. Actually
I would say she lives on that, she craves it for some reason. Now she says
that when she stops her depression medicines her reuma and IBS symptoms come
back worse than ever, so she is getting adicted to these drugs. She is now 53.

Any comments, anyone? What do you think?

Angela