Faith wrote:Well, if you couldn't tolerate all those things too (corn starch, citric acid, etc.), maybe you had a mast cell/histamine problem!!!!
Just kidding, but then who knows!
Actually, (though I didn't realize it at the time), I'm pretty sure that I did indeed have a mast cell issue. In fact, I suspect that it is somewhat common with MC. Consider this:
(Now this is just my theory, and I haven't seen it documented anywhere - yet), but I've often mentioned on this board, my belief that the immune system tends to concentrate on what it perceives as the primary problem confronting it, at any given point in time, (to the suppression, or even exclusion, of other, less significant agonists). IOW, I believe this is the reason why we never seem to notice our minor intolerances, until we have eliminated gluten, for example, and our tissues have healed sufficiently, so that the gliadin antibody level declines to the point where the antibodies due to the next "allergen" in the "pecking order", exceed the level of the anti-gliadin antibodies, so that the "secondary" antibody production captures the attention of the immune system, and therefore triggers a response. Once that secondary "allergen" is removed from the diet, then the immune system recognizes the third most significant "allergen", etc. This continues until all relevant food intolerances have been removed from the diet.
As evidence of this, note that no one ever notices that they are soy intolerant, until they have been on the GF, DF diet for a while, and their gut has been able to recover somewhat. In fact, many/most members here have mentioned that they noticed a significant improvement after removing gluten, (or gluten and dairy), from their diet, only to be soon plunged right back into a full-blown reaction, which they subsequently are able to end by removing soy from their diet, (or eggs, or whatever the next intolerance might be, in their personal situation).
Since T-cells dominate MC reactions, (by definition), any mast cell participation will not be likely to be noticed, until after the T-cell reactions have been brought down to a sufficiently low level, that the immune system "notices" the mast cell reactions. Do you follow what I'm saying? This is all speculation, of course, but it certainly fits the empirical constraints that are involved with these issues, and I think that many/most of us can identify with this scenario. So what am I leading up to? Here's the "punch line":
I've had true allergies, most of my life. I had asthma so bad, when I was a kid, that if a kind-hearted, small-town country doctor, hadn't come to my house one night, (about 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning), and given me a cortisone shot, I probably wouldn't be here to write this, because I was already turning blue, when he arrived. Somewhere in my late teens to early 20s, the asthma faded away, and was replaced by hay fever, (but only in the fall of the year - I was allergic to weed pollen, but not to tree pollen, in those days). This lasted until I was in my 50s, and I began to notice that my hay fever was becoming less and less of a problem, every year. Then one day, I had my first MC episode, (though I didn't recognize it at first, of course). After about a year of "occasional" episodes, (which I thought to be either the flue, or food poisoning), with slowly increasing severity, I noticed that I no longer had any hay fever reactions at all, any more, (not even a single sniffle, sneeze, or watery eye). The hay fever was totally gone.
This state of affairs lasted until after I finally figured out what was wrong with me, adopted a GF diet, and continued to remove other foods, over a period of about a year and a half, until I finally achieved remission. Approximately 4 years after achieving remission, my hay fever came back with a vengeance, except that this time I am allergic to tree pollen in the spring, also, and so far, at least, the fall reactions, (due mostly to ragweed, presumably), are not as severe as the reactions to oak pollen, in the spring. Note that 3 years after adopting the GF diet, (one and a half years after achieving remission), I still showed intestinal damage, (based on a fecal fat score). Presumably, this implies that there may have been some sort of continuing immune system activity, (mast cell reactions?), that interfered with the proper healing of my intestines, (even though I was in remission, with no noticeable clinical symptoms. At any rate, my point is that my immune system was "distracted" by some sort of GI system issues, for all those intervening years, and until that activity subsided, my hay fever was put on hold, because my immune system was "distracted" by other, more important issues. At least, that's the way I see it. I think that it's certainly more than just a coincidence. Do you have any thoughts on this? Here's a related thread:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... oak+pollen
The corn is steeped for 30 to 48 hours, which ferments it a little.
No wonder I can't tolerate it if it's fermented. Don't know how much 'a little' is! Anything fermented is not allowed on a low histamine diet.
The actual amount of fermentation is probably very slight, because if it were allowed to progress very far, the starch would have an odor problem. This is always a potential problem with wet milling. When making masa, for example, if the process is not completed in a timely manner, the masa, tortillas, tortilla chips, etc., will have a characteristic sour, rotten, odor and taste. Definitely not palatable. Of course, if we are intolerant or allergic to something, it takes very little of it to affect us.
Tex
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