Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

It's been a while since my last write up, and also a while before my last attack. Managed to make it to 10 months before 2 attacks came back to back. I've learnt a lot though. 

I've been lucky enough to have gone through a long period of time without an attack, partly because of extra nutrition from eating more unprocessed foods/less restaurant foods and partly because I've been consuming a combination of Vitamin C, D and Magnesium supplements, really helped.

However, recently, we went to a restaurant which we have not visited in a very long time. Food was very tasty but the after effects were not, 3 hours later - an attack awaited me. As I started to realise - all this while, it had to have been MSG. Very dry mouth, locking of muscles, pain and numbness in the limbs and the all to common nystagmus. So as I have learnt in the past, keep the fluids in, and eat as best as I can. It worked, recovered from the attack within 24 hours although the brain fog persisted for another 3 days.

Lesson learnt ? Here's the proof. A week after, as I've only just gotten better from the attack, we decided a packet of frozen Gyoza was a good idea. After all, the label said "No MSG". An attacked followed, but this time it was rather mild. But off to bed I went. The next day, the same, had more Gyoza, and a rather large attack followed. My suspicion grew - only because in the past, I had suspected MSG was the trigger and the packet clearly labelled No MSG did I miss the signs. Closer look at the ingredients "Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein", code name for naturally occurring amino acids, Glutamates exposed by breaking cell walls. Seem to me a crime that someone could label something No MSG when it contains basically MSG in lesser concentrations. Misleading maybe but dangerous to people who have a clear allergy.

It' has been 2 weeks since the last attack now, and I am still anxious. However, it has been great to know that Magnesium and the two vitamin supplements, seems to have helped my symptoms, a lot. In fact, to know, that it has been in fact MSG has helped put many questions together.

Why has Vitamin C helped so much ? Research shows that it reduces the damage MSG does to your brain cells.[1]
Why has Vitamin D helped ? Had low Vitamin D levels
Why has Magnesium helped ? Some claims to protect against harmful effects of MSG [2] Don't know but it helps me personally.
What to do when attack happens ? Drink as much fluids to clear the MSG out of the body.
What is MSG ? An chemical excitotoxin, flavour enhancer, used in an incredibly wide range of foods, misleading labels.

May you feel healthy.

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19507646
2. http://www.truthinlabeling.org/NAET.html

Food group sensitivities

Through the journal, one of the observations that show up was a rough but unreliable association of dizziness with the use of ibuprofen. As it does not happen every time, it was difficult for me to pinpoint the cause to be from foods containing Salicylates. So I wish to share this in more detail.

One of the problems plaguing people with Salicylates sensitivity - is that it can present itself as a collective and accumulative reaction. So, for example, you may be consuming foods high in Salicylates, but may not show up as a reaction, until you consume something else that tipped you over the scales of your tolerance. Yet you may eliminate one food, and others still tip you over the scale.

So by simple means of food elimination, unless you are aware of the food groups - you'd be hard pressed to find why you are reacting suddenly to whatever foods that tipped you over the edge without much consistency. One of these, which is a common cure for headache, is of course, aspirin and ibuprofen.

Hence, I strongly advice, if you are keeping a food journal, to note as much of the foods you have had as possible, not just the trigger, so as to assist you and your doctor in identifying if you have a food sensitivity that may be triggering your symptoms.