Mouth Sores
Bottom line: food sensitivities (wheat/oranges) and microbiome therapy (yogurt rinse)
I had mouth sores starting in my childhood. My mom called them canker sores and prescribed merthiolate topically on the sores. That was painful. As soon as the internet emerged in the 90s I did occasional searches on mouth sores and tried things like salt rinses etc. I was never completely happy with anything. In 2010 I did a general detailed health and diet log for 6 months focused on all my immunity problems. At that time I was trying a "diet" for the first time—Peter D'Adamo's Genotype Diet—and I tried cutting out oranges and adding new kinds of foods. D'Adamo described my "genotype" (Teacher) as perhaps overly welcoming. I took his diet as new "tips". I came out of 2010 convinced to cut out wheat (important; I knew my dad's uncle died from eating wheat) and oranges (less important). In retrospect, I have vague recollections of a feeling of cutting sensitivity from bread on my lips in my childhood as much even though I loved peanut butter and honey sandwiches on home-made whole wheat bread.
After 2010 I had far fewer mouth (lip and cheek) bites/cuts turn into canker sores. Then I started experimenting with rinsing with a web recommendation of plain yogurt whenever I noticed a mouth bite emerging into a canker sore. I had promising results enough that I still use it successfully even though I rarely need to these days.
Acne
Bottom line: food sensitivities (wheat/oranges) and fasting
I had moderate acne as a teenager. It didn't get a lot better in my 30s, and it was on my scalp, back, arms, and legs. Nothing really helped until 2010 when I decided it was not "just acne", but a symptom of a deeper problem. I did my first 12-day fast on distilled water and got serious about a family wheat sensitivity (my grandma's brother died from eating wheat and my grandma and a sister of hers had dramatic health improvements around 2000 when they stopped eating wheat) history. Within a few years, I could predict facial acne two days after eating wheat.
Gum Disease
Bottom line: unclear/multiple/holistic?
I've blogged here extensively about my success healing my gum disease. In this post, I'm giving it context with my larger immunity journey. Unlike for mouth sores and acne, I couldn't do repeated trials with gum disease. Since I healed it once and for always around 2010 when I did my 6-month rigorous health log (Oct 2009 to May 2010), my 12-day fast (April 2010), got laid off from my last full time job, discovered stopping/mindfulness via "A New Earth", lost my marriage, and stopped 100% church attendance, it's not easy to isolate the reason. I never observed gum symptoms in relation to my background immunity, and gum issues are not logged in my 6-month log. I started nightly Waterpik irrigation in 2010 at the time of my first 12-day fast (I had never been faithful at flossing), and my gum disease has gone away. I can't pinpoint whether it was due to the fasting, the mindfulness, the background immunity work, the Waterpik, or mix and match the above.
Ear Infection
Bottom line: used as holistic indicator
Some time in the 00s I noticed crackling and occasional pain in my ears. I did a half-hearted (shame on me) antibiotic treatment prescribed by a doctor. I found out from internet research that otitis media pretty much never goes away. Since then I have used my ear infection symptoms as an immunity indicator. At this moment, when I swallow, do hear some crackling. So the ear infection is there, I assume, even though I am no longer normally aware of it. I logged ear infection symptoms in my 6-month log in 2010 that helped me cut out wheat.
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