Stumbled upon @Seagull 's old post ( https://ledstrain.org/d/946-neurological-malfunction/4 )
wherein he mentions that curcumin, silicon dioxide, and cooking oils make his symptoms worse.

This is interesting because my problems with brain fog that gets extra bad from screens, but can persist to a lesser extent even without screens started around the time when I had been taking COPIOUS amount of turmeric (curcumin is its active ingredient) for an an extended period of time. Salt does seem to make me mildly worse also, but I never thought about it being a silicon dioxide issue, and not salt in and of itself…interesting.

I haven't had any turmeric for years now, but symptoms persist.

One of my current theories is that it's entirely possible that something or other that turmeric is plentiful in - some fucking metal, or substance or whatever is stored up in my body and is wreaking havoc, and causing issues.

Kinda like when people with an MTFHR gene mutation can't process folic acid properly, and food enriched with folic acid can seriously mess them up, but the majority of people have no problem with processing that particular nutrient.

The question is: what is it about turmeric/my body that's causing this mess?

One of the things is salicylates. I do respond very poorly to them, but I still have brain fog even on a low salicylate, no turmeric diet. So it's gotta be something else.

@Seagull , any thoughts on this matter? Any common nutrients, vitamins, whatever that are found in turmeric AND other foods that exacerbate your symptoms?

You haven't, by chance, done any genetic testing and found you have some funky mutations? (I'm thinking about doing that myself in the near future)

SO FAR, I've found zinc to be helpful for reducing brain fog/computer dizziness. Cars with bright led lights change from painful to look at to mildly annoying.

AND, very interestingly: Parboiled rice (it has all kinds of b vitamins) - lots of brain fog. White jasmine rice (not a whole lot of vitamins) - much much less. White rice noodles (highly processed) - the least amount of fog.

IN regard to cooking oils, I react poorly to cooking oils too, but basically the high salicylate ones (i.e. all of them except for sunflower, rice bran, and a couple of others I don't remember) IN MY CASE - sunflower oil seems fine no brain fog noticed …so if @Seagull you react poorly to sunflower oil, it's likely not a salicylate issue in that particular case.

People with dietary issues, let's compare notes.

P.S. I just put "salciylates" AND "Silicon Dioxide" intolerance into google a rando website popped up where someone supposedly stopped being intolerant to both after taking vitamin K.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:bcyvkwAX4x4J:https://actualcures.com/end-of-salicylate-intolerance-and-silicon-dioxide-intolerance.html

NO IDEA if this is legit…but I may well experiment on myself

Interesting to meet someone else with similar symptoms.

Re-genetic testing, I've had it done and found nothing interesting except the Alzheimer's gene (which isn't particularly rare, 1/50 people have it iirc).

I don't think your issue is any kind of built up toxicity from curcumin or similar, I think it is inflammatory. Your immune system causes inflammation, but your immune system supposed to be kept out of your brain by a 'blood brain barrier'. Inflammation opens up the blood brain barrier enabling inflammation, and maybe symptoms like we experience. to make matters worse, you might have some mild food allergies. In this case, rice proteins/peptides might find their way into your brain causing inflammation and symptoms. I mention rice as a food allergy example, as processing the rice will likely decrease its allergenic potential, and you mention you tolerate polished rice better. Incidentally, I get stomach pains when I eat rice, but much less so if it is processed. I can eat rice flour fine, but cannot eat whole rice!

As a test, it is well documented that exercise opens up the blood brain barrier. You might find that your food symptoms become worse if you need exercise concurrently.

As a general update. My issues with inflammation are mostly resolved. I cut red meat and dairy out of my diet as I believe it to be inflammatory (give neu-5gc a google). Now three years later, I can eat all the foods I listed without any eye or headache symptoms. I still get migraines and pain from bad screens, but I'd estimate it is 75% better. As an example, self service screens at shops used to give me a migraines that'd require medication, now all I experience is mild discomfort that I can easily ignore and often don't notice unless I think about it.

    Interesting.

    I eat tumeric all the time, curry frequently I make my own more often than from resturants and I would eat it 2+ times a week but much less thse days, I also eat rice fairly frequently as well.

    At any rate at least once a week for curry and or rice.

    I thought tumeric (etc) was supposed to be beneficial for reducing inflamation (etc) and exercise as I also started doing that more.

    In short in the past few years, I increased my tumeric (curry) and exercise levels and took vitamins including a lot of B vitamins. My doctor even recommended taking very high doses of B2 and given my 'migraine' diagnosis I take various painkillers all the time. I also started eating more salt as I never really added salt to anything ever (i cook mostly rather than pre-prepaired foods etc)

    I also cook / season with olive oil.

    I too have experimented with excluding foods and as its not going to cost me any extra perhaps I shall add (remove) olive oil, rice and curry to my list. I already do not eat red meats, perhaps I can exclude dairy.

    Edit: Thinking more on the food side of things as well, before my symptoms I didnt really eat dairy either. Its only in the past few years I have eaten it more.

    I have not been tested for any food alergies etc but again it doesnt cost me anything to exclude foods so I will try.

      Seagull Oh yes, I'm very aware of inflammation being at play here. That's why I was taking tons of turmeric to begin with - to treat other inflammatory issues. Thanks for the headsup re genetic testing.

      Have you been to an allergist? Has that been helpful at all? Or you more or less figured out what's aggravating your symptoms by trial and error. Glad to hear you're 75% better.

        HAL9000 I have not been tested for any food alergies

        I was thinking of taking food allergy tests too. Since I recently relocated to a new country, I asked my GP for a prescription/recommendation. He said that if I had food allergies, my body would clearly send signs and it would be enough to stop eating what gives the symptoms, no need to get tested. He added that I should watch out for nuts and diary products, that is pretty much it. I found his explanation and conclusion quite gross.

        How accurate are those tests? I mean, are they 100% scientific or open to interpretation like the Irlen Syndrome test?

        By the way, a couple of years ago I bought this book for eye exercises. I described my symptoms to the author, who suggested the following strategy to complement the eye training. "Individually designed natural remedy support adjusted monthly according to your unique needs will also be essential to correct the internal physiological triggers of susceptibility, which include toxins such as mercury and deficiencies such as vitamin A, as well as biological factors such as intracellular parasites like neurotrophic viruses and spirochetes."

        Have you guys ever looked into those aspects?

        You talk of brain fog and headaches. Anyone with eyestrain, eyelid or other muscle twitching, rapid onset of neck and shoulder tension following exposure to LED illumination and / or electronic devices?

            AGI

            Something to clarify on 'food allergies'.

            An allergy is your immune system reacting by producing immunoglobulinE, creating rashes, swelling, wheezing etc. Whilst technically not at allergy, your immune system can also react to things by producing immunoglobulinG, or immunoglobulinM. These are inflammatory, but not allergies.

            An allergy test will only locate immunoglobulinE responses, for me that's pointless as most of my food responses are G or M. You can get G or M tested, but from what I have heard its not actually that helpful, and tends to just reflect what you've been eating recently, rather than locating problem foods.

            HAL9000

            Turmeric is an anti-inflammatory, but on balance any will be inflammatory if your immune system decides it doesn't like it.

            • AGI likes this.

                I make ginger tea fairly often for years now. Turmeric is a member of the ginger family. There are differences of course, e.g. ginger doesn't have the orange colour. One experiment worth trying would be to just try some actual ginger. It is used in East Asian cooking, and in the west too.. e.g. gingerbread cookies, ginger ale, etc.

                Why not try substituting turmeric with ginger instead and seeing if things are the same or different?

                Could it be because Tumeric is heating? And heating foods usually increase inflammation in people who already have a lot of Pitta (liver / kidneys are related to the eyes and having too much internal heat can further weaken the Yin of these)

                  Quad43 The funny thing is, the reason I drink ginger is to reduce inflammation. (It does.)

                    dev