Hi folks! I'm feeling the need to vent here a moment....You were so supportive when I posted the first time that this seemed the logical place to come and share my frustration. I'd appreciate any insight you can offer...
When I first posted here (I think it was a month ago), I was dealing with daily urgent diarrhea. I'd been taking Pepto which was helpful, but I didn't feel comfortable with taking it for long periods of time and tried instead to alter my diet more. I'd been avoiding all of my allergens (listed in my sig), though I think I let some corn slip in since it masquerades so frequently. I was still having to take 1/2 of an Immodium tablet (1 mg.) nightly, but I had several days in a row where I was feeling good enough to skip it. These 'good patches' would last 2-3 days, and then I'd get D with gurgling, churning, & gas withOUT changing my diet at all.
After reading your posts & becoming hopeful that I could avoid more allergens and perhaps treat myself nutrionally, I looked more closely at the packaged foods I buy and very carefully selected corn, wheat, dairy, soy free ones. My health food store has a specialist on hand who works with allergic/intolerant folks and does a great job of accurately recommending appropriate products. (She knows the source of the long-named ingredients...usually corn, it seems!) She pointed out several items that I'd be ok with. There are a few items I eat/drink that contain 'natural flavor', which she mentioned could be derived from corn (especially vanilla). I chose to keep those few products anyway...
I usually stick with the same diet day after day. I don't get bored, and I really love the foods I eat, and they work for me so I stick with them.
Here's a typical day:
B -- 2 shots espresso (truly seems to be only a mild bowel stimulant)
1/2 c. vanilla hempmilk
1 slice Millet/Rice bread (either Food For Life --brown rice, water,
millet, fruit juice concentrate, tapioca, yeast, xanthan, cellulose OR
Sami's -- millet, brown rice, baking powder, cinnamon, olive oil,
raisins
vegetable shortening
L -- spinach salad (spinach has been fine for my GI; lettuce has not)
grilled chicken w/ mock soy sauce
black beans
homemade cashew cheese
Annie's Red Pepper Dressing (only possible prob would be xanthan)
Sami's millet chips (free of my allergens)
Snack -- smoothie with banana, pineapple, cherries, spinach, bit of vanilla
hempmilk OR homemade energy bar OR allergy-free potato chips
(plain) OR apples with PB
D -- usually a hodgepodge of aforementioned 'snacks' like a smoothie with maybe a baked
potato (with veg shortening) & maybe more chicken; often kale with
balsamic
Dessert -- Rice Dream with Enjoy Life cookies & chocolate chips
I feel good eating this way. I feel I get a good deal of fresh produce without overdoing it. I really don't feel that the produce is the source of my probs. I *am* eating more processed foods than I did when on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, but I was longing for a bit of fun in my diet & was **so** excited to find these that seemed ok for me.
Right now, though I feel horrible!! And I'm not eating any different today than I did in April when I had several good days in a row and felt that just *maybe* I'd found what was going to work for me. I have been sooo gassy for the past 2 days. Non-stop painful gas. Super tender abdomen. I skipped Immodium on Sat. night after feeling a bit constipated. Usually it seems that when my D is tapering off, the Imm will bring constipation. At this point I stop it & wait for symptoms to see when/if I restart. I finally had a BM on Sunday & felt great, but it wasn't long before the D & gas were back... Today has been a nightmare! (Back on Immodium last night)
I can't shake the feeling that it doesn't matter WHAT I eat that causes the problem; it seems to be in part, hormonal...??
It seems (though I'm not totally sure) that my symptoms are worse at ovulation (which is now). This is the highest estrogen secretion... and also the lowest of progesterone. My symptoms after that point have been inconsistent, but I'm going to continue to pay close attention to look for patterns. The clearest correlation I can see between any of this (& I've been looking for years) is that it almost always gets worse around ovulation (mid-cycle). Is there any research on this? Any hormonally-based remedies for MC?
Incidentally, I'm awaiting my Enterolab results. I did the Gluten panel with dairy & soy. But, I'm so discouraged. Even if I'm not 'intolerant' to them, I'm still 'allergic' to them per skin prick. I'm avoiding all of them anyway now, and I still feel like crap!!
Thought about looking into Entocort, but I was sooo hoping to manage this through diet. Thanks for listening....
Soooo frustrated!!
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Soooo frustrated!!
Kimberley
MC diagnosed 2004
Suspected Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis...??
Meds/Supplements: Probiotics, Prenatal Vitamins, Vitamin D3.
MC diagnosed 2004
Suspected Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis...??
Meds/Supplements: Probiotics, Prenatal Vitamins, Vitamin D3.
Hi Kimberly,
We've all been where you are - frustrated, and wondering what we were doing wrong. You may be very, very close to remission, but one little item is standing in the way. Also, sometimes reactions happen for no obvious reason. We've all had that happen to us at various times, especially while we are still healing.
You are quite correct in pointing out that lettuce is one of the worst things someone with MC can eat. During recovery, many of us are able to eat well-cooked squash, green beans, and broccoli, for example. While I occasionally ate a little spinach while I was recovering, it's high oxalic acid content may be an issue for some people. Also, it's alleged "high iron content" is apparently a myth, caused by an error with a decimal point, over a hundred years ago. For the most part, your diet looks "safe", with a few minor "caveats":
1. Another member, (Dee), had a significant reaction, (diarrhea), after eating cashew cheese.
2. Despite the "Gluten-Free" label, Rice Milk apparently contains up to approximately 20 parts per million of gluten, which is left over from the barley that is used to initiate the malting process. This was recently verified, (only a couple of weeks ago), by another member, who called the 800 number listed by Imagine Foods, and she was told that the company still uses the same process they have always used, which includes using barley to start the malting process. That said, most celiacs can safely tolerate 20 ppm of glutten, though not all of them can.
3. For some reason or other, most commercial cookies cause me to react, (usually not immediately, but rather after eating them for a few days or so), even though they should be safe, according to the ingredient list. Some of them, when tested, have been found to contain higher than normal tolerance limits of gluten. Pamela's cookies come to mind, for example, but I have had problems with almost all of them that I have tried, though I'm not sure what it is about them that causes the problem.
Hormones definitely affect the symptoms of MC. For example, during pregnancy, most, and sometimes all, symptoms of MC will disappear, only to reappear after the baby is born. Progesterone levels, for example, are low, until the pituitary gland releases luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, to trigger ovulation. These two hormones "spike" at ovulation, but estrogen, and especially progesterone, continue to be present for the rest of the last half of the cycle, and of course, since progesterone is necessary to prevent the body from aborting a fetus, it not only remains high during pregnancy, but it continues to increase for the duration. Since progesterone levels must plummet after delivery of the baby, in order to trigger the production of milk, (which coincides with the return of MC symptoms), I would suspect that it is progesterone that is primarily responsible for the cessation of symptoms, though luteinizing hormone might possibly be causing the effect you describe at ovulation. Charts at this site show the various hormone levels throughout the cycle:
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec22/ch241/ch241e.html
Also, there's a table showing progesterone levels, in this article:
http://www.justmommies.com/articles/pro ... ancy.shtml
Hang in there - perseverance pays off. Though many are able to achieve remission in a matter of weeks, or months, some of us have required more than a year on a diet, before our gut healed enough that our symptoms finally went away.
Tex
We've all been where you are - frustrated, and wondering what we were doing wrong. You may be very, very close to remission, but one little item is standing in the way. Also, sometimes reactions happen for no obvious reason. We've all had that happen to us at various times, especially while we are still healing.
You are quite correct in pointing out that lettuce is one of the worst things someone with MC can eat. During recovery, many of us are able to eat well-cooked squash, green beans, and broccoli, for example. While I occasionally ate a little spinach while I was recovering, it's high oxalic acid content may be an issue for some people. Also, it's alleged "high iron content" is apparently a myth, caused by an error with a decimal point, over a hundred years ago. For the most part, your diet looks "safe", with a few minor "caveats":
1. Another member, (Dee), had a significant reaction, (diarrhea), after eating cashew cheese.
2. Despite the "Gluten-Free" label, Rice Milk apparently contains up to approximately 20 parts per million of gluten, which is left over from the barley that is used to initiate the malting process. This was recently verified, (only a couple of weeks ago), by another member, who called the 800 number listed by Imagine Foods, and she was told that the company still uses the same process they have always used, which includes using barley to start the malting process. That said, most celiacs can safely tolerate 20 ppm of glutten, though not all of them can.
3. For some reason or other, most commercial cookies cause me to react, (usually not immediately, but rather after eating them for a few days or so), even though they should be safe, according to the ingredient list. Some of them, when tested, have been found to contain higher than normal tolerance limits of gluten. Pamela's cookies come to mind, for example, but I have had problems with almost all of them that I have tried, though I'm not sure what it is about them that causes the problem.
Hormones definitely affect the symptoms of MC. For example, during pregnancy, most, and sometimes all, symptoms of MC will disappear, only to reappear after the baby is born. Progesterone levels, for example, are low, until the pituitary gland releases luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone, to trigger ovulation. These two hormones "spike" at ovulation, but estrogen, and especially progesterone, continue to be present for the rest of the last half of the cycle, and of course, since progesterone is necessary to prevent the body from aborting a fetus, it not only remains high during pregnancy, but it continues to increase for the duration. Since progesterone levels must plummet after delivery of the baby, in order to trigger the production of milk, (which coincides with the return of MC symptoms), I would suspect that it is progesterone that is primarily responsible for the cessation of symptoms, though luteinizing hormone might possibly be causing the effect you describe at ovulation. Charts at this site show the various hormone levels throughout the cycle:
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec22/ch241/ch241e.html
Also, there's a table showing progesterone levels, in this article:
http://www.justmommies.com/articles/pro ... ancy.shtml
Hang in there - perseverance pays off. Though many are able to achieve remission in a matter of weeks, or months, some of us have required more than a year on a diet, before our gut healed enough that our symptoms finally went away.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Hello!
The Celiac On-line Support Group (see our list of sites) has investigated Sami's bakery and found that their claims of being Gf are false. It has something to do with gross cross-contamination. I can't remember all the details but you can go to that site and look it up. This may be your problem.
If it is, it is an easy fix! I used to eat their products, but no more. Best of luck
Alice
The Celiac On-line Support Group (see our list of sites) has investigated Sami's bakery and found that their claims of being Gf are false. It has something to do with gross cross-contamination. I can't remember all the details but you can go to that site and look it up. This may be your problem.
If it is, it is an easy fix! I used to eat their products, but no more. Best of luck
Alice
Hi Alice,
I assume you're referring to the Delphi forums, (since they're your favorite, if I recall correctly). I can't find the original article, but when I search for "Sami's", this topic turns up. The first post refers to an apparent problem with Sami's products.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.a ... &Go=Search
Thanks,
Tex
I assume you're referring to the Delphi forums, (since they're your favorite, if I recall correctly). I can't find the original article, but when I search for "Sami's", this topic turns up. The first post refers to an apparent problem with Sami's products.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.a ... &Go=Search
Thanks,
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Thanks, y'all....good points.
Since it's possible that the extra progesterone could be helpful, I wonder if I can safely supplement? I'd check with an MD, of course, but I wonder if I could take enough to make a difference without messing up my other hormonal levels...? And, yes, I felt really good during pregnancy, MC-wise. We are still breastfeeding now, but about 2 months before my periods came back is when my GI system went totally haywire!! So, would that be the decreasing progesterone or the rising estrogen? Any way to know?
I was afraid to hear what you mentioned about the baked goods I'm eating. I was soo excited to find that I didn't have to prepare everything from scratch during my new gluten, dairy, corn, soy-free diet, as opposed to the specific carbohydrate diet. I really need to find some items I can eat that I don't have to bake myself. When on the SCD, I'd easily spend 4-5 hours per day in the kitchen. That didn't work with a toddler. Plus, all of those recipes use nut flour, and they are soo heavy & fattening. I was finally getting back to normal weight by going off of them.
I don't eat most Pamela's due to soy lecithin & buttermilk in her baking mix. I'd been eating Kinnikinnick's 'oreos' but stopped when I learned that Carboxy Methylcellulose was corn-based. I did try them again b/c they're so good, & I WANT that to not be the problem... Enjoy Life was the other brand I'd tried and liked...seemed free of all problematic foods.
The Sami's products I eat are labeled that they may contain gluten; I was hoping that any trace amounts wouldn't affect me. Good to know that some folks have had problems with them specifically! Man, I love their cinnamon raisin bread & millet crackers...
Rather than Rice Milk, I am drinking HempMilk these days. I wonder if I need to switch from vanilla to original in order to minimize any corn problems from the flavoring...Tex, what do you think?
I will nix the Sami's products for awhile and eat the Food For Life Millet bread instead. Not sure how to sub for cookies...
The frustrating thing is that I wonder if it matters at all what I eat. Some days this diet seems ok; then, without a change at all, I'm having non-stop D. Guess I can just try and see what eliminating these last things does.
Since it's possible that the extra progesterone could be helpful, I wonder if I can safely supplement? I'd check with an MD, of course, but I wonder if I could take enough to make a difference without messing up my other hormonal levels...? And, yes, I felt really good during pregnancy, MC-wise. We are still breastfeeding now, but about 2 months before my periods came back is when my GI system went totally haywire!! So, would that be the decreasing progesterone or the rising estrogen? Any way to know?
I was afraid to hear what you mentioned about the baked goods I'm eating. I was soo excited to find that I didn't have to prepare everything from scratch during my new gluten, dairy, corn, soy-free diet, as opposed to the specific carbohydrate diet. I really need to find some items I can eat that I don't have to bake myself. When on the SCD, I'd easily spend 4-5 hours per day in the kitchen. That didn't work with a toddler. Plus, all of those recipes use nut flour, and they are soo heavy & fattening. I was finally getting back to normal weight by going off of them.
I don't eat most Pamela's due to soy lecithin & buttermilk in her baking mix. I'd been eating Kinnikinnick's 'oreos' but stopped when I learned that Carboxy Methylcellulose was corn-based. I did try them again b/c they're so good, & I WANT that to not be the problem... Enjoy Life was the other brand I'd tried and liked...seemed free of all problematic foods.
The Sami's products I eat are labeled that they may contain gluten; I was hoping that any trace amounts wouldn't affect me. Good to know that some folks have had problems with them specifically! Man, I love their cinnamon raisin bread & millet crackers...
Rather than Rice Milk, I am drinking HempMilk these days. I wonder if I need to switch from vanilla to original in order to minimize any corn problems from the flavoring...Tex, what do you think?
I will nix the Sami's products for awhile and eat the Food For Life Millet bread instead. Not sure how to sub for cookies...
The frustrating thing is that I wonder if it matters at all what I eat. Some days this diet seems ok; then, without a change at all, I'm having non-stop D. Guess I can just try and see what eliminating these last things does.
Kimberley
MC diagnosed 2004
Suspected Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis...??
Meds/Supplements: Probiotics, Prenatal Vitamins, Vitamin D3.
MC diagnosed 2004
Suspected Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis...??
Meds/Supplements: Probiotics, Prenatal Vitamins, Vitamin D3.
Hi Kimberly,
Your diet sounds pretty good, but I second the cautions that others mentioned. One thing that stands out to me is the vegetable shortening. I'm intolerant to soy and I've found that all shortenings, other than Spectra's coconut spread, have soy as their main ingredient. Ditto with all margarines, except for Mother's Margarine during Passover. I just saw some still being sold in a grocer today.
I know that you haven't been diagnosed as soy-intolerant, but if your Enterolab tests show you are, you might want to make sure your shortening isn't soy-based.
Hang in there - you seem to be on your way to recovery.
Gloria
Your diet sounds pretty good, but I second the cautions that others mentioned. One thing that stands out to me is the vegetable shortening. I'm intolerant to soy and I've found that all shortenings, other than Spectra's coconut spread, have soy as their main ingredient. Ditto with all margarines, except for Mother's Margarine during Passover. I just saw some still being sold in a grocer today.
I know that you haven't been diagnosed as soy-intolerant, but if your Enterolab tests show you are, you might want to make sure your shortening isn't soy-based.
Hang in there - you seem to be on your way to recovery.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
Kimberly,
Both estrogen and progesterone crash to pre-conception levels within about 24 hours after parturition. After parturition, (months later), I would assume that estrogen levels normally rise before progesterone levels, since estrogen generally regulates the cycle, and therefore I would assume that it regulates progesterone production. Estrogen certainly regulates progesterone production during pregnancy, but in that situation, both hormones are produced by the placenta, which is why the levels of both hormones drop so drastically, when the placenta is expelled.
Adding progesterone supplementally will interfere with milk production, (it will decrease it). Your Ob/Gyn should be able to answer any questions you might have about these hormonal levels, and their effects.
From a macroscopic point of view, though, it is likely that an estrogen imbalance, (IOW, increasing estrogen without the balancing effect of an adequate level of progesterone), is the cause of the return of MC symptoms. I'm just guessing here, but that opinion is based on the fact that high amounts of estrogen are toxic to the body and create a number of harmful side effects, while progesterone is free of side effects, even in high amounts, (other than the suppression of lactation, of course). So yes, it should be safe to supplement progesterone, (theoretically, at least), but doing so may interfere with lactation. It's progesterone that inhibits lactation during pregnancy, and it's the fall in progesterone levels following delivery, that helps to triggers milk production. That said, however, research shows that progesterone receptors are lost in lactating mammary tissues, thus decreasing the inhibitory effect of circulating progesterone. Therefore, the inhibitory effect may not be as significant as it would be if it were attempted soon after childbirth. Hopefully, your Ob/Gyn can offer some guidance on this.
Here's what Dr. Fine says about estrogen and MC:
I would assume that he is referring to the "toxic" effects that excess estrogen, (in the absence of adequate levels of progesterone), can have on the body.
Concerning baking, arguably the best allergen-free bread mixes on the market have been developed by Anna Sobaski, (she even offers one that is corn-free, and yeast-free). You might be able to find a store near you that stocks her mixes, by checking the "store locater" on her website, and there are even a few bakeries that offer her products ready-baked. If worse comes to worse, you can order online. I can personally vouch for her products - they are pricey, but they are the best. Her GF bread is soft, moist, and delicious, and can be sliced thin to make excellent sandwiches, in stark contrast to most GF bread that is best used as a door stop, or for making breadcrumbs to be used in making dressing to go with the Thanksgiving turkey. She initially offered only GF bread, but I see that she now offers many other GF mixes. Her website is here, (and no, I have no financial interest in her company, I'm just a very satisfied customer):
http://www.glutenevolution.com/
Theoretically, if the Entocort works well for you, you should be able to eat more than trace amounts of your food intolerances without reacting to them. Many users are able to eat pretty much anything they want. Others, of course, are not so fortunate, and have to be very careful of what they eat. We are all different, in that regard.
Unless you are sure that you are definitely intolerant of corn, I would be surprised if the small amount in any flavoring, (in hempmilk, for example), would have a significant on you, as long as you are taking Entocort. However, this might not be true, until after you are able to achieve full remission.
Trust me, it definitely matters what you eat, if you are very sensitive to a food item. I kept a food diary for more than two years, and I found it very difficult to correlate reactions to specific food items, due to delayed reactions of various duration. I never could see a pattern for gluten, for example, and yet I am very gluten sensitive - I just don't react to it promptly, like most people who are gluten sensitive. As far as mysterious reactions are concerned, we have all experienced "unexplained" reactions while we were recovering, and most of us even experience them after we are in remission, but thankfully, they are usually somewhat rare, (unless we let our guard down, and get "sloppy" with our diet, or "forget" to take our maintenance medication.
You seem very motivated, and motivated people get results. I'm confident that you will prevail.
Tex
P S I definitely agree with Gloria about the soy.
Both estrogen and progesterone crash to pre-conception levels within about 24 hours after parturition. After parturition, (months later), I would assume that estrogen levels normally rise before progesterone levels, since estrogen generally regulates the cycle, and therefore I would assume that it regulates progesterone production. Estrogen certainly regulates progesterone production during pregnancy, but in that situation, both hormones are produced by the placenta, which is why the levels of both hormones drop so drastically, when the placenta is expelled.
Adding progesterone supplementally will interfere with milk production, (it will decrease it). Your Ob/Gyn should be able to answer any questions you might have about these hormonal levels, and their effects.
From a macroscopic point of view, though, it is likely that an estrogen imbalance, (IOW, increasing estrogen without the balancing effect of an adequate level of progesterone), is the cause of the return of MC symptoms. I'm just guessing here, but that opinion is based on the fact that high amounts of estrogen are toxic to the body and create a number of harmful side effects, while progesterone is free of side effects, even in high amounts, (other than the suppression of lactation, of course). So yes, it should be safe to supplement progesterone, (theoretically, at least), but doing so may interfere with lactation. It's progesterone that inhibits lactation during pregnancy, and it's the fall in progesterone levels following delivery, that helps to triggers milk production. That said, however, research shows that progesterone receptors are lost in lactating mammary tissues, thus decreasing the inhibitory effect of circulating progesterone. Therefore, the inhibitory effect may not be as significant as it would be if it were attempted soon after childbirth. Hopefully, your Ob/Gyn can offer some guidance on this.
Here's what Dr. Fine says about estrogen and MC:
http://www.finerhealth.com/Educational_ ... c_Colitis/Why does microscopic colitis mainly affect women?
Although not totally understood, microscopic colitis appears to be in the family of autoimmune syndromes, all of which are more common in women. It is likely that the proinfllammatory effects of estrogen are responsible for this predisposition. For this reason, I have theorized the one of the reasons microscopic colitis is becoming more common (which I believe to be true) and that it doesn't affect women until later in life is that the use of high dose estrogens (and NSAID's) has become more common.
I would assume that he is referring to the "toxic" effects that excess estrogen, (in the absence of adequate levels of progesterone), can have on the body.
Concerning baking, arguably the best allergen-free bread mixes on the market have been developed by Anna Sobaski, (she even offers one that is corn-free, and yeast-free). You might be able to find a store near you that stocks her mixes, by checking the "store locater" on her website, and there are even a few bakeries that offer her products ready-baked. If worse comes to worse, you can order online. I can personally vouch for her products - they are pricey, but they are the best. Her GF bread is soft, moist, and delicious, and can be sliced thin to make excellent sandwiches, in stark contrast to most GF bread that is best used as a door stop, or for making breadcrumbs to be used in making dressing to go with the Thanksgiving turkey. She initially offered only GF bread, but I see that she now offers many other GF mixes. Her website is here, (and no, I have no financial interest in her company, I'm just a very satisfied customer):
http://www.glutenevolution.com/
Theoretically, if the Entocort works well for you, you should be able to eat more than trace amounts of your food intolerances without reacting to them. Many users are able to eat pretty much anything they want. Others, of course, are not so fortunate, and have to be very careful of what they eat. We are all different, in that regard.
Unless you are sure that you are definitely intolerant of corn, I would be surprised if the small amount in any flavoring, (in hempmilk, for example), would have a significant on you, as long as you are taking Entocort. However, this might not be true, until after you are able to achieve full remission.
Trust me, it definitely matters what you eat, if you are very sensitive to a food item. I kept a food diary for more than two years, and I found it very difficult to correlate reactions to specific food items, due to delayed reactions of various duration. I never could see a pattern for gluten, for example, and yet I am very gluten sensitive - I just don't react to it promptly, like most people who are gluten sensitive. As far as mysterious reactions are concerned, we have all experienced "unexplained" reactions while we were recovering, and most of us even experience them after we are in remission, but thankfully, they are usually somewhat rare, (unless we let our guard down, and get "sloppy" with our diet, or "forget" to take our maintenance medication.
You seem very motivated, and motivated people get results. I'm confident that you will prevail.
Tex
P S I definitely agree with Gloria about the soy.
Hey there....Just wanted to clarify all of my food 'allergies' per skinprick testing. I *thought* these were in my sig line, and I'm going to add them, but in the meantime, as tested in December 2007, they are:
Corn
Soy
Wheat
Celery
Lettuce
Peas
Squash
Orange
Watermelon
Hazelnut
Mustard
Trees (still don't know which ones!)
I don't eat these foods, but I learned that I was inadvertently ingesting some corn and/or soy in some GF foods I'd tried.
So, I'm HOPING to maybe re-test these in a year or so to find that the list is shorter, perhaps. Interestingly, I also had skin prick testing done in August 2007, and NO allergies showed up. The test administrator DID say that though the reaction weren't severe enough to be even a 'Grade 1', soy, mustard & hazelnut looked just a little tiny bit different than the other areas...
This test was done in Cinci during my huge panel of exams for Eosinophilic Disease. Dr. Rothenberg (allergist/immunologist) warned me that oftentimes, avoiding these allergens will NOT change my symptoms. So, then I start to wonder if my symptoms are due to this questionable eosinophilic condition or not...
Frustratingly, my diet is as gluten, corn, soy, dairy-free as it has ever been, and I feel worse in many ways. Could just be a fluke, I suppose.
My Enterolab testing should be ready in a week or so. I paid for gluten, dairy & soy...geesh! $$$
Tex, Thanks again for your great insight. I'll re-read your post in detail and check out more of Dr. Fine's information. It seems I'd seen the bread site you mentioned before. I think I didn't order it then because I was excited to find a pre-made bread I could eat. Maybe not :)
The thing I am sooo dreading is going back on the SCD where no grains at all are allowed. That was the last time I felt good, but it was so inconvenient. I am praying that I can tolerate a few grains to make my life easier!
Gloria-
Thanks for the warning. I currently use Spectrum Organics Spread, and the only ingredient listed is Mechanically Pressed Palm Oil. I'll double check it, though. And, I AM soy-intolerant...well, allergic.
Thanks again, folks!! Will keep at it :)
Corn
Soy
Wheat
Celery
Lettuce
Peas
Squash
Orange
Watermelon
Hazelnut
Mustard
Trees (still don't know which ones!)
I don't eat these foods, but I learned that I was inadvertently ingesting some corn and/or soy in some GF foods I'd tried.
So, I'm HOPING to maybe re-test these in a year or so to find that the list is shorter, perhaps. Interestingly, I also had skin prick testing done in August 2007, and NO allergies showed up. The test administrator DID say that though the reaction weren't severe enough to be even a 'Grade 1', soy, mustard & hazelnut looked just a little tiny bit different than the other areas...
This test was done in Cinci during my huge panel of exams for Eosinophilic Disease. Dr. Rothenberg (allergist/immunologist) warned me that oftentimes, avoiding these allergens will NOT change my symptoms. So, then I start to wonder if my symptoms are due to this questionable eosinophilic condition or not...
Frustratingly, my diet is as gluten, corn, soy, dairy-free as it has ever been, and I feel worse in many ways. Could just be a fluke, I suppose.
My Enterolab testing should be ready in a week or so. I paid for gluten, dairy & soy...geesh! $$$
Tex, Thanks again for your great insight. I'll re-read your post in detail and check out more of Dr. Fine's information. It seems I'd seen the bread site you mentioned before. I think I didn't order it then because I was excited to find a pre-made bread I could eat. Maybe not :)
The thing I am sooo dreading is going back on the SCD where no grains at all are allowed. That was the last time I felt good, but it was so inconvenient. I am praying that I can tolerate a few grains to make my life easier!
Gloria-
Thanks for the warning. I currently use Spectrum Organics Spread, and the only ingredient listed is Mechanically Pressed Palm Oil. I'll double check it, though. And, I AM soy-intolerant...well, allergic.
Thanks again, folks!! Will keep at it :)
Kimberley
MC diagnosed 2004
Suspected Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis...??
Meds/Supplements: Probiotics, Prenatal Vitamins, Vitamin D3.
MC diagnosed 2004
Suspected Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis...??
Meds/Supplements: Probiotics, Prenatal Vitamins, Vitamin D3.