trip to NH and my mini soy debacle

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 7:47 pm

My nephew got married in Manchester, NH the first weekend in October. I was quite reluctant to go, thinking that a whole weekend with having no control over my food would be a disaster. But my sister-in-law said that they were renting rooms in a hotel that had kitchens in every room and I could cook my own food. So I decided to give it a whirl.

I had hoped to meet Joe, who lives in Manchester, but unfortunately, we weren't able to coordinate our schedules. We had a chat on the phone, but weren't able to get together. He did, however, send me a list a places to shop for gf food, and a list of safe restaurants. Thanks, Joe!

The food turned out amazingly well. The hotel provides a full breakfast buffet, so I was able to get fruit and boiled eggs, and when I explained my food limitations, they bought me a loaf of Scharr gf bread and a package of Udi's gf vanilla granola. I didn't eat the granola, as I haven't tried gf oats yet, and didn't want to take any chances. But the Scharr bread was fantastic--I didn't even toast it (scared of community toasters!) and it tasted great.

My nephew, the groom, baked paleo chocolate cupcakes to serve at the wedding, so I would have something to eat besides wedding cake. When I asked the caterer at the reception what seasonings were on the steak, he offered to cook me one with nothing on it. So with a special-order meat dish, plain veggies, and salad, I was all set.

I didn't have any stomach problems all weekend. It was wonderful! It was great to get together with family, too.

I flew home on Monday, Oct. 8. I got up at 3:30 in order to have time to get my "morning MC routine" taken care of before going to the airport. That's Eastern time, so it was like 2:30 Central time. When I got home, I was kind of tired, and went to be really early, but that was understandable, since I got up so early.

The next morning I woke up with a backache. I decided to have some more of that wonderful Scharr bread, since I had brought the loaf home with me. This time I read the ingredients; it has soy protein in it! "Wow," I thought to myself, "I had soy over the weekend, and no ill effects. How lucky am I?" I didn't eat any more, though. I did have to take 2 Tylenol during the day for my backache. That night, Tuesday, I again went to bed super-early. It seemed a little strange that I was still so sleepy. Wednesday morning, I still had the backache. Again went to bed early that night. Finally...it dawned on me: backache, tiredness, and sleepiness are all symptoms that I get when I have eaten soy. I had been so focused on being scared of having D that I totally missed the fact that I had symptoms of soy. The delayed reaction is normal for me, too. (Well, this is the third time I've had soy by accident, and it was a delayed reaction each time, so I'm considering that my normal.)

But the Scharr bread is SO good! I had five slices over three days. I still have about half the loaf in the freezer, but I will probably have to give it away, unless I feel like having a backache and going to bed early one of these days.

On the whole, it was a wonderful weekend, and my nephew and his bride had a lovely, if somewhat cold, outdoor wedding. I'm glad I went, and glad that the only mistake I made was to fail to read the bread ingredients until I got home.

cjbndtsn · Post by **cjbndtsn** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:21 am

Hi Martha,
What a special story. That must have been a beautiful outdoor scenery there as well. I saw Joe's pics and they were beautiful!!!! Glad you had such a great weekend and the bread sounds worth trying.......thanks for that tip. Sorry about the soy reaction but at least it wasn't WD from it. That might be worth slipping a slice now and then

coryhub · Post by **coryhub** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 10:39 am

Hi Martha,
The symptoms you described are the same ones l get when I eat the legume SOY. When I first was diagnosed I mistakenly thought vegetarian fare would help my stomach and since I love tofu I was eating it. I was always, achy, foggy, & fatigued, and the gas, that's another story!
I'm glad you got to attend the wedding and you protected yourself as good as you could. The message rings loud that I must be ever vigilant when reading the ingredients of gluten-free products.
Cory

jmayk8 · Post by **jmayk8** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 11:36 am

Im glad you had a great time at the wedding Martha! I have the same reaction to soy..No D just a lot of body aches.
Jenny

humbird753 · Post by **humbird753** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 11:51 am

It is interesting to read the symptoms you have when you react to soy protein. It makes me wonder if it was the soy protein that made me have D so bad. I don't get any aches or pains. But, I guess it's possible we all react differently. It still may have been soy, but I better hurry up and get my Enterolab testing done and cut out the guess work.

I hope you are feeling better, Martha.

Paula

fatbuster205 · Post by **fatbuster205** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 3:31 pm

Hi Martha,
As above I am so glad you went to the wedding and had such a wonderful time.

This all consuming disease of ours is so inhibiting at times that we forget to live! I don't know yet if soy is an issue for me? I am taking a softly softly catchy monkey approach because I am fortunate enough to have great Doctors and I want to ensure I keep them with me on this journey to enlightenment for them - they just don't know they are on it!

I do have - and had in the past - suspicions about dairy but it is intermittent at least in terms of me really noticing it! What I find really interesting about what you have written and described is the fact that symptoms are not necessarily gut related. I know I have read that elsewhere on here but I am still a relative newbie and have so much to get my head round!

But I reiterate, well done for going to the wedding and living!! I'm really glad you had a great time, even if you are now suffering! :bigbighug:

Take care,
Anne

Post by **tex** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 3:50 pm

Anne wrote:I am taking a softly softly catchy monkey approach because I am fortunate enough to have great Doctors and I want to ensure I keep them with me on this journey to enlightenment for them - they just don't know they are on it!

That's an excellent strategy. IMO, most doctors are eager to learn new techniques, but they loathe the thought of being taught something new by a patient, so they resist an approach where the patient appears to be actively trying to educate them. The solution is to make them think that they are discovering all those new things on their own.

Good for you.

Tex