Progressive Food Intolerance. What's Going On?

[llabrword]

Hey there.  Just joined and was looking for some answers about my progressive food intolerances that has been developing over the past few years. The current list is getting really long and is so varied that I'm not sure what the underlying cause could be:

Dairy

Eggs

Citrus Fruits

Spinach

Chocolate

Cinnamon

Tomatoes

Strawberries

Cucumbers

Cranberries

Cherries

Chicken

Green Apples

Grapes

Pork

(Maybe Shellfish)

 

The result of ingesting any of these foods is nausea, headache, some abdominal pain and a lot of fatigue after about 20 minutes.  These symptoms can last up to a few hours and some of the intolerances are more severe than others (dairy, pineapples, cinnamon, spinach).  Not all fruits are on the list though, (mangos and I think melons are fine) the list keeps growing and I'm running out of ideas.

[Juliebove]

The cause could be as simple as that you have food intolerances.  And when you do, the list can keep growing.  You may also outgrow some of these.  But they could just as easily come back.

[fergusminto]

Hi Llabrword. Welcome to the site. I joined about 4 weeks ago for the same reasons as you - confusion. I have just replied to Bartful in another string of this subject which I think may be of help to you.

 

There are number of items on your list to which I am also intolerant but my reaction is not so quick. I am NOT a doctor just a sufferer btw. There is more to celiac disease than we are generally told and the state of your gut is often affected by it either directly or indirectly. I have just had my hair tested for minerals etc. Cost me about £250 as UK NHS wasn't helpful. Told me a lot about why I had so many intolerances and now I know what to do about it.

 

My specialist also told me that my intolerance test only told me what I was intolerant of "at that time" as intolerances caused by leaky gut tend to be "dynamic" and change regularly.

 

Final piece of advice, find yourself an experienced practitioner like mine - a doctor who has celiac disease and specialises in nutrition. Best of luck.

[dilettantesteph]

I found that I became more sensitive to gluten cross contamination as time went on.  It was very confusing.  For example, I reacted to tomatoes from the store, but when I ate the tomatoes from my garden, I did not react to them.  Same with strawberries.  I had a terrible reaction to a rutabaga I bought in the market, but the next year I grew my own and they were delicious and didn't make me sick.   I started growing more of my own things and that was how I figured out that my problem was not intolerance to the food, but a problem with something on the food.  I believe it is gluten cross contamination from the presence of gluten grains in the same facilities.  I constantly look for other sources of various food items that I can eat.  I can still eat some things that I can buy from local farmers.  Apart from that, I am expanding my gardens.  You might want to look into other sources for some of your food items.  See if some sources lead to less of a reaction than others.  See if washing them really well makes a difference.  If you aren't already, keep a food/symptom journal.  Keep track of where the food comes from, and not just what it is.  I hope that you figure some things out.

[IrishHeart]

Maybe it's not the food. Maybe it's your gut. An impaired gut can create what seems to be an intolerance to almost anything.

 

Have you been tested for SIBO?

Do you take probiotics? 

Have you been tested for other GI conditions like Crohn's or ulcerative colitis?

 

Many of the foods on your list also gave me the same symptoms you describe.  They are high in histamine. Histamine is regulated in the gut.and histamine intolerance is a valid condition, although the docs in the US are slow to embrace it. My doc was not at all surprised by it as he knows the enzymes in the gut are impaired with celiac, so it makes sense that if the DAO enzyme is affected, then high histamine foods may be difficult for us.

I took those foods out for a few months and added some back in--one at a time--until I figured out the level I can tolerate

 

There are any number of reasons why someone would have your symptoms and it might be wise to investigate them with your doctor.

Best wishes!

[Celtic Queen]

Several of those things are also high in salicylate.  Might want to do a search for salicylate intolerance too.  Do you have problems with asprin?