Newbie - Not Sure What Is Going On!

[Tgowland]

Hello all,

Posted this in a different forum but didn't get many responses...I am a 38 yo woman who is recently gluten-free (self diagnosed) - I took our 4 yo off gluten on the advice of a friend whose son is autistic (ours is not) and I have seen a big improvement on his speech etc. So we all went gluten-free - I never thought I had any issues until after a few weeks of limited gluten I had a piece of bread and I got cramps and mucus - not pleasant. Went away after a few hours and was OK after that. No problems before this, no intestinal issues at all - the only hint was that I took Colon Cleanse pills once and thought I would die and after pregnancy they gave me another and the pain was unbearable then too, but this was years ago. No problems with dairy etc etc.

So after the bread incident, I knew to stay away from gluten but had a little here and there with no problems at all. Then a week ago and I go for sushi and have a milk-based drink and within a few hours my intestines are in knots and I vomit. Pain goes away after a few hours. Next day, no thinking it is milk, I have cereal late at night and a few hours later I have the same pain and vomit again. Next day I did no gluten and no dairy, and at night I had a big salad and within a few hours, my pain came back again but no vomiting.

Next day (Friday), I am weak and jittery and shaky - I figure eggs are safe so I have a couple of soft boiled eggs and within 30 minutes my stomach and intestines hurt - not like before - but they still hurt.

Then I went to the clinic and they tested for everything - they didn't think it was a food issue but thought staying off dairy would be a good idea...at this point I was convinced it was not food but a parasite or virus. Then the next day I eat a little sour cream and yogurt and no problems, so I think "OK, I can have dairy then" and so the next day I have a little ice cream with our son and then have cereal at night (this was last night) and I am screaming in pain again. The clinic thank god gave me some vicodin for the pain and this was the worst pain night yet, so I took some...

Then this morning I get a call from the clinic and there are no parasites, so now I am assuming it is the milk giving me the problems...I have no problems going off of dairy or wheat, but I need some help in figuring out what proteins I can have that are digested easily...Although I am overweight, I have a real problem with food - as in not eating enough calories and food is often unappetizing to me, so my go-to foods have always been centered around dairy. (When I was pregnant that is all I could eat was dairy)...

The last bit of info (thanks for reading so far!) is that I now have an appointment in 10 days with a GI specialist and in 1 month our son and I are going to an allergist who is also a DO for food allergy testing...Oh, and I am low thyroid and been in thyroxine for as long as I can remember...

Thanks everyone - any and all advice is welcome..

Tara

[lucia]

Wow - what a saga! Good question. I'm vegetarian and used to avoid all dairy, so I've looked into this.

The easiest protein-based food to digest is beans. When you cook them, add some kombu to the pot, if you can get ahold of it. Kombu is a seaweed that you should be able to get at a natural foods store such as a coop or Whole Foods. It helps break down the beans to make them even easier to digest.

Another idea is to make use of a vegetarian protein shake (I think the best are by Nature's Plus) and blend a scoop with some juice everyday. You can add a banana and other fruit too. They're really quite delicious, and you'll know you're getting the protein you need.

[Jestgar]

I would skip any shake made of soy. Soy can be very hard to digest also.

Stick with cooked veggies, no dairy. Do you eat meat? Chicken is pretty digestible.

[frieze]

make sure your gallbladder is checked out....

[conniebky]

my mom is VERY lactose intolerant. She can't have dairy, lactose or caseinate which all are just different words for dairy.

She has a terrible time with it, and I'll tell ya, sometimes she'll be in the powder room all day on Wednesday and swears she had no dairy and then she'll remember, oh, yeah, last Sunday we went to that new restaurant....something along those lines.

The dairy reaction doesn't always happen immediately. Sometimes it's days before the stuff hits the fan. I don't know if that helps, but I hope so.

[lucia]

I would skip any shake made of soy. Soy can be very hard to digest also.

Stick with cooked veggies, no dairy. Do you eat meat? Chicken is pretty digestible.

The "Fruitein" line by Nature's Plus has a base that is a mix of rice, pea, and soy protein. They sell them in single-servings, if you wanted to try it out.