Nightshades?

[Ox on the Roof]

First of all, WOOHOO! I don't have to have all my posts approved anymore. Now I am officially in the club no one wants to be in!

My question is regarding all the signatures I see on here, listing other intolerances, allergies, etc. If you have Celiac, are you more prone to other sensitivities? I've also noticed several listing nightshades. It took a bit of poking around to figure out ya'll (yes, I'm in the South, lol) are talking about mushrooms and such.

The main reason I am asking is because I tried to be very careful at a Chinese place last Friday - fried rice and veggies with no sauce or seasonings - but I got very sick. There were a lot of mushrooms in there! So I was wondering if the nightshades give you similar symptoms.

Thanks!

[T.H.]

From what I've seen with people here figuring out what is affecting them, usually if you have the same symptoms, it's the same thing (not always, of course).

If you ate at a restaurant that has lots and lots of gluten around (with the soy sauce), I'd assume cross contamination of gluten first. And you said no sauce with your rice...does that mean they gave you white rice? Because fried rice is typically made with soy sauce, which would get you but good. And if they made it without soy sauce just for you, unless they cooked it in a separate pan, the previous fried rice might have cross contaminated it.

Sigh - so many ways to get sick, eh?

Although re: nightshades? I believe most people are talking about plants from the nightshade family when they mention them here, which involves: Potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, tamarios, pepinos, pimentos, paprika, and cayenne.

[txplowgirl]

Mushrooms are not in the nightshade family, but you might have an intolerance to them, having nothing to do with gluten.

You might want to test that theory. I will not eat in an asian restaurant. To easy to get glutened or cc'd. I Know, took 3 times for me to finally get it through my head, duh. lol

[Takala]

I wouldn't eat in a regular Chinese restaurant, unless I was sure the kitchen understood what was necessary, but the chain PF Chang's has a gluten free menu and I've eaten there successfully.

I have read that imported MSG may have gluten, so now there is something else to be paranoid about, besides regular soy sauce, not tamari.

[realmaverick]

Tonight, I am finally convinced that nightshades, particularly potatoes, are bad for me.

The past two times I've eaten them, I've monitored my reaction. Within a few hours I crash, big time. I feel a sudden need to sleep, I put my head down and I'm out. Usually I struggle like hell to sleep.

I'm going to avoid nightshades and see how I go.

[GFinDC]

Tonight, I am finally convinced that nightshades, particularly potatoes, are bad for me.

The past two times I've eaten them, I've monitored my reaction. Within a few hours I crash, big time. I feel a sudden need to sleep, I put my head down and I'm out. Usually I struggle like hell to sleep.

I'm going to avoid nightshades and see how I go.

Nice hat RM! You may find that tomatoes and peppers bother you also, as they are common nightshades as well. There are a couple thousand plants in the nightshade family, but these three seem to be the ones that cause trouble. You'll have to watch out for processed gluten-free products too, as many of them use potato flour. Over here there are only a few gluten-free breads that don't have potato starch or flour in them. Food for Life is one, I think Kinickinick has potato free hamburger buns. I don't know if those are available over there in the old country or not. The brown rice tortillas and corn tortillas are usually potato free too.

[mushroom]

Over here there are only a few gluten-free breads that don't have potato starch or flour in them. Food for Life is one, I think Kinickinick has potato free hamburger buns. I don't know if those are available over there in the old country or not. The brown rice tortillas and corn tortillas are usually potato free too.

Thanks for that info, Gee-Eff in DeeCee. I will look for Food for Life next summer

[Ox on the Roof]

Thanks for all the responses! You guys are very informative, which is good, because I am pretty clueless.

It was FRIED RICE, so that's probably the issue.

Unless I don't have gluten/Celiac issues.

Because I was EXTREMELY CAREFUL yesterday and sick last night and this morning.

[catarific]

Soy sauce has gluten - unless you specifically use a gluten-free soy sauce - that could be why you were sick.

[Cinnamongirl]

Interesting you say that about potatoes. I actually often eat a baked potato at bedtime because it helps me to sleep better. I got the idea from the book, "Potatoes, not Prozac". I believe the rationale was that the complex carbohydate at bedtime raises insulin levels which in turn helps tryptophan cross the blood/brain barrier and raises serotonin (and hence melatonin) levels in the brain. I gave the book to a friend, so my explanation may not be entirely correct, but it seemed to work in helping me to sleep.

Of course if you feel rotten after eating potatoes you should avoid them.

[tamika]

is there a way to test for a nightshade allergy i.e. RAST for other food allergies? It's funny because sometimes i feel okay eating potatoes and sometimes I don't... I definitely cannot tolerate ketchup anymore for some reason. Please offer comments 8-(

[mushroom]

This is just a personal observation with no basis in scientific evidence whatsoever Sometimes when a dubious food is ingested with many other foods it can be tolerated better than if you just ate that food alone. I sometimes wonder if it has a better chance of being passed on through to the colon and not finding its way through the leaky gut lining if it has other things mixed in with it. Certainly if it were sitting there on its own it would have probably a 100% chance if the gut were leaky of getting into the bloodstream in an undigested form that your body would form antibodies to, whereas if digestion of multiple foods is occurring the concentration of the dubious food is decreased and it may just churn around more in the middle instead of coming into contact with a junction that is "not tight". I used to find that I could tolerate a little bit of fresh tomato, but any cooked, concentrated tomato would kill me. Alas, now it is no tomato whatever , especially ketchup.

[GFinDC]

Thanks for that info, Gee-Eff in DeeCee. I will look for Food for Life next summer

Sure Shroomie! FFL bread doesn't work for me because it has carrot fiber in it. But their brown rice wraps or Trader Joe's brown rice wraps are ok.

I think your idea of the other foods watering down or hiding some of the offending food make sense too. A less concentrated mixture is what it would amount to.

[Ox on the Roof]

GFnDC, I just saw your signature. That verse from Job...FANTASTIC! Made me LOL! Thanks. I needed that today!

[GFinDC]

GFnDC, I just saw your signature. That verse from Job...FANTASTIC! Made me LOL! Thanks. I needed that today!

Ha ha, glad you like it Ox! I sometimes wonder if the poor guy had celiac. He had bowel problems and scabs on his skin after all, could be DH sores. Well, hard to tell of course, but I think he ate too much wheat.

[Ox on the Roof]

...or that God let Satan have his way with him.

Wait. I think that's the same thing.

[bridgetm]

This is just a personal observation with no basis in scientific evidence whatsoever Sometimes when a dubious food is ingested with many other foods it can be tolerated better than if you just ate that food alone. I sometimes wonder if it has a better chance of being passed on through to the colon and not finding its way through the leaky gut lining if it has other things mixed in with it. Certainly if it were sitting there on its own it would have probably a 100% chance if the gut were leaky of getting into the bloodstream in an undigested form that your body would form antibodies to, whereas if digestion of multiple foods is occurring the concentration of the dubious food is decreased and it may just churn around more in the middle instead of coming into contact with a junction that is "not tight". I used to find that I could tolerate a little bit of fresh tomato, but any cooked, concentrated tomato would kill me. Alas, now it is no tomato whatever , especially ketchup.

I completely agree here. I had trouble with dairy even before I had to go gluten-free (closely followed by dairy and soy). I could handle a brownie sundae or a load of cream cheese on a bagel, but a glass of milk killed me. Sometimes I wondered if I was just ignoring any minor symptoms so I could still eat those things. Avoiding a glass of milk wasn't a big deal-- I took Calcium supplements-- but I couldn't avoid cream cheese and the occasional ice cream. But it did always seem like having some solid food there "cushioned" it in my stomach, so to speak. A few months ago I ordered a wild rice burger at a lodge with a kitchen staff who knew how to handle gluten-free orders safely. I was so surprised by all the questions the waiter asked that I forgot to ask him to hold the cheese. I scraped most of it off when he brought me the plate, but had to leave some on (it's hard to peel melted mozzarella off of a wild rice and veggie burger). I had none of my dairy symptoms that night.

You know how they tell you to take antibiotics with a meal? It's an absorption issue, not just an effort to prevent stomach irritation... Why can't it be true of food?

[bridgetm]

Afterthought: One more possibility.

I have noticed that if I eat just one thing that could be a problem, I watch so closely for symptoms that I start imagining that I'm experiencing them. Suddenly one stiff muscle from work starts to feel like a horrible cramp, dry eyes after staring at my computer all afternoon and trouble focusing on heavy reading makes me wonder if I ate some gluten that will make me pass out for the next 12+ hours. A shiver from the cold starts to feel like tremors. If you eat just a baked potato you could be looking for these things more closely than if you added them to some veggies and meat, etc. After watching everything so closely, almost to the point of OCD, it tends to turn into a psychological game for me. I once started wheezing in reaction to blowing up a latex balloon. I started to get stressed-out monitoring the wheezing and my heart rate. If I had said the words anaphylactic shock enough times I probably would have gone into it.

[mushroom]

Afterthought: One more possibility.

I have noticed that if I eat just one thing that could be a problem, I watch so closely for symptoms that I start imagining that I'm experiencing them. Suddenly one stiff muscle from work starts to feel like a horrible cramp, dry eyes after staring at my computer all afternoon and trouble focusing on heavy reading makes me wonder if I ate some gluten that will make me pass out for the next 12+ hours. A shiver from the cold starts to feel like tremors. If you eat just a baked potato you could be looking for these things more closely than if you added them to some veggies and meat, etc. After watching everything so closely, almost to the point of OCD, it tends to turn into a psychological game for me. I once started wheezing in reaction to blowing up a latex balloon. I started to get stressed-out monitoring the wheezing and my heart rate. If I had said the words anaphylactic shock enough times I probably would have gone into it.

I tend to do the opposite. I say, "I am not having a a reaction to anything!. I do deep belly breathing, slow my breathing way down, r-e-l-a-x, and try to forget about it. Somehow seems more productive???

[bridgetm]

I tend to do the opposite. I say, "I am not having a a reaction to anything!. I do deep belly breathing, slow my breathing way down, r-e-l-a-x, and try to forget about it. Somehow seems more productive???

Mushroom: That is definitely more productive. When I am at home with no major obligations it works. But at school, consciously or not, my mind goes into overdrive thinking about all the things I can't miss. That's where it's just a psychological issue. I'm working on it. It should be second-nature after years of "Yes, your knee hurts, but you are still vertical and you have work to do so rise above"... Somehow I am just having trouble translating that to the stomach problems.

[mushroom]

I know, with the stomach often easier said than done, but practice makes perfect.