I'm Starting To Wonder If I Have Other Sensitivities. Where To Start?

[AzizaRivers]

I know there are always similar threads to this, but I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. If anyone wants to link to other useful threads, that would help, too.

I was only sick (or, at least, I only had major symptoms) for 3-6 months before I was diagnosed in November. I tested bloods negative while sick, biopsy inconclusive after gluten-free for 6 weeks. I got better very quickly, and a few slip-ups since then have helped me become more aware of when I might have been glutened. I've also become more sensitive. I thought gluten was my only problem (since I had minimal damage and not very much time comparatively between showing symptoms and beginning to heal), aside from the fact that the food in my college's dining hall is not very good or healthy and gives me limited choices, and frequently causes mild upsets with my digestive system. Now I'm starting to wonder if that's really all it is.

This morning I started off with a breakfast of homemade gluten-free bread with coconut oil (eaten both a thousand times before, no problems there). Shortly thereafter I made myself some homemade granola:

raw almonds

pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)

peanuts

pecans

raw quinoa (I read that it's good in granola)

raw honey

maple syrup

cinnamon

It was delicious and I ate a handful that filled me up. Within 30 minutes I was feeling a little sick...just that heavy-stomach sort of sick feeling. That was around 10am, and its after 6 now and I haven't eaten anything else for a lack of appetite. I can smell dinner cooking and it's just making me feel nauseous even though it's my favorite. There's absolutely no chance I had any gluten.

I'm not sure what to think? With this incident I'm wondering if all the digestive problems I have when I'm at school are actually related to the food itself rather than the way it's prepared. It would be hard for me to do an elimination diet because I'm only home on weekends, and during the week I'm at the mercy of the dining hall. They rarely even serve rice that isn't glutenously-seasoned, let alone simple foods.

Advice?

[mushroom]

Have you ever had quinoa before? I tried it... once.... and it did a number on me.

[cahill]

Quinoa upsets my stomach no matter how well I rinse it ,,You did rinse it first??

[mushroom]

For me, I tried the flour so there was no rinsing

[AzizaRivers]

That's a possibility. I'd only had it once before (cooked that time, but not rinsed) and I didn't really care for it, so I only had a bite and a half--probably about the same amount as I got with the granola. I don't remember how it made me feel but that was around the beginning of gluten-free for me so I was a mix of good and bad on any given day.

Could'a been the quinoa.

[cassP]

i cant eat peanuts at all... or most legumes for that matter. i get horrific gas pains like i swallowed a box of rocks.

i avoid honey cause of fructose malabsorption.

now- the rest of the nuts & seeds u mentioned- are totally fine with me HOWEVER- if i eat too much- i could get a stomach ache..

also- ive only had quinoa cooked, and been fine... but it seems that if it was raw- it might be hard to digest. ??

[burdee]

I know there are always similar threads to this, but I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. If anyone wants to link to other useful threads, that would help, too.

I was only sick (or, at least, I only had major symptoms) for 3-6 months before I was diagnosed in November. I tested bloods negative while sick, biopsy inconclusive after gluten-free for 6 weeks. I got better very quickly, and a few slip-ups since then have helped me become more aware of when I might have been glutened. I've also become more sensitive. I thought gluten was my only problem (since I had minimal damage and not very much time comparatively between showing symptoms and beginning to heal), aside from the fact that the food in my college's dining hall is not very good or healthy and gives me limited choices, and frequently causes mild upsets with my digestive system. Now I'm starting to wonder if that's really all it is.

This morning I started off with a breakfast of homemade gluten-free bread with coconut oil (eaten both a thousand times before, no problems there). Shortly thereafter I made myself some homemade granola:

raw almonds

pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)

peanuts

pecans

raw quinoa (I read that it's good in granola)

raw honey

maple syrup

cinnamon

It was delicious and I ate a handful that filled me up. Within 30 minutes I was feeling a little sick...just that heavy-stomach sort of sick feeling. That was around 10am, and its after 6 now and I haven't eaten anything else for a lack of appetite. I can smell dinner cooking and it's just making me feel nauseous even though it's my favorite. There's absolutely no chance I had any gluten.

I'm not sure what to think? With this incident I'm wondering if all the digestive problems I have when I'm at school are actually related to the food itself rather than the way it's prepared. It would be hard for me to do an elimination diet because I'm only home on weekends, and during the week I'm at the mercy of the dining hall. They rarely even serve rice that isn't glutenously-seasoned, let alone simple foods.

Advice?

You could develop allergies to any of your breakfast ingredients. Different people will say you're allergic to different things, because they can develop allergies to different foods. When I was first diagnosed with gluten intolerance (and casein allergy), I still had gastro symptoms. I suspected soy, after substituting soy products for dairy produced more symptoms. However, I couldn't imagine what caused my other reactions.

So I took an ELISA (blood IgG, IgE mediated) allergy test, which showed I reacted strongly to cane sugar, eggs, nutmeg and vanilla. I never suspected the last 2 spices. However, I got heart palpitations and nausea after eating cane sugar in sweets and I always got sick after flu shots (which are cultured in egg white). Nevertheless, when I later accidentally had vanilla on one occasion and nutmeg on another, I experienced painful gut symptoms and knew immediately what caused the reaction.

Long story short ... if you can get a blood allergy test (like ELISA) which is analyzed by a reliable lab, you can save yourself years of guessing and unnecessary restriction trying to determine your allergies. Don't settle for 'scratch' tests. Those only work for allergies which cause hives or skin reactions, although they can rule out IgE mediated allergies. However, most food allergies are delayed reaction (IgG or IgA mediated) allergies, rather than the more notorious immediate reaction (anaphylactic) IgE allergies.

I know many people on this board don't trust allergy blood tests. Those can be misinterpretted or poorly analyzed by a lab with inadequate quality control. I was lucky to get a good test processed by a great lab, which diagnosed 4 of my 7 allergies by blood test. (The other 3 were diagnosed by Enterolab stool tests.) All my allergy test results match my experience with painful gut reactions.

[AzizaRivers]

I had totally forgotten about my planned and failed blood allergy test that I tried to have shortly after I was diagnosed, at the recommendation of my GI. I scheduled the appointment, drove there, waited for 2 hours after my scheduled time, asked when I would be seen and was told there were 4 patients still ahead of me. I had to get to class so I left without rescheduling. Maybe I should try again, this time with the other allergist.

[IrishHeart]

While you are still healing, perhaps it is possible that nuts are just difficult to digest? Or maybe just one of the tree nuts/seeds/or peanuts is the culprit? Mixing them together in your granola with all the other ingredients would make for some detective work figuring out which one is giving you the GI distress.

Maybe you could try eating each of those foods one at a time? Wait a week . Try another. See how you feel.

Raw foods, while they have amazing healing potential, can wreak havoc in some of us with a gut that is leaky or inflamed. I can't eat raw veggies just yet, even though I love them.

I know if I stick to 1 or 2 food items at a time, it makes it a lot easier to see which food may be a problem. I did a rotation/elimination diet for 8 months last year and I had a very difficult time finding the problem because of delayed responses and always being in an inflammatory state (from the as-yet undiagnosed celiac disease.) Drove me nuts!!

I know I also have trouble digesting nuts right now (and beans) and I hope someday to be able to enjoy them once more.

I notice in your signature that you are dealing with candida...maybe the maple syrup and/or honey gave you the nausea? I thought I had read that you were supposed to avoid sugars and nuts/peanuts with yeast issues? Some people think the sugars/molds that may be on nuts are a problem. Not sure--just throwing out some thoughts to you here.

BTW....A progressive MD ordered the IgG testing done by Metametrix labs and the ONLY food I showed a severe reaction to was SOY.... but, no wheat? now, does that make sense? nope.

This is tricky business, but the best advice I got on here is....simple food while in the initial healing phase. No more than 2 or 3 ingredients at a time. I agree. It has helped me so much with digestion and seeing what gives me grief.

Hope you feel better soon! It must be difficult being away at school and eating food you can't control. Have you told the dining hall personnel of your special requirements? They should be able to accommodate you.

Let us know how you make out!

[burdee]

I did a rotation/elimination diet for 8 months last year and I had a very difficult time finding the problem because of delayed responses and always being in an inflammatory state (from the as-yet undiagnosed celiac disease.) Drove me nuts!!

BTW....A progressive MD ordered the IgG testing done by Metametrix labs and the ONLY food I showed a severe reaction to was SOY.... but, no wheat? now, does that make sense? nope.

You nailed the problem with 'rotation/elimination' diets. Most food allergies are delayed reaction (IgG or IgA mediated) allergies. So determining exactly which food caused the reaction is very difficult.

If you aren't eating all your potential 'allergen' foods prior to an allergy test, you may not show reactions on the test (just as people abstaining from gluten don't get positive results on gluten antibody blood tests). I was advised to continue eating all my normal foods before the test. However, by that time, I already began to abstain from gluten, dairy and soy. So I didn't expect to see positive reactions for those foods. Likewise my test showed no reactions for the foods I didn't eat for several months before the allergy test.

[IrishHeart]

You nailed the problem with 'rotation/elimination' diets. Most food allergies are delayed reaction (IgG or IgA mediated) allergies. So determining exactly which food caused the reaction is very difficult.

If you aren't eating all your potential 'allergen' foods prior to an allergy test, you may not show reactions on the test (just as people abstaining from gluten don't get positive results on gluten antibody blood tests). I was advised to continue eating all my normal foods before the test. However, by that time, I already began to abstain from gluten, dairy and soy. So I didn't expect to see positive reactions for those foods. Likewise my test showed no reactions for the foods I didn't eat for several months before the allergy test.

I'm so sorry, I was not very clear in that last post (my bad) Let me explain...

I had the testing done BEFORE I gave up any foods!!. The test only showed SOY, when clearly I have a gluten issue. The Dr. told me just give up Soy (that it was okay to eat gluten, dairy etc. based on the test results)and do a rotation/elimination diet and "you'll be all right in 6 months"...but I continued to be very ill long after that ...until I went back to my primary care doctor 11 months later and said I think I may have a gluten issue....the rest is history.

So, in MY case, the IgG testing was "iffy" at best. (could be the lab?? something happened to the blood sample in transit? who knows?) Just my experience. I know this testing is VERY helpful for many people and I would encourage everyone to at least try it--with a RELIABLE lab-- and see what results it may yield.

[Juls]

I cannot tolerate nuts at all any longer. It's like eating poison, within minutes. Maybe make it again, eliminating one ingredient at a time and try again, if you can tolerate it! Sounds delicious though! That's too bad! Hope you feel better!

[That GF Girl]

Quinoa upsets my stomach no matter how well I rinse it ,,You did rinse it first??

Hi

I didn't know that you had to rise Quoina? I have a bob mills brand and i think it says not to rinse? Can that upset ones' stomach not rinsing? I also have problems I am trying to figure out if it's other foods. I don't notice a prob eatting that but wondering where my fatigue and upset stomach is coming from.

Also, I eat most of my veggies raw- because I hate them cooked could that make the stomach upset and give me looser stools?

And nuts: I eat tons of cashews and raw almonds- could they contribute to the gut issues and fatigue? I've made sure they are not processed on same equipment as wheat etc but ?

Thanks

[jenngolightly]

Hi

I didn't know that you had to rise Quoina? I have a bob mills brand and i think it says not to rinse? Can that upset ones' stomach not rinsing? I also have problems I am trying to figure out if it's other foods. I don't notice a prob eatting that but wondering where my fatigue and upset stomach is coming from.

Also, I eat most of my veggies raw- because I hate them cooked could that make the stomach upset and give me looser stools?

And nuts: I eat tons of cashews and raw almonds- could they contribute to the gut issues and fatigue? I've made sure they are not processed on same equipment as wheat etc but ?

Thanks

Do you have other symptoms when eating nuts? Do you get a rash, stuffy nose, or swelling anywhere? If so, you may have a nut allergy.

[That GF Girl]

Do you have other symptoms when eating nuts? Do you get a rash, stuffy nose, or swelling anywhere? If so, you may have a nut allergy.

No swelling or rash etc?

[AzizaRivers]

When I go home this weekend (where my quinoa is) I'm going to make myself a bowl of it after rinsing and see if that changes anything. It's not the peanuts, almonds or pepitas as I have all of those regularly without problems. I highly doubt the fructose in the honey or maple syrup because I have both of those all the time and I eat a lot of fruit otherwise. So if it was something in my granola, I feel like it had to be the quinoa.

I also recently found out that a few of the things I have been eating in my college's dining hall are NOT gluten-free as I thought they were, so when I quit those I might start having better luck figuring anything else out.