I Think I've Lost Potatoes...

[Bubba's Mom]

I've been having odd symptoms. My severe insomnia came back..and my joints hurt..a lot! Whatever was "getting me" was getting worse.

I keep a food log, so I went back and looked at what I've eaten and symptoms. The evening I had fried potatoes, then veggie chips made from potato starch the knuckles in my hands hurt so bad I couldn't bear to move them. Holding them still hurt too. A pain pill didn't touch the pain.

Soo..I went several days with no potatoes. The insomnia remained, but the joint pain went away. I made beef stew for supper last night and when I dished mine out didn't take many potatoes. The knuckle pain came back very strong a short while after eating. I told my hubby "it looks like I've lost potatoes from my safe list". He told me I'm rediculous! I haven't lost anything..I can still eat them, I'll just have pain.

I told him I can't eat them because they cause severe inflamation and pain..along with insomnia, and that isn't good and sure couldn't help my healing. He says "it's all in my head".

Just needing to vent, because I sure get nothing but mocking from my hubby...

Now I'm gluten, soy, oats, dairy, corn, peanut, strawberry, mango, and apparently potato free.

[bartfull]

I'm so sorry your husband isn't more supportive! He should do some reading right here so he will understand that a lot of us go through this. It really stinks when you start losing more and more foods. I lost soy and corn and potatoes and salicylates. I have gotten corn starch and potato starch back after 14 months, but I have been hit by SOMETHING recently and I'm not sure what. Could be cross contaminated rice. But now I'm beginning to suspect the potatoes too. Corn STARCH is OK, but corn MEAL didn't work. Maybe the same holds true for the potatoes - starch is OK, but whole ones are not.

They say that nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant) tend to cause joint problems for those who are sensitive to them so I think you are spot on with your assessment.

You will probably get a lot of these foods back eventually too. While your body is healing it mistakes a lot of things for gluten. So while your diet is so limited, take supplements and try to think of food in a different way. It's not for enjoyment, it is just another of life's necessities. Concentrate on the OTHER enjoyable things in life. Just knowing this is only temporary should help.

((((HUGS)))) to you. I hope you're feeling better soon and that your husband starts to get it through his head that all of this is very real.

[Bubba's Mom]

I'm so sorry your husband isn't more supportive! He should do some reading right here so he will understand that a lot of us go through this. It really stinks when you start losing more and more foods. I lost soy and corn and potatoes and salicylates. I have gotten corn starch and potato starch back after 14 months, but I have been hit by SOMETHING recently and I'm not sure what. Could be cross contaminated rice. But now I'm beginning to suspect the potatoes too. Corn STARCH is OK, but corn MEAL didn't work. Maybe the same holds true for the potatoes - starch is OK, but whole ones are not.

They say that nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant) tend to cause joint problems for those who are sensitive to them so I think you are spot on with your assessment.

You will probably get a lot of these foods back eventually too. While your body is healing it mistakes a lot of things for gluten. So while your diet is so limited, take supplements and try to think of food in a different way. It's not for enjoyment, it is just another of life's necessities. Concentrate on the OTHER enjoyable things in life. Just knowing this is only temporary should help.

((((HUGS)))) to you. I hope you're feeling better soon and that your husband starts to get it through his head that all of this is very real.

Thanks for the sympathy Bartful. I'll wait a few days and try a test to see if all potatoes are out, or if I can still do potato starch. I know you've faced a lot of these problems too, so you know what it's like to lose a food.

I've been gluten-free for just over a year, but never got feeling healthy. I've been to Mayo 3 times and all they can say is..*maybe* it's severe SIBO along with Celiac?

I take 2 different probiotics daily and RX digestive enzymes as they said to. I'm just so surprised to still be losing foods when I thought I'd be able to try adding some back in by now!

Having a snack is getting harder! I really am one who eats to live..and it's hard living with someone who lives to eat.

[ciamarie]

Me too, Bubba's Mom! And when your food budget is very slim, not being able to eat taters doesn't help. I thought I might be o.k. with red potatoes, or that it was the chemicals they spray on them. But I got some red potatoes at a farmers market, which I assume weren't sprayed (?), and those bothered me too. I cut them a couple of weeks ago. I think I'm o.k. with sweet potatoes, but I'll test them again in a couple days.

I don't always get the joint pain in my fingers when I've tried potatoes, but it's often enough that I know exactly what you mean. However, if they are bothering you and you cut them out, then I'd think your overall healing should start moving along quicker.

[bartfull]

Bubba's Mom and Cia, do either of you have trouble with berries? I ask because berries are really high in salicylates and potatoes can be too. The only potatoes that are not are the OLD ones with brown skins. AND you should peel them thickly because sals are toward the outside. (That's why berries are so high - can you imagine peeling a blueberry?)

If tomatoes and peppers bother you it might be nightshade sensitivity. If berries bother you it might be sals sensitivity. So many foods have different reasons that they might bother you. No wonder it is so hard to figure it all out!

[Bubba's Mom]

Me too, Bubba's Mom! And when your food budget is very slim, not being able to eat taters doesn't help. I thought I might be o.k. with red potatoes, or that it was the chemicals they spray on them. But I got some red potatoes at a farmers market, which I assume weren't sprayed (?), and those bothered me too. I cut them a couple of weeks ago. I think I'm o.k. with sweet potatoes, but I'll test them again in a couple days.

I don't always get the joint pain in my fingers when I've tried potatoes, but it's often enough that I know exactly what you mean. However, if they are bothering you and you cut them out, then I'd think your overall healing should start moving along quicker.

I really wanted to keep potatoes! LOL I tried Idaho vs red potatoes well peeled and they're still a no-go.

Sweet potatoes technically aren't a potato so I hope you can keep those? Finges crossed for you!

[Bubba's Mom]

Bubba's Mom and Cia, do either of you have trouble with berries? I ask because berries are really high in salicylates and potatoes can be too. The only potatoes that are not are the OLD ones with brown skins. AND you should peel them thickly because sals are toward the outside. (That's why berries are so high - can you imagine peeling a blueberry?)

If tomatoes and peppers bother you it might be nightshade sensitivity. If berries bother you it might be sals sensitivity. So many foods have different reasons that they might bother you. No wonder it is so hard to figure it all out!

Now that you mention it...bluebarries bothered me the other day. I had them in a salad with dressing made from lime juice, sugar, and olive oil. I'm going to have to watch the sals. When I had my first endoscope the damage was pretty obvious. The lab doing the biopsy report questioned if I was using Nsaids..which I never use. It made me question sals back then and I printed out the list. Hmmm...

[bartfull]

Yeah, sweet potatoes. I could not eat them at first but my nutritionist told me to try organic and those stayed with me. Even though I peeled them I think the chemical fertilizers and pesticides went all the way through.

And now this is a funny story: I had been eating organic sweet potatoes successfully when one week I started having trouble with constipation. At that point I couldn't even go near corn so I knew there were no meds I could safely take for the C. I started thinking of natural methods and decided seeing grocery store sweet potatoes always gave me D, I would go buy one to counteract the C. It worked! And then after that I could eat grocery store sweet potatoes with no problems.

[ciamarie]

Bartfull, ref. the sals and berries -- I don't know. I don't eat a lot of berries. I did have some strawberries not too long ago and I think I did o.k. with them. And, I did have some tomato a couple of days ago and the knuckles on my right hand have been swollen... so it might be nightshades for me. I'll try organic potatoes and/or tomatoes in a couple months perhaps. It is a bummer!

[Bubba's Mom]

I'm so glad I whined here a bit..and that you posted about the sals Bartful. I've lost strawberries recently, and the stew I made had potatoes, carrots, and bay leaf..all high sals. Blueberries bothered me in salad with olive oil..also high sals.

I've been eating peaches and broccoli quite a bit and use coconut on my veggies in lieu of butter...all high sals.

Made dill pickles..high sals. Ugh!

According to my list here sweet potatoes are high in sals, but yams are not. I know the grocery stores usually label them as interchangable but there is a difference. My local market sells red yams, which aren't red..they have white flesh.

I have a shriveled baking potato here. Maybe I should peel it real well and try to see if it gives me any answers?

Ciamarie..if sweet potatoes bother you..you may have to watch out for sals too?

I guess I'm going to have to make pork fried rice. No offenders in there.

[bartfull]

Sals are cumulative. You might be able to eat a sweet potato if you don't eat any other high sals foods for? a few days? a week? That's another problem - trying to figure out what your load limit is. I can eat a sweet potaot (SMALL) every day if I don't eat anything else with sals. It took me a while to figure that out though. When I got pistachios back (another high sals food) I thought all was well. But I can't eat more than 20 pistachios a day if I also ate a sweet potato that day. I can eat a small amount of broccoli AND a sweet potato and be fine. But after a few days it's time to go back to rice and cauliflower.

I guess the best thing is to go on a sals elimination diet. Get rid of all sals foods for a few weeks, then choose one to eat every day for a week and see if you react after it builds up in your system. Start with something that is medium sals I guess and see what happens. I still haven't figured out exactly where my tipping point is but I do know that my favorite fruit - blueberries - is probably off limits to me for the rest of my life.

I need to give a shout out to Yolo. She is the one who first brought sals to my attention. So thanks, Yolo, from me and all the rest of us with sals sensitivity!

[GottaSki]

Bubba's Mom - so sorry to hear you lost potato and that your hubby wasn't supportive - it is so difficult to figure out these blasted intolerances.

I too have had a back and forth about potatoes. They didn't seem to bother me when I challenged them on elimination diet, but then thought there was some problems later on that my diary pointed to potato so I removed them.

One day I was very frustrated and was in the midst of a multi-day "I can't eat anything" pity party. So I drove down to In and Out and bought TWO orders of fries for lunch - totally thought I'd pay big for the indulgence, but NO reaction what so ever. Okay more confused than ever. I waited a week and then ate idaho potato for breakfast so there was nothing else in my system and I bloated and had more joint pain later that day???? A few days later I tried red potatoes - just minor joint pain later in the day. Sweet potatoes seem to be alright except if I eat too much...I can have a serving of sweet potato oven roasted fries but if I make a meal out of them I'm in trouble.

I know I can't do tomato or pepper so I am assuming my problem with potato is the lectin/nightshade problem - maybe it's salicylates too? - or both with my luck

With my system so mucked up right now I'm avoiding all potato/sweet potato.

Hope you can do sweet potato.

Good Luck!

[Bubba's Mom]

Thanks so much for your input! There's no Dr. that I know of that will ever admit that we can have these sort of sensitivities, much less help sort them out.

I tried low sals when I first heard about them almost a year ago. I slowly added things back and nothing seemed to bother me until the potatoes just recently..whammo! My first thought was nightshades, but it's looking more like it may be sals after all?

This forum is SO helpful for figuring out some of these tricky things.

[Juliebove]

My mom can't eat potatoes. They cause joint pain for her. I hate it when people think you can eat something when you know that you can't. Who wants to be sick or in pain? I don't.

[Bubba's Mom]

My mom can't eat potatoes. They cause joint pain for her. I hate it when people think you can eat something when you know that you can't. Who wants to be sick or in pain? I don't.

Well..I guess technically potatoes won't kill somebody..but I don't want to eat things that I know are going to make it almost impossible to do things like..open jars, or walk up stairs. It seems to me, if something is causing that much inflamation it's something we ought to skip? I like potatoes..and occasional potoato chips..but I can live without them.

My hubby has arthritis and complains about how much it hurts to walk and do stairs, etc. When I suggested we could adjust his diet to see if it helped, he said "no thanks. I'm not giving up eating foods I like."