Can Only Eat White Potatoes And White Rice Without Pain

[aquaholical]

I'm waiting for insurance to kick back in so I can see my gastro. Til then I'd very much appreciate youz guyz's expertise..

I was diagnosed in March of this year and the more time that goes by, the more sensitive I seem to be getting. I know this is somewhat common, but the sensitivity and other intolerances are progressing to a scary degree. First the dairy, then soy, then eggs, then absolutely no eating out (CC always gets me), almost nothing packaged, kale & spinach even give me icepick headaches and threat level red nausea (I think because I was having green shakes every morning for breakfast--that too frequent intolerance crap), and now it's starting to look like I have fructose malabsorption. I cut out fruit for a week and when I added it back in it was like I'd been hit by a semi. Absolutely horrific pain. Even things lower in fructose like avocado make me feel a little icky, so for the past couple of days I've just been eating plain baked potatoes and white rice with lemon and herbs. I'm SO HUNGRY but I'm finally feeling halfway decent.

I'm pretty sure corn is out, but testing that soon.

Pretty sure nuts are a mild issue as well. Cutting them out for the next few days and adding back to see what happens.

On top of all the restrictions I've been a vegetarian for 12 years. I feel backed into a corner now as baked potatoes and rice are just NOT getting me through the day, so I've been considering adding meat back in (((((( UGGGGGGGG. I soooo do not want to but I'm running out of options here. What meats can super sensitives have?

Do you think I could have something else going on that's causing all of this? It seems a bit absurd that I've developing an intolerance to just about everything. I know the first few years of healing can be rough and painful but if it were just generic healing pain I would think I'd have it with potatoes and rice, too. This is such a nightmare.

[shadowicewolf]

As far as i know, all meats.

You do need some veggies dear. Is there any that you can tolerate?

You're setting yourself up for one major "C" issue

[aquaholical]

As far as i know, all meats.

You do need some veggies dear. Is there any that you can tolerate?

You're setting yourself up for one major "C" issue

Almost all veggies have fructose Even the ones lower in it seem to be bothering me. I plan on seeing my doc asap and til then only celery, mustard greens and swiss chard are without fructose/acceptable.

[Lisa]

I was diagnosed in March of this year

With Celiac Disease? Most likely all foods are a bother to digest in the beginning.

If I were you... I would go back to square ONE. Go simple and only eat meats, fish, rice, potatoes, fresh veggies and fruits. Limit your seasonings to salt and pepper. Try to eat balanced and healthy meals.

Be strict for about four weeks - add no other foods. And keep a food diary.

And please see a professional nutritionist...it's important, really!

[Juliebove]

I am not celiac but have a lot of food intolerances. Luckily most veggies are okay for me except that I also have gastroparesis so I don't digest some of them well. But for some reason I have been having potato problems lately. I start to eat them and then just sort of have an aversion to them. And if I eat more than a few bites, they sit like lead in my stomach.

I too was a vegetarian but seem to suffer from low B vitamins despite supplements. I recently upped my supplements again because I am trying to cut back on meat even more. I was trying to eat it at least twice weekly. I am intolerant to chicken and all fish. Chicken and turkey are usually the ones most people tolerate. I do eat ground beef.

Can you eat chia seeds? Rice protein? You need some kind of protein in your diet to help fill you up. You also need some fat. I just don't know what to tell you there.

[GottaSki]

Have you tried cooked vegies? Sometimes raw vegies are quite hard on the inflamed system. Maybe start meat with making some chicken broth and adding some mild vegies to it? If you can tolerate that - add some chicken in next.

If you have been without meat for a long time, I'd suggest starting with chicken, turkey and fish - followed by lean cuts of pork and beef. Also - wait at least three days between adding foods to give yourself the best opportunity to monitor for problems.

Are you taking a good probiotic or utilizing digestive enzymes?

Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth (SIBO) can be the cause of multiple food intolerance - especially if they come on quickly.

I hope you find some safe foods - I know far to well how rotten it is to be reacting to everything you put in your mouth

[Newbee]

I'm celiac and over 14 months gluten-free and still having a lot of issues. I've found I can't eat a lot of food either and only eat a few things. Like GottaSki said, try the cooked veggies. I've found I can eat easily digestible cooked veggies ok but raw ones give me a lot of problems. Also, you may want to check out the specific carbohydrate diet (SCD). I've been following it and it does help me. It helps explain what to start eating that should be easy on your system which seems like it might help you. Here's a good site that explains more: Open Original Shared Link

[Izibelle]

I feel your pain. It is hard for me to eat and feel comfortable. There are a few things that I have learned through. If you have not already done so I highly recommend moving to a all organic diet. There have been tons of research showing the importance of "clean" food for not just digestion health but for all the systems. I can not stress enough the difference this can make. I have also had luck with juicing for a few days to clean the "unfriendly" foods out. It may be the fiber in the fruits/veggies that is giving you pain or just the bodies struggle to process. If it is the fructose just juice what you can tolerate. Fresh juice is super easy for the body to absorb with minimal effort. You could also throw a scoop of probiotics in to it. I was also wondering how strict you have been with vegetarianism. Are you vegan? I have been veggie for 17 years so I can relate to your anxiety of adding meat back into your diet. I have debated it for about a year because I too am down to such a small list of foods I can eat... Years ago, I found that my body does not tolerate chicken or milk but I can do most fish and eggs. Maybe that might work for you too. I also figured out through journaling that my body does not trigger to the same foods all the time. In the elimination diet it may open things up for you to try things a few times before you totally rule them out. I wish there was a quick answer but we are all so unique. Trail and error on a individual level is the only way to get there. I know how it feels to be so hungry but afraid to eat. Some days I wait till 3 or 4 in the afternoon just so I can get something accomplished before my body becomes consumed... I keep telling myself it will get better and some days it does. Stay positive! It helps... I wish the best of luck!

[ravenwoodglass]

How long before you insurance kicks in? If you are low income do see if there are some clinics or ask at your local hospital if they have a plan to help low income people as many do. Not everything is always gluten or other intolerances and you do need to rule out other, perhaps serious, problems. I hope this gets resolved for you soon.

[aquaholical]

Have you tried cooked vegies? Sometimes raw vegies are quite hard on the inflamed system. Maybe start meat with making some chicken broth and adding some mild vegies to it? If you can tolerate that - add some chicken in next.

If you have been without meat for a long time, I'd suggest starting with chicken, turkey and fish - followed by lean cuts of pork and beef. Also - wait at least three days between adding foods to give yourself the best opportunity to monitor for problems.

Are you taking a good probiotic or utilizing digestive enzymes?

Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth (SIBO) can be the cause of multiple food intolerance - especially if they come on quickly.

I hope you find some safe foods - I know far to well how rotten it is to be reacting to everything you put in your mouth

Woah, thanks for pointing me in the direction of Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth (SIBO). It sounds like that could be what's going on. My main symptom aside from the usual stomach pain, gas, bloating are SEVERE muscle aches. It feels like I have some terminal case of the flu. And with how quickly my body suddenly turned on corn, beans, nuts, etc it would make sense (all within the last month). The only huge problem is that they treat SIBO with antibiotics and I also have Lyme Disease. The antibiotics would likely stir up/anger the lyme (I'm treating-successfully-with herbs, lyme has been nice and quiet for 4 months). Oy, if it isn't one thing..

Unfortunately I'm also one of those that can't tolerate probiotics. They make me so nauseous. :/

How long before you insurance kicks in? If you are low income do see if there are some clinics or ask at your local hospital if they have a plan to help low income people as many do. Not everything is always gluten or other intolerances and you do need to rule out other, perhaps serious, problems. I hope this gets resolved for you soon.

Just found out I can use insurance as of Monday, so I made an appointment Tues... thank goodness! I think you're right, it sounds like it could be something more, like what GottaSki mentioned above. Thanks for the input!

[bartfull]

I am orininally from Connecticut, not far from Lyme where Lyme Disease was first discovered. Almost everyone in my family and a lot of my friends have had it. As far as I know, there is no combination of herbs that will get rid of it. They may mask they symptoms, but unless you get on an antibiotic, you will never get rid of it. I am assuming you are self diagnosed because you got the bullseye rash because if you had seen a doctor for it, he would have put you on antibiotics immediately. Those "icepick" headaches and the other pain may very well be from the Lyme.

And yes, you should probably be eating meat right now. Maybe after you have healed and are able to tolerate more foods you can go back to being a vegetarian. Lamb is mild, and organic chicken or bison would be good too. I'd stay away from pork for a while. I agree with the others who suggested cooking your veggies. Broccoli, asperagus, whatever you like. Just cook them first and you should be able to tolerate them.

Fruit? Well I must confess that I don't eat fruit much either. Just bananas. I am salicylate sensitive so the fruits I really like (berries) are off limits to me. I get the same nutrients from veggies that I would get from fruits anyway so why bother?

At the very least you should be taking vitamin supplements. I haven't been able to find any that are gluten, soy, and corn free either, but I found out that my corn intolerance WILL allow me to consume corn STARCH, so I take a vitamin that is gluten-free and soy-free but does have corn starch.

And even though the probiotics may make you feel queasy, it is important that you take them anyway. After a while they won't bother you either. Be sure you take them at least two hours before or after the antibiotics that I beg you to start taking. I've seen what Lyme can do and believe me, you don't want to go there.

[GottaSki]

At one point I stopped probiotics as I didn't think they were working. When I realized I may have SIBO I started up again and they made me very nauseous during the day, so I took one at bedtime for a short time then two at bedtime. Eventually I was able to take them during the day again with no issue -- fight thru the nausea they are very important to the healing gut and if you start antibiotics for Lyme or potential SIBO it becomes imperative that you get them in.

Glad your insurance has kicked in - good luck at your appointment

[aquaholical]

I am orininally from Connecticut, not far from Lyme where Lyme Disease was first discovered. Almost everyone in my family and a lot of my friends have had it. As far as I know, there is no combination of herbs that will get rid of it. They may mask they symptoms, but unless you get on an antibiotic, you will never get rid of it. I am assuming you are self diagnosed because you got the bullseye rash because if you had seen a doctor for it, he would have put you on antibiotics immediately. Those "icepick" headaches and the other pain may very well be from the Lyme.

And yes, you should probably be eating meat right now. Maybe after you have healed and are able to tolerate more foods you can go back to being a vegetarian. Lamb is mild, and organic chicken or bison would be good too. I'd stay away from pork for a while. I agree with the others who suggested cooking your veggies. Broccoli, asperagus, whatever you like. Just cook them first and you should be able to tolerate them.

Fruit? Well I must confess that I don't eat fruit much either. Just bananas. I am salicylate sensitive so the fruits I really like (berries) are off limits to me. I get the same nutrients from veggies that I would get from fruits anyway so why bother?

At the very least you should be taking vitamin supplements. I haven't been able to find any that are gluten, soy, and corn free either, but I found out that my corn intolerance WILL allow me to consume corn STARCH, so I take a vitamin that is gluten-free and soy-free but does have corn starch.

And even though the probiotics may make you feel queasy, it is important that you take them anyway. After a while they won't bother you either. Be sure you take them at least two hours before or after the antibiotics that I beg you to start taking. I've seen what Lyme can do and believe me, you don't want to go there.

Oh boy, the lyme. No, I'm not self diagnosed. My lyme doctor here in Texas diagnosed me. Which, yes, I know diagnosis is mostly based on controversial blood work (Igenex) / mostly clinical presentations, BUT I did get the bulls eye rash...when I was a little girl in the mid 80's and "Lyme didn't exist in Texas" so it was not properly treated (no antibiotics). My doc thinks it lied dormant in my body most my life, then 2 years ago I was attacked by a dog and put on high dose antibiotics (had never been on antibiotics that high dose before) and all hell broke loose. My left arm went numb, left leg went numb, bells palsy, tinnitus, migraines, yadda yadda, I'm sure you know the the myriad of symptoms.

It's been in my body so long I don't think any amount of antibiotics would get rid of it. With chronic lyme the goal of herbal protocols isn't to get rid of the bacteria, it's to beef the immune system up so it can battle the bacteria/keep it suppressed. Which is exactly what the protocol I'm on has managed to do.

The icepick headaches come directly after I eat specific foods and if I don't eat those foods I don't get those headaches, so I seriously doubt they're connected to the Lyme. Though I'm sure you know how sneaky it is, who knows.. :/

I'll talk to my doc about adding meat back in and supplements/probiotics Have you tried any of the Vitamin Shoppe brand supplements? Most of them are gluten, diary, soy, corn, etc etc free.

Thanks for all the feedback, I really appreciate it!

At one point I stopped probiotics as I didn't think they were working. When I realized I may have SIBO I started up again and they made me very nauseous during the day, so I took one at bedtime for a short time then two at bedtime. Eventually I was able to take them during the day again with no issue -- fight thru the nausea they are very important to the healing gut and if you start antibiotics for Lyme or potential SIBO it becomes imperative that you get them in.

Glad your insurance has kicked in - good luck at your appointment

That's a good idea to take them at bedtime.. I'll talk to my doc on Tuesday and get his thoughts on it. Thanks!

[T.H.]

Oh goodness, hon, you are in a spot! I have a few rather oddball things that might be of use.

1. As a long term thing that might help enhance things with the lyme disease, perhaps? Years ago - I believe around 14 years ago or so - there was an article in Scientific American about a study done on herbs and seasonings around the world and how effective they were as antibacterial and antifungals. They mentioned some details like which herbs did better raw, which could survive cooking processes with this antibacterial ability intact, and which were more effective.

I had borrowed it in paper form from a friend a long time ago, and when I went to find it again, I never managed to. Didn't go back and hunt it down in an archive, though. Might be worth doing it.

Just thought it might help some with how you cope with the Lyme disease, give you some alternatives potentially so you have flexibility if some of your herbs are ever low in supply, you know?

2. You might want to check out sulfite allergy, too. It definitely wouldn't explain everything, not by a long shot, but it might be a cause behind the nasty spiking headaches. That's a symptom many sulfite folks get when they encounter either sulfites OR foods high in sulfur. Kale is one of these that is higher in sulfur, for example. Spinach can make some sulfite sensitive folks sick if the wrong pesticide was used on them (but not all. Sensitivity level varies greatly).

Eggs, maple syrup, peanuts, garlic, fermented foods like soy sauce - all can be a problem. The one nice thing about this is that it has an easy test for it - home brewing stores sell sulfites in a powder that you can buy for a couple bucks. it has instructions for how to make sulfite mixtures at certain ppms. 100ppm for wine, for example, which is on the high side.

The safest way to do this is at an allergist's. I kind of did it myself, because I just got headaches and totally spaced out but didn't get anaphylaxis. I did a blind taste test with regular water and sulfited water.

A good blog for this one: Open Original Shared Link

3. In case you do start adding meat back in. I just read something about meat and tick bites that you should know. A growing number are triggering this bizarre allergy to meat!

It causes anaphylaxis, but it's this wacky delayed anaphylaxis. (article on this topic: Open Original Shared Link ) Since you've been having so much trouble, have a confirmed tick bite, and haven't been eating meat but are considering it, I thought you should know so you can be aware, you know?

4. re: probiotics. I get sick from all of them too. :-( I'm wondering if part of the problem might be the sweetener that is so often added, since fructose seems to be an issue. You might want to look into making your own probiotics, see if that works better? It's actually pretty easy to ferment various items, and if they ferment enough, the sugar is consumed completely so you wouldn't have that issues to contend with in the final product. There's a good book called the Art of Fermentation that has a lot of simple ways to ferment things. He does often add sugar, but he also do some fermentations that simply use sea salt and time, so that might work for you.

The only trouble I imagine might be the bacteria that are fermenting things. I know some fructose malabsorptive folks don't do well with probiotics because it seems to simply increase the bacteria that can consume excess fructose and make things worse for them. Perhaps SIBO might have a similar issue if no antibiotics are used on it? Or maybe only have that issue until the bacterial levels are lower?

Hope that your doctor visit goes well for you.

[aquaholical]

Oh goodness, hon, you are in a spot! I have a few rather oddball things that might be of use.

1. As a long term thing that might help enhance things with the lyme disease, perhaps? Years ago - I believe around 14 years ago or so - there was an article in Scientific American about a study done on herbs and seasonings around the world and how effective they were as antibacterial and antifungals. They mentioned some details like which herbs did better raw, which could survive cooking processes with this antibacterial ability intact, and which were more effective.

I had borrowed it in paper form from a friend a long time ago, and when I went to find it again, I never managed to. Didn't go back and hunt it down in an archive, though. Might be worth doing it.

Just thought it might help some with how you cope with the Lyme disease, give you some alternatives potentially so you have flexibility if some of your herbs are ever low in supply, you know?

2. You might want to check out sulfite allergy, too. It definitely wouldn't explain everything, not by a long shot, but it might be a cause behind the nasty spiking headaches. That's a symptom many sulfite folks get when they encounter either sulfites OR foods high in sulfur. Kale is one of these that is higher in sulfur, for example. Spinach can make some sulfite sensitive folks sick if the wrong pesticide was used on them (but not all. Sensitivity level varies greatly).

Eggs, maple syrup, peanuts, garlic, fermented foods like soy sauce - all can be a problem. The one nice thing about this is that it has an easy test for it - home brewing stores sell sulfites in a powder that you can buy for a couple bucks. it has instructions for how to make sulfite mixtures at certain ppms. 100ppm for wine, for example, which is on the high side.

The safest way to do this is at an allergist's. I kind of did it myself, because I just got headaches and totally spaced out but didn't get anaphylaxis. I did a blind taste test with regular water and sulfited water.

A good blog for this one: Open Original Shared Link

3. In case you do start adding meat back in. I just read something about meat and tick bites that you should know. A growing number are triggering this bizarre allergy to meat!

It causes anaphylaxis, but it's this wacky delayed anaphylaxis. (article on this topic: Open Original Shared Link ) Since you've been having so much trouble, have a confirmed tick bite, and haven't been eating meat but are considering it, I thought you should know so you can be aware, you know?

4. re: probiotics. I get sick from all of them too. :-( I'm wondering if part of the problem might be the sweetener that is so often added, since fructose seems to be an issue. You might want to look into making your own probiotics, see if that works better? It's actually pretty easy to ferment various items, and if they ferment enough, the sugar is consumed completely so you wouldn't have that issues to contend with in the final product. There's a good book called the Art of Fermentation that has a lot of simple ways to ferment things. He does often add sugar, but he also do some fermentations that simply use sea salt and time, so that might work for you.

The only trouble I imagine might be the bacteria that are fermenting things. I know some fructose malabsorptive folks don't do well with probiotics because it seems to simply increase the bacteria that can consume excess fructose and make things worse for them. Perhaps SIBO might have a similar issue if no antibiotics are used on it? Or maybe only have that issue until the bacterial levels are lower?

Hope that your doctor visit goes well for you.

Wow! thank you for all the information!! All extremely helpful. Now that you mention it, I remember one of my friends telling me about that bacteria/meat allergy article. I'm holding off until I talk to my doc to see what he says on all of it. Thank you so so so much for the info! I'll definitely be bringing it up with my doc tomorrow