GermanMia

Pele, I'm sorry, too.

I'm used to this since I was a teenage girl... Can't count how many people suggested I'd go find a good psychiatrist Twentyfive years ago I was totally unsure and scared thinking that maybe they were right and I was really nuts - but nowadays I just laugh at people and tell them that if I hadn't got this tick about nutrition I was too wonderful to stand... I can do that because I never talk about my problems except with my husband, my naturopath (who happens to be my best friend) and my doc - and here I'm afraid I'm not a very decent person because if I eat in company and people keep hacking at me because of my eating habits despite me telling them not to mind my tick, I just point out that they probably will become diabetic if they continue stuffing themselves with tons of carbs.

Never discuss - either they accept you as you are or you better do what rinne says...

Hi Jan,

yes, I know exactly, what you mean with eating chicken soup for the rest of your life when it only helps! I just feel the same way. Vomiting is the worst thing I can imagine, so I wouldn't do the gluten challenge either.

It is possible that gluten intolerance can cause fructose malabsorption - it did it in my case - so maybe you should be a bit careful about that for some time, too. The good thing is that it will go away.

There are studies which show that people of African origine suffer less often from celiac or gluten intolerance than white people, that's so far all I know.

General bloodwork sadly doesn't say much. You can nearly have anything without the normal tests showing a sign - that's the problem: You actually have to know what you are looking for.

Hope you'll get better soon, too, and find the encouragement you need here

Mia

--- I've never had problems of D, but for years of throwing up coupled with headaches, whenever I was glutened (which I didn't know at the time was the reason). Strangely my actual intestinal digestion worked perfectly, whenever I could keep the food down. Since I went on the SCD, like 3 weeks ago, I'm much better, but the last few days I've suddenly got D. Have a feeling it's linked to my beginning a supplement of liquid magnesium. Does anyone know of such a reaction ?

Or is it simply a reaction to the diet?

And is there anyone on this string, who have also had mainly poisoning symptomes with vomiting/head aches/bodyaches, and have any experiences from an SCD healing process ?

--- The only Dr. I ever had who diagnosed something useful, ie candida/leaky gut 3 years ago, adviced me to always begin all meals with eating raw or steamed unseasoned greens for 10 minutes. I did it for long period of times, and it really did help my ability to digest foods I otherwise couldn't keep down. Unfortunately, he missed the gluten connection, so never getting totally well, I left the '10 minutes of greens' at some point. Apparently, it's something about which enzymes that get activated in the first ten minutes of the meal being the important ones. But does anyone here know of this process ? It's tedious, but I remember it as worth doing, so perhaps I shall pick it up again ...

Just curious if anyone here had tried it ...?

I used to consider myself so terribly sick, and felt so alone in my struggling over the years with all these undiagnosable symptoms. And being like debilitated half the time for the last five years I also in between felt rather sorry for myself. But reading this forum, I see how many similar stories there are - and compared to what some of you have gone/ are going through I've even realized that I belong among the 'light weight' cases here. Thanks a lot for sharing all your stories, it sure does give a lot of hope and encouragement Hope I can be of some use to some of you as well ...

Jan

Hi Jan,

like you, I never had C or D problems caused by gluten (maybe that's the reason why no doc ever thought of it). I had nausea after everything I eat except raw fruit and veggies for 30 years, and I also found it helpful to have something raw as a starter to every meal. You're right, it's to do with the enzymes of raw fruit and veggies. They get the production of digestive enzymes started which in consequence makes the stomach starting the production of pepsin so you're able to digest what you eat after the raw things. Well, this is the simple short version of the explanation, but I think I don't start explaining the whole biochemistry...

Anyway, my nausea completely stopped when I stopped eating gluten. Unluckily the long years of poisoning myself with gluten seem to have damaged a lot of other processes, so I'm still struggeling with other problems. But the good thing is that after only two months on SCD the inflammation of the intestine was reduced to nearly invisible via coloscopy, and as long as I stick to what I know for sure I can eat I have no more intestinal problems. No gas, no nausea, neither D nor C.

D can be a reaction to the SCD, it could be a die off of bacteria, but I also think it could be caused by the magnesium. Maybe you try and find another kind of magnesium, e. g. magnesium orotate, which is a form of magnesium the body can work with.

The funny thing is that after four weeks of SCD I had a fit of the worst D I ever had in my life, and I thought it was kind of die off, but then it turned out to be a reaction of all the carrots I had - I have a fructose malabsorption, too, so carrots are a very bad idea... after eliminating the fructose from my diet, too, and now avoiding everything which contains or provokes histamine, too, I have a *very* restricted diet but no intestinal problems at all. And I know for sure that as soon as I have found and "repaired" the underlying problems (which seem to be of endocrine nature) I will be able to return to mostly normal gluten-free and low carb diet.

And so will most others, I suppose - it's just a question of time and patience and research... And for this I love this forum (or this thread) because you learn such a lot by sharing your stories

Oh Mia, that must be so frustrating! Something must be triggering the histamine somehow. Why the heck would it be doing that? Could it be a microbe that is triggering a response? You seemed to be improving - has anything changed?

I Googled 'natural antihistamine' and a few ideas came up. Do you take any extra Vitamin C? It is apparently a good natural AH. That popped up a lot.

Open Original Shared Link

You could be in a bit of a loop in that although the fruit and veg would give you extra vitamin C, because you may be low to start with you can't get past the histamine response in order to be able to absorb the vitamin C! The type of vitamin C may also make a difference and the addition of bioflavonoids - hesperidin, quercetin, rutin, etc., may also help. Ironically the fruits that are triggering the response also contain natural anti-histamine and flavonoids.

Other things were - green tea, 1/2 spoon salt daily in a glass of water, drinking enough water - 6-8 glasses a day, grape seed extract, butterbur, magnesium, L-Histadine, nettle, dong quai, ginko and milk thistle. How effective any of them are I haven't a clue, however, you might find it useful to try the Milk Thistle for a few weeks as it is a good liver cleanser and support and anything that supports the liver is worth considering.

I take it from time to time for about 5 or 6 weeks at a time (don't quote me on this but I have a feeling it may have helped my gall bladder and liver clear out a load of stones and crud).

On a personal note, I had a histamine response when I went on the apple fast about 2 years ago, yet I had been eating apples for several days prior without any problem at all, then suddenly, bang - I had an allergic reaction. It was a type of apple I hadn't had before (or since!) but I have eaten apples fine since then. I have one or two every other day in my smoothies. Weird.

I did wonder if it was to do with the acid/alkaline balance in my body and whether too many apples had just tipped it over the top. I also had a reaction to a lemon juice and Apple Cider Vinegar drink a day later yet had had no problem with that either up to then. I used to get allergic reactions to fruit years ago (peach family is a real no-no!) and as a consequence have, until now, eaten very little of it over the years but then maybe I was low in Vit C and certainly the Candida beastie was, I am sure, alive and well back then, and who knows what effect that had!

I wonder if there is any way that you could get your blood pH tested to see if it may be too acid or alkaline and whether that might give any clues? Foods often apparently give an opposite pH result in the body than you would expect. It seems that although fruits like lemons are acid, they leave an alkaline 'ash' in the body, and other foods like meat and dairy make the body acid. Too far one way or the other can cause problems for us.

I think even with fruit and veg we have to be careful sometimes. Traditionally our ancestry may not have come from environments where certain foods are eaten, and I wonder whether that can have a bearing on how well we are able to tolerate certain things too. food travels around the world at breathtaking speed these days and we have access to a huge array of exotic fruit and veg, yet can our bodies really cope with it all? Food for thought.........

Ali - you're right, this is frustrating! And yes, I'm wondering, too, if it could again be kind of microbe which I'm unable to detect. As I work with people and very often with sick people I came in contact with dozens of colds, flues, stomach bugs, bronchitises and sinusitises over the last month... First I didn't realize it was asthma which was returning (it had been gone for months!) but thought I had catched a bronchitis finally. But then it turned out to be asthma indeed. Ack!

Thanks for the ideas! Stupid me, I knew about the vitamin C but plain forgot it. I use to take a fruit and vegetable blend called Juice Plus which is the big thing for people who cannot eat fruits and veggies because it contains all micro nutrients of fruits and vegetables but not the sugar and the acids. It has a brillant bioavailability, so I'm positive that I get everything that my body can resorb.

But that's the point - as my general resorption of what I take is so poor I suppose you're totally right, there has to be some deficiency. I think I'll try adding some extra vitamin C.

And I already take something to clean the liver, too, but I think I'll add some milk thistle (learned something new again, in German this plant is called Mary thistle ). By the way I think it very likely that you had your liver cleaned of stones and crud that way. The stage before the stones become solid stones cannot be detected, but of course there is a lot of muck already before it soildifies. And this non-solid muck can be cleaned out.

I don't suppose that a blood ph test would be of much use because if your blood shows an acidosis (or alkalosis) it is *very* late. Blood is a buffer solution which means that it will keep the ph stable as long as possible. But anyway, my urine ph mostly is acidic, athough I take alkaline minerals. Just let's hope my kidneys didn't give in so my blood is acidic, too. My kreatinine is at the upper end but not too high yet...

Just yesterday my naturopath friend called me and told me he was in contact with a doc who is dealing with exactly the problem I seem to have. There was no time for a longer discussion but he told me that man had suggested some further tests which might lead to something. Seems to have to do something with vitamin B resorption. Well, let's do some research

Mia--oh yes, I'm definitely sick of people extolling the virtues of weight watchers and lean cuisine. I am the lone freak who eats vegetables and whole foods while everyone else here at work eats a frozen meal when they want to be "healthy."

That's a shame about the histamine reaction! As for the weight loss, maybe you can cook your veggies in butter or olive oil? That would add some calories. Can you eat cauliflower? I make mashed cauliflower as a potato substitute and I actually like it better than the real thing.

---------------------

So far so good with this bare bones plan. After a couple of weeks with this, I'm not sure that yeast actually is a problem? I keep going back and forth on this one. I think the fructose malabsorption is a definite yes, but still undecided about candida. I did eat some coconut (before I knew about the fructose thing) last week and it caused a small bit of gas and D, so I'm leaning more towards a problem with fructose than anything else (I mean, along with gluten intolerance, grain intolerance, casein intolerance, etc.)

I've been having no troubles with raw foods (that I know of) though I will say I have not been going to the bathroom as much as I feel I should. I wonder if it's because the majority of what I'm eating are vegetables, which have a high water content? My foods are nutritionally dense, so there isn't much "waste" to speak of? Any thoughts on this?

Feeling like the lone prophet in the desert, isn't it? Actually I'm regarded as kind of hippie here, too - but things are getting better. Six years ago we were completely alone when we went jogging, but now half the village seems to be jogging or walking, too. That's an improvement, people slowly stop laughing and start thinking, maybe...

I'm afraid I can't eat cauliflower. The thing is that veggies either contain too much fructose or histamine (or provoke histamine).

I do eat lots of olive oil and camelina sativa (maybe not known in the US and UK?), which has an excellent ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids plus tocopherol so it is very resistant to oxidation and highly stable. But that's the other thing - I don't digest fat properly even if I use enzymes and extra HCL.

Concerning your low waste as you say, maybe you should drink more water. Ali mentioned that. If your nutrition is high in fibre, you need enough liquid. Otherwise the fibres will have the adverse effect of causing C. Minimum free water intake should be 0,03 litres per kg body weight per day.

Juli - this shows that what is declared healthy not necessarily has to be healthy for everyone...

My husband and I work as food coaches, and boy do I have difficulties to explain to people why "normal" healthy nutrition with lots of fruits and veggies doesn't work for me!

Just right now I found that I have a histamine issue, too. Last year I only had the DAO tested which was normal. But as I react to nearly everything that conatins lots of histamine or provokes the production of histamine, I also had the histamine tested and it showed that my body produces much too much of it. So no more Papaya, no nuts, no avocado, no cheese except a little goat's cheese, no more spinach and not too many eggs. That leaves basically only fresh fish, meat, SCD yoghurt, corn salad and a little zucchini or broccoli. I really wonder what to do now. After two days trying this I lost two more pounds and I certainly cannot afford to lose another one.

Thanks so much. I am acquainted with Weleda. I went to their website and looked at their toothpaste selection. The salt one has guar gum and alcohol in it. The others also contain alcohol and xanthan gum. Since corn is another issue for me and alcohol can be a gluten issue unless we are assured of it's origins and guar is not SCD legal, they probably won't work, I'm afraid.

Nobody said this was going to be easy, but I am honestly having a lot of trouble using this diet with all the additional restrictions. About the time something qualifies as gluten free, it isn't SCD legal. About the time it satisfies SCD, it doesn't quite make it for gluten free since I also seem to be extra sensitive about ppm. Then my additional food sensitivities take away the majority of great recipes that are being shared and in cookbooks. I am really going to have to figure out a creative and satisfying menu for myself because this week's diet ended up monotonous, way too high in fruit and nuts and not at all balanced. I know this can be done, but as of now I'm doing a lot of just not eating at all because it's easier. I need to buckle down and really plan this thing.

Gentleheart, I'm so sorry - you're completely right. As I use this toothpaste nearly all my life, the last time I looked at the ingredients was more than 20 years ago when I had no clue that there was something like food intolerances... Thanks for the hint, anyway... Seems like I should go find something else, sigh.

Gentleheart, here in Germany we have a blend called Weleda, it's natural cosmetic - everything from soap, body lotion to deodorant, and they have a salt toothpaste which only contains salt and some herbal extracts. It's quite expensive - more than double what normal toothpaste costs, but you don't need much of it so it lasts very long. Look at www.weleda.com

Fluoride is a poison anyway, so better avoid it...

Sherry, thanks for the addition! Yes, in people with celiac or gluten intolerance this can be the starting point.

Juli, the piggyback thing is right, if you have a fructose malabsorption you should in any case avoid foods with a higher content of fructose than glucose. That would especially be apples and pears. Very liquid honey contains more fructose than glucose, too, because fructose is more hygroscopic than glucose, i. e. it absorbs more liquid. Also some people are able to deal better with fructose when composed with glucose as a disaccharide, i. e. sucrose. Most fruits, veggies, nuts, legumes contain glucose and fructose as monosaccharides plus sucrose as disaccharide. Also you have to look out for sugar alcohols like sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol which sometimes have even worse effects that fructose itself. Chewing gum and toothpaste mostly contain sorbitol which may cause BIG trouble, apricots, too, and some fungi are high in mannitol.

During the first months of a fructose elimination diet you have to regard the total fructose content of foods, i. e. fructose as monosaccharide and disaccharide. The less fructose the better.

Mia

Is the maldigestion of sugars and starches a bacteria problem, yeast problem, or both?

Depends, I think. First thing is that the flora has to be in disorder for some reason, so that there is a nice milieu for yeast. That is, the candida starts as a consequence of a dysbalance, and then of course it increases the problems... Most people do have candida issues following the flora damage but not necessarily. Might depend on what you take in. I never eat lots of things which could cultivate candida - no sweets at all, very few starches - and I have no candida at all.

In fact all sugars are differently digested. Glucose is digested in the small intestine while fructose has to be carried to the liver. There are two carrier proteins which do that job, one that carries the fructose into the gut mucosa and a second one which carries it from the mucosa to the liver. Fructose intolerance - or better malabsorption - means that you lack those carriers - or they don't work - so that the fructose passes the small intestine and reaches the large intestine where it is digested by bacteria. This causes gas which you should not have too often, and if this happens too often, the flora changes. Bacteria fed by those undigested sugars start to overgrow the other bacteria so that you start having a dysbalance. If you have too much gas it might affect the ileocecal valve so that bacteria from the large intestine can go up to the small intestine which normally has only few bacteria. That way you can develope an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine which disables the mucosa of the small intestine so that the whole digestive process is disturbed and *more* undigested sugars (or proteins and fats) pass into the large intestine... So with every step it gets worse until one day the whole thing collapses. If you continued eating lots of sugars and starches it is very likely that you also developed candida. But the candida will never go away if you don't repair the flora damage before.

Juli,

I'm pretty sure that this kind of acquired fructose intolerance will go away again. I never liked sweet things but eat tons of fruit and veggies - without ever having trouble until recently. My naturopath told me that in fact it's the starches which do most of the harm. Maldigestion of starches causes bacterial overgrowth which causes malabsorption of fructose etc. So if you really break the circel, i. e. starve all bad bacteria which cause malabsorption, and avoid fructose for some time, you should tolerate apples, carrots, beans etc. again.

I started the fructose avoiding diet last november and still don't eat more than half a papaya or one grapefruit per day plus half an avocado, lots of corn salad, one small zucchini or a portion of spinach. The gastroenterologist told me to stick to this diet for at least threee months and then, if all symptoms have gone, slowly add more veggies first and then, maybe after six months, more fruit. I'm still fiddling because I can't figure out if all that I eat is good for me. There is no more bloating and sometimes I seem to have a bit more energy, but not much.

Above all, my pms which had seemed to become better, has gotten worse than ever instead and my cycle started becoming irregular again But then I raised my intake of probiotics, maybe it's just kind of first reaction?

Maybe I should again do a couple of days with only chicken soup (without carrots), boiled chicken, steamed fish, some yoghurt and corn sald - no cheese, no eggs and no papaya or avocado...

Mia

Hi Juli,

I just read the last posts and found you mentioning that suddenly you can't have foods you used to be able to eat like apples and lima beans. Did you ever look into fructose intolerance? Apples and beans are a desaster if someone is fructose intolerant. I just had that problem: After one year gluten free suddenly everything got worse instead of better. The worst thing was that I started to feel weak and tired all the time so that I nearly couldn't do my work any more. Then I started SCD, and suddenly I had something I thought was a very bad die off with D and feeling like hell - but it was in fact the fructose from all the carrots I ate which made me completely sick! Luckily my gastroenterologist had the idea to let me do breath tests for lactose and fructose and I turned out to be fructose intolerant. When I looked up the foods which don't agree with fructose intolerant people I found that it was just about everything I can't tolerate like apples, pears, carrots, beans, lentils, soy, corn and - sugar. Now I restricted myself to corn salad, spinach, some zucchini, avocado, papaya, some grapefruit and slowly I can see some improvement.

Seemingly it is not unusual that people with undiagnosed celiac may develope fructose intolerance, too, over the years (or other intolerances). Chances are good that this kind of acquired intolerance goes away if you consequently avoid these things.

Well, I'm sorry to say that I've got a migraine today, and I am so lethargic and tired I could fall asleep here at work. This definitely feels like some sort of die-off or withdrawal reaction, yuck. But still no intestinal troubles so I'm counting my blessings.

As for the health-breastfeeding link, I found a couple of articles:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

From the last link:

It's definitely very interesting reading! I have never had kids, but my good friend has a baby, and she is very pro-breastfeeding. It was actually she who gave me a lot of information about it (since she knows I'm very concerned with staying healthy and eating good foods.)

Ali,

I enjoyed your off topic conversation about Wales and the Welsh Being German with a Romanian father and a German mother who dreamed of being Italian (she studied there and spoke Italian like a native), I have no roots at all here in old Germany but somehow feel home in - Great Britain. No idea why but from the first English lesson at school I had a passion for that island... so I'm always delighted to read about it... And anyway, it's nice to have your SCD-days enlightened with something off-topic

There seem to be many people who don't tolerate freshly baked goods. My mother-in-law told me that twenty years ago a doctor told her not to eat fresh bread but freeze her rolls and then reheat them on the toaster.

And I have realized that for me sometimes it's the combination of foods which bothers me, not the foods themselves.

I've not been cheating with any carbohydrates, but as I can't eat much veggies due to the fructose intolerance I was quite desperate at the beginning because I didn't know what to eat... So I had much too much cheese. I tried to balance with goats cheese, sheep feta and cow's cheese but found that my gut was not pleased with all this cheese stuff. Now I only eat small amounts of goats cheese and do much better.

Gentleheart,

I don't know if that is the reason why chocolate is not allowed, but in fact cocoa contains starches as well as fat. 100 g cocoa beans naturally contain 8,67 g saccharose which is a disaccharide - illegal - and 2,17 g starches which are illegal, too.

Another thing is that cocoa also contains lots of histamine. SCD doesn't especially rely on allergies but in fact most people with lekay gut issues have to cope with allergies or pseudo-allergies, too. That might also be the reason why some people on SCD can't cope with nuts and cheese at the beginning. I totally agree with Ali about the casein, but following the damage caused by casein, gluten etc. there occurs an enlarged potential of allergic reactions which can be triggered by the intake of much histamine. Nuts and cheese also contain tons of histamine like does cocoa.

Ali, I agree with the others about you and your posts

Just one of these days I saw a most interesting report about recent studies concerning the influence of food and nutrition on dna damage. Actually they found out that you can put off functions of your dna by malnutrition so that you develop diseases, intolerances, allergies etc. This dna damage even can lead to genetic disorders - your children can inherit your allergies, intolerances and diseases. Or you can have inherited them from your parents. BUT - and that's the interesting part of it - if you feed yourself according to what is good for your body, i. e. avoid anything that's doing further damage and take in everything your body needs to construct healthy cells, those dna damages can be made undone.

I'm afraid that report is in German but if any one of you speaks German this is the link:

www.3sat.de/3sat.php?Open Original Shared Link

Actually the first idea of "celiac disease" was that it is an intolerance against every kind of starches, not only gluten. Only further research found out that gluten was one thing that caused symptoms of celiac disease and this became the standard diagnosis of celiac disease: Gluten intolerance. Science tends to stick to simple explanations...

Gentleheart, you could have a look at the btvc-site.

breakingtheviciouscycle.info/

Sherry,

that was quite simple. Nothing but a H2-Test, i.e. breath test. That way you can also find out if you have a small intestine bacterial overgrowth which also can cause huge problems.

How are you doing at the moment? Sorry - I really lost track because after getting rid of the technical problems now I have tons of work to do...

Mia

Hi all,

again my internet broke down - better it than I, but anyway, I lost track again, sigh.

First of all - GFLady, I agree with the others, stick to the SCD if you think it is the right thing. The first days or maybe two week can be terrible, but it's really, really worth the pain

And I totally agree with pele about the legal stuff that might get you over your cravings. I tried carrots with nutbutter which turned out to be much more satisfying than any chocolate bar I could imagine!

Now after four months of SCD I found kind of balance in my eating. After discovering the fructose malabsorption I kicked out all fruits and vegetables except grapefruit, papaya, cranberries, corn salad, spinach and zucchini. My vili turned out to be astonishingly okay although the tissue transglutaminase was still high. But after slowly adding more and more bacteria (e. coli and lactobacteria), taking HCL, pancreas enzymes and some herbal extract to activate the bile production I must say that I really get much better. I feel full and fed after eating, not constantly hungry anymore, and I only get tired at about six in the evening, not around midday. I didn't gain weight until now but my muscles seem to work better, much less weakness. So maybe sometime I will be able to add some more veggies to my diet

Hope you all do well - and my internet now won't brake down again!!!

Mia

I'm afraid I don't manage to keep up with the last weeks... Too much work and I still get tired too fast.

The good news is that I got the results of the urine test for HPU and my last stool test. No HPU, so I don't have to worry about that.

The stool still tells I don't digest fat properly and - quite strange - there was undigested starch although I don't eat starch! So I even don't digest the small amount of starch from nuts and the little veggies I take. The reason might be that the gut flora was nearly gone. There were still markers for inflammation, and although I didn't have any gluten for more than one year, still high tissue transglutaminase. But no candida!

I started taking high doses of bacteria around Xmas: Symbioflor 2 (which is e. coli) and probactiol (lactobacteria). Now I think I'm getting better. Just yesterday I managed to work all day for the first time without feeling ill half the time and without feeling like I'd faint the next moment every three hours!

Mia

Hi all,

after being away two weeks and then struggling with a broken down internet for another week I'm now far behind everything...

But anyway I do wish all of you a very healthy and blessed New Year! May you all improve and keep getting better on this way :-)

Now I think I'll be reading some of what I missed during the last weeks.

Mia

Hi Jsn7821,

it could be the carrots. Must not but can. Carrots contain mannitol, which like sorbitol can cause problems in people who either have a sorbitol intolerance or don't absorb fructose well. Maybe start with greens which are low in fructose like spinach, corn salad, avocados (okay, that's a fruit :-)) if you can manage avocados. Did you ever have trouble with products containing sorbitol?

Hi pele,

that's great!!! Just don't let someone talk you into taking drugs which only make oxidative stress...

Hi Jsn7821,

look at www.pecanbread.com for the legal / illegal foods. Some legumes are allowed. If you have no D and no more bloating, you might try them, but be a little careful. Are you able to eat eggs? They're a very good source of protein.

Pele,

I really do hope I'll get rid of the fructose malabsorption after some time so that I can eat apples again, too! At the moment I really feel uneasy with so few fruit and veggies. My gut seems to be okay with lots of protein and fat and few fruit and veggies but I don't think my kindneys are happy. I constantly have kind of pressure in the head like having high blood pressure - which I never had except after the kidney operation last year. Maybe I'd better be less careful with the fructose and just try some more green stuff.

Dawn,

I totally agree with Shay, Sherry and Ali. You have to do some tests, but maybe it's not necessary to see this doctor whom your insurance doesn't pay. If you see your other doctor you might ask for a gastorenterologist. I'm afraid I don't know how it is in the USA but in Germany there are gastroenterologists who are in the insurance plans. They're probably not the brightest and most alternative persons in the world but they can do simple diagnosis such as stool tests, blood tests, breath tests and endoscopy.

If there has been the idea of pancreatic insufficiency you should have tested the pancreatic elastase in the stool. Also they should see if there are undigested fats, carbs or proteins in the stool. Fat in the stool (it must not be really fatty stools, mind, it can be a small amount which is not visible to the blank eye) very often accompanies gluten intolerance.

I looked up the Metazyme. It's pancreatic enzyme - but the thing is that not all pancreatic enzyme products work for everyone. Mostly it's because the products are *only* pancreatic enzymes. But as I stated above somewhere, those enzymes do work much better when combined with HCL betaine and pepsine, so that's why I do so much better with Hydro-Zyme from Biotics. I had a look and found that it's even a little less expensive than Metazyme, so maybe you give that a try? It might not be the final solution but it could give you some relief until you can do more testing.

Your stomach could be bothered by HCL because very often the doses in HCL products are much too high. The idea is not to drown the stomach in HCL but give it a little kick so that it starts to produce some HCL itself at the right moment. The added pepsine gets the protein digestion started; so if the stomach has HCL and pepsine ready to start digestion, the transport to the small intestine will be faster. Then the pancreatic enzymes can start immediately to continue the digestion.

Also the Hydro-Zyme has some Vitamin B6 added because Vitamin B6 is essential for the process of digesting proteins and carbohydrates. Many people with gluten intolerance are lacking Vitamin B6 (not in the blood but in the cells) so that the whole digestive cycle is disturbed.

So you see it's the combination of several things to get the process running: Little HCL to give the stomach a start at the right time, pepsine to start the protein digestion and stimulate the transport to the small intestine, pancreatic enzymes to help the breakdown of the food in the small intestine and Vitamin B6 to support the body's digestive abilities.