Welp, made the call to the second doctor finally! I have an appt next Wed...she's going to come to my house. She's confident and assured but not cocky like my first doctor. This lady, Christi, has a day job working for a health center but then moonlights on the side for her own practice.
Basically we'll discuss leaky gut and probably confirm that's what I have, she'll go over meal plans with me, tell me about the shakes she uses that are chock full of herbs that heal leaky gut, and she'll go over her plan and process for fixing it.
Since it's such a restrictive diet, she will give some recipe ideas and guidelines, which will be helpful. I plan to finish up my current pills, since I paid for them :) That will take me through about mid Feb...then I'll have two weeks of no-man's land, and after the first weekend in March I'll start the program.
Why am I waiting? Oh..maybe b/c I have a really fun weekend already planned with friends for Mar 1...and it includes a snowshoe hike to a yurt where they serve a 4 course meal... I've already asked for the chef to provide some things gluten and corn free...which they have agreed to, but I can't come with my list of 30 things and then think I'm going to just drink shakes and stare at food... So, no, I'm going to start this new routine aftewards.
But in order to get there... I'm going to have to call my current doctor, ask if she has my leaky gut tests in, ask to have them faxed to me and then cancel my appt that is in 2 weeks that is supposed to cost me $300 no matter how long the consultation is :( I understand she has to make money but I feel that that is exorbitant. I may still have to pay for a 15 minutes consultation for my test results, but whatever, that's fine.
I look forward to someday having money again, but am sure thankful for my job that allows me to still survive while focusing on my healthy!!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Insomnia
I think the supplements are giving me insomnia. I thought it was because I ate chocolate scones too late at night...(like, 2 hours before bedtime???)...I thought it was because I drank tea too late in the day (4 o'clock is too late???)..I thought maybe because I just ate too late in general (7, anyone??) But I've ruled all those out and I still can't fall asleep to save my life :(
My brain is overactive to begin with but it's not usually this much of a problem. And, considering that I haven't slept much the last two nights especially, one would think I'd be overexhausted and ready to crash. Yes, one would think.
The good news is that I've trained myself now (finally) to semi-enjoy black coffee...since it is necessary to my function of now waking up overtired :)
In other news...as I'm laying wide awake in bed...plans have started coming together for this summer for a trip to Europe...working with orphans in Moldova and then I realized I could stop off in a few countries on my way home...but then I started thinking, ohmygosh, what am I going to eat? Moldova is covered - God's awesome like that. The camp has its own cook and when I explained my allergies they were like cool, we'll make sure you have food you can eat (!?!) :) But then on my own in Germany and Switzerland (places full of gluten deliciousness) I started thinking uhh what am I going to eat?? I mean, at least it's common to go to the grocery store frequently. Lots of produce. But I'll want something filling. I dont' know. I'm not really going to worry about it. It'll be fine. But I am rather curious what I'll eat. And kinda bummed because half of the experience of a new country is its food. But I'm excited. SO excited still!
I adapted this salad recipe from my mom and it was scrumptious today... lettuce, sliced strawberries, and sugar-coated almond slices with a red wine sweet vinegar dressing. Probably should be cutting out more of that sugar, but I don't get much in anyways, so I figure it's ok.
Speaking of that, the chocolate chip scones I've been gnoshing on like daily for the last 20 days...finally made me nauseous and sick so I had to give away the last two to my friend at work who was more than happy to take them off my hands...what a sacrifice ;)
And funny how tastebuds change...I've gone through the majority of nut varieties and burned myself out on them. My tongue curls, thinking of pecans. And walnuts. My stomach churns thinking of plain almonds. I have no desire for peanuts. Pistachios are not bad but I forget about them...so it's mostly been cashews...and recently I've been either like uhhh not feeling it or HECK NO THANK YOU when faced with cashews. Sad, sad day.
Good thing I still like almond butter...and almond flour... :)
Oh the roller coaster of food...
My brain is overactive to begin with but it's not usually this much of a problem. And, considering that I haven't slept much the last two nights especially, one would think I'd be overexhausted and ready to crash. Yes, one would think.
The good news is that I've trained myself now (finally) to semi-enjoy black coffee...since it is necessary to my function of now waking up overtired :)
In other news...as I'm laying wide awake in bed...plans have started coming together for this summer for a trip to Europe...working with orphans in Moldova and then I realized I could stop off in a few countries on my way home...but then I started thinking, ohmygosh, what am I going to eat? Moldova is covered - God's awesome like that. The camp has its own cook and when I explained my allergies they were like cool, we'll make sure you have food you can eat (!?!) :) But then on my own in Germany and Switzerland (places full of gluten deliciousness) I started thinking uhh what am I going to eat?? I mean, at least it's common to go to the grocery store frequently. Lots of produce. But I'll want something filling. I dont' know. I'm not really going to worry about it. It'll be fine. But I am rather curious what I'll eat. And kinda bummed because half of the experience of a new country is its food. But I'm excited. SO excited still!
I adapted this salad recipe from my mom and it was scrumptious today... lettuce, sliced strawberries, and sugar-coated almond slices with a red wine sweet vinegar dressing. Probably should be cutting out more of that sugar, but I don't get much in anyways, so I figure it's ok.
Speaking of that, the chocolate chip scones I've been gnoshing on like daily for the last 20 days...finally made me nauseous and sick so I had to give away the last two to my friend at work who was more than happy to take them off my hands...what a sacrifice ;)
And funny how tastebuds change...I've gone through the majority of nut varieties and burned myself out on them. My tongue curls, thinking of pecans. And walnuts. My stomach churns thinking of plain almonds. I have no desire for peanuts. Pistachios are not bad but I forget about them...so it's mostly been cashews...and recently I've been either like uhhh not feeling it or HECK NO THANK YOU when faced with cashews. Sad, sad day.
Good thing I still like almond butter...and almond flour... :)
Oh the roller coaster of food...
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Food Allergies and Snowshoeing
This is just a fun post because I finally have a picture to add with words. Now it's not just boring words. Today my friend and I went snowshoeing. We found powder and tired ourselves out thoroughly, but had a total and complete blast. We ate lunch on top of a cliff, overlooking a frozen lake.
Why does this matter? It doesn't really, BUT I guess my point is, what does one do when you are not able to cook your food and eat it right away? How do you pack food to go that works?
First off, let me say that swallowing 9 pills through a Camelbak water hose is the pits. I saved my two largest pills that I was supposed to take at lunch, for when I returned to the car and had a regular water bottle. I feared I wouldn't get enough of a mouthful of water through the hose to properly swallow the pills. Pill-aphobic? Perhaps :) Better safe than sorry, choking in the woods!
So I had baby tomatoes and pre-made tuna for lunch. Brought blueberries I didn't eat, and shared some chocolate chip scones. Completely satisfying. And plenty to eat. However, don't think I'm going to try tuna again on an outdoor adventure. Burping it up the next hour was disgusting.
Anyways, point proven that there IS food you can pack in a Camelbak and enjoy on a snowshoe trip. Just remember...always wear a waterproof jacket...<idiot> Thank God for hand warmers when I got too wet and cold!! :)
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Water Buffalo
I wish I could post cool pictures on here so it's not just boring words. Oh well.
So. I just have to say, each time I have to swallow my plethora of pills, which is 4 times a day, I drink at least 1 1/2 glasses of water just to get them down. I"m at the point where I hate it. I feel like a water buffalo, totally bloated and watery after I swallow them. Since it's around meal times, it doesn't leave room for food. You'd think this would be a good thing but I still do like to eat. So far. So consequently I feel like I walk around looking 9 months pregnant with quintuplets. Sigh.
AND...AND...I told the doctor that the pills were constipating me so she upped my magnesium to 6 pills at night...so now I'm at 37 pills a day. I have this slight fear now, tho, that tomorrow at work I'm going to get the runs. And I don't sit close to the bathroom. This has the potential to be, let's say, awkward at best, mortifying at worst... stay tuned ;)
And, regarding the next step in a few weeks, I'm leaning more towards the nutritionist, Christy...sounds like her supplemental shakes, combined with the diet she follows (eliminating anything that is known to cause inflammation for awhile so the gut can heal), is a quicker way of getting healed. Not to mention that the pills are significantly cheaper. My money is so tight this month, it's not even funny. I can dip into my savings, but it's hard to sustain the $600/month for PILLS, you know? The only catch is will my body be able to handle the extra potency of the shakes... I think at this point i'm willing to take a chance. I just haven't dived in yet and made the appt. Still mulling... :)
On a side note... almond flour is going to be my new vice. I've made two batches of chocolate chip scones this past week...and they were gone within 48 hours both time. Um. Yah, about that. Probably should bring the self control back in ;)
So. I just have to say, each time I have to swallow my plethora of pills, which is 4 times a day, I drink at least 1 1/2 glasses of water just to get them down. I"m at the point where I hate it. I feel like a water buffalo, totally bloated and watery after I swallow them. Since it's around meal times, it doesn't leave room for food. You'd think this would be a good thing but I still do like to eat. So far. So consequently I feel like I walk around looking 9 months pregnant with quintuplets. Sigh.
AND...AND...I told the doctor that the pills were constipating me so she upped my magnesium to 6 pills at night...so now I'm at 37 pills a day. I have this slight fear now, tho, that tomorrow at work I'm going to get the runs. And I don't sit close to the bathroom. This has the potential to be, let's say, awkward at best, mortifying at worst... stay tuned ;)
And, regarding the next step in a few weeks, I'm leaning more towards the nutritionist, Christy...sounds like her supplemental shakes, combined with the diet she follows (eliminating anything that is known to cause inflammation for awhile so the gut can heal), is a quicker way of getting healed. Not to mention that the pills are significantly cheaper. My money is so tight this month, it's not even funny. I can dip into my savings, but it's hard to sustain the $600/month for PILLS, you know? The only catch is will my body be able to handle the extra potency of the shakes... I think at this point i'm willing to take a chance. I just haven't dived in yet and made the appt. Still mulling... :)
On a side note... almond flour is going to be my new vice. I've made two batches of chocolate chip scones this past week...and they were gone within 48 hours both time. Um. Yah, about that. Probably should bring the self control back in ;)
Sunday, January 20, 2013
For what it's worth
Today I had to do the leaky gut test and couldn't eat or drink anything the first two hours I woke up. Then I could drink as much water as I wanted, and eat eggs and salt. So anyways, I wasn't sure if by taking my supplements, that would mess up the test or not, so I skipped my breakfast and lunch pills...and an interesting observation...my nose was drippy. I've had a drippy or stuffy nose for months now...mostly paying attention to the drippy part because I don't have a cold and I don't know why one nostril wants to just drip... But, it stopped when I took the pills...but I didn't have pills this morning but I did have a leaky nose. Hm...
Perhaps the mucosal lining of my nose, which is connected to the lining in my stomach, flared up because the pills didn't make it chill out. I don't know. Just interesting.
And, as my lovely cousin mentions in her food-figuring out blog Becca's Blog she deals with constipation. Holy crappoly, I'm in agreement. And I'm eating all these fruits and veggies but it's like the pills have stopped me up. Kinda weird. To be continued, I'm sure ;)
The nice thing is, through out all this food figuring out...food doesn't have as strong of a hold over me as it once did. Yah, tonight at the Nuggets game I was craving nachos, or that churro that lady held sure looked good. Not to mention the overwhelming blast of popcorn when you walked through the stadium. But, I don't emotionally suffer any more from not getting to eat it. So, that's one positive that has come from the food allergies and having to restrict my diet. Food no longer has control of my life. Thank Jesus.
Perhaps the mucosal lining of my nose, which is connected to the lining in my stomach, flared up because the pills didn't make it chill out. I don't know. Just interesting.
And, as my lovely cousin mentions in her food-figuring out blog Becca's Blog she deals with constipation. Holy crappoly, I'm in agreement. And I'm eating all these fruits and veggies but it's like the pills have stopped me up. Kinda weird. To be continued, I'm sure ;)
The nice thing is, through out all this food figuring out...food doesn't have as strong of a hold over me as it once did. Yah, tonight at the Nuggets game I was craving nachos, or that churro that lady held sure looked good. Not to mention the overwhelming blast of popcorn when you walked through the stadium. But, I don't emotionally suffer any more from not getting to eat it. So, that's one positive that has come from the food allergies and having to restrict my diet. Food no longer has control of my life. Thank Jesus.
Leaky Gut Test
Today I have to stay home from church because I'm taking a 6 hour urine test to determine 1) I have leaky gut and 2) give us a baseline to know when it's fixed. Guess it's better to stay home from church than to have to collect urine at work for 6 hours and refrigerate it. Sheesh. That'd be mortifying!!!
So basically I can't eat or drink for two hours, other than this sugary drink they gave me, and after two hours I'm only allowed eggs and water. So much for my morning tea...the scones I made last night...being thirsty anyways...haha Sigh. Guess it'll be good to know how leaky my gut is.
In other news, the magnesium has significantly helped the cramping...I only cramped lightly last night...which is a big change from cramping practically all day long earlier.
I'm kinda following the regimen of a friend of a coworker who has leaky gut too. She said she went to countless doctors and this is who she finally discovered "works." But consequently, it's still a little overwhelming.
She also goes to this nutritionist named Christi...and turns out she takes Christi's vitamin shakes instead of Dr D's vitamins. But the shakes are stronger and some people's bodies can't handle them. Christi also is more focused on the diet - removing anything that causes inflammation to anyone from the first week, and then slowly adding things back in.
So this is two different perspectives. I think Christ's shakes are about half the cost of the pills...but I know my body is very sensitive so it could be that I'd be too sensitive to them.
I'm trying to figure out which route to go... :-/ Right now I'm thinking I'll see where I'm at by my next appt with Dr D, get the leaky gut results, and then possibly make an appt with Christi...
Agh, so overwhelming. Just want to be done and over with this. I know trials build character... I'll be one heck of a character after this :)
So basically I can't eat or drink for two hours, other than this sugary drink they gave me, and after two hours I'm only allowed eggs and water. So much for my morning tea...the scones I made last night...being thirsty anyways...haha Sigh. Guess it'll be good to know how leaky my gut is.
In other news, the magnesium has significantly helped the cramping...I only cramped lightly last night...which is a big change from cramping practically all day long earlier.
I'm kinda following the regimen of a friend of a coworker who has leaky gut too. She said she went to countless doctors and this is who she finally discovered "works." But consequently, it's still a little overwhelming.
She also goes to this nutritionist named Christi...and turns out she takes Christi's vitamin shakes instead of Dr D's vitamins. But the shakes are stronger and some people's bodies can't handle them. Christi also is more focused on the diet - removing anything that causes inflammation to anyone from the first week, and then slowly adding things back in.
So this is two different perspectives. I think Christ's shakes are about half the cost of the pills...but I know my body is very sensitive so it could be that I'd be too sensitive to them.
I'm trying to figure out which route to go... :-/ Right now I'm thinking I'll see where I'm at by my next appt with Dr D, get the leaky gut results, and then possibly make an appt with Christi...
Agh, so overwhelming. Just want to be done and over with this. I know trials build character... I'll be one heck of a character after this :)
Friday, January 18, 2013
Food...
So I had a near meltdown in the grocery store the other night. I was hungry, the fridge was near empty, and I had my power list of items I can't eat. But I was *hungry*!! So I walked in to the produce aisle and thought I'll just grab something real quick. But I kept seeing all the items I couldn't eat...and there was like nothing left that I could eat...so nearly ended up in tears. However, a nice man told me I looked nice in my new pants so hey, a compliment deflects tears...
Consequently, after finding something - short term memory, who knows what I found -I resolved to go through my favorite cookbooks and find recipes I could eat, or could easily alter so that I could eat. I was actually shocked at how many items were on the list! I have hope...
So, for your own curiosity...haha...Here are a few of the things I've had so far.
Delicious Almond Flour muffins with frozen peaches and blackberries and cinnamon. Kinda tasted like a fruit cobbler...This has been a fabulous breakfast and snack!
Don't laugh on this one, but quinoa, artichokes, capers and vegannaise... I'm breaking my no-no list with the brown rice syrup in vegannaise b/c that is such a good binder for so many things, like tuna...and egg salad...that is the one vice I'm not 100% clear of. Anyways, that is actually a really filling and delicious "salad"!
Cucumbers and celery and hummus.
A spoonful of Justin's almond butter (minus the maple sugar. Sad day. I always carry the packets with maple sugar and almond butter in my purse for the times I get hungry and don't have food around...which is like every other day).
Roasted sea weed. I feel like a goat. But seriously, it's substantial (ok, my expectations are low) and salty and good. And it's so dark green, it HAS to be good for me right?!
And lots and lots of water and lots and lots of pills.
Good news tho - I got my magnesium pill in the mail today so hopefully tomorrow I will no longer experience my muscle cramps!!
Lest you think I sound like a freak for what I eat...I figure if you also have food allergies and are serious about trying to eliminate what hurts you...you're in the same boat. And if you're judging... :) ... clearly you don't have terrible pain. And when you can't eat much, you sure appreciate what you CAN eat!
But in the attempt to be honest in this blog, let's just say that the pills and super healthy eating might be jacking up my stomach in the gas department :-/ Sigh. Three cheers to socially awkward situations!!
Consequently, after finding something - short term memory, who knows what I found -I resolved to go through my favorite cookbooks and find recipes I could eat, or could easily alter so that I could eat. I was actually shocked at how many items were on the list! I have hope...
So, for your own curiosity...haha...Here are a few of the things I've had so far.
Delicious Almond Flour muffins with frozen peaches and blackberries and cinnamon. Kinda tasted like a fruit cobbler...This has been a fabulous breakfast and snack!
Don't laugh on this one, but quinoa, artichokes, capers and vegannaise... I'm breaking my no-no list with the brown rice syrup in vegannaise b/c that is such a good binder for so many things, like tuna...and egg salad...that is the one vice I'm not 100% clear of. Anyways, that is actually a really filling and delicious "salad"!
Cucumbers and celery and hummus.
A spoonful of Justin's almond butter (minus the maple sugar. Sad day. I always carry the packets with maple sugar and almond butter in my purse for the times I get hungry and don't have food around...which is like every other day).
Roasted sea weed. I feel like a goat. But seriously, it's substantial (ok, my expectations are low) and salty and good. And it's so dark green, it HAS to be good for me right?!
And lots and lots of water and lots and lots of pills.
Good news tho - I got my magnesium pill in the mail today so hopefully tomorrow I will no longer experience my muscle cramps!!
Lest you think I sound like a freak for what I eat...I figure if you also have food allergies and are serious about trying to eliminate what hurts you...you're in the same boat. And if you're judging... :) ... clearly you don't have terrible pain. And when you can't eat much, you sure appreciate what you CAN eat!
But in the attempt to be honest in this blog, let's just say that the pills and super healthy eating might be jacking up my stomach in the gas department :-/ Sigh. Three cheers to socially awkward situations!!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
35 Supplements...is a lot...
So I've gone one full day, chugging down 35 supplements and enough water to float a boat! Sadly, the doctor forgot to include the magnesium pill that I'm supposed to take before bedtime.
She's going to send it to me, but that's going to be a few days. And of course, that's the pill that helps fight the muscle cramping. And guess who's been having hands and feet cramping like no other? :( Why that kicked in all of a sudden, I don't know... Are the pills made with something that contains gluten or corn? Possibly. Actually, yah, I just checked my list. They're made with a corn product - both Microcrystalline and methylcellulose. Ten points if you can spell those words. Sheesh.
According to the doctor, it's ok because these supplements are going to fix the leaky gut and bind the bad things so that they will pass through my body without causing pain - soon.
In the meantime, I guess I'll fight through the pain until I get the magnesium and then pray that that helps.
On a side note, kinda pathetic how many places we can find corn-derived products. I'd like to say it's so amazing what we, as a society, can do with just the simple product of corn...however, I'll say that because of corn being GMO, it's sickening how it's in everything. I think it has the potential to really affect people in a negative way because of the genetic modifications. And prime example here: I can't even take pills - that are supposed to help me - without experiencing pain because the pills are made with a corn-derived product.
She's going to send it to me, but that's going to be a few days. And of course, that's the pill that helps fight the muscle cramping. And guess who's been having hands and feet cramping like no other? :( Why that kicked in all of a sudden, I don't know... Are the pills made with something that contains gluten or corn? Possibly. Actually, yah, I just checked my list. They're made with a corn product - both Microcrystalline and methylcellulose. Ten points if you can spell those words. Sheesh.
According to the doctor, it's ok because these supplements are going to fix the leaky gut and bind the bad things so that they will pass through my body without causing pain - soon.
In the meantime, I guess I'll fight through the pain until I get the magnesium and then pray that that helps.
On a side note, kinda pathetic how many places we can find corn-derived products. I'd like to say it's so amazing what we, as a society, can do with just the simple product of corn...however, I'll say that because of corn being GMO, it's sickening how it's in everything. I think it has the potential to really affect people in a negative way because of the genetic modifications. And prime example here: I can't even take pills - that are supposed to help me - without experiencing pain because the pills are made with a corn-derived product.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
And so it begins...Wow
The point of this blog is to chronicle my journey through food allergies and leaky gut, hopefully to a point of healing. I realize people don't really care about the intricate details, so my hope is just that it allows others who are facing the challenges and confusions of food allergies to 1) feel like they're not alone and 2) maybe get some general direction if this sounds like something that would work for them!
So with that being said, a brief history of me! Last June I read an article about gluten and how it can cause joint pain. I was waking up with achy knees every morning and feeling that, at 30, I shouldn't feel this old. So a few days later I woke up and thought, hey, let's experiment and remove gluten from my diet for a week.
A week later I was like hey! There is something to this! It wasn't terribly hard to give up gluten, other than sourdough toast dripping in butter. Sigh. Still miss that. I learned random things that had gluten, like meatballs from the store :( Instant pain. But for the most part it was a pretty easy transition.
However, after two months, my body started hurting again. For me, joint pain in my knees has been around most of my life...so I didn't necessarily correlate that with gluten. But my hands and feet would craaaaamp like no other. It felt like a burning, throbbing, dull and constant strong ache that started in the tips of my fingers and toes and then would work its way through my body. At one point it felt like my entire body had the aches that you get with the flu. It was miserable. I remember sitting at work thinking, I'd like to be curled up at home, not moving because this is so incredibly painful.
So I went to the doctor and she told me I had a candida infection. She gave me meds and put me on this candida diet. Which has to be one of the worst diets known to man because there is NOTHING that you can eat. I mean, no gluten, no sugar, no oil and vinegar, no coffee, no dairy, and I can't remember what else but Mom happened to come out at that time and helped me look for things that I could eat. I remember looking for almond milk and nearly crying because even almond milk had added oil! I think after the candida diet, any diet is "easy" in comparision. Til now. ha!
Anyways, after a month I didn't see a difference so I went back to the doctor. They were clueless. Sadly I have a hard time respecting doctors now because they don't know what's going on! I've been to 20 doctors in 3 years for a pinched sciatica and no one seems to know how to fix that. On top of that, trying to get them to figure out food allergies is ridiculous. Therefore, I have self-titled me my own doctor!
Anyways, God gave us such a rich gift when He gave us moms. So insteps Mom and she orders me a gluten DNA test to see if that is what is really going in with me, or if I should succumb to my irrational fears of whatever disease of the day I decide must be causing this pain. Turns out, sure enough, I have 3 of the 4 genetic markers for a true allergy to gluten! I'm so happy to know this, I go out and celebrate by buying a bag of chocolate covered gluten free pretzels...and promptly eat the whole bag...and promptly start to hurt really badly :( I call Mom, discouraged... She tells me that a lot of people who are allergic to gluten are also allergic to corn...lo and behold, the #1 ingredient in the gluten free pretzels was corn! So now I avoid corn and gluten like the plague.
Apparently I can't make this story short :)
Anyways, so I start to feel better having removed these things from my diet, but was still getting occasional flareups and pain and just getting super annoyed. Why can't I feel healthy? I eat healthy and am a healthy person so what the heck?!
One of my coworkers mentions that her friend has Leaky Gut Syndrome and maybe I should talk to her. The more I listen, the more I start to think hm...there might be something to this. So my elementary understanding is that something happened to cause my stomach to start leaking (ie, stress...which I think is the culprit in my case; over usage of aspirin; excessive alcohol; etc). So then my body doesn't break down the food particles as it should, and when they escape whole into my blood stream, my body attacks these "foreign" objects. My body will continue to attack them until they quit escaping. Supposedly if my body attacks them for 5 months, it develops a permanent memory and then it becomes a permanent allergy. Clearly I don't need/want any more permanent allergies. Gluten and corn is hard enough and makes me seem enough like a high-maintenance person that is contrary to my typical behavior!
This constant attacking inflames the mucosal lining of my body - so from nose down through intestines, it's the same mucosal lining. It gets inflamed. Certain foods continue to inflame it (specific ones my body is sensitive to, as well as sugar and dairy and other inflammatory items in our daily diet).
So if I get my leaky gut repaired, I should be able to start re-introducing bad foods back into my system and my body won't attack it and will stop being inflamed. So says the logic. So, in order to find out what foods were inflaming my body, I had to take a test.
There is the MRT/LEAP test that several of my friends have done. It tests about 120 items and costs around $600-$700 (no, insurance doesn't usually cover this stuff ... ). The ALCAT test covers 325 items and costs $1100... I figure, heck, I need to know everything I'm sensitive to so might as well bite the bullet and get it figured out.
Came back with this random list of things my body has a reaction to:
Gluten (Barley, rye, malt, spelt, oat, wheat), cow's milk, goat's milk, asparagus, beef, bell peppers, cayenne pepper, coconut, cranberry, licorice, olive, pinto bean, psyllium, rice, safflower, scallions, soybean, swordfish, turmeric, apple, apricot, avocado, banana, basil, black pepper, brewer's yeast, broccoli, butternut squash, codfish, cucumber, fava bean, fructose, hops, kiwi, lima bean, lobster, maple sugar, mussel, oyster, paprika, parsley, parsnip, romaine lettuce, snapper, string bean, watermelon, white potato, hawthorn berry.
Insert major tears. What else is there to eat?! That list has some of my favorite foods. Add to this what we're taught is healthy (fruits and veggies!) but told to restrict that, and then I try to stay away from strawberries b/c they're the most pesticide-d fruit around. I try to stay away from asparagus b/c I work in the shipping industry and know how heavily fumigated they are. So there are additional restrictions on my food...which I'm going to have to just suck up and deal with because let's face it, I have to eat! And hunger brings instant crankiness :-/
To bring this all to a point... yesterday I saw Dr Daenell, who came highly recommended. She is a naturopathic doctor and supposedly one of the best in her field. So, after my consultation with her, she is putting me on a regime of vitamins and supplements that are to give my body a healthy dosage (i.e. the right amount of D for one example) and repair the leaky gut. She said it can take 6-24 months to get repaired...I'm praying for 6, because these supplements are not cheap!! But I know i have to get this taken care of. I can't just remove the food from my diet and hope it's good - my body will find new food to attack as it leaks into the system because the flood gate is still open.
I'm excited because I think not only will it help the food allergies, but it will help other things that I didn't realize might be related...a constantly stuffy or dripping nose, achy joints, and probably other things I can't think of right now.
So I'm in the process of swallowing my - eh hem 35 pills a day - that are properly dosaged out for me between breakfast lunch and dinner.
And thus begins the journey to see if this doctor is real, if leaky gut can be fixed, if this helps my food allergies and if there is hope for any other food allergy sufferers out there!
So with that being said, a brief history of me! Last June I read an article about gluten and how it can cause joint pain. I was waking up with achy knees every morning and feeling that, at 30, I shouldn't feel this old. So a few days later I woke up and thought, hey, let's experiment and remove gluten from my diet for a week.
A week later I was like hey! There is something to this! It wasn't terribly hard to give up gluten, other than sourdough toast dripping in butter. Sigh. Still miss that. I learned random things that had gluten, like meatballs from the store :( Instant pain. But for the most part it was a pretty easy transition.
However, after two months, my body started hurting again. For me, joint pain in my knees has been around most of my life...so I didn't necessarily correlate that with gluten. But my hands and feet would craaaaamp like no other. It felt like a burning, throbbing, dull and constant strong ache that started in the tips of my fingers and toes and then would work its way through my body. At one point it felt like my entire body had the aches that you get with the flu. It was miserable. I remember sitting at work thinking, I'd like to be curled up at home, not moving because this is so incredibly painful.
So I went to the doctor and she told me I had a candida infection. She gave me meds and put me on this candida diet. Which has to be one of the worst diets known to man because there is NOTHING that you can eat. I mean, no gluten, no sugar, no oil and vinegar, no coffee, no dairy, and I can't remember what else but Mom happened to come out at that time and helped me look for things that I could eat. I remember looking for almond milk and nearly crying because even almond milk had added oil! I think after the candida diet, any diet is "easy" in comparision. Til now. ha!
Anyways, after a month I didn't see a difference so I went back to the doctor. They were clueless. Sadly I have a hard time respecting doctors now because they don't know what's going on! I've been to 20 doctors in 3 years for a pinched sciatica and no one seems to know how to fix that. On top of that, trying to get them to figure out food allergies is ridiculous. Therefore, I have self-titled me my own doctor!
Anyways, God gave us such a rich gift when He gave us moms. So insteps Mom and she orders me a gluten DNA test to see if that is what is really going in with me, or if I should succumb to my irrational fears of whatever disease of the day I decide must be causing this pain. Turns out, sure enough, I have 3 of the 4 genetic markers for a true allergy to gluten! I'm so happy to know this, I go out and celebrate by buying a bag of chocolate covered gluten free pretzels...and promptly eat the whole bag...and promptly start to hurt really badly :( I call Mom, discouraged... She tells me that a lot of people who are allergic to gluten are also allergic to corn...lo and behold, the #1 ingredient in the gluten free pretzels was corn! So now I avoid corn and gluten like the plague.
Apparently I can't make this story short :)
Anyways, so I start to feel better having removed these things from my diet, but was still getting occasional flareups and pain and just getting super annoyed. Why can't I feel healthy? I eat healthy and am a healthy person so what the heck?!
One of my coworkers mentions that her friend has Leaky Gut Syndrome and maybe I should talk to her. The more I listen, the more I start to think hm...there might be something to this. So my elementary understanding is that something happened to cause my stomach to start leaking (ie, stress...which I think is the culprit in my case; over usage of aspirin; excessive alcohol; etc). So then my body doesn't break down the food particles as it should, and when they escape whole into my blood stream, my body attacks these "foreign" objects. My body will continue to attack them until they quit escaping. Supposedly if my body attacks them for 5 months, it develops a permanent memory and then it becomes a permanent allergy. Clearly I don't need/want any more permanent allergies. Gluten and corn is hard enough and makes me seem enough like a high-maintenance person that is contrary to my typical behavior!
This constant attacking inflames the mucosal lining of my body - so from nose down through intestines, it's the same mucosal lining. It gets inflamed. Certain foods continue to inflame it (specific ones my body is sensitive to, as well as sugar and dairy and other inflammatory items in our daily diet).
So if I get my leaky gut repaired, I should be able to start re-introducing bad foods back into my system and my body won't attack it and will stop being inflamed. So says the logic. So, in order to find out what foods were inflaming my body, I had to take a test.
There is the MRT/LEAP test that several of my friends have done. It tests about 120 items and costs around $600-$700 (no, insurance doesn't usually cover this stuff ... ). The ALCAT test covers 325 items and costs $1100... I figure, heck, I need to know everything I'm sensitive to so might as well bite the bullet and get it figured out.
Came back with this random list of things my body has a reaction to:
Gluten (Barley, rye, malt, spelt, oat, wheat), cow's milk, goat's milk, asparagus, beef, bell peppers, cayenne pepper, coconut, cranberry, licorice, olive, pinto bean, psyllium, rice, safflower, scallions, soybean, swordfish, turmeric, apple, apricot, avocado, banana, basil, black pepper, brewer's yeast, broccoli, butternut squash, codfish, cucumber, fava bean, fructose, hops, kiwi, lima bean, lobster, maple sugar, mussel, oyster, paprika, parsley, parsnip, romaine lettuce, snapper, string bean, watermelon, white potato, hawthorn berry.
Insert major tears. What else is there to eat?! That list has some of my favorite foods. Add to this what we're taught is healthy (fruits and veggies!) but told to restrict that, and then I try to stay away from strawberries b/c they're the most pesticide-d fruit around. I try to stay away from asparagus b/c I work in the shipping industry and know how heavily fumigated they are. So there are additional restrictions on my food...which I'm going to have to just suck up and deal with because let's face it, I have to eat! And hunger brings instant crankiness :-/
To bring this all to a point... yesterday I saw Dr Daenell, who came highly recommended. She is a naturopathic doctor and supposedly one of the best in her field. So, after my consultation with her, she is putting me on a regime of vitamins and supplements that are to give my body a healthy dosage (i.e. the right amount of D for one example) and repair the leaky gut. She said it can take 6-24 months to get repaired...I'm praying for 6, because these supplements are not cheap!! But I know i have to get this taken care of. I can't just remove the food from my diet and hope it's good - my body will find new food to attack as it leaks into the system because the flood gate is still open.
I'm excited because I think not only will it help the food allergies, but it will help other things that I didn't realize might be related...a constantly stuffy or dripping nose, achy joints, and probably other things I can't think of right now.
So I'm in the process of swallowing my - eh hem 35 pills a day - that are properly dosaged out for me between breakfast lunch and dinner.
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