Nailing down food intolerance

Khannie

Where do you start if you think you have a food intolerance? I'm asking for my wife. We're pretty sure something doesn't agree with her, but we've no idea what. She's had her bloods done (a few times) and everything's ok there. Do you just start removing stuff from your diet and see how you feel? What do you remove first if so?

Any pointers appreciated.

seamus

Food & well being diary, I would say.

For a week or so, have her write down everything that she eats, and what time she eats it at.
Simultaneously, she should take note of how she feels and at what time any "attacks" (i.e. bloating or stomach upset) occur.

This might help to nail down any obvious coincidences of upset occuring a short while (or even a few hours) after consuming any particular food stuff.

There also seem (in my experience) to be 4 main things which cause digestive problems in people - Caffeine, refined sugar (including biscuits, chocolate, etc), dairy and wheat. If she's having difficulty nailing down the cause of her problems, she should try cutting the above out, one-by-one (in the above order) to see how she feels. If it turns out that she feels better after removing these, then adding them back into the diet should quite quickly tell you which one(s) are causing problems.

If this is a generally ongoing thing that she suffers from on a daily basis, then it's most likely something ridiculously common.

EileenG

If she's serious, then an elimination diet (pretty much rice, lamb, pears, leafy greens, fresh turkey, ocean fish) for a week or so until her symptom clear up. Then reintroduce the suspect foods, one at a time, and watch for a reaction. If there is one, cut it out again and go back to Elimination diet for a few days. Then try the food again. If there is still a reaction, you have your culprit.

Obviously, if there are a few suspect foods, then this process can take a while, but some food intolerances show up quickly, and others don't.

Oddly enough, (and it really kills me to say this), sugar is not something that people are usually allergic to. I know kids who pretty much live on elimination diets because they are so allergic (confirmed by hospital tests), but none of them have a problem with sugar.

Wheat is a huge factor in a lot of food issues, and it's in just about everything.

Khannie

seamus wrote: »

If this is a generally ongoing thing that she suffers from on a daily basis, then it's most likely something ridiculously common.

It is yeah. She tested positive for helicobactor (sp?), took the antibiotics course and it cleared up. We were sure that was the problem, but it resurfaced after a short time, then the retest for helicobactor was negative.

EileenG wrote: »

If she's serious, then an elimination diet (pretty much rice, lamb, pears, leafy greens, fresh turkey, ocean fish) for a week or so until her symptom clear up. Then reintroduce the suspect foods, one at a time, and watch for a reaction. If there is one, cut it out again and go back to Elimination diet for a few days. Then try the food again. If there is still a reaction, you have your culprit.

She's serious alright. That sounds a bit grim, but sounds like a sure fire way to nail things down. Thanks.

Red Cortina

Hi Khannie,
Sorry to hear your wife is not well.
El_D posted a good while ago about the 8 main allergens to avoid here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=65495931&postcount=20

Khannie

Nice one. Thanks for that.

Red Cortina

@Khannie: There are a few more things that I meant to say in my previous post but didn't.

I've said it before here that I was diagnosed with IBS by the gastroenterologist that I went to but on elimination of gluten from my diet my IBS symptons cleared up. So even though the conventional testing that I had done ruled out coeliac disease, it seems that I still react to gluten, albeit to a lesser extent than someone with CD.

I still wanted to get a proper diagnosis for myself (purely for peace of mind) and heard through the wife of my husband's colleague about the testing done by Enterolab in the states. So I got that done and those tests came back that I was gluten sensitive. Having those tests done hardened my resolve to presue a GF diet. I am telling you this so that you know that this kind of testing exists and can be done.

There are other diets out there that I have heard of but don't know too much about such as GAPS, SCD or FODMAP that might be worth investigating. Also you have health bloggers like Chris Kresser (http://thehealthyskeptic.org/) and Paul Jaminet (http://perfecthealthdiet.com/) who have gone through illness themselves and through educating themselves, healed themselves. So their blogs might be worth checking out.

Does your wife suspect that she is suffering from small intestine bacterial overgrowth? I think that this was discussed here before by El_D so it might be worth searching for 'SIBO' in this forum also....

There is no doubt that my comments made here are coloured by my own experience with doctors and my resulting opinion that they are all too happy to get out their prescription pads to give you something to help with the symptoms rather than actually resolving the underlying problem.

lizzylinda

hey red cortina, I was in the same boat as you, got tested for coeliac disease, my doctor was useless and when I said that I might try cutting out wheat he replied that that would be foolish...i was shattered all the time, sleeping constantly and i looked about 6 months pregnant, after a week of a gluten free / yeast free diet i was 100% better, stayed off it for quite sometime and reintroduced it into my diet slowly after a year, it doesn't affect me in the same way but still need to be careful, to be honest I think its the crap they put into bread in this country that bothers me the most. a year ago i was in the north of spain, on a walking holiday, had a bread role (large) each day for convience purposes but my stomach was fine. the bread there would go stale very quickly, which is a good sign...usually i stick with gluten free bread now and try stay away from gluten and yeast...but find that chinese food is murder on my stomach..its so irritating having to be so careful but like you said it was such a relief to finally find what it was that was upsetting my stomach...

Khannie

Thanks for the replies folks.

Red Cortina: She does display *some* of the symptoms of coeliacs disease. How straightforward is it to get tested for it here? Just drop down to your GP? This has been ongoing for so long now and with quite a few trips to the doctors that it's getting a bit hit and miss. My wife ended up suggesting the helicobactor test to the doctor, who sent her for it. When she tested positive we thought all our problems were over. Not so. It feels like we're searching in the dark a bit. At this stage we're both inclined to go with the elimination diet. While it's a bit crappy sounding, at least you have a good chance of nailing down your intolerance once and for all with it.

niallb

One thing about the gluten tests is that you have to be still eating wheat for the test to be effective, so be careful about arranging for a test and then cutting out the gluten while you're waiting.

Sorry to hear your wife's having problems. I cut out gluten completely four years ago,
a week after all the tests and a camera down my throat (let them knock you out!) said I'd no problems. I started to feel better immediately.

Like lizzylinda, I stopped being bloated up in a matter of days, and looked like I'd lost a stone weight.
Unlike lizzylinda however, I find that I'm now possibly more sensitive to gluten in some ways, and if I accidentally eat something contaminated,
I start to fall asleep almost immediately - almost comical really!

There are gluten free breads - best of them at the moment is probably Genius -
but it can be easier to just get out of the habit of eating foods that naturally contain gluten.
I hardly ever eat bread at all, maybe a loaf of gluten free brown once a month.
The other thing to cut out completely is beer :-( .

I'm very allergic to tomatoes and I'm a veggie, so I guess I had a bit of practice at avoiding foods, but it's not as harsh as it might sound. If you find what's causing the problem, she'll hopefully feel so much better that it'll just be worth it.
Before I cut out the gluten, I was physically throwing up every single day.
That stopped in a week - and it's stayed stopped.

Best of luck!

Adelie

Khannie wrote: »

Thanks for the replies folks.

Red Cortina: She does display *some* of the symptoms of coeliacs disease. How straightforward is it to get tested for it here? Just drop down to your GP? This has been ongoing for so long now and with quite a few trips to the doctors that it's getting a bit hit and miss. My wife ended up suggesting the helicobactor test to the doctor, who sent her for it. When she tested positive we thought all our problems were over. Not so. It feels like we're searching in the dark a bit. At this stage we're both inclined to go with the elimination diet. While it's a bit crappy sounding, at least you have a good chance of nailing down your intolerance once and for all with it.

Getting a blood test for coeliac is really straightforward, just go to GP, and she should definitely do that now before starting the elimination diet. As niallb said though she should still be eating gluten for it to be accurate, like multiple slices of bread per day. Even so the blood tests aren't very accurate but it's better to do it now. If she gives up gluten and finds a big improvement, she won't be able to get tested for coeliac without going back on gluten.

Getting a biopsy is more accurate but not so straightforward, and also requires plenty of gluten in the diet for diagnosis. It would mean staying much longer on a gluten-containing diet, while she waits for the appointment. So if the blood test is negative, she'll have to decide whether it's really worth asking to be referred for a biopsy or not.

Red Cortina

Khannie wrote: »

Thanks for the replies folks.

Khannie wrote: »

Red Cortina: She does display *some* of the symptoms of coeliacs disease. How straightforward is it to get tested for it here? Just drop down to your GP? This has been ongoing for so long now and with quite a few trips to the doctors that it's getting a bit hit and miss. My wife ended up suggesting the helicobactor test to the doctor, who sent her for it. When she tested positive we thought all our problems were over. Not so. It feels like we're searching in the dark a bit. At this stage we're both inclined to go with the elimination diet. While it's a bit crappy sounding, at least you have a good chance of nailing down your intolerance once and for all with it.

I went to my GP and explained to her that anytime I ate bread that I got ‘IBS’ symptoms and would it be possible to get tested for coeliac disease. She sent my blood sample off for testing. (They test for the presence of certain anti-bodies). My results came back as just outside the acceptable range for these particular anti-bodies. This warranted further investigation and so I was referred to a gastroenterologist. They examined me and scheduled me in for a gastroscopy and colonoscopy, the results of which came back as normal.

So basically all this testing left me right back where I started. I’ve read more about gluten intolerance and the traditional testing performed by doctors and have a couple of problems with it. Firstly if you are gluten sensitive your body identifies gluten as being something which is foreign and therefore toxic. Therefore the body’s immune system mounts an attack on it by producing particular anti-bodies to the offending foreign body i.e. gluten. This response occurs in the gut where gluten is first detected by the body. So in a healthy person who is not gluten sensitive these particular anti-bodies will not be present. Having any of these anti-bodies present at all in your blood, not to mind your gut where this reaction occurs, should be a red flag to say that this person is gluten sensitive. But somehow the doctors reckon there is a ‘healthy range’ in which to have these anti-bodies present in your blood, where in fact they have no business being anywhere in your body at all if you are healthy.

Secondly I have a problem with the biopsy that they do during the gastroscopy/colonoscopy procedure. They randomly take samples from your gut which may or may not have been damaged. If they accidently hit on a spot where you have some detectable damage to your gut then great. If they don’t accidently hit a part of your gut which is damaged then tough luck!

As El_D said before, the simplest and cheapest way to find out if you are gluten sensitive is to eliminate it from your diet for a few weeks and then re-introduce it and see if you get any reaction to it such as 'IBS' symptoms, unusual tiredness etc. I wanted to get the testing by Enterolab done just purely for my own peace of mind as I felt that I needed something concrete to say that there was actually something wrong with me and that it wasn’t just in my mind.

So I got that testing done just over a year ago in Jan 2010. I have taken the elimination of gluten from my diet really seriously since about July 2010. If your wife is anything like me then I reckon she will do anything she can to try and get better. It is only now that I feel like I am in anyway recovering after a good 10 years of living with IBS. This I reckon is purely from the fact that there is no way that I was absorbing half of the vitamins/minerals in my diet before I went gluten free.

I don’t know if your wife is gluten sensitive but I am taking the time to write such a long post about my experience as I know how horrible it is to feel constantly drained and tired not to mind doubled over with horrible cramps etc and hope that this information will in some way be of help to her…