Dear Heather.. I know you're really busy, but....
#17377 - 08/15/03 09:50 AM
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Thank you for offering such a user-friendly Message Board on a topic that is hard to share with people who aren't suffering. I have been battling severe C for several years (I'm only 31) and after reading your book and realizing that IBS doesn't involve just D sufferers, I felt great relief.
I am writing because of a bit of confusion and frustration. One of my attempts to 'cure' myself was an allergy test, which showed I pretty much had intolerances to everything.. he was quite shocked to see such a reaction.
My dilemma: when I compare his list of "no-no's" to yours, it leaves me with very little food to chose from.
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i have the same problem and don't know what to eat anymore either. i get sick of the same old things that i can handle one day and not the next.
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I don't mind cutting out foods, but not so many that there is no way to enjoy eating anymore... that's no way to live in my opinion.
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Hi, and welcome! Do you trust the allergy test? Was it something performed by an allergist? I ask because there are a lot of hokey food intolerance/allergy tests out there, and folks with IBS are particularly vulnerable. Also, have you noticed that if you eat just one of those allergen foods in isolation does it cause problems? I'm just trying to establish if the test results should be trusted.
If you're confident with the results, then please post the foods that are IBS-safe but allergenic to you, so I can see what you have to work around. Then we'll come up with some substitutions for you!
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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Hello... My children both underwent complete allergy work-ups and my daughter (the tummy sufferer) also came back as a 'reactor' to all eleven foods.. In fact, she reacted to most everything. He called her a "universal reactor". Boy, did she cry. Poor thing.  She's already on a very strict diet for Celiac Disease and when she heard that all she could think of was dispair.
I completely understand what you're going through and would like to hear more about what you experience as you go through your 'discovery process'.
Keep posting... I'm reading! 
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~Deborah
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Would it be alright to ask you to explain the differences between "allergy" and "intolerance"...? I, too agree that the tests can be quite 'tricky'. I'm also understanding that 'allergic' reactions can be so varied. I guess I always thought that if you ingested or was exposed to something (food or otherwise) that you would have a "reaction" to it.. like 'hives' or your throat swelling, etc. But recently, the allergist we're working with said that the reactions can be varied and not everyone 'reacts' in an outwardly obvious way.
If you have any information you can share on that, I think it would be great as I still have so many questions on the 'allergy' issue.
You're the best! 
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~Deborah
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Hi - there was actually just an excellent thread on this. Check for posts by Judithg in particular...
- H
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Heather is the Administrator of the IBS Message Boards. She is the author of Eating for IBS and The First Year: IBS, and the CEO of Heather's Tummy Care. Join her IBS Newsletter. Meet Heather on Facebook!
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~Deborah
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Hi!
I've been having problems with food allergies and intolerances for awhile, and it's a challenge. I really sympathize.
I have a lot of food allergies/intolerances, and I'm still trying to work through all this. It seems that there can be degrees of intolerances, and reactions can be "dose related." So you might be able to tolerate a food once in awhile, but not all the time. I've tried doing a lot of this on my own, and it's just too complicated. I think a doctor or nutritionist may be necessary, at least for awhile. Finding the right one can be tricky though. They have to understand food allergies, intolerances, IBS--everything!
I have to admit that I sort of got this all under control at one point, but as time went by, I got a little rebellious about it. I started adding in foods that were questionable. Plus, I am gluten intolerant, and there's hidden gluten in all kinds of things. So I was getting gluten regularly without realizing it. And now I'm a mess again!
Heather's been very helpful in giving me suggestions to work through this, and she really understands how we each have different sensitivities. I've gotten good info from several other list members too.
Hang in there, and post your allergies and intolerances. There are lots of people here who can offer good suggestions.
Judithg
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Thank you all for your support and interest. The person who gave me the test is a doctor of traditional medicine who works at a wellness centre where I went for colon irrigation (a measure I have had to resort to again). He gave me blood tests and skin tests which all showed intolerances to many things...
I cannot have wheat,gluten or yeast. There are many things on your list Heather that I apparently should stay away from... including yeast, fish, chicken, bananas, potatoes etc etc
I am at my wits end these days.. i just finished using a new expensive drug called zelnorm, which hasn't helped. When it gets really bad (ie 2+ weeks of C) I just cry and will take desperate measures for temporary relief which I know are not good for my system... and even those measures are no longer working for me.
From a very tired girl 
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Hi everyone,
I am frustrated too about food intolerances and allergies. I go to the GI Doc in September, and am hoping she'll agree to have me tested for food allergies. There are so many things that bother me!
I'm so thankful for this support group, because it has helped me identify possible triggers and many helpful solutions. I hope you all have some good luck soon.
Cloudygirl
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This might be overly simplistic, and I'm sure at least one person is going to chime in with "but that's not true for me!", but this is what I understand: skin tests for allergies cannot accurately predict food allergies/intolerances (which I know are different...I'll get to that in a minute). Only a blood test for allergies can diagnose true food allergies, and food intolerances can only be diagnosed through trial and error/an elimination diet. My personal experience with a skin test for allergies was pretty sketchy...I came up as allergic to pretty much everything that grows (that's true for my dad too), cats (that's true for my mom too), apples (nope, apples have never given me a problem in any form--I can't overdo the cider/juice now but that's recent and IBS-related), and milk (yep, I have all the classic symptoms of a dairy allergy, including increased mucous production, digestive upset, etc.). So you see, I can't trust what the test says exactly...I have to go with what I know about my body. Does that make sense? Now, I guess the question is: do the doctor's test results make sense to you, since you know your body best?
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Thanks.. indeed it all makes sense. I did have blood tests done as well and they came back with a lot of intolerances as well. But (in my un-professional opinion) I believe that my system is so out of whack, it doesn't know what I should eat. The tests seemed to show intolerances for ALL the food I normally eat... despite tehm being 'good' for me. It seemed everything I COULD eat, according to the tests, are things I haven't put in my system for years, hence my system wouldn't know if I could handle them or not.  Did that make sense?
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Just fyi, but here is some good information on food allergies and intolerences, which are very different.
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/food.htm
However, IBS is not caused by foods. You can have food intolerences and an allergy, along with IBS, but foods do not cause IBS, only trigger it.
I asked one of the worlds leading experts in IBS and he wrote this for me.
Functional GI Disorders Coordinating Committee
Douglas A. Drossman, MD
Chair
Chapel Hill, NC USA
http://www.ibshealth.com/ibs_foods_2.htm
I can explain this better also in regards to IBS now as well, because I have done a lot of research into this matter and I have had a lot of help from experts on it, just fyi.
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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com
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PS, I don't want anybody to think I don't believe foods are not important, or diet isn't by what I said above, but its important also, actually very much so that foods are not the only triggers to IBS, but they are very important to management.
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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com
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