Allergies and IBS-
#42473 - 02/01/04 12:17 PM
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LauraS
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 75
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I'm new to the boards and have spent all my time in the last week reading old posts. This has answered alot of my questions, so thanks everyone for sharing! One issue I haven't come accross is how to sort out food allergies and IBS. About 2.5 years ago I started having MAJOR sinus problems (infections etc) that were allergy related. My naturopath suggested I avoid gluten, dairy, and eggs, which helped alot for a while. Last summer I became really ill again, with sinus problems and overwhelming fatigue, which seemed directly related to pollen/ragweed/outside. Hypothesizing that some hidden food allergies must be contributing to the problem, my naturopath put me on an exotic foods diet, which helped immediately with my sinuses but (I now realize) aggravated my IBS. She suggested that I re-introduce foods one at a time, eating as much of that food as possible for three days, to see if I have a reaction. This strategy has been a terrible failiure for me, as too much of an insoluble fiber food triggers D. And, with the unpredictable nature of IBS, it's hard to tell if I'm having D because I'm sensitive to a food, or because of stress, or PMS, or voodoo! But I'm scared to re-introduce foods without somehow testing them, because if my sinuses become inflamed and infected I will be completely debilitated for weeks. And, to top it off, after months of such a restricted diet I have lost too much weight, and I am now at 100 lbs, the absolute minimum safe weight for me.
So what's a girl to do? I'm running out of options!
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This is a tough one. I think we all have problems with food intolerances, ie. allergies, and have a heck of a time figuring out what the actual triggers are. I also gave up wheat and dairy, but there are some other factors involved as well as I'm still having problems. The problem with gluten is that it's in SO many things that you may not even know you're ingesting it. Everyone is SO different, it seems as what triggers one will not trigger another and visa versa. Out of curiosity, what exotic foods did you have to eat? My "safe" foods are roasted chicken, rice and veggies. My husband always knows when I've had an attack, the dinner menu is very self explanative........lol.
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Thanks for your reply Karin! The exotic foods diet was: buffalo, turkey, lamb, watermelon, kiwi, mango, wild rice, yam, turnip, celery, spinach, avocado, pistachio, and brazil nut. The theory is that if you don't eat a food regularly, your body hasn't likely developped a sensitivity to it. Like I said my sinuses recovered at the expense of my IBS. I really don't know how the two could be so seperate???? So now I've added some things and dropped some things that are IBS triggers, but testing things this way is TOO SLOW (5 months later, still only about 20 foods in total that I know are safe).
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You've done better than I have then if you've only been at this for 5 months and already have 20 foods you can eat safely. It's been over a year for me and I'm still confused. One big problem is that something can be safe one time and then not safe another. I don't know whether or not it's an allergy to a specific food or an additive that may be in the meal one time and not another. 
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I guess I consider these foods safe but I still have IBS attacks- related to stress, hormones and who knows what else. I honestly have given up on the idea that each bout of D or severe spasm can be accounted for, especially by food. I even beleive that one attack was triggered by exposure to solvents, although my naturopath disagrees with this. Are there any other triggers for you besides food that might explain your problems?
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I believe mine are food related, but there is a doctor that thinks it could be bacterial. So I'll be getting a specialized stool sample done soon and hopefully identify some tangible problem.
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