Exactly 10 days ago, after all other testing ruled out so many other things, we realized it was food allergies.

So starting 10 days ago I eliminated all of my offenders, which are a lot. For me it was:

All gluten (all grains)
All diary
Eggs
Sesame
Kidney Beans
Asparagus
Pineapple
Sugar and Honey
Almonds

Because I was eating a lot of these things every day, my body was "fighting off" these attackers and building anti-bodies.

It got so bad, I could not sit up or stand up for more than 10 minutes without feeling light headed and having to lay down. Low BP, Blood Pooling in legs, heart palpatations, pins and needles, etc.

ALL GONE.

I am eating basically a whole foods diet now, mostly rice, corn, fish, seeds and nuts, fruits and veggies.

Oh, the energy. I can work all day. Shop til my energy wears my feet out. I am up early and now have to force myself to go to sleep at night. I actually need less sleep!

I feel like the secret to energy, health and vitality has been revealed.

I was basically killing myself with food. My body was shutting down. Had someone asked me, "Hey, would you give up cheesecake, bread, eggs (I love eggs), and the rest, to feel amazing and have all the energy you wanted, would you do it?" Well I guess the universe did, and 10 days of feeling like this, my answer is, I will NEVER eat any of those things again.

Please get food allergy tested by your doctor. It just may save your life! It saved mine!!!

THat sounds amazing - I'm happy you are feeling better. I am curious though if you had ever had any testing done before in your life or if this is the first time?

Wow, that is wonderful news! And it is great that you came back to the forum to share the news of your recovery - it helps so much to hear that it is possible. Have fun!!!!

What sort of doc tests for food allergies and what tests should be done?

What types of sugars are you intolerant/allergic to? And are you certain its not chemicals used in processing the sugar (in the case of sucrose).

It would be impossible to be allergic to all sugars, you'd be dead.

dsdmom, YES, actually the food allergy testing was done back in April of 2006. It was done by a Naturopathic Doctor, but she did not have the experience or take the time to explain to me that my reactions are delayed reactions, that affect my body slowly and systemically. So after a couple of months I re-introduced the foods and since no immediate reactions occurred, I did not think I was allergic anymore.

Sandy, Although the Naturopathic Dr. did the tests, my current primary is an internal medicine doctor and she also does food allergy tests through her lab. She looked at my tests from 2006 and took the time to explain them to me. She said she did not see any reason to spend the money to re-test. Most of my IgG (delayed reaction) allergies are off the charts, so she told me just to permanently eliminate those foods. BINGO!! I feel so stupid for thinking of it last but glad to finally know. Oh, and I do not know what the test is called, but they tested my blood for anti-bodies to all the most common allergenic foods, including all the grains, corn, rice, all fruits, veggies, dairy, meats, fish, etc.

Strange Wings, yes you are right. The specific sugar is Cane Sugar and Honey. And my allergies to both are moderate (one notch below extreme) and IgG (delayed reaction). So the Dr. explained that I do not have an immediate, tongue swelling, cannot breathe type of reaction like people that need that needle on hand. Mine are delayed and systemic. Which explains why my nervous system was going haywire.

Seems like the only sweeteners that are ok, that I do not have a reaction to are molasses and maple sugar, (and the natural sugars in fruits.)

quote:

Originally posted by ArizonaGirl:
Strange Wings, yes you are right. The specific sugar is Cane Sugar and Honey. And my allergies to both are moderate (one notch below extreme) and IgG (delayed reaction). So the Dr. explained that I do not have an immediate, tongue swelling, cannot breathe type of reaction like people that need that needle on hand. Mine are delayed and systemic. Which explains why my nervous system was going haywire.

Seems like the only sweeteners that are ok, that I do not have a reaction to are molasses and maple sugar, (and the natural sugars in fruits.)

But that doesn't fully make sense. Cane sugar would be sucrose, honey is sucrose, glucose, and fructose (not that much sucrose, though). Fruit, some types more than others, contain more fructose. Maple syrup is mostly sucrose, and molasses has a lot, too.

To be more exact though, in case you or anyone else still misunderstands. When I say "sugars" I'm not referring to cane sugar or anything else that comes as "finished" product that goes on your table/food but to monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose, etc - there's a lot more), disaccharides (lactose, sucrose, maltose, etc), and polysaccharides.
If there's truly an intolerance it would be best to figure out which sugar it is. It may not be so simple as completely avoiding something but more towards not ingesting large amounts of it.

Though - if you truly want my guess at it. Molasses, maple syrup, and fruit are a lot easier to procure in less/unprocessed states. So it might point more at what is used to process a lot of products. Chemicals sensitivities are common for many.

If anyone tries to tell you that you're "allergic" to galactose or glucose, I suggest you laugh - or run the other way...

Ya know the sugar intolerance thing is the FIRST thing I noticed.

It came on so suddenly in my case-and I have such a wild hyperinsulin reaction now for some reason. I guess I was just kind of wondering if there are allergies underneath some of this.

I DO seem to still have some allergic sorts of reactions at times after I eat.

There seems to me to be so many layers to all of this--just when you think you've gotten to the bottom of it you see symptoms still remaining that come and go and start wondering if there's another something under the bottom of the bottom you just found.

Probably THAT made no sense! <chuckles>

But anyway, I'm curious to know exactly how a person could get tested for food allergies.

Sandy

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy Sims:
But anyway, I'm curious to know exactly how a person could get tested for food allergies.

You would go to an allergist. They have a lot of common foods they check, among other common trigger substances. blueskies could definitely tell you more about allergy tests.

I have Celiac Disease, which is an autoimmune disease that reacts to gluten (a different set of antibodies are released in the body than with an allergy), so I must stay on the gluten-free diet for the rest of my life. I've been on it for 5 years now but still suffer incredibly with Dysautonomia. I only wish my story had gone the same way as yours, ArizonaGirl! I was also killing myself with food without realizing it, but whether it caused the Dys symptoms to begin or not, they're still here despite getting my Celiac under control. I'm glad to hear that clearing up food issues has helped some people clear up their Dys issues as well, though. Every little bit helps.

Gillian

Someone was mentioning getting a glucose tolerance test of 3 hours or more with insulin levels after a 12 hour fast. i'm wondering if this can explain some of the delays in reactions to certain types of foods?

First, a 12 hour fast is just how a glucose tolerance test is done--you start fasting--as with many blood tests. The insulin levels just who what you body is doing to hold that blood sugar--in my case it WAS holding it close to norms--but going to VERY heroic efforts to do so.

As to blood sugar and allergy? This post had me VERY interested--so I did some Google searches. See I DO have rapid swings in blood sugar--more often being low--and DO have some odd allergic reactions to foods at times. tho this is MUCH better now with diet control and metformin--as are the scary allergic reactions from no place.

Again, I can't post links here but I encourage you guys to run a search on Allergy and hypogycemia. Seems folks with hypoglcemia tend to have allergies!!! Not surprising since low blood sugar causes adrenal surge to rescue your brain.

I was prepared to go thru some allergy testing til I checked into this.

Seems having hypogycemia causes allergic reactions so the "cure" is to stop the hypogycemia.

If I was told I had an "allergy" to sugar I'd maybe start to wonder about testing my blood sugar levels right off the bat anyway???

My question here is~~~
What is Diabetes/hypoglycemia if not a bad reaction to sugar?

A side note I read that I found interesting. Your brain is some 2% (or small one digit number) of your body mass--but needs something like 80% of your blood sugar to survive. Boy did this one get me! So if blood sugar is low the FIRST place you'll feel it is in your brain??? The organ that controls thought, regulates all autonomic functions, and more?

Anyway, I just found this interesting.

Sandy

ArizonaGirl thanks for your post!! Tomorrow I'm going to my personal doctor to comment this possibility and try to get tests done for food allergies. It could be something else for me but it really is worth to check out!

Sandy Sims: having dys is a bit more tricky to notice the hypoglycemia but if one good day you wait a bit too long to have your main meal it's quite likely that you start feeling dizzy and angry (yeah, hungry also). At least that's my experience, brain screaming for sugar...

No doubt it IS more than sugar alone.

And no doubt many have other stuff going on that can cause dys--not all ARE hyperadrenal in the first place.

And the question begs, why do I have such AWFUL adrenal surges with blood sugar levels that wouldn't be noticed by some people??? And why does this spiral into a host of incapacitating autonomic symptoms? Why do I produce 10 times the normal anount of insulin in the first place--lacking evidence of tumor?

Would be great to know--but I doubt I ever will.

Still, it's good to be near "normal" again by simply keeping my blood sugar within a tight normal range.

Sandy

Just wanted to add, for those getting tested for food allergies, you may also want to request a Celiac panel with your blood work. Since Celiac Disease is autoimmune rather than allergy, it will not show up as a wheat allergy unless you happen to be allergic to wheat. I can't eat gluten due to Celiac, but I am not "allergic" to wheat or any food for that matter. The autoimmune antibodies are different, so make sure your Dr covers all the bases and takes a look at intolerances to foods and the autoimmune possibilty and not only allergies.

Gillian