Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Finally Some Answers

In October last year I had some blood tests done to figure out what was making me ill... Every test came back clear until I did the ImuPro Food Allergy Type III (IgG) test. Type III is a delayed allergic reaction to food and can occur 2-72 hours after consuming the food. It's virtually impossible to pick up what you are allergic to on your own because of the delayed reaction; although you may have some idea (I assumed that I was allergic to wheat). You are prone to Type III allergies if your small intestine is damaged, which mine has been for many years.

The sad fact of the matter was that I grossly underestimated what I was allergic to - the main foods that were making me sick were garlic, milk, yeast, eggs and gluten.

I was shocked.

But, there was nothing else to do, except fix it. And I was so determined to fix myself, as I had been suffering for such a long with bloating, stomach pain, headaches and so on that I was willing to do anything. Little did I know what that actually meant...

Firstly, I was told to cut out all of the offending foods for a period of 4 to 12 months depending on the severity - and if that's not bad enough, I was then told to rotate the foods that I was still allowed to eat in a 4 day cycle - to prevent more allergies.

This seemed impossible, especially when I realised, for example, that yeast was in not only the obvious - bread, but also in fruit juices, wine (oh my beloved wine, what a sad, sad day!), cereals, most stock cubes, some fruits, mushrooms, tomato sauce, vinegar, chutney, coffee... the list goes on and on...

Armed with my lists of what not to eat and my list of what to eat, I bravely tried to figure out a menu for myself, but filled with an overwhelming sense of loss and hopelessness, I did the only thing I could do and burst into tears!

I saw my days of hosting gourmazing dinner parties and eating at fancy restaurants disappearing before my eyes, only to be replaced by platefuls of rabbit food, that I could only eat every 4 days!

How was I going to do this?

1 comment:

  1. I just found your blog and I intend on reading everything here because I too was recently diagnosed with those allergies and more. You have a three year head start, so I'm eager to see how you cope. The garlic allergy has me stymied! Have you tried asofoteda? I was told my test results for the egg and garlic were the highest my doctor has ever seen, so the chances I will get to eat them again is zip. :^(

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