Hi folks.
Just thought I’d share my little health good news story as it may help others as others have helped me!
For 6 years now I’ve suffered with “allergies and ibs” I suffered with what seemed like random and very painful bloating. Daily sinus inflammation whereby I couldn’t breathe through my nose, headaches and uncomfortably itchy hands and feet, often stopping me from getting to sleep.
After many trips to the GP over the years my problems were being treated all as separate allergies. I was given a steroid nose spray that I had to take every single day- and it was frequently changed for another steroid spray because they never worked. I also used a none steroidal nose spray every day before bed )otherwise sleep was non-existent), antihistamines each day for the itching and various tablets for the ibs.
I had been talking to a few people fairly recently about it and someone happened to mention their sister who had the same symptoms a few years ago and who was told to remove certain foods from her diet. It turned out dairy foods were the cause.
I got talking to others after that and someone always seemed to know someone who had done the same thing and their problems were solved.
So a month ago I removed all dairy foods/drinks from my diet. And the results only took a week. Though I was a bit hesitant at start and thought it might just be in my mind! But a month later and I haven’t had to use any medication at all for 3 weeks now. And I’ve had absolutely no symptoms at all! I can actually breathe through my nose again!!- which sounds stupid but it has made the world of difference!! Not being randomly horribly bloated for a month now has been amazing as well!
I have another GP appointment tomorrow- and I look forward to telling him I have essentially been misdiagnosed for the last 6 years! (One doctor even wanted me to give up my house bunny at one point blaming her!! So glad I didn’t!!)
So if you’re going through similar symptoms or know someone else who is- it may well be dairy in their diet that’s causing the problem!
Just make sure if that’s the case you’re getting enough calcium from other foods.
Wow! That really is amazing! You must be feeling incredible after all those years of having to put up with all of those symptoms. Lovely of you to share it here too . I’m starting to take more notice of my diet at the moment as so many things do seem to be related to certain foods - and as I get older (I’m 48!) I don’t seem to be able to tolerate some of the things I’ve always enjoyed without a thought before. It’s amazing how many people suffer with allergies these days.
Anyway, it’s lovely to hear your ‘miracle’ story! Hope it continues for you
Thanks Angela!
I’d just heard a few people say similar things and though- if I’d known this 6 years ago!! Haha so wanted to share just in case- as like you say it’s all seeming much more common now- but for me there’s been an easy fix! Just wish I’d known about it sooner!
As a kid I never had anything wrong- could eat anything and do anything and never suffered any kind of allergy at all. This problem all started when I was 22. At least I’m on to it now though! Haha
I remember many years ago, reading an article on James Coburn…he was suffering badly and told by the doctor that within 6 months he would be in a wheelchair.
He decided to go for allergy tests and told to eliminate certain foods from his diet. (can’t remember what they were) but he rapidly improved and never did need that wheelchair.
(I know he has died now but that was totally unrelated to this problem)
For myself I have never had any allergies…until about 2 years ago when I found that whenever I ate fruit I would get bad bellyache…I am sure it is to do with crop sprays. No matter how much I wash the fruit I suffer…makes you wonder doesn’t it!
Good to hear you are feeling better and I hope the bunny is going to the doctors with you so that it can give them the evil eye. A friend of mine thought she was gluten intolerant until I put her on a diet of home made bread and the problem went away - the issue wasn’t the gluten but the high levels of yeast that gets put in commercial bread. A food diary followed by a carefully managed food exclusion diets can be very revealling about intolerances as you have found.
Oh Susannah, I wish you could wind the clock back and undo all those years of feeling so rotten.
Several years ago (6 or 7 maybe?) I booked a food intolerance test. Long story short regarding why I went for the test and what the test entailed, I came away with a list of foods/drinks to avoid. I’m not allergic to any of these, just intolerant; so the body can’t process them.
So I should avoid wheat, dairy, wine (but champagne is ok!), raw tomatoes, mushrooms and MSG. The first 3 are the ones that cause me the most issues: bloated stomach, breathing issues, excess catarrh, poor bowel function, itchy thighs.
I can eat/drink white bread, dairy, wine but there’s a big price to pay. If I eat brown bread, avoid wine & cows’ milk products I feel so much better.
I would recommend you try rice milk or Koko coconut milk with added calcium - they’re great for cereals and some cooking. I dislike the taste of soya milk and oat milk. I seem more tolerant to cheese from sheep or goat milk, but you would need to experiment with this. For a tasty sheep’s milk cheese, try Manchego - one of my favourites.
I’m having Oatibix or Oatflakes for breakfast.
Sadly I love cheese. I was hoping that if I didn’t eat cheese for 6 months my symptoms would be lessened but the opposite happens! When I eat cheese I suffer for 2 or 3 days. But sometimes that just has to be done!
I am with Hart and Craft, I wish we could turn the clock back and I don’t know how you produced all your lovely work feeling like that,lets hope it is well and truely behind you now.
Give up your bunny,is that doctor still alive?
Reading this I can only think of my daughter who as an adult we are back and forth to the hospital as she struggles as you describe, she is away at the moment but I think we might try this as an idea - thank you
Sadly, for those wishing to cut out dairy, the best way to get your calcium is through another natural source as the body struggles to absorb calcium given as supplements, even those added to soya milk. The best way to get calcium is…wait for it guys… to eat a largish portion of broccoli, cabbage or another brassica like spinach. Brussel Sprouts will also work, but as I say, you need to eat quite a lot of it. Luckily these plants are also good for your bowls and not just because they are high in fibre, they also have an anti inflammatory effect. So get chomping
My husband, Bob, had bowel cancer in 2005. All gone, not a problem but it did leave him a little more intolerant to certain foods.
Some time afterwards he noticed he was often feeling bloated and sometimes accompanied by a headache.
We tried all sorts of ways to sort him out including at one point trying lactose free. Nothing worked and it used to flare up frequently. Doctor couldn’t find anything though one locum tried him on IBS medication (I think he was on a bonus with the company which sold it !).
We were away in the motorhome a couple of years ago and he had been ok for a few days. Then he drank some orange juice.
Full blown symptoms appeared.
Tried it again, same again.
He doesn’t drink orange juice any more and I check the ingredients on fruit juice packs carefully.
It was a year later that he was chatting to his daughter and mentioned the orange juice … she said “oh I’ve not been able to drink it for years”.
I worked out I was lactose intolerant 15 years ago.
I do my utmost to cut out dairy but obviously I still eat chocolate when Im not going out.
You can buy lactose free cheese, I get mine from Morrisons.
Have any fellow sufferers tried Super Lactase Enzymes? You get them for Holland and Barratt. I tried them by chance and symptoms reduced a lot. They are pricey but worth a try, and better if you can get them in the penny/half price sale.
Thanks for sharing this Susannah, it’s really helpful and I’m glad you have found some relief. Myself and my daughter also suffer from this - I’ve had it since I first started teaching in my early 20s and like you have tried all the sprays going to no avail. I find eggs make mine symptoms a lot worse.
I’ve been using Sterimar spray for almost two years now (it’s a natural saline spray which I found on A…). My doctor suggested my problem was possibly allergy based and told me I would have work what it was myself - really helpful!!!
I also found some interesting reading about food intolerances in the Zoe Harcombe Diet book! It’s amazing what food can do to you!!
Hope it keeps working for you
Di
Aah that’s a lot to avoid!!!
I do think I might be able to have a small amount of things in small doses but I’m going to take it slowly and only every now and then. Some things have been easy to avoid to be honest- others I’ve just done swaps- using a dairy free butter for example has been an easy one and it tastes oddly enough more buttery than the Bertolli spread I used to use which has buttermilk in- so not sure how that one works!
The only thing I’m missing as well is cheese! I’ve had some feta and was fine with that- but it’s goats cheese so that’s maybe why. So I am tempted to have a go with other sheep and goat cheese- I like most cheese inc those so that shouldn’t be a problem. I do like manchego too!
I wish I could turn the clock back too!! But never mind. Will just have to experiment with how much I can have a guess! Maybe a sneaky chocolate bar every now and then! Haha
That’s why I tried it because someone suggested it! All I can say is, she’s got nothing to lose! Try it for a month but some people know sooner- took about a week for me. Hope she gets sorted soon!!
Yeah it’s quite surprising that certain foods can have such random effects really!
To be honest- the combination of nose sprays I was using were working, and I guess it would have probably been easier just to carry on taking them I suppose. But it’s so nice knowing I seem to have figured out what’s been the cause!! I know doctors don’t like people self-diagnosing, but sometimes I think if we only ever did what the doctors said 100% we’d all be on mountains of medication.
My mum is in a care home now for an unrelated matter but for years was taking 74 tablets a day that the doctors had prescribed her over the years, often giving her some tablets to counteract the side effects from other tablets and she never questioned it! (She has an under active thyroid so got all her prescriptions for free- otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to afford all that!) but It wasn’t until she went into hospital a year ago that they took her off them all- she now takes 5 tablets a day! So yeah…sometimes I think there has to be a bit of common sense in relation to our own health. Glad you’ve found something that’s working.
At one point Hotel chocolat did a dairy free ‘milk’ chocolate (I think it had almonds in it to give it the dairy taste) might be worth checking if they still do it if you really don’t like the dark stuff. (might be difficult to get in Canada though)
