OH HEARTBURN WHERE IS THY STING?

When someone mentions food allergies, most people automatically think of children. I suppose that most people find out they have food allergies when they are young, then there are the few stubborn few of us that refuse to believe anything is wrong with the food we eat. You know who you are. You go to McDonalds and order the Chicken Club Sandwich and water – every day for lunch! Yeah, you are not fooling anyone. Since we are talking about food allergies today, you people are safe so far. But just as a side note: McDonalds does not have diet food of any kind – shoot, even their salads are over 300 calories….

Now back to the reason I am sitting on my couch on a Saturday morning instead of weeding my garden. At 45 years old, I found out that I have some pretty severe food allergies. Now you might ask how on earth that is possible. Well, like I said before, I was a bit stubborn. That and I didn’t have all the information. So here it is, the information I was missing all those years. I will make you a bet that there are a few of you out there that find you have the same problems that I did and you think it is something other than food allergies.

For years I lived with heartburn. It started out to be an occasional thing when I ate things like spaghetti and pizza, Mexican food – you know the spicy stuff. I didn’t think anything of it. Spicy food is supposed to cause heartburn right? After all, isn’t it exploding in your stomach with all those acids and mixing together to make one powerful concoction? I thought that was the reason for spicy food, the flavor explosion, right? As time went on though, I started to notice other things giving me heartburn, like coffee, toast, and sometimes even salad. What was the deal???? It got so bad; I could have been the poster child for Tums.

It became a ritual to eat my dinner and pull out the Tums. Soon, everything gave me heartburn. I could not eat a steak dinner without feeling that oh so familiar burning sensation rising up from my stomach into my throat. All of this coupled with the fact that because my husband and I traveled for work a lot, I was not eating supper sometimes until 9 or 10 at night and going to bed at 11 or 12. I know, I told you I was stubborn, now do you believe me? Hey! I am Italian, give me a break! Which also means that I didn’t slow down on the pasta dishes either.

So here I was with chronic heartburn. I went to the Dr., with no insurance, so you know it had to be bad by that point; and he gave me a prescription. That little purple pill was amazing! I could eat whatever I wanted and it would take care of the heartburn, and the stomach aches, the little trips to the bathroom at odd times….you know the drill. Oh come on, you can’t tell me that there isn’t at least one of you out there that does not relate to this by now! ‘Fess up! So now that you are starting to think that maybe I am on to something here….let me tell you the rest of the story.

I suffered from migraines as well. Since I did not have insurance I was not going to the doctor to get some medication that cost more than my car payment every month. Remember I was already on the $120 a month little purple pill. So for the migraines I took a popular over the counter migraine pill. It worked if I took 3 at a time, closed all the blinds, turned off the television, pawned my kids and the dogs off on a relative and closed and locked my door for a few hours. No problem. No problem until the migraines started coming more frequently, from maybe a couple a month to a couple a week. Ok, at this point I am starting to think the worst. Maybe I had cancer and it spread to my brain. That happens all the time right? The Doctor didn’t seem to know – oh and by then, I could not afford the little purple pill so I was back to finding an over the counter heartburn medication that I could take with me again. This is before Prilosec came out. So I was really suffering.

Of course once Prilosec did come out, I was buying that by the case. I even heard from my pharmacist that people were literally stealing it off the shelves as soon as they put it out! She called it loonacy; I called it poor people’s desperation. Obviously this woman had never had heartburn so bad you would think you descended from dragons. I have to admit though, I was somewhat miffed by the whole thing. Were there really that many people out there suffering from chronic heartburn? I knew life had gotten more stressful, but come on people….stealing Prilosec?

By the way, just as another rabbit passing by here, did you notice that since the popularity of Prilosec, the price of Pepcid AC as hit the roof? Just thought you might have seen that on the shelves. Anyway, back to my story. So there I was, taking 3 or more Prilosec a day (I know what the package says, but the heartburn was BAD!). It didn’t help though since it just came back full force the next day. I actually lived like that for years. Not just a couple of years, I lived like that for 10 years! I thought there was nothing I could do. Seriously, I was feeling hopeless about the whole situation. I also need to mention here that I had an auto-immune disease that I ended up having to take steroids for. That certainly did not help my cause at all. The steroids just made my digestive system worse than it already was. So now with all the headaches, the heartburn and the stomach problems, add projectile vomiting to the list. Nice huh?

My stomach hurt so bad at one point it was hard to walk. I was seriously thinking of going to the emergency room until my sister asked me if I thought it could be my gall bladder. Ok, never thought about that, but I could look into that. I did a search on the internet and found out that my stomach pain could actually be my pancreas hurting. I found a site that told me to try eating only certain foods for a few days and see if the pain subsided. Then add in a second list of foods that would determine if I had gall bladder problems or food allergies. Now there was something else I had never really considered. So, like a good girl (and a desperate one), I followed the diet for a week. ALL PAIN CEASED! The following week I added back in the second list. Still no pain. I went back to the website and realized I have food allergies.

By this time the only things eliminated from my diet were things that contained Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Soy and Nuts. The website went on to further tell me to slowly introduce things back into my diet starting with the Nuts, then the Soy, then Dairy then Wheat and Gluten in that order. If I felt the symptoms come back, eliminate the new food out again, wait 3 days and try another one. I did exactly what I read to do. My conclusion? I am allergic to all but the nuts.

The allergy to Soy and Dairy is milder than that of Wheat and Gluten, but even though my tolerance is higher I still get sick when I choose to eat those foods. Since that time – over a year ago- I have lost the website that put me on the road to recovery, so I wanted to write this to let anyone else out there who is having the same symptoms that I had, there is a way to find out what the problem is without spending a ton of money on the doctor or putting more medications in your body. You see, I am now eating allergen free, without heartburn, no headaches and I have lost 16 lbs just by eliminating those toxic foods from my diet.

Please know that I am not saying this is going to be a cure all for everyone with these symptoms, not by a long shot; but what I am saying is that this might be a place to start. Sometimes the best investigative medicine isn’t medicine at all. It is just knowing your own body and paying attention to what hurts and where so that you can do the research. Oh and by the way, I can eat spicy food again, and I love it! Spiciness without the burn! Ya Baby!

Please let me know if this was helpful to you. I would love to hear from you! Below I have provided a list of foods from the Gall Bladder Diet. Follow it religiously for a week and see if your digestive problems disappear. If so, then start adding in some of the fruits and vegetables that were previously eliminated from your diet. Give each new food at least 3 days before adding something else. If all is still well, try adding in Nuts, then Soy, then Dairy, the Wheat and Gluten. If you symptoms reappear with any of these foods discontinue eating it immediately and make a note of it.

I would still go and get my gall bladder tested if you can afford to do that or have insurance. After all the toxins are out of your body it might be easier for the doctor to come back with a clear test result. I look forward to hearing from you!

Happy eating,

Angel

Gall Bladder Diet:
People with gall bladder disease should follow a diet that includes starchy foods like rice, cereals, bread, vegetables, and fruit. It is important that you cut down on red meats or, better yet, stop eating it entirely. You should also avoid refined, fatty and fried foods containing saturated fats, trans fats, hydrogenated fats and partially-hydrogenated fats.

Here's a list of what you should eat -

• Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. The keyword is 'fresh'. Fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The organic kind.
• Eat plenty of green leafy salads and lace them with olive oil, flax oil and vinegar.
• Cook your food – vegetables and lean meats - using spices, ginger, and turmeric. These are good aids for digestion and have antiseptic properties as well.
• Eat low-fat dairy products. Include low fat cottage cheese and low-fat milk in your meals.
• Eat whole-grain bread.
• Eat lean meats in moderation.
• Eat smaller meals rather then large meals.
• Eat your last meal of the day several hours before you go to bed.
• Take fish oil capsules. These contain Omega 3 oil, which is excellent for you. It prevents cholesterol build-up in the bile.
• Drink plenty of water.

Here's a list of fruit and vegetables that are good for you -

• Apples
• Apricots
• Lemons
• Figs
• Guavas
• Pears
• Grapes
• Currants
• Prunes
• Papaya
• Melons
• Coconuts
• Berries
• Tomatoes
• Avocados
• Artichokes
• Cucumber
• Beet
• Sweet Potatoes
• Carrots
• Okra
• Garlic
• Shallots
• Celery
• Swiss Chard
• Dandelion Greens

Here are some foods you should either avoid or cut down on:

• Eggs
• Pork
• Onion
• Cabbages
• Cauliflower
• Legumes
• Fowl
• High-fat milk
• Chocolate
• Ice-cream
• Coffee
• Black Tea
• Alcohol
• Soft drinks
• Sodas
• Grapefruit
• Oranges
• Corn
• Nuts
• White Flour
• Artificial Sweetener