Food intolerances

Hi,
I was wondering do you develop food intoolerances.
Is it a good way to deal with this issue by doing a blood test with antibodies, so to see which food is not good for me? I have a hard time to eat. I have stomache almost after every meal. It is awful and I lost some weight. Then, I find myself eating only "safe" food (very few items and not very healthy), missing nutritients and vitamins.

So, my question is, do you recommend doing blood test for food intolerance which checks antibodies?

Post Edited (blueberrymuffin) : 3/31/2016 7:06:02 PM (GMT-6)

PeteZa's correct, gluten and dairy (except for dairy made from goats milk) should be eliminated as they cause inflammation and Lyme and co's cause so much inflammation as it is. It's very common for people to restrict as much sugar intake as they can. It's theorized that Lyme thrives on sugar.

Please read this and make sure that your stomach issues don't mirror this. If they do, please see your doctor asap.www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/c-difficile/basics/definition/con-20029664

I did the food testing you are referring too. In hindsight I wouldn't do it again. Here is a good link autoimmune-paleo.com/why-food-intolerance-testing-doesnt-work/

The other thing I read was that unless you ate all the foods that they test within the last three days (or weeks, I don't remember but either way that's impossible) how can the results be valid. It's been discussed on here before. It was agreed that the only valid way is to do a true elimination diet.

I hope your stomach feels better soon. Mine isn't happy at night and a heating pad on low helps a lot.

For me, gluten was a problem right away and was one of my first lyme symptoms. I would have a beer and get drunk extremely fast - I thought it was great, haha - not so much. Although I limited dairy from the beginning of treatment as it is inflammatory, I ended up developing a dairy sensitivity about 5 months into treatment. At this time I was having HORRIBLE stomach pain after eating almost anything. I'm sure antibiotics were taking their toll, and I also suspected candida might be at play.

Some of the things that helped eliminate my stomach pain were:

-Recipes for Repair Cookbook
-Eliminating really spicy foods (nightshade type spicy - peppers, etc.)
-Eliminating dairy**
-Further restricting sugar (only eating berries, trace amounts of honey a few times a week, and stevia to sweeten)
-Deglycerized Licorice 2x daily (not the candy type)
-Aloe Vera Juice - 1-2oz. daily

I highly recommend the cookbook Recipes for Repair - it is a totally manageable elimination diet with some really good recipes that I use all the time now! Phase 1 is the hardest, but it's only one week. Every few weeks, you slowly add in more foods to determine what you are sensitive to. In phase 1, I discovered that eggs contributing to my headaches. The coconut chicken from phase 2 is SOO good! Only thing to watch out for is sugar if you have candida, as some of the recipes use small amounts of honey and other sweeteners.

If you are vegan/vegetarian, have you heard of Deliciously Ella? She has a great blog with really healthy vegan recipes and desserts.

I still have digestion issues, and I suspect they will not be totally resolved until I go off antibiotics and get some of my good flora back, but right now I am choosing between two evils - lyme or digestive issues.

Been a battle for me since 2000 - and I'm sad to say that my experience with the medical community has led me FAR away from them. So I have not had any tests in about 5 years now ....

I was having that same issue -- stomach ache no matter what I ate, it then moved to extreme bloating and eventually nasty frequent trips to throne. (details spared!!) I was very sick with this for far too long.

As vegetarian most my life and for the last 12 years -- dairy was already gone, refined sugars low so I got rid of gluten. It was helpful but not "it". So then I went grain free for a year (it was SOOOO hard but even rice caused pain that dropped me to my knees.) Again - it got notably better but still not "it".

Then I tried FODMAP - and the improvement was immediate! While I will admit - it was very difficult, especially as a vegan - it was worth it. And even now as things have greatly improved - I find if I stray more then two consecutive days or eat a little too much of high FODMAP foods = issues. The problem was finding which foods are high / low FODMAP. And it can become a very individual diet - but lymes can also become a very individual battle - so seems fitting.

Any way -- after suffering for 15 years in silence and finally making improvements. I joined today hoping to share any tidbits that could help others.

I have no credentials - no affiliation with any group - just an artist with her dog in the back woods trying to stay well --

when it comes to food intolerances, I have been called the queen (not a title I want btw) and I know FIRST hand how much food issues can hinder healing ... so just wanted to share since I didn't see that diet listed.

Best of luck to all of us!!

light n blessings
jane

Also - when I did visit doctors and get blood work - I always had elevated liver enzymes that not one doctor would address except to say binge drinking or a mild flu could cause that -- I do not drink alcohol. While learning about the diet, I learned high FODMAP foods are processed by the liver not the intestines and had an AHA moment.

I may go for another complete blood work up soon, just out of curiousity to see if those liver enzymes are now back in line.

What helped me was food sensitivities testing using a syncrometer- it was extremely helpful at pinpointing foods that just don't jive with my body. Now I know that I cannot have sea greens, honey, beets, cabbage, rice, spinach - all those foods that are deemed healthy - wouldn't have known all this if it hadn't been for that syncrometer - really put all those other allergy tests I took in the distant past in dr.'s offices and clinics to shame.