Wheat & Yeast allergy

If you have UC symptoms (urgency, D, gas), then that could very well be an indication of food intolerance/allergy to them. If you really want to know, experiment by eliminating them for awhile. Or, keep eating them and never know, I suppose. Yeast, or versions of, is in a LOT of processed foods, so read all labels. I am affected "BIG TIME" by yeast and too much wheat. Took me awhile to figure it all out.... 8 years. In fact, after I eliminated yeast, sugar and grains from my diet for awhile, my UC symptoms disappeared. How about millet and flax yeast free bread, or brown rice yeast free bread. I eat that now, no problem.

Veebo's questions make me wonder what bloods your original gastro tested when he diagnosed you with UC. Meanwhile, I happened to see DeBoles corn (flour) pasta elbows in a health food store over the weekend-- in case you want to try them as a wheat-free alternative. Take care & let us know what you find out. Hopefully, you don't have celiac disease; also, you might get more answers if you post on the allergy forum here. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])

Thanks for all the replies.

kim - I guess you are right that if I don't try to eliminate things, I will never know if it helps or not.

Veebo - I will ask my allergist which blood tests he did when he calls me back (hopefully tomorrow). I haven't told my GI yet, but will. I haven't had any problems with my small intestine (that I know of). It looked normal with a CT scan and w/my colonoscopy in September (I know that just barely goes into the small intestine...I think my GI went into the ileum). If I had Celiac, would I notice symptoms soon after I ate gluten? I have never noticed any type of symptom from eating wheat, yeast or gluten before. I do still have about 3-5 mushy BMs a day, some urgency, bloating and gas pains sometimes, but I just attributed this to the rectal inflammation that showed up on my last c-scope. Could I have UC and Celiac (boy, that would suck!)? Sorry for all the questions...this is all so frustrating and confusing for me. I will check out the Mayo Clinic link you gave me. Thank you.

Hi, Old Hat - I don't know what blood tests my original gastro checked...good question though. I will see if I can find out. Thank you for the suggestion on the DeBoles pasta. I'll have to see if my local health food store has it.

Horus - Thanks for your input. Good to know there are wheat-free options out there. That stir fry sounds really tasty. Has wheat always affected you like that or just since you've had UC?

You should request the blood test for celiac disease, but even if that come back negative, you can still have an allergy or sensitivity to wheat or gluten. The fact that you say you love wheat-based foods and eat them all the time is a red flag. We tend to crave the very foods that are causing problems for us. Wheat and dairy are prime offenders. Other major offenders are sugar, corn, yeast, peanuts, eggs, soy and tree nuts. Check out The False Fat Diet by Elson Haas if you're interested in learning more about delayed food allergies and sensitivities.

You should insist on the celiac blood panel. I'm amazed that a gastro doc wouldn't test for it. Celiac is very under diagnosed in this country. There's info and a great forum if you're interested:

http://www.celiac.com/

Diflucan is an anti-candida medication. A candida overgrowth happens when gut ecology gets out of balance for a variety of reasons - antibiotics, birth control, poor diet, etc. You might want to take the online candida test to see if you have some of the common symptoms:

http://www.yeastconnection.com/yeast.html

It's a tough thing to admit, but cravings for the very foods that cause problems for us is very common. For many years, I was a sugar and chocoholic. I was all about the breads, pastas and desserts. These things all contain the ingredients I've learned are problematic for me: dairy, sugar and grains.

'm thinking it is the yeast overgrowth. Be prepared for a fungi die-off reaction, though. As for the bread tasing like cardboard, I agree that there is some stuff out there that is not very appetizing, but I found a local health food bakery and they make delicious millet/flax bread that tastes and feels like real bread. Check around.

I took the yeast test...I only scored a 6. I've never had a vaginal yeast infection in my life. Never had thrush. Don't have any symptoms after eating yeasty foods. In fact, I just ate two pieces of whole wheat bread and it was delicious and I feel great. I eat healthier than most people I know and I don't want to cut something out if it's not going to do anything.

I checked out the gluten-free breads at my health store and they cost like $6 for a loaf and look really bad. I don't want to spend that much on a loaf of bread. And I don't know how to bake my own bread. I will look into the almond flour...that sounds good.

Hey Veebo. Thanks for all your suggestions and advice. I just did my blood test for celiac, so I guess I'll find out how that turns out in about a week. Sorry to hear you think you might have UC, too. I read your other thread and that sucks your GI is being so difficult/rude. My first GI was kind of lousy, too, so I got a new one. Have you gotten the colonoscopy done yet? The symptoms you listed before you cut out gluten are kind of what I'm dealing with now, but I am pretty sure they're just from my UC, since I still have a little bit of inflammation. It will be good to find out though.

My allergist gave me a prescription for fluconazole (diflucan), but I don't know if I want to take it or not. It says "for yeast and fungi" on the prescription he sent me. Anyone ever had to take this?

He never said he suspects a yeast overgrowth. He said I showed a strong reaction to yeast on my blood allergy test (I didn't show much of any reaction for yeast on the skin allergy test though). I called and talked to one of his assistants today to clarify why exactly I was prescribed the fluconazole and the assistant said it is partly to deal with mold allergies (the allergist never told me this...) and partly for yeast allergies. It still didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. He said I'll be on it for 6 weeks and then they'll see if I need to stay on it. I've been reading horrible side effects of this drug...

And I read that diflucan wipes out both good and bad bacteria from your gut, so I don't know if it helps get your gut ecology into balance...and it only kills the yeast species candida, and can allow other, harder-to-kill species to thrive. I'm glad it worked for you and I guess I'll give it a try...I am just so skeptical of all drugs and supplements now and don't want to screw anything else up in my body.

Sara14 said...
And I read that diflucan wipes out both good and bad bacteria from your gut, so I don't know if it helps get your gut ecology into balance...and it only kills the yeast species candida, and can allow other, harder-to-kill species to thrive. I'm glad it worked for you and I guess I'll give it a try...I am just so skeptical of all drugs and supplements now and don't want to screw anything else up in my body.

It can help get your gut ecology back in balance only in that it kills back an overgrowth of Candida. That's why I added that probiotic supplements and dietary adjustments are necessary to restore the good gut flora and to lessen the risk of a recurrence of overgrowth.

What side effects are you referring to? Almost every drug has a scary list of possible side effects. I didn't have any problems with diflucan at all.

Hi dakotagirl - Thanks for your reply. That is a good idea to get copies of my records. I don't know why the allergist wouldn't send me a copy of my test results when I asked. Do clinics generally charge for copies in your experience? It's really my allergist who is frustrating me, not my GI this time. I really like my new GI, for the most part.

Hi princesa - That makes sense...thanks for explaining that to me. If I take it without making dietary changes, will it be pointless? My allergist didn't really mention making any dietary changes while on it. He said to cut down on wheat a bit, but I think he meant to do that forever, not just while on diflucan. Also, good to know you didn't have any side effects from it. I know every drug has possible side effects, but I just get so worried over all of them now that I have UC..I guess I just don't want anything else to go wrong with my physical health. Some of the side effects I read about for diflucan were nausea (which I already have quite a bit of), D, abdominal pain, dizziness (which I get quite often, too) and vertigo. The vertigo one scared me...some people were saying they had it last for years after taking the drug. Of course, I just read that on some drug side effect forum-type Web site, so who knows if their vertigo was really from something else or what.

Hi kim - It does sound like nystatin would be preferable. When I talked to my pharmacist about the diflucan, he said the allergy place I'm going to, "likes to prescribe it a lot." So, something in their philosophy must think it helps people with allergies. My GI didn't say anything about someone going into remission after diflucan...I believe that was princesa's GP. But, yes, that is encouraging to hear. I am going to start taking it next week.

Thanks, guys! Hope you're all having a good weekend.

Makes sense. I started taking my allergy drops today (sublingual immunotherapy), too, so we'll see how that goes. princesa & others - What foods should I avoid while on the diflucan to make the most of it? I know sugars and wheat. Are there others? kim mentioned all grains and nuts...but I don't know if I can do that. All I would have left to eat is fruit, veggies, soy products and dairy. I guess that would be do-able for a while, but I wouldn't like to restrict my diet like that forever.