Am I reacting to food allergies?

[April2]

Someone mentioned to me the other day that I might have food allergies with all my digestive problems I have. I'm going to look in to that deeper. I wouldn't have thought of this if she hadn't mentioned it to me but a few days ago I had a chip with salsa on it and while it was in my mouth I felt this weird tingling all of a sudden. It felt almost like fizzy soda pop. I immediately spit it out and rinsed my mouth out and threw the salsa away. I thought I just had bad salsa. Now that someone just mentioned food allergies to me it's got me thinking. Did I have an allergic reaction to that salsa??? But I've had stuff like that before. I've always loved Mexican food.

To be honest, though, I had wondered about tomotoes for a long time. I noticed that as much as I love spaghetti that I always get a stomach ache after eating it. And tonight I made home made pizza for the family, usually one of my favorites, and I'm feeling miserable right now.

I've had digestive issues for a few years now but never thought it could be allergies because I always thought that allergies meant you break out in a rash or swell up, etc.

Now I'm really wondering!!

[boron]

Tingling lips or mouth, itchy skin with or without bumpy or patchy hives, diarrhea (loose stools) with some cramping and, in severe cases, difficulty breathing and lightheadedness are possible symptoms of food allergies.

It may be tomato and you may be allergic to some other food also. To be sure you would need to have skin tests performed by an allergologist.

[ChitChatNine]

HI, keep us posted!

C~

[April2]

ChitChatNine, I've got an appointment Sept. 11th and will get all the testing done then. It might be a couple of weeks before I get the results back but I can't wait! Finally I may have some answers soon! :)

[Matthew007]

did you do the RAST test and what were the results?  I'm debating doing the RAST test...it's super expensive from what I hear.

I've found i'm totally soy intolerant but there might be something else so I'm re-doing the stupid elimination diet...

anyway was curious what you found out! :)

[April2]

I'm not sure what they call it. It is a blood test and yes, it's expensive. I took the test last week and they said it takes a couple of weeks to get the results back so I should know in about a week. I can't wait!

[Matthew007]

Cool hope you get answers yeah i'm doing the elimination diet but ugh..I am soo tempted to do the RAST test - i'm sick of being sick!   but I don't have the $$$ :(

but hope you figure it out!

[April2]

That's why I put this off for 2 years. I didn't feel I could afford the test. But I'm tired of feeling this way. I want to feel better. I felt a little guilty for spending this money but I know it's a one time deal and will help show me what I can and can't eat. I also wanted help from a doctor to show me where I might be deficient so that I can know what vitamins, etc. to take.
I hope you feel better soon too!

[Matthew007]

Yeah I got suckered into doing 2 colonoscopies over a period of 4 years, 2 endoscopes..ct scans..MRI.. the whole bit trying to figure out my problem, and then finally the 4th GI specialist said "go on a food elimination diet"...all that time and money when if I had only avoided probably just one of those tests and done a RAST that would tell so much :(...but lost work...no more funds...

but you're doing the smart thing if I don't figure mine out here in a month or so i'll beg the parents and borrow for it because 2 more years for me is just too long... even if it's not completely accurate there's something there..probably something stupid like tomatoes..or onions..peanuts..something you're missing that might fix you.  I'm pretty sure it's the RAST test you took, i've had people suggest going and some said it's rolling dice.  Even the allergist suggested doing a real extreme diet and adding one thing at a time every 4 days instead of paying for it but I dunno...

Anyway enough blabbering, hope you figure it out - for sure keep us updated! :)

[April2]

Well, I got my blood tests back and allergy testing. Some of it didn't surprise me, some did. I already suspected cows milk and tomatoes but also tested for black pepper, basil, green pepper, garlic, brewers yeast, bakers yeast, strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, cauliflower, grape, pineapple, celery and lettuce. Can you believe it?

The other blood tests says borderline for pre diabetes (so we want to watch that), and my thyroid was a little high. He believes I had an infection going on and once we get that under control everything else should fall into place. I also had low calcium and protein.

The only thing that concerns me is he wanted me to order all these expensive nutritional supplements and I did enough for 6 weeks, at which time I will get retested but I don't think I can afford to keep up with this so I hope I won't have to after the 6 weeks. We'll see.
At least I know what foods to avoid but yeast?! That's in all breads! I love bread. :( He said after 6 weeks I can slowly introduce back in one food item at a time and see which ones I can tolerate.
So that's about it. At least I know something now. So I will see how I feel after a couple of months!