Knowing 'No' is Knowing No More?
Apr. 10th, 2007 09:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drwexMore un-wellness stuff. We cut because we care.
The blood test for celiac came back negative. That's totally unsurprising, and something of a relief as I've watched the sucktasticness of this disease in several of my friends. However, my doc doesn't have any other explanation for the oddities seen in my small intestine on the last round of X rays.
Sorry for the nasty mental image, but giardiasis has a symptomatology that matches to a good degree and the doc agreed that some people do have histamine reactions to this kind of infestation. Anyway, it's not a parasite.
The next step is definitely a GI specialist, which is currently scheduled for June something. Neither my doc nor I like that answer so we're going to try to get them to make it sooner. I give them until Friday to improve the situation, then I unleash Pygment on them.
Meanwhile I'm thinking a couple steps ahead. My current theory is a food allergy, possibly nightshades. Two questions for the assembled knowledge base. Google isn't giving me clear answers.
1. Is it possible to be allergic to wheat or gluten without having celiac disease?
2. Are some nightshades worse than others? Like, could I be allergic to eggplant but not tomatoes? Or might one nightshade provoke a worse reaction than others?
The blood test for celiac came back negative. That's totally unsurprising, and something of a relief as I've watched the sucktasticness of this disease in several of my friends. However, my doc doesn't have any other explanation for the oddities seen in my small intestine on the last round of X rays.
Sorry for the nasty mental image, but giardiasis has a symptomatology that matches to a good degree and the doc agreed that some people do have histamine reactions to this kind of infestation. Anyway, it's not a parasite.
The next step is definitely a GI specialist, which is currently scheduled for June something. Neither my doc nor I like that answer so we're going to try to get them to make it sooner. I give them until Friday to improve the situation, then I unleash Pygment on them.
Meanwhile I'm thinking a couple steps ahead. My current theory is a food allergy, possibly nightshades. Two questions for the assembled knowledge base. Google isn't giving me clear answers.
1. Is it possible to be allergic to wheat or gluten without having celiac disease?
2. Are some nightshades worse than others? Like, could I be allergic to eggplant but not tomatoes? Or might one nightshade provoke a worse reaction than others?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 01:55 pm (UTC)2. Certainly. I have very strange allergies myself, that completely mystify the medical profession, but by not eating certain things, I stay healthy. I have various fruit allergies, and some species are much worse than others. Ditto nightshades - I can't eat a raw tomato, but well cooked is OK. On the other hand, Eggplant I can only eat a tiny bit of at a time and it must be cooked, and any kind of bell pepper is right out.
The best way to find correlations, and you've probably hear this before, is to keep a very detailed food diary. Every item, including beverages, every day, for a long time, recording along with the food, as much sensory detail as possible, including physical 'symptoms', emotional states, cravings, etc. And don't just assume that a 'symptom' on day x relates to food on day x, it might relate to food on day x-1 or x-2, or even certain combinations of foods eaten together or within certain time frames.
I know that this is frustrating and painful. The key is to do your homework, and eventually it will get figured out. Hang in there!
no subject
Date: 2007-04-10 03:15 pm (UTC)