# Question regarding multiple food intolerances and fructose malabsorption



## Threshold (Mar 28, 2015)

Hi,

I'm new here, so excuse me if this is a long post. I have a question about discovering which foods I'm intolerant to:

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with post-infectious irritable bowel (A) after a parasite followed by a c difficile infection. I also found out that I had an ulcer on my illeum, which my doctor attributed to anti-inflammatory meds and not Crohn's because I didn't have any more bouts of D after the C Diff cleard up and my condition improved slightly when I went on a low fodmap diet. I say "slightly" because the flatulence and abdominal pain was mostly gone, but I still had indigestion after pretty much everything I ate, was burping all the time and worst of all was that I just can't properly process food. I rarely get a normal looking stool and about a year ago found out I had low iron and vitamin D.

In the late fall I started reintroducing foods into my diet because I was a vegetarian (for 20 years) and worried I wasn't getting enough iron. Over the last year and a half I've also developed a lot of other more worrisome problems: extreme fatigue, extreme hunger, frequent periods of hypoglycemia, chronic sore throat along with frequently enlarged throat glands and lymph nodes on my neck. There also other less pronounced symptoms.

I've done a whole bunch of diagnostic tests, gone to just about every doctor and specialist, including seeing a naturopath who put me on a yeast-free diet (did not help!) and no one knows what's causing my symptoms. It occurred to me that maybe it had to do with something I'm eating because I noticed I always got a sore throat and runny nose after eating breakfast and my fatigue was worst after eating meals. (I've had to adjust to eating smaller meals 5 times a day instead of large meals 3 times)

I totally changed what I've been eating for breakfast for the last 10 days. No more steel cut oats. And I've cut out a ton of other foods from my diet and I've been feeling much better!

The problem is: there are so many foods that I seem to react to that I just can't figure out which ones are ok. At the moment my diet mainly consists of fish, chicken, white rice, quinoa and leafy green vegetables, but I've cut out most other stuff.

These are the the foods I've discovered are definitely bad:

Anything with caffeine

Dairy (aside from hard cheese and yogurt)

Coconut products

Ground flax seed

Honey

Brown rice

Most legumes and lentils

Most types of tea (incl. herbal) aside from ginger

Onion and garlic

By the way, I did get a blood test for celiac a couple years ago and it came back negative. I'm beginning to wonder if it could be fructose malabsorption because eating large amounts of fruit has always been hard on my stomach, but I'm still getting reactions to foods that don't have fructose in them.

How have you been able to pinpoint multiple food intolerances?

I'm pretty much just trying out an elimination diet, based on the fodmap diet as well as other foods I suspect to be causing symptoms, and then continuing to eliminate more foods when it seems like they are causing symptoms. But it doesn't leave me with much to eat. Then there is also the question of whether it is the food itself of the cross-contamination or some sort of chemical in the food. I do cook everything from scratch.

Also, if you happen to be in the Toronto area and can recommend a dietitian or allergist who is knowledgeable about multiple food sensitivities I would appreciate it. I have gone on so many different diets now that I have become somewhat skeptical of naturopaths.


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## Amanda Nicole (Jul 14, 2013)

I use the Mediator Release Test with my clients - this is by far the most accurate test available for food sensitivities. It basically gives a snapshot of how much inflammation different foods and chemicals produce in your body (inflammation is at the root of many health conditions/symptoms). From that, I develop a customized eating plan (elimination diet) that starts with the lowest inflammatory foods revealed on the test and is adjusted for specific medical issues, dietary needs, food preferences, food availability, etc. Folks will typically see significant improvements (around 50-80% reduction in symptoms) in 10-14 days. (I've yet to have a client who didn't improve on this protocol.)

Let me know if you'd like more info on this.


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## Threshold (Mar 28, 2015)

Thanks Mandynic,

Observing my reaction specifically to flax seed, I think it might be an allergy. I accidentally at some margarine with flax seed oil in it today and immediately got a sore throat, extreme hunger, hypoglycemia, fogginess and now a painful swollen gland in my neck. Is the only way to know to do an allergy test? I took a reactine, but it did nothing.


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## Threshold (Mar 28, 2015)

Update: I have cut out a lot of foods from my diet and am feeling much better! I discoverd that flax seed was causing me the worst symptoms of all and I think I may actually have an allergy to it.


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