Food intolerance detective...a recent experience...

I think the possibility and probability that food intolerances are causing havoc with our health is somewhat brushed under the carpet.  Some people say 'that must not be very nice that you can enjoy the food we can', or say things along those lines.  But when your health or the health of someone you love dearly - such as your child or spouse is deteriorating and you discover the cause to be a food intolerance, you honestly do not care if they cant indulge in THAT food ever again, you just want them to be happy and healthy.

Did you know that undiagnosed food intolerances can lead to deterioration of the digestive tract and cause serious disease?  Just because you don't have any symptoms, doesn't mean you don't have any food intolerances either.  Symptoms can range from fatigue, headaches, diarrhoea, cramps, vomiting, weight gain etc. If you let a food intolerance go undiagnosed, this food will act like sandpaper inside your GI tract and will continue to break the skin.  Once this happens, its then able to leak out into the blood stream, where your immune system has no choice but to 'attack and defend' as it knows that food doesn't belong in the blood stream, it belongs in the digestive tract.  This is when you may develop symptoms - BUT not everyone develops symptoms. 

During the first three years of my Daughters life, she would vomit on occasions, usually overnight in her cot.  It was very random and happened every few months. I couldn't pin point any particular food that was setting her off, and to be honest, i didn't even think it was anything more than just a 'tummy bug'.  Time went by and when she was about 3 1/4, she began vomiting more regularly. What was even stranger was that she was vomiting every Tuesday afternoon around 3:30 pm.   She also complained on an ongoing basis of a sore tummy and told me her tummy was hot. I assumed she was feeling a burning sensation within her tummy.  

Back then, Monday was very routined as she had dancing straight after preschool and i had to be extra organised so that we could walk in the door and eat dinner pretty much straight away, if we were going to maintain our bath and bedtime routine.  We always had spaghetti bolognaise for tea that i would prepare earlier in the day. So Tuesday would come and at about 3pm, she would complain of a sore tummy. I remember one day, she was on the toilet and i was breastfeeding Eli on the couch and she started to vomit on the toilet.  I got to her as soon as i could and cleaned her up.  Once she had finished she would say 'i finished Mummy, there's no more'.  Just writing this breaks my heart...There is nothing i hate more, than seeing my babies sick and not being able to help them feel better.  So as a few weeks went by, she was sick 4 times in 5 weeks.  I consulted with the GP, she referred her to a paediatrician and she was also seeing a naturopath, not getting results we took her to 2 other naturopaths, none of which could give us any indicators as to the cause.  Of course i started reading up on the possible causes and questioned the naturopath and GP about the possibility it could be a stomach ulcer?  I came to this conclusion after a few weeks of this, because every Monday night we would have spaghetti bolognaise, and although i made this from scratch myself, it was the tomato that was very visible in her vomit, so i suspected tomato as a problem food. I read that citrus can aggravate stomach ulcers, not only this, but also the burning sensation she was describing.

More time went by and she went to a children's gathering and had a icy pole.  I made sure it didn't have gluten or dairy in it and cleared it as safe for her and she enjoyed it.  22 hours later, she paid the price. Fortunately, she had finished it on the way home and the packaging was in the car. I read the ingredients and it contained 'citric acid'.  Hmmm....now this added weight to my citrus theory...

She saw the paediatrician  I asked him if it could be a stomach ulcer. He agreed that it could be from the information i gave him, and prescribed Losec and also sent her for skin prick testing, an ultrasound and blood tests.  As some of you may know, these things take time, i think we had to wait to have skin prick test done was 6 weeks, and that was considered a short waiting list. This is a long time when you are in great need of answers.  After much consideration and discussions with our naturopath, we decided to give her the Losec.  Anyone that knows me, knows that i only give my children medications in dire circumstances, i prefer to treat them naturally and to treat the cause not the symptoms. I also did other things like gave her Kefir and probiotics, slippery elm to try sooth and health her gut especially while taking the Losec. She was also on herbs that the naturopath gave her to support her during this time also. 

I was confused because i couldnt understand how she would have a stomach ulcer....i pulled out the textbooks and read that its actually caused by a bacteria called helico bacter.  This is a bad bug, and when it takes over, it burrows into the stomach lining...causing an ulcer.  So really, it wouldn't be that hard for a 3 years old to get one.

It then came time for her Brothers 1st birthday party and she drank several poppers at his party.  She was sick again. We had leftover poppers and i checked the label and sure enough, there was citric acid in them.  This citrus and citric acid had to be the common denominator of all this. I consider myself to be a pretty over protective parent but even more so when it comes to food - because i know what poor food choices can do to ones health.  I was feeling very down on myself because how could i keep letting this happen?? I was allowing her to eat/drink the foods that were making her sick.  

The skin prick test was done and nothing showed up, meaning that whatever the issue was, it wasn't a food allergy.   So the practitioner gave me some information on preservatives (totally unnecessary as i had already advised her that she eat a whole food diet and that i made everything she ate on an everyday basis, from scratch) and told me there was nothing she could do. In that moment i was fuming mad.  I wanted to pin point the problem food and know 100% what it was, so i could ensure she avoided it in the future. I wouldn't have paid anything, to hear from someone's mouth, what the problem food was. I just wanted answers and every which way i turned, i got no results.

I then had testing done by a naturopath in the city, it revealed nothing.  Noone could give me answers.  I remember crying to Adam that i didn't know what to do (i was very stressed about this) and he said 'we already have the answer Jess' and i looked at him like 'huh?' and he said 'it doesn't matter what anyone tells us, we know its citrus, don't we?' In that moment, a light flicked on and she hasn't had any citrus foods since and she's thriving.  Loads of energy, fabulous behaviour, great sleeper, so intelligent.  This is when we realised that we had this sorted.  It was a food intolerance - to citrus. Her blood test returned normal and her ultrasound revealed her perfect little internal organs were all perfectly fine. There was no ulcer, it was just a food intolerance.

Not having citrus means that we have to ensure that she's getting her vitamin c from other sources, but we manage that, and it definitely beats seeing her vomiting all the time and the pain that went with it.

I feel so terrible that she had to go through all that, one of those things that you have to go through sometimes, but she's come out the other side of it and she's just blossoming.  Its a tough path for a little person to have to go through and also a tough road for the parents, but once we had figured it out, we explained to her what was causing her to get sick and she doesn't want to eat those foods any more   She takes it all in her stride.  

Yes its been tough, but with all said and done, we know what she needs to avoid and can make smarter food choices because we have this information. And we worked it out without any help from any health care professionals, noone could help us identify the cause of her symptoms.  Sometimes you need to be a bit of a food detective yourself...try and put the pieces of the puzzle together, in order to get results and see the bigger picture. A food diary can help with this. If we hadn't had spag bol every Monday night, it would have been much harder for me to narrow down.

I hope my story inspires those of you who may be battling the same thing! Food can be such a great form of medicine or can be the worst form of poison. 

Rejuven-Eat & Revital-Eyes offer food intolerance testing, so please let us know if you would like to order a test.  Its very simple, its just a finger prick of blood that you put on a strip and send off to the lab.  No big needles, just answers!  I wish i had have known about this method of testing when all this was going on. We will also help you with alternative food choices using food as your medicine and logic as your motivation.  We can put together an eating plan that's specific to you.  We also offer health fund rebates for our services.

Healthy Regards

Jess x