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Medical Forum / General / Nutrition / February 2005looking for practical food allergy information
Hi all, I've recently been diagnosed with a food allergy for several food items. And now i'm looking for information on dealing with it in real life and maybe tips/tricks from people who have experience with this. My doctor told me there is no cure for it, and i should just not eat anything i'm allergic to. But that is easier said then done, when you are allergic to some food items that are base ingredients to most foods, like me. And the way i see it, it's just not possible to scan all food for ingredients. Both from a practical point of view and maybe even more important from a social point of view. I'm currently creating a list of questions i want to ask when i next visit my doctor. Things like: - Is there a reasonable chance my body will adapt itself and "grow out" of the allergy. I'm mid 20's now, so i doubt my body will adapt much, but i've read stories about this. - What will happen on the long term when i keep eating "bad food" in small or large amounts and accept the discomfort of the allergic reactions? Will my body adapt itself and will the reactions become less severe, will nothing change, or will the reactions become worse. And if so, how severe will they become, and which medical complications can i expect? - Are there ways to "strengthen" your body, so the reactions will be less severe when they hit you. A diet, sporting and not smoking/drinking are probably a good start, but maybe there is more i can do, i'm not aware of yet. Maybe someone who has experience with these kind of situations, can comment on the above questions, and/or add some questions, answers, links to sites or ideas that might be of use to me. Any help will be greatly appreciated! Best regards, John Do a google search on "elimination diet". You need to do two things: 1) eliminate the allergenic food from your diet in at least a temporary manner 2) boost your immune system by eating nutritious foods and/or supplement with vitamins Allergies are an immune system reaction that can occur in numerous ways. (A) It can react to a particular food in all circumstances. (B) It can react to a food after you've eaten a certain amount over a certain period of time. (C)And it can react to a food out of the blue without any previous reactions. For (A) you are probably stuck with avoiding that food forever. For (B) you will probably be able to get rid of the allergic symptoms by cutting out the offending food for a period of time then re-introducing it to your diet in smaller amounts less frequently. For (C) you may be able to do same as with (B) foods. When you are deficient in certain vitamins, you tend to catch colds easier and the colds seem to have a greater impact on you. Same with allergies, they tend to show up and be worse. My advice: eat less refined carbs, they deplete you of many vitamins they displace more nutritious foods in your diet. Eat more fresh produce and fresh meats. Stay away from processed foods as much as possible. And if it still isn't enough, supplement your diet with vitamin C and a good B vitamin stress formula complex. Some cod liver oil would also help with vitamins A and D and omega-3 oils. Get your immune system back on track by eating better and go thru the process of the elimination diet. Learn all you can about the elimination diet so you can implement it effectively. Chances are that most foods that you are allergic to will no longer bother you when your immune system is at maximum effectiveness and you minimize the exposure to the allergenic foods. TC > Hi all, > [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > Best regards, > John There is no such thing as making your immune system stronger. You have an over active immune system already. It depends on the type of allergy you have and the symptoms of the allergy. It may range from death (anaphylactic reaction) to chronic disability and damage (gluten) to temporary local reactions. For specific food allergies the best thing is to avoid the food. Chronic exposure to the allergen may lead to cellular morphologic changes in the gut mucosa impacting all food absorption and not only the allergic item (decrease crypts). > Hi all, > [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > Best regards, > John Tell that to victims of scurvy and other vitamin deficiencies who develop weakened immune systems. TC > There is no such thing as making your immune system stronger. > You have an over active immune system already. [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > > Best regards, > > John ... and it is not a matter of a "weak" imune system versus a "strong" immune system. That is a very unfortunate and poor application of the english language in a supposedly scientific context. It is about an immune system that is or is not operating the way it was intended to work. Malnutrition (ie. vitamin deficiencies) leads to a impairment of the immune system, it is just a matter of to what degree the immune system is impaired. ie. not functioning properly. TC > There is no such thing as making your immune system stronger. > You have an over active immune system already. [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > > Best regards, > > John Agree. > ... and it is not a matter of a "weak" imune system versus a "strong" > immune system. That is a very unfortunate and poor application of the [quoted text clipped - 74 lines] > > > Best regards, > > > John >There is no such thing as making your immune system stronger. >You have an over active immune system already. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >the gut mucosa impacting all food absorption and not only the allergic item >(decrease crypts). Thanks at everybody for your answers and suggestions. My main question which remains is: is food allergy a progressive disease or not. In other words. 1) Will the intake of "allergic food" always worsen the condition in a more or lesser degree. Even if you don't have any clear allergic symptoms or very mild ones. Which would mean: the allergic threshold will drop with every allergic reaction and make things worse the next time. 2) Or will your body (always) bounce back to the point it started before the allergic reaction, if you don't eat any "bad food" for a while. Which would mean: the allergic threshold is more or less fixed and will stay that way. (Unless you completely overdose on allergic food and do direct permanent damage to your body.) And to add some information from my own experience so far. There seems to be a connection between my physical condition and the severity of the reactions. When i haven't eaten/slept well for a while or when i'm stressed it seems to be worse. So i'm hoping for #2 .. Best regards, John > On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 13:20:49 -0800, "Robert" > Thanks at everybody for your answers and suggestions. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > will drop with every allergic reaction and make things worse the next > time. I am somewhat perplexed as to your symptoms and diagnosis. Without specifics then how can you get specific answers. I suggest you have your doctor explain to you exactly what your situation is. There are differing types of hypersensitivity reactions that can vary greatly. For someone to predict on what will happen to you is dependent on the specific allergy you have. True allergies of the immune type can be modulated with immune therapies or medication or avoidance of allergen. They don't simply get better on their own assuming continued intake of allergen continues. > 2) Or will your body (always) bounce back to the point it started > before the allergic reaction, if you don't eat any "bad food" for a > while. Which would mean: the allergic threshold is more or less fixed > and will stay that way. (Unless you completely overdose on allergic > food and do direct permanent damage to your body.) There are memory cells that last a life time which makes forgetting an allergen impossible. Once exposed and an immune response mounted then it is with you for ever. If you avoid the allergen then symptoms are reduced or eliminated but even after years with re-exposure of allergen comes the memory response. Once a person is allegic to penicillin then they should never take penicillin for the rest of their life. The threshold is dependent on the type of hypersensitivity reaction you have. If you are allergic to nuts then you might die from one nut intact if it is a type I IgE reaction or you might just throw-up or have a watery nose. It is idiosycratic and unpredictable which is why they say to stay away from it. It is not a fixed level that is predictable. It is possible to have ongoing damage related to cytotoxicity that may be confusing from a diagnostic point of view such as gluten sensitive enteraphathy. Non specific symptoms that someone may not attribute to hypersensitivity. It may be misdiagnosed for years. > And to add some information from my own experience so far. There seems > to be a connection between my physical condition and the severity of [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Best regards, > John If you haven't eaten well or slept well then why push it by eating something you shouldn't eat? You do seem to be pretty vague about what you are allergic to and the type of allergy you have. >There are memory cells that last a life time which makes forgetting an >allergen impossible. Once exposed and an immune response mounted then it is [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >The threshold is dependent on the type of hypersensitivity reaction you >have. If you are allergic to nuts then you might die from one nut intact if So you mean desensibilisation therapies never work?? The success rate is very low that most of the time it is never even attempted in terms of type I reactions. Some people are so sensitive that they can never tolerate it. Those are immune therapies that are medical and not home based diet related. > >There are memory cells that last a life time which makes forgetting an > >allergen impossible. Once exposed and an immune response mounted then it is [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > So you mean desensibilisation therapies never work?? John, When you remove the foods that tested as allergic, you are only removing the triggers. Unless you change the underlying dysfunction that enabled these seemingly otherwise inoffensive foods to trigger your immune system, why should anything change? I'm not a scientist, I'm just exercising my common sense based on my own experience. steve >>There is no such thing as making your immune system stronger. >>You have an over active immune system already. [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] >Best regards, >John hi John, I found that if I choose the foods I eat based on my blood type and avoided the allergenic ones, I was after a time, able to manage a life threatening auto-immune disease without drugs. Eventually, I was able to eat the foods that showed up as allergenic without reaction [as a side bar, there are 5 major components to our immune systems. Most allergy tests look at only 2 of them (IgE & IgG] best wishes, steve shapiro http://www.uoregon.edu/~sshapiro/Pemphigus >Hi all, > >I've recently been diagnosed with a food allergy for several food >items. And now i'm looking for information on dealing with it in real >life and maybe tips/tricks from people who have experience with this. >> snip > hi John, > > I found that if I choose the foods I eat based on my blood type and > avoided the allergenic ones, I was after a time, able to manage a life > threatening auto-immune disease without drugs. bogus post. No evidense at all that eating based on ABO type can impact allergies. > Eventually, I was able to eat the foods that showed up as allergenic > without reaction Which reactions? I was shown allergic to shrimp and many foods and I still eat them without doing anything. I get an occasional running nose and nothing else. It depends on symptoms and the type of hypersensitivity reaction you have. Me, changing according to blood type diet won't change that. If you want to eliminate common food allergens and then call it based on your blood type then go for it. OK, let say types A and O don't eat shrimp. That accounts for about 80 % of the population. Does that mean that if you are type B that you can not be allergic to shrimp? It is better to just eliminate those foods you are allergic to and that it is pure nonsense that you eat based on food type. > [as a side bar, there are 5 major components to our immune systems. > Most allergy tests look at only 2 of them (IgE & IgG] Not quite. It depends on the test. > best wishes, > steve shapiro [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >life and maybe tips/tricks from people who have experience with this. > >> snip |
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