Health Issues and Food Tests

Over the past year I’ve been trying to figure out some health issues. At first, I didn’t realize that something might be going on, but when I stopped and looked back, I realized I might need to get checked out. It started with not being able to handle heat during the summer. I started sweating like crazy, even when other people weren’t. I’ve never been a person who sweats much so that was weird. Then I wasn’t able to lose any weight. I was working out 6 days a week and I even started adding in weight training, and I still didn’t lose any weight. My postpartum anxiety didn’t go away like it usually does, and it actually started to get worse. The thing that really made me stop, though, was when I noticed some hair loss. I say some hair loss, but in actuality I lost almost a third of my hair. My hair was really thick, so I still looked like I had plenty of hair, but healthy people don’t lose a third of their hair in 3 months.

After I looked at all of those things in combination with each other, I decided to make an appointment with my doctor to see about getting my thyroid checked. That started what would seem to be the start of a comedy of errors. I didn’t know that supplements with biotin in them could skew the results of thyroid tests so I didn’t even think to tell my doctor that I was taking a vitamin that contained biotin until I got the results and saw the note attached. Another thyroid test was ordered, then cancelled, then ordered again, but I couldn’t get in to take it. During all of this, my midwife, whom I love, came back to my area to practice again doing women’s health, including thyroid. So I switched back. Then we restarted all the tests again.

She put me on a low dose of a common thyroid medication and we are seeing what kinds of effects it will have. In my research I also learned about adrenal fatigue. As I looked at the symptoms, I realized that I could relate to almost all of them. So I’ve brought that up with my midwife also and we are also working on that.

One thing that was mentioned a couple of times was to check for food sensitivities, and to adjust your diet to help with symptoms. I ordered a kit to do at home and send in to check what foods my body might be reacting to. Thankfully I didn’t have a high reactivity to any foods, but I do have a moderate reactivity to cow’s milk. I also have 20 other foods and spices that I have mild reactivity to.

This was an IGg test, so it just tests the things that you are currently reacting to, but it doesn’t mean you are allergic to those things. In some cases you may only be allergic to one or two things, but those things have started a chain reaction where your body also reacts to other foods that it normally wouldn’t. Also, low reactivity doesn’t mean that it’s not inconvenient. I know someone who has a low reactivity to a food and their reaction is tiredness. That doesn’t sound so bad, unless they eat something they shouldn’t and feel too tired to drive, or they are so tired they don’t have energy to play with their kids. It’s a “mild” reaction that has a big impact on their life.

The next step is to decide what I’m going to do with this information. The best thing would be to do an elimination diet where I take the foods out for a month and then one at a time start reintroducing them back into my diet to see if I still have a reaction to them. There are a couple of ways to do an elimination diet, and the biggest difference is how long you want it to take. You could eliminate a few things at a time, or all of them at once. The all at once strategy is the quickest, but it can also be the most difficult depending on how common those foods are in your diet. In my case, I’m really struggling. Many of the things I eat daily are on my lists.

These things include chicken, white potatoes, including gluten free flour mixes made with potato starch and potato flour, garlic, vanilla, oregano, bell peppers, and all dairy products, including sheep and goat milk products. There’s more, but those are the ones that I find on my table almost every day, especially garlic. My brain feels stuck as to how I’m going to flavor food now without garlic and still make it taste good. I know there are a lot of other seasonings, and I use them, but I also use a lot of garlic. My go-to snacks are usually cheese sticks, or cream cheese and crackers. Potatoes are a staple around here. Mashed, fried, baked, roasted, or french fried, they are some of my favorite foods. We eat chicken more than any other meat in my house. Now we have to switch to beef or pork. I need to figure out new go-to meals for me. I don’t want to change my family’s diet. The kids love to cook and they can still make their chicken enchiladas and macaroni and cheese, I’ll just make sure to have something else for me.

I know I’ll be fine once I figure out a few things and focus on the things I can have instead of the things I can’t have. I think that is the hardest part of an elimination diet. There is so much good food available, I just have to focus on the positive and I know that I will find so many new options.