--- Mark Feblowitz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Trouble is, it may not be just foods. Depending on where you live and

Too true, Mark! I think this is why most doctors just don't "get" it. It takes
awhile to figure out what's going on - and that's hard to do when you only want
to spend 4 minutes per patient and then be done. The last time I went to an
allergy specialist (BEFORE I discovered I had a dairy allergy), he refused to
accept that dairy could cause the problems I had (he only accepted anaphalactic
reactions for "allergy"), and swore I must be allergic to my 2 cats. He tested
- and cats came back negative. So he did a bigger cat test - still negative. In
the end, he told me "it has to be cats anyway, even if the tests don't show it"
Lol! I did not get rid of my cats, but I did get rid of the dairy - and (back
then) that made everything just fine :)

> If you're sure it's food, and you're not sure which one(s), you can

In the past, whenever I came up with symptoms it could be traced to some kind
of dairy in my diet. Eliminate the dairy, and everything (after several days or
weeks or months, depending how long I'd been eating the offending article)
settled down. What struck me several weeks back was when I was trying to eat
some tree nuts (don't remember - but it wasn't peanuts, cashews, or seeds. Like
pecans - that kind of nut). And I started getting this "itchy" sensation in the
back of my throat and tongue. After I stopped eating them, it went away in an
hour or so. Next time at the store I bought a *different* kind of nut (still
tree nut) - but had the same reaction. I tried again with sunflower seeds. No
problem. Peanuts, no problem. Cashews, no problem. But another kind of tree nut
- same "itchy/tickle" thing. The last time I ate more (perhaps a handful), and
I got sick as in I had to go home as I became sick to my stomach. Which, if I
was having a reaction, was actually a good thing. I've never had anything like
that reaction before, so I'm still not sure what the difficulty was. I'm just
afraid to try to eat any nuts for awhile, to be sure!

> too. If you're game, and you know how to do it without nutritionally
> compromising yourself, you could try a "nothing" diet. A very small
> set of the foods least likely to trigger symptoms (are there any,
> really?). If you get better, you could just return to your "regular"

I've done that in the past, and I've started it again this time. We'll see if
something shows up. Problem is - as everyone here knows - it's often a somewhat
lengthy process. If the problem is something other than food, that can take
even longer! Oh well!

> Very taxing. And only worth it if the symptoms are so annoying,
> debilitating, or harmful that it's worth the effort. It was for our

Very true! I've been on a quest for better health, the last few years, as my
health had gotten really bad due to a few different factors. So at this point,
I'm interested in whatever I can squeeze out :) If I have to give up nuts for
life, so be it - it can't be as hard as breaking my dairy habit! But I DON'T
relish the idea of one/more things to avoid (as I'm sure most/all know here
too!)

Gertie



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