newbie with lots of allergies

Well, I’m a 38 year old single guy in Michigan (USA).

I was diagnosed with chronic non-bacterial prostatitis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) several years ago. Symptoms just got worse over the years. My joints ached and I started having horrible low back pain. All the symptoms seemed to respond to anti-inflammatories (like ibuprofen)

I started getting bouts of shortness of breath, dizziness, and palpitations if I worked out. Four years ago, I backpacked across England (196 miles in under 2 weeks). Now, I am in the worst shape of my life. Totally depressed and despondent, one weekend I just laid in bed, too depressed to go to the store. All i had to eat in the house was some old frozen chicken. The thing is, after fasting all weekend, I felt pretty good. My IBS and prostatitis seemed the best it had in a long time.

It was only later when I was looking up some information that I stumbled across “food intolerances”. I ended up going to an allergist last week and got tested for allergies.

Turns out that I am damn near anaphylactic with grasses, trees, and dust mites. [b]I’m allergic to peaches (and perhaps related, like apples, pears, etc), bananas, rice, corn, wheat, soy, dairy, coffee, tea, and eggs. [/b] I was diagnosed with a peanut allergy as a young child.

I’m working on an eliminate diet, but it’s hard (as I’m sure you all know).

I tried Quinoa, but I wonder if I’m intolerant. Eating green leafies seems sets my IBS off and makes the prostatitis a lot worse and, unfortunately, quinoa seems to have the same effect.

I noticed that my allergist didn’t test me for all foods available… and that I test positive for most of the ones he did.

Is there a way to be tested for a ton of foods so I know what to exclude in my elimination diet?

I’m worried that my food intolerance for green leafies and other vegetables combined with my allergies will make it hard for me to have a balanced diet. How do I go about getting a nutritionist consult?

When I start reintroducing foods, how severe of a reaction is too much? I noticed that I got a stuffy nose when eating chocolate (milk free), but that was it. Should I therefore stay away from chocolate?

This has been rough. I’ve been vegetarian at different points in my life and just love good food. I feel like my body has betrayed me.

Anyway, thanks for the website. I’ve already used the quickbread skillet recipe and have loved it.

I’m trying to experiment on making my own powerbars for bicycling right now using sunflower butter, buckwheat, tapioca flour, sucunat, and pumpkin seeds.

You’ve hit the motherload of allergies, and my story was somewhat similar with health problems galor until found out it was all food allergies. (Btw you’ll probably find that your IBS and other intestinal problems are the result of your food allergies and go away with strict allergy avoidance)

If you haven’t seen it already. Go to Conner’s Corn Allergen list online, and start looking at your ingredients. Much of what you are reacting to could be cross-contamination.

Most chocolate has corn and soy. Avoid any chocolate with vanilla in it or soy lecitin, I think Dagoba makes chocolate drops that fit this criteria. Trial pure cocoa powder to see if you’re allergic to chocolate.

Leafy greens can be hard to digest, so it may take a while for your gut to heal before you can eat a lot of that. Also most greens are tainted with corn, so you could be reacting to that as well. Eat only organic full head greens, not any prepackaged ones or boxed ones. Hydroponic lettuce is the safest, and watch contains for biodegradable PLA made from soy and corn.

Quinoa has to be rinsed really really well or it can cause upset stomach from the natural soap that is on the outside of it.

Btw those powerbars sound great! Though do watch your sunflower butter, some sources of it do contain hidden soy. (and if your doc didn’t say anything, I’d advise you to not eat any beans of any kind with both a soy and peanut allergy).

With a corn allergy (not to mention the others), nutritionists aren’t always the best help as they aren’t always aware of where all corn hides and some are not very sympathetic. I’ve heard quite mixed reviews on how helpful nutritionists are with this allergy, and I wouldn’t put a lot of hope into it.

You may also find the http://corn-freefoods.blogspot.com helpful.

My son had a similar thing happen to him all of a sudden when he was around 26 years old. On his first trip to the doctor, the doctor discovered thyroid antibodies and adrenal fatigue. For 2 years, he’s had test after test done and finally found out it was probably food allergies, although he still doesn’t know what triggered it.
He did the standard skin-prick test and was allergic to all but 3 things tested for. He was put on the allergy drops but after months of taking them, he didn’t feel like they were helping him, so he went a step further and had the IgG Standard Food Sensitivity Assay. It’s a blood test that measures antibodies to certain foods tested. He was able to narrow things down a little bit and the things he tested positive for were a surprise. He’s now able to avoid those things specifically.
He also had the Gluten Antibody Assay and the C. albicans Immuno Assay done, which were both negative.

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