Help!!

[LindsayRae523]

Hey everyone! I'm 19 and just recently moved in with my boyfriend, I've been struggling with constant nausea and stomach cramps for the last 4 months I found out today that I'm allergic to Corn wheat soy milk and eggs and I have no idea what to do! I'm already deficient on so many vitamins and I have PCOS so I already don't process foods like potatoes. I don't know what to do or what to eat:( I need help anything please

[GoingNuts]

Good Morning, and Welcome!

The constant stomach issues sound miserable!

A couple of questions so we can better help you - what kind of allergy testing did you have?  Have you seen a gastroenterologist, or a board certified allergist?  Any other symptoms besides the GI issues?  Are you a vegetarian, or can you eat meat/poulty/fish?

We have some really smart people here, so I'm sure we can give you some good suggestions.  I hope you get some relief soon!

[Macabre]

Welcome! Yes—was it a skin test or a blood test? And was it for me by a board certified allergist or another doctor?

[LindsayRae523]

When I was in the 5th grade I went to a certified allergy doctor and they did the skin test back and arms. I was allergic to tons of trees and other sorts of fungi and mold so I started shot treatments. I continued until junior high but I couldn't drive and I had no one who could take me so I had to quit them. In October I woke up covered in hives and turned out I contracted a fungal infection I was allergic to (I was literally allergic to myself until the infection was gone) my general doctor suggested I start doing allergy treatments again. At the beginning of December I went to my Ear Nose and Throat doctor because they have a doctor who is a board certified allergist. She did the welting test and determined my skin was to sensitive and welted to easily to do the skin testing so she drew blood. I got the results yesterday. I'll be starting shots again for the rest of my allergies and I think they will be including the food ones as well.

My main issues are usually GI occasionally my lips would itch but I never thought much of it. I have severe anxiety and a history of c-dif from working in nursing homes. So GI issues have always been a problem. To help myself from contracting c-did again I have to avoid antibiotics as much as possible and eat TONS of probiotics so yogurt ugh😞

I'm currently attending college as well and we all no how much money that leaves me. Any help would be immensely appreciated thankyou💕💕💕

[LindsayRae523]

I also have severe ADHD? I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I have absolutely no clue about food allergies other than my sister is allergic to cinnamon and she goes into anaphylaxis from it:(

[StridAst]

So, a few questions.  First, you mentioned your skin is too sensitive for skin prick tests.  Also you mentioned severe anxiety, and multiple deficiencies, which are suggestive enough to ask a few questions to see if you have reactions that better fit a mast cell disorder profile than a standard allergy profile. (two closely related allergic disease types)

First, do you get reactions to things that don't fit well within normal allergies.  i.e. any of the following:
reactions to sunlight, exercise, heat or cold, stress (physical or emotional).  strong smells (particularly perfumes, soaps, cleaning chemicals)
Also possibly relevant would be a family history of high flexibility, joint pain, with or without elastic (stretchy) skin. (ehlers-danlos syndrome)


Things to know:  first, if you have had IgE blood testing, and it's positive, that DOES indicate a food allergy so long as you have symptoms when you eat those things.   That isn't really subject to debate.    If a food triggers symptoms, you need to cut every last trace of it out of your diet.  This could easily require cooking everything yourself and not eating any more fast food when it's something as ubiquitous as corn.  For lower IgE numbers (less than 2 or so) you might want to get a second opinion and a second test from another allergist.

corn syrup is in nearly everything.  soft drinks, ketchup, barbecue sauce, etc.  Corn starch is added to many things you wouldn't think have it.  Like powdered sugar and some grated cheeses. So read all packages.  Soy is also in pretty much everything, however many people with a soy allergy can tolerate soy lecithin and soybean oil. so you definitely  want to discuss that one with your allergist.  as if that can be safely eaten it expands a LOT of prepackaged food.

Rice makes for a wonderful base to get your starches/carbs in.  you will also find it's common in gluten free flours.  Cornstarch however is also common, so you will need to read any premixed flour recipes to ensure it's not present. https://minimalistbaker.com/diy-gluten-free-flour-blend/  that's a flour recipe that is gluten free and cornstarch free.   It does contain some potato starch, which I'm uncertain enough about PCOS to be sure as to if it's something you need to avoid completely, or small amounts are fine.

Meats, veggies. homemade sauces work well for meals.  Here's a corn syrup free ketchup recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/232397/homemade-ketchup/

you can also use homemade ketchup like that as a base for barbecue sauce.  (google recipes on this one, most involve adding liquid smoke, paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, mustard powder etc to ketchup)

so for instance, in the morning before work, you can baste some ribs with barbecue sauce, slow cook in a crockpot on low, then make some rice and say broccoli or asparagus when you get home and have the time consuming part (the meat) done well before you get home. slow cooked and tender

You can bake your own buns for hamburgers with gluten free flour, (assuming it's something you can eat) and then freeze them.  when you plan on making hamburgers, simply move them to the fridge in the morning, or the night before, and they will be defrosted enough to crisp up nicely on the stove when you want to cook hamburgers.  (see above ketchup recipe)

I hope this helps give some ideas. 

[rebekahc]

StridAst has a lot of good suggestions for you.  One thing to remember is that allergy testing is far from accurate with about 50% of positive results being false positives.  Unfortunately, with ambiguous symptoms like nausea, it can be hard to narrow down what's causing your symptom so you'll probably need to completely avoid all your positives for a few weeks and see if your symptoms go away.  Then, with the help of your allergist, you may be able to reintroduce things one at a time to see what your true allergens are.  I would not recommend reintroducing possible food allergens without your doctor's direction, though.  When DS was little (he's 21 now), we had a very controlled process overseen by our allergist so we could narrow down which of the many things he was truly allergic to.  Unfortunately for him it was a lot.

WRT corn - the basic rule is if it comes in a package, it has corn in it.  Not only can corn be an ingredient, but it can be used in the packing process (like dusting the inside of canned fruit tins with cornstarch) and does not have to be listed in the ingredient label.  When DS was little, one of the things we learned was that kosher for Passover foods don't contain corn.  Regular kosher can, but not at Passover.  Back in the day Muir Glen ketchup was corn free (year round) and very tasty.  I could usually find it in the organic section or the kosher section.  With corn, you also have to watch out for other products - like tissues, medicines, etc.  It won't always be labeled since it's not a top allergen.  We had to have DS's medicines made at the compounding pharmacy to avoid corn.  If you look in this section of our form, there are a few threads about corn allergy with more information and resources.

One other thought I had...  constant nausea/cramping without other symptoms is not typical of food allergy reaction.  Any chance there's some other cause like medicine you're taking (including birth control) or even a manifestation of your anxiety?

I'm sorry you're suffering and hope we can help you figure out what to safely eat!

[StridAst]

Agreed on nausea and cramps without other symptoms not being typical of food allergies.  It is *very* typical for chronic stomach things with mast cell disorders.  Though even then one would expect other symptoms, they just wouldn't necessarily be obviously connected.  Like the skin hypersensitivity and anxiety *could* both count as other symptoms with mast cell disorders.   In classic allergies, the IgE antibodies trigger the mast cells, which release a ton of different chemicals, which cause the symptoms,  the symptoms are usually varied, and with increased severity usually comes an increase in the number of symptoms.  With mast cell disorders, the mast cells themselves are not functioning correctly, so things change.  You can get release of those chemicals without the IgE triggers,  you also tend to get fewer chemicals released, or different chemicals released for different stimulous.  This leads often to single symptoms that seem disconnected from the other symptoms.

Of course other things can cause the GI issues, the skin stuff, and the anxiety.  Hence my question about other reactions   Since with mast cell disorders you expect both chronic *and* acute symptoms.   Multiple vitamin deficiencies goes hand in hand with anything wrong with the digestive tract, and anxiety can easily be caused by deficiencies (especially hormone deficiencies like vitamin D which is, in fact, a hormone) so there are multiple possible causes, but none of those tend to cause the skin hypersensitivity (assuming it's a type of dermatographia).

Edited to add a couple things