Saturday, June 12, 2010

Well then what CAN I eat?

Visited the allergist again last Tuesday. Since the soy-free didn't seem to be helping my dysphagia (food getting stuck in my esophagus), she put me on an even more restricted elimination diet. It's only for two weeks, but it's going to seem so much longer! I still have to avoid soy, peanuts, and corn with the newest addition of wheat, milk, and eggs. I'm basically going to be the most difficult and weird vegan ever. No soy but meat's ok! Lol.

I've been on it for a week and have been doing ok. I've cheated, not going to lie, but I think with an even more restrictive diet it's also important to let myself have little cheats here and there (like margarine on my potatoes once) because otherwise I'll just go crazy. My mother-in-law brought over a whole bunch of groceries for me last Wednesday, she knew I was struggling with the idea of shopping with the new restrictions, so happy to have family close by! :)

I was doing some research tonight and found something interesting. I've never been crazy about raw fruit, or just fruit in general. I think it started with being a picky eater as a kid (although now I'm wondering if being a picky eater was a result of food allergies) but I never really grew out of it. I knew apples made my teeth hurt if I ate them raw--in a pie they're totally fine--and since I wasn't thrilled with any other fruit, I didn't notice any particular reactions. Since being put on this super restrictive diet, I've tried to give raw fruit another chance. I knew I liked pineapple juice and orange juice, so those seemed like good places to start. Bought a pineapple (not buying a whole one ever again, btw, definitely will be buying the pre-cut pieces) and a bag of oranges and did my best to give them a shot. Had part of an orange with lunch last week and even gave the pineapple a try over the weekend. Didn't particularly care for the way both fruits made my throat/mouth feel, not like an allergic reaction, just not right. I thought maybe I just wasn't giving them enough of a chance. I soaked the pineapple in some delicious cherry rum, maybe I could entice myself, the flavor was ok, but the same thing happened, strange feeling in my mouth/throat. For what I decided was the final time tonight, I made a smoothie with the pineapple (mold had grown on one of my oranges so that turned me off of them for a little while) and some cranberry juice I had in the fridge. Same exact thing again.

I apparently need to try things in threes before I'll get the message that my body truly doesn't want something. This isn't the first time I couldn't take the hint (thankfully no hospital visits related to allergies). I hopped online and started researching. I can have all the cooked fruits I want, fruit-flavored things, you name it, just not raw fruit. I stumbled across OAS, Oral Allergy Syndrome. Apparently, my strange reactions aren't so strange after all and there are lots of people who have the same problem with raw fruit. When I talk to my allergist next week I'm definitely going to mention the raw fruit issue (we had tested me for an apple allergy, which was negative) and bring up what I've read about OAS. Apparently, adults who suffer from hay fever allergies can have problems with raw fruit and vegetables. The proteins the fruits/veggies contain are structurally similar to the pollen or whatever your body is fighting off so they attack the protein too. Cooking and heat usually kills whatever protein the body reacts to (which is why soybean oil and peanut oil are usually safe for people with those allergies) and that's why only the raw fruits/veggies give OAS sufferers problems.

One big reason to talk to my allergist about this is (based off what I've read) so that she can test me for the pollen allergens because that's how the OAS diagnosis is made. It also could be completely unrelated to my EE. Joy. Another thing to add to my already lengthening list of medical issues...

4 comments:

kimom said...

Hi. I've never been testing for EE, but it sounds really familiar to me. I have so many memories of choking and spitting stuff out in public situations as a kid. Anyway, I have had occasional OAS reactions, though I always assumed it was more related to the fact that I'm allergic to most other kinds of trees and the fruit would have pollens and other things on the exterior. I've heard peeling and eating 'out of season' can help too. Sorry for all the stresses. It seems the more I think about what I can eat and the more I stress about it, the more I cause reactions. Does that make sense?
Hang in there...

Jeanne said...

Thank you for the kind words! It's encouraging to know that I'm not alone. I'm the only one with food allergies in my family and they do a wonderful job of making sure that I can eat what's cooked at family gatherings, but sometimes it's still lonely on my side of the kitchen ;)

kimom said...

That's sweet of them! My family tends to err on the side of thinking I'm just over-reacting. My Dad still likes his mixed nuts and pecan pie at the holidays and my husband still wants to make us scrambled eggs for weekend breakfasts...

Well, we can both be lonely on our side of the kitchen - but it's NOT solitary confinement!! =)

Jeanne said...

I read about a lot of families like that on the allergy forums I found, I'm definitely fortunate to have an understanding family (both my immediate and in-laws are great about it--although the in-laws do have allergies of their own, so they do understand). It's one thing as an adult who can make their own determinations about what food is "safe" and what isn't, it's completely different when it's a child though. Several of the posts I read were about how the parents of kids with allergies can't leave the kids alone with grandparents because they simply don't understand (or won't try to).