gluten reaction right away?

[Kari]

Terri - I attribute my slow healing process to being sick with WD for 10 years before discovering the diet/gluten connection. I tried the pepto treatment, but it didn't work for me, and I opted not to do the steroids. My doctors told me the WD had nothing to do with what I ate , but I knew in my gut (pun intended) that it did, so I kept experimenting with my diet. However, it was to no avail, since I didn't know about gluten.

I know what you mean about weight loss - I lost about 20 lbs., which I could ill afford, but then my weight stabilized, and has been stable for 2 years now. I actually like this weight, because I've lost all my "belly fat", which I had all my life from the bloating caused by gluten. Testing at Enterolab, I discoveed that I have double celiac genes, so I'm sure a lot of damage was done to my intestines over the years .

Regarding fruit, you may want to try boiling apples (or pears), cut in small cubes, with some cinnamon - it tastes real yummy, and the cinnamon is good for calming inflammation.

Love,
Kari

[tlras]

Kari...that's a long time with WD! Bless your heart! It's a shame doctors didn't know about gluten back then and all its affects on the body.

Imodium works well on me also. So glad it helps you! It's my other wonder drug.

And I will try the apples with cinnamon....sounds really good. I just got a toaster oven for Christmas and I thought about baking some apple slices in that.

Oh and I lost all my belly fat too! One good thing out of all this. Now I just need to firm it up!

Thanks!

Terri

[tex]

That's discouraging to me.

Nobody ever said that it was easy. In fact, we regularly point out that tracking down the foods that trigger reactions for us is usually very difficult, time consuming, and frustrating. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a test (of any type, for any purpose) that is 100% reliable, and adequately sensitive, for every patient. The MRT is the second most beneficial test for most people who have MC. That doesn't mean that it's a perfect test, by a long shot — it just means that after the EnteroLab tests, it's the second most likely test to be helpful for tracking down elusive food sensitivities.

Also the MRT test showed high intolerances to foods that these gals never even consume. Why is that?

That's because the innate immune system does not require that food antigens be ingested in order to show a response. The MRT does not measure or even detect immunoglobulin antibody levels. It measures blood mediator responses by a completely different method.

I still get shocked how people still have D even after removing so much from the diet.

Remember, the general population is loaded with people who sometimes, frequently, or always have D, even though they do not have a digestive system disease. Diet can do it, (too much liquid, too many hot spices, caffeine, etc.), stress can do it, dehydration can do it, and there are probably umpteen other causes of non-pathogenic D that I can't think of at the moment. When I was much younger, back when agriculture required much more hand labor, we often employed migrant workers from Mexico. Virtually every one of those guys always had D, due to their diet — they just assumed that it was normal, and where they came from, it probably was.

Tex

[tlras]

Very interesting, Tex. Thanks for your insight as always.

I will relay what you have said in regards to MRT to my gal pals. It's too bad their doctor can't explain things to them. They come to me for answers and I don't have them. They are very confused right now.....such a shame. One of them showed a severe intolerance to gluten so I'm currently helping her get off gluten. At least I can help my friend a little. I'm assuming they are now researching like crazy on the internet.

Thanks again.

Terri

[tex]

Terri,

Here's a quote from page 149 of my book that briefly describes how the MRT works:

The test does not measure any specific antibodies, nor does it quantify changes in the numbers of any other specific inflammation modulators. Instead, the results are based on an indirect method that is claimed to determine a relative level of sensitivity to various foods and chemicals by measuring an increase in the ratio of liquids to solids in a blood sample that has been exposed to a given allergen.

Your friends may or may not find that helpful.

Tex

[Kari]

Tex/Terri,

The idea that people in the general population might also have constant D. is intriguing to me. I honestly have no idea what my BM's looked like before MC and explosive WD hit. I wish I had paid attention, as then I'd know what my own "normal" might be. What I do know is that due to restricting my diet, I have my life back, and am perfectly willing to live with less than Norman indefinitely, as long as I feel well. Since I go out to eat regularly, I suspect cross contamination is a problem for me, which might be what's preventing me from fully healing. However, there have been long periods of time when I have cooked my own food exclusively, and it didn't seem to make a difference, so I have opted for a more relaxed life style.

As far as MRT - it helped me enormously. After I got the results and eliminated all the reactive foods, my BM's were vastly improved, and I even had occasional Norman visits. It seems to me as if my body responds positively when the biggest offending allergens are removed, but it is short lived, as my body then starts to ferret out lessor offenders. I believe this process is still going on. I also react to eating too much at one time, eating certain combinations of things, etc. Then there is the sense that food that was once OK becomes reactive, and food that was not, becomes OK . Anyhow, I'm seriously thinking about taking the MRT test again to see what has changed, since I had such success the first time I took it.

Love,
Kari

[Gloria]

Leah,

Thanks for the suggestion to roast Brussels sprouts. I can't use olive oil, but I could try a different oil with garlic and salt. I'm a little leery to try them right now, though. My lowering the dosage of Entocort might be coming into play, too.

@Terri - as Tex wrote, the MRT test is testing in a different way than Enterolab testing. You can be pretty confident about results that are high-reactive (red), and somewhat confident of the moderately reactive (yellow) results. But the green, or non-reactive means that you didn't react to their type of test on the food, but you may react to the food for a different reason. All green foods need to be considered suspect unless your own testing has shown they are OK. Many people think the MRT test is going to tell them what foods are OK and will allow them to expand their diet. It's quite the opposite, IMHO. The MRT test will fairly reliably tell us which foods are not OK (red and yellow results). We must still test the non-reactive (green) foods to be sure.

I thought I'd mention that cinnamon is pretty high in histamines, so I avoid it.

Gloria