tuna with mayo???

[gac]

I have made tuna salad with mayo with very limited seasonings, things I have tolerated in other foods - sage, celery salt only. I get violently sick about 70% of the time but not 100% of the time when I eat it. You probably think, "well, don't eat that any more!!!!" but my MC diet is so extremely limited, even 3 years after being diagnosed that I keep trying to find just a few foods to add to it, especially protein items. It makes me sad if it is either the tuna or the mayo that is making me this violently sick. Just one more food to permanently eliminate.

Even after 3 years since diagnosis, I find I am so confined to home, so afraid of those unexpected accidents. If I can't make it from my own kitchen or front porch to the bathroom, leaving my house is frightening. Immodium and pepto caplets are my best friends. Oral magnesium makes me sick, as do all oral vitamins/minerals. Spray on magnesium makes me itch tremendously. I feel so very frustrated with this ongoing battle.

I know by looking backwards that at least I am not having 20 to 25 episodes of diarrhea a day as I once did but just because I have been silent on this forum for a while does not mean I have solved anything. I am frustrated, depressed, and truly long to eat something that tastes good. Gluten free bread and toast are sometimes the only thing I can eat in a single day, just to provide solid food and bulk. Peanut butter remains my "go-to" staple. But OMG, I am so sick of it. I can't eat any fruits and can eat very very very very few vegetables and can eat them very seldom.

My blood is tested monthly when I have gammaglobulin infusion for my low immune system and it is easy to see that I am missing some things from my diet. But I don't know how to fix that. I've tried to ramp up the proteins to take the place of everything else that is missing. I just get sicker although I at least feel full. Most days I am hungry all the time. I've tried eating more meals per day to take away that hunger. Since being diagnosed 3 years ago, I've lost 70 lbs. Not trying to lose weight although weight loss is a good thing. Just too sick to eat many days.

Any suggestions????

[Erica P-G]

Hi there...

I'm so sorry that the decisions that come with MC can be so daunting.

Firstly...Tuna may be the culprit but at the same time unless it is Just Mayo the brand that is Vegan without eggs them it could be the mayonnaise as most all mayo is made from eggs and vinegar, mustard perhaps and a little sugar. So what you might try is just eating plain tuna, it will be ok and if you don't react to it after having 3 small serves of it for three days (without the mayo than it is considered a winner) but if you react within minutes/hours/or next day then it may not be a good choice.

Have you tried eating a single protein in the three day manner without adding any other proteins into the mix so see if you react to all of them?

I know Peanut butter being so closely related to the soy family is another iffy one for your list and you'd have to try that one on its own for the three day test without any other protein and that includes eggs and mayonnaise made with eggs in order to see if peanut butter may not be a good choice.

An idea for your Magnesium situation since we all know we need it and have to try to figure out how to get it would be a Magnesium lotion or soak in Epsom Salt baths or foot soaks, you can do as many of those as you felt up to doing and that would give you whole body absorption on days you want that or just on your feet for those quick moments. I have found (if you can afford it) is the ReMag Lotion is a dream come true, it is not sticky, you can't smell it and it does not leave any after stuff with no itch. I have a bottle of it and I LOVE IT.

Since you are super limited in your veggie ideas then it is very important to find your safe protein as soon as possible to stop the rapid weight loss and to help with energy. I am not much help with the veggies as you have probably tried a few and are not finding much luck with them. If you are over steaming them you should have found at least a couple that will work at this point going on three years.

It is a positive thing that you can notice you are not running to the lou as often as you once had! To me that means you are healing even if it is ever so slowly.....
Hug
E

[gac]

Erica, thanks for your reply concerning my tuna/mayo problem. I was totally unaware of tuna but had some awareness that mayo could cause a problem. But I have eaten homemade chicken salad with no problems multiple times so really don't think mayo is causing it. Tuna??? Well, I've had some problems with it a few times but I just keep trying to find easy fish to eat as my daughter will not allow me to cook any fish in her house because of the smell so it must come out of a can and end up as a cold salad. I will try tuna without mayo and see what happens.....when I know I don't have to go anywhere.

Proteins I can eat: dark meat chicken, fatty beef, a little bit of bacon, fish, peanut butter (which has never caused a problem and sometimes it is the only thing I've eaten for weeks). I seldom eat any eggs, knowing they are on "the list" of problem foods. If I eat pork, it is fatty pork, not lean pork.

The idea of soaking my feet in Epsom salt is a great one and I had not thought of that. That is also an inexpensive way to get what I need and maybe I will not react to it.

I can eat peeled carrots but only in very limited quantities. Also can eat anything in the squash family. White potatoes and corn do not bother me. But all must be eaten in limited quantities or I pay for it. If I try to make a soup out of any of these, it just doesn't work. I've tried.

Yes, I realize that healing must be taking place as I am no longer having the 20 to 24 attacks a day that I had 3 years ago. But my inability to control or predict any of this keeps me homebound.

Thanks for your help. By the way, beautiful pic of you and your daughter!!!!!

gail

[Janie]

Gail how about Wild Planet canned salmon packed in water to try. I eat it with olive oil (California Ranch brand) and pepper?

[Erica P-G]

Thanks for the kind comment Gail

It appears you may have a decent amount of foods to choose from.....if you want to try one more thing it would be to rotate them and don't eat any one vege or protein the same except every 3rd day. You could make a three day menu each day with different protein and vege and eat like that for a while to see if your symptoms calm down.

At the same time getting that magnesium in you will be an important twist to the healing. You may see even better results once you implement that into your daily routine