Kari's Good News - MRT Results

[Kari]

Hi Everyone,

I've debated if I should wait till after the holidays to post my news, but have decided that I might as well get it out there. My SO is in the mountains skiing, as I needed quiet time to digest this latest bit of news, and, frankly, he needed time away from me :). My MRT results arrived last Friday, so I have had a few days to digest them (pun intended), and am actually now quite relieved that I know more about my intolerances. However, I have to admit that a few tears were shed when I went to the Natural Grocers to shop "corn free" in addition to everything else "free" and could not find anything that fit my collective set of intolerances . Paleo diet, here I come!!!

When I looked back at the list of things in my diet posted earlier in this thread, I had to laugh, as most of them have fallen by the wayside. Anyhow here are the results from the MRT test:

Highly reactive:

Asparagus (love them, my favorite vegetable)
Celery (yeah - hate them and haven't eaten them in decades:)
Coffee (absolutely devastating - I've been a coffee drinker all my life - gets me going in the morning)
Eggs (figured this out on my own, even though I tested negative at Enterolab)
Kamut (don't even know what it is:)
Pecans (don't really care)
Rye (knew this from Enterolab)
Salmon (don't really care)
Tomato (had already realized this and eliminated them)
Zucchini (ditto from tomato)

Moderately reactive (still have to stay away from these until more healing takes place):

Acetaminophen (already knew this due to break out in hives from Tylenol)
Amaranth
Bananas (devastating - a mainstay over the years)
Caffeine (you know by now:)
Cane Sugar (major inconvenience as it is so common)
Carrots (don't really care)
Corn (major inconvenience as I discovered at the Natural Grocers)
Cumin (don't care)
FD&C Green #3
Garlic
Green Pea (don't care)
Green Pepper (don't care)
Honey (ouch)
Hops (hemp milk reaction explained, so back to rice milk)
Lamb (don't care)
Lettuce (kind of knew this)
Lima Beans (never eat them)
MSG (already knew this)
Peach (there are plenty of other fruits to choose from when I can eat them)
Plum (ditto from peach)
Turkey (ouch - this had become my go-to for lunch meat)

So there it is, my latest NO list. Being the maniac I am, I have already eliminated them from my diet, but I have decided to put off until after the holidays to work with the nutritionist in instituting the LEAP program, which I believe is a very sensible system. I'm already past fretting over the coffee, bananas, garlic and turkey and am just so grateful and relieved that these tools to help figure things out exist. My brain fog from caffeine withdrawal is already starting to lift - yeah!!!

Love,
Kari

P.S. I have made it a habit lately to walk out on my patio in the middle of the night to gaze at the stars - this kind of puts my worries into perspective for me. Well, last night I noticed that there seemed to be a cloud covering part of the full moon, but it wasn't moving??? Well, then my brain kicked in "ECLIPSE" - it filled my heart with joy that I unintentionally got to witness this unusual event. I stayed up for about an hour until the whole, fabulous, full moon was whole again :)

[Martha]

Dear Kari,

Wow, that is quite a list! You are really amazing that you have already eliminated the no-no foods from your diet. There goes the garlic salt, huh?

I saw the eclipse too. My husband was getting up, so I got up too. I was so sleepy I could hardly stand up, and watched only until the moon was fully covered, and then went back to bed. I just trusted that the darkness wouldn't eat the moon for good!

Merry Christmas, Kari.

[tex]

Kari,

You appear to be pretty much where I found myself when I finally got serious about my own diet. I believe that I avoided everything that you listed, except for eggs, acetaminophen, and turkey. I agree with you that corn is probably the most difficult ingredient to avoid, if you use any processed products. It's in almost everything, in one form or another. For example, the only soft drink, (besides water), that I could find, that didn't contain any corn derivatives, was Virgil's Root Beer. Unsweetened homemade tea was fine, of course, but none of the commercially bottled tea products would work.

I wish you the best of luck with your diet, but with your "can do" attitude, I have no doubt that you'll do just fine.

Shame on me. I checked the moon a few minutes before the eclipse was scheduled to start, and then I got side-tracked, and forgot to check it again until it was over. Oh well, they say an identical situation will develop in another 400 years or so.

Love,
Tex

[Gloria]

Wow, Kari, that's quite a list. I'm sure you were totally surprised at some of the results. They do explain in part why recovery has been so difficult.

I'm sorry that you've had to give up some of your most cherished foods. Hopefully, as time passes and you begin to heal, you'll be able to add some of the moderately reactive foods back into your diet. I've been on the LEAP diet for eight months and have started testing my borderline non-reactive foods. I'm still nervous about trying some of the moderately reactive ones.

It will be interesting to see if eliminating the reactive items helps you. I eliminated all of my reactive items immediately like you have. But I was still unable to achieve remission until I eliminated additional foods that the MRT results said were non-reactive: chocolate, tomatoes, tapioca, buckwheat and millet. Here's hoping that your list represents the last of your intolerances.

Gloria

[Zizzle]

Wow, Kari,
That list is devastating indeed. I truly hope once you achieve some sort of remission you can add many of them back in. Now that I see your results, I may not want to do MRT teating. I don't think I want to know! But if things get out of control again, I just might. This serves as a reminder that many of your go-to favorite foods can also become reactive foods when you have leaky gut. I'm so sorry. Hang in there.

[Linda in BC]

Hi Kari;

Thanks for letting us know about your MRT test results. I am sure this is upsetting to know the list is so long, but as you pointed out a lot of them you already knew about, and, luckily, there are some you don't care about. I would be devastated if I couldn't eat carrots, but would not miss the garlic... I hear you on the corn thing though. I was avoiding corn for most of the last 4 months, and it is really all pervasive! Many things use corn as a gluten/wheat substitute, so you might find something that's dairy, wheat and soy free but there it is.. corn. I have started slowly to reintroduce it into my diet and am doing Ok with it.

Kamut is an ancient grain like Spelt and Khorasan, which of course are like wheat, so you couldn't have had it anyway.

Bummer about the turkey. Are you OK with chicken?

I hope as the days go by you can easily find substitutes and that you adjust to this new way of eating. And hopefully some of these no-no's will just be temporary.
Luv and hugs
Linda

[tex]

You know, with rye and kamut and corn on the list, I wonder why wheat and barley and oats were absent?

Tex

[Linda in BC]

Good point Tex. I just assumed it was a given, and that Kari didn't mention it..
Linda

[Gloria]

Tex,

The test doesn't test for antibodies like the Enterolab test does. My result for grains was in the following order:

1. Amaranth - lowest non-reactive
2. Rye
3. Buckwheat
4. Corn
5. Millet
6. Quinoa
7. Spelt
8. Barley
9. Kamut
10. Wheat
11. Rice - highest non-reactive
12. Oat - moderately reactive

As I mentioned in my earlier post, of the acceptable grains, amaranth through rice, I have found that I'm not able to eat rye, buckwheat, and millet. I'm not certain about amaranth, so I eat it only as a flour and in very small quantities. I also don't eat spelt, barley, kamut or wheat because they have gluten.

The value of the test is not in finding acceptable foods. It's value is in determining foods which are reactive and should be avoided. This is similar to the Enterolab test results. Most of us view our results as a guideline for what we can't eat and find that we need to test the other foods. Some will be OK; others will not. I'll copy what I posted in another thread, their advice on how to interpret the results:

“Degrees of reactivity may not in all cases correlate with presence or level of clinical sensitivity to the food. Strongly positive results have been found to correlate with food reactivity. It is appropriate to eliminate foods with Reactive Scores. Moderately reactive scores should be evaluated by the physician or dietitian based upon patient history and frequency of consumption. After an appropriate period of elimination, reintroduce them one at a time under physician and/or dietitian supervision. If negative foods have been consumed regularly before drawing the blood for the test, there is high probability that they are ‘safe’ and are not likely to provoke symptoms. If test positive foods are eliminated from the diet, these non-reactive foods could reasonably remain in the permitted diet during the elimination phase. The clinician or dietitian should remain alert to the possibility that any of these foods might provoke symptoms.”

Gloria

[Kari]

Thank you so much for your support and kind notes everyone.

Linda - your assumption is correct, I did test positive for wheat, but didn't include it in the list. I tested borderline positive for oats and negative for Barley. Gloria is absolutely correct in her statement about the value of the test - thanks Gloria for taking the time to explain. I did not test positive for chicken, but have tested it 3 times myself, and failed every time. I will try it again after more healing has a chance to take place.

I'm pleased with the nutritionist, as she is very responsive and we have emailed back and forth. Because she just discovered she is gluten intolerant, she is taking up a thorough study of gluten - said she has 8 hours worth of materials to get through in her free time. She said that it generally takes 1 to 2 years for the gut to heal from gluten damage.

So far I'm doing well - I'm a bit fatigued by the caffeine withdrawal, but minimal headaches. I'm very hopeful that I will get to the bottom of my intolerances, but obviously have to be patient. My first formal consultation with the nutritionist will be after the holidays and I will then start the LEAP program. I will keep updating here as I progress.

Love,
Kari

[tex]

The test doesn't test for antibodies like the Enterolab test does. My result for grains was in the following order:

By "My result", are you referring to grains that you are supposed to be able to safely eat, with the "safest" at the top, and the "least safe" at the bottom of the list?

The value of the test is not in finding acceptable foods. It's value is in determining foods which are reactive and should be avoided.

Exactly! That's why I didn't understand why they're not on Kari's list. She is almost certainly sensitive to them, and the fact that she is not eating them, (and therefore not producing "fresh" antibodies), shouldn't affect her results in that test, (since it isn't based on antibody detection). I see by Kari's post that she simply omitted wheat and oats, even though the results were positive, but a negative result for barley is obviously invalid.

Now I'm puzzled as to why all those grains weren't shown to be reactive in your results. Maybe I'm just dense tonight - it's been a long day.

Tex

[Gloria]

I don't completely understand what the test looks for in order to determine reactive foods. It doesn't seem to be foods that have been consumed frequently because I tested highly reactive to codfish, for example, and I never eat it.

The principle of MRT testing is that certain foods, additives and chemicals are capable of triggering non-allergy immune-based reactions. These reactions release various immune chemical mediators into the blood. If an immune reaction is triggered and these mediators are released, changes occur in the ratio of solids (cells) to liquid (blood serum) that can be measured. The white blood cells and platelets shrink and the volume of the liquid increases. The degree of change can be measured and reported as mild or moderate to severe corresponding with the degree of sensitivity to that particular food, additive or chemical.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Negative-Food ... &id=757847

I don't think that we fully understand why we react to some foods. I sure wish I knew why I can't eat almost all vegetables. I don't think it's fiber because the three vegetables I can eat: cauliflower, asparagus and Brussel sprouts, are pretty fibrous. I'm also able to eat nut butters now without a problem. I think the MRT test finds additional, but not all, intolerances. I tested non-reactive to several fruits, but I'm unable to eat any, presumably because I have a fructose intolerance. MRT doesn't test for fructose intolerance, so they didn't show up as reactive. However, it did show I was highly reactive to grapefruit and cranberry and moderately reactive to cherry, pear and canteloupe, for a different reason than fructose intolerance. You may remember that I was drinking cranberry juice daily in order to avoid getting another UTI last winter. Could it have contributed to my flare?

MRT testing is another method of testing which can help inform us of food intolerances based upon a different type of testing. I don't think any one test will cover all types of food reactions - at least not at present. It would be great if one test would fill the bill. Right now we have to use whatever reliable tests we can find and then guess and guess again.

The test can be helpful for those who have done the Enterolab testing, have been diligent in eliminating their intolerant food items, but still don't see any major improvement. Someone on Entocort should see almost total remission of their symptoms by following a restricted diet. I would also add that they need to be very, very careful about eating out. If remission from symptoms doesn't follow within a few weeks, they need to consider that there are additional food intolerances or medications. The MRT test could help them figure out some, but not all, of them.

Gloria

[Kari]

Hallelujah!!!!! After 11 years of absence, and 5 months and 9 days after discovering and eliminating my first intolerance (gluten), Norman arrived at 9 am this morning!!! I was not going to post today for fear of "jinxing" it, but I simply had to share this bit of good news with my wonderful PP family!!!

To get to this point has been an incredible amount of effort in terms of ferreting out my food intolerances. However, as you know, Enterolab and MRT testing are 2 very helpful tools, that I will be eternally grateful for. It goes without saying that I am at least as grateful for my PP family - I learned about MRT testing here, and with those test results, I believe the final pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place for me.

I also knew nothing about Candida until it was mentioned here, and after taking the candida test a couple of days ago, discovered that I almost certainly suffer from it. So now I feel my tool chest is full and I can really go to work on designing a lifestyle diet that works for me. I will do the LEAP program to see if I'm reactive to any of the "non-reactive" foods on the test results, and fully realize that I'm not at the end of this MC journey yet (nor will I likely ever be).

During all of this trial and error, I have come to firmly believe that the diet I will develop and stick with will be one founded on fresh, organic, unprocessed ingredients (I believe the Paleo diet fits that bill), with minimal starches. I seem to tolerate rice very well, so I will most likely stick with some rice now and then.

Anyhow, I cannot think of ever having received a better Christmas gift in my life-time, than this MC milestone :):):) Other people would think I'm nuts, but I know all of you here will understand perfectly and celebrate with me in your hearts.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

Love,
Kari

[tex]

Wow! What a Christmas gift!
Congratulations!

Merry Christmas Kari!

Love,
Tex

[Joefnh]

Hi Kari that's great news.. Without all of the analysis like Enterolab and MRT testing, I have been eating more or less a modified Paleo diet including rice and like you mentioned all fresh organic ingredients. About the only thing I cheat on occasionally are the GF/DF Tim Tams.

I am starting the process for MRT testing depending if it can be performed while I am on Imuran

Its great that Norman came by for a visit

Merry Christmas Kerri

--Joe