elimination diet - identifying allergens

[Amber]

For over a year, I've been getting hives daily. I've been to several doctors and allergists and have tried a host of allergy medicines, both prescription and OTC and am currently taking benadryl, zyrtec, loratidine, doxepin, and prednisone on a daily basis and am still having outbreaks, which are getting more and more severe. I can't do an allergy panel, because I would have to be off all meds for seven days before-hand and I can't function without them, not that I'm functioning so well with them at the moment either. With the meds, I get fairly small splotches, without them, I get huge blistering welts and my eyes swell shut. (really attractive, huh?) My allergist wants me to do an "elimination diet", where I'll only consume free-range turkey, pacific salmon, brown rice, organic squash and sweet potatoes, water, roibois tea, sea salt, and pepper for three weeks and then, assuming I'm hive-free, or at least have a reduction in hives, get an allergy panel then and/or begin introducing new foods, one every three days. Have any of you ever done this, and if so, how'd it work for you? Also, any recipes would be hugely appreciated! I can't think of much of anything other than soup, soup, and more soup, with an occasional bit of salmon on the side.

[Xeromist]

I'm fortunate to not really have any allergies, but this sounds like something you really ought to do. 3 weeks is nothing compared to the years you've spent dealing with this and the years you won't have to once you get this all figured out. Plus steroids like prednisone are hard on your body over time. That's a rough deal you've got, but it's really awesome you're looking into getting it taken care of :) I'd like to hear about your progress!

[B2]

I did an elimination diet a few years ago--for three months. It was supposed to be six, but I couldn't hang on that long and wasn't noticing any reduction in migraines.

I do know that when you are desperate, and you have an option like this, you can will yourself into eating a lot of turkey and rice.

[Showal]

For over a year, I've been getting hives daily. I've been to several doctors and allergists and have tried a host of allergy medicines, both prescription and OTC and am currently taking benadryl, zyrtec, loratidine, doxepin, and prednisone on a daily basis and am still having outbreaks, which are getting more and more severe. I can't do an allergy panel, because I would have to be off all meds for seven days before-hand and I can't function without them, not that I'm functioning so well with them at the moment either. With the meds, I get fairly small splotches, without them, I get huge blistering welts and my eyes swell shut. (really attractive, huh?) My allergist wants me to do an "elimination diet", where I'll only consume free-range turkey, pacific salmon, brown rice, organic squash and sweet potatoes, water, roibois tea, sea salt, and pepper for three weeks and then, assuming I'm hive-free, or at least have a reduction in hives, get an allergy panel then and/or begin introducing new foods, one every three days. Have any of you ever done this, and if so, how'd it work for you? Also, any recipes would be hugely appreciated! I can't think of much of anything other than soup, soup, and more soup, with an occasional bit of salmon on the side.

3 weeks of boring food or a potential life time on steroids that are only marginally managing my symptoms. Hmmmm. Seems like an easy choice for me.

If you get more into the elimination diet (the food options your doctor gave you seem to be the "bare bones" of the diet), there are a few sites offering elimination diet recipes. As you go on with the diet, you can generally start adding ingredients slowly.

I'm sure I don't need to expand on the long term effects of daily steroid use. You'll be doing yourself a favor if you, at the least, give the diet a chance so you may come off of prednisone.

[Celephais]

The diet seems like an obvious choice. I'd worry about that medicinal load too... although I'm sort of biased, when I was in 7th and 8th grade I had mild mold allergies, the doctors prescribed anti-histamines, things got worse.. more anti-histamines... specialists, all sorts of tests, homeopathic therapy etc ... eventually they just took me off everything, and I was fine. Turned out I was allergic to anti-histamines, it took two years to figure that out (and it wasn't the doctors that suggested it, it was the crazy homeopathist).

I also get a sun sensitivity (hives if I go out in the sun) only when I take Aleve (Naproxen).

Anyway not sure if any of that is helpful, but basically all I'm saying is the medication could be making things worse, and in my experience Doctors tend to overlook that (lots of Doctors, I saw a shit-ton, and not one suggested taking me off all medication)

[B2]

As for the recipes...

Sorry. There really aren't that many ways you can prepare these things without the use of oils, vinegars, acids...

I ate plain, george-foremanned chicken breast or salmon and microwaved sweet potatoes and steamed limited veggies for three months.

I guess you can switch between yellow squash or zucchini rounds with salt and pepper (I couldn't have those!) and "sautee", grill, or roast it, with slicing it long ways and rolling it up with like...turkey. Or cutting it into sticks and eating it raw. Or ricing it and blanching it (or leaving it raw) and seasoning it with s/p and pretending its spaghetti. Mix in ground browned turkey or turkey chunks.

Spaghetti squash if you can have that is also great with salt and pepper and makes you feel like you're eating something substantial. I really like roasted squash.

You could have sweet potato normal ways, or cut it into wedges and bake it for fries, or slice it into thin rounds and make "chips".

"Fried rice" of brown rice, turkey, and squash/sweet potatoes?

I don't like broth-based soups (or, um, water based), so you have more leeway there if you do. Pureed butternut or acorn (if that counts as the squash you can have) makes a good base, but your only seasoning would be s/p.

Brown rice for breakfast! Try to convince yourself it's oatmeal or soggy cereal.

Good luck.

[Archigeek]

How do you know it's something you're eating? Since it's a skin problem, I would start there. I have some allergies, and one of my triggers took me about 6 years to figure out what it was: freakin' hand soap. Fortunately for me it wasn't a really serious reaction like yours.

If you aren't already, go to a completely hypo-allergenic skin care regimen: stop using soap and switch to something else, use HA sun screen, shampoo, and lotion. Even the soaps and fabric softener you use for cleaning your chothes should be hypo-allergenic.

[Kitsun]

I had a horrible outbreak of hives for a few weeks back in 2005. My body was completely covered from neck to ankles in huge itchy blotchy spots. The anti-itchy pills got rid of them for a few hours but would also put me to sleep so I was essentially just a vegetable since I couldn't function awake and itching just consumed my life. I itched in my dreams.

My grandparents went to a Chinese medicine dude and made the most foul smelling, diarreah-like substance that I drank down 3 bowls of and it went away. I can try to get you the names of the stuff if you're willing/able to try some crazy ass old school remedy.

The doctors I went to go see were about as unhelpful as you can get. There's no way for them to really figure out what is doing it. They hand you some pills and cream and hope you'll get over it eventually.

[Archigeek]

One other thing that can be a clue: is there any pattern to the outbreaks? As in, particular areas of the body or is it just all-over random? One of my allergies is a chemical found in some sun screens. I ended up going to a hospital in Brazil, (amazingly hot nurses), where they gave me some basic meds that reduced the severity but it didn't go away. After about 4-5 days it was clear that the hives were only happening where I was getting sun, which of course is where I was putting sun screen.

You should definitely keep a diary of everything you eat too, and if it is a diet issue, it sounds like what this guy is asking you to try is a good idea. You could also start by eliminating common allergens from your diet first and hope you get lucky.

[Xeromist]

I ended up going to a hospital in Brazil, (amazingly hot nurses)

I hate you.

[upperguy]

I also get a sun sensitivity (hives if I go out in the sun) only when I take Aleve (Naproxen).

fuckin half-vampire

[Cephalopod]

fuckin half-vampire

Celephais sparkles?

[Kuyuk]

How do you know it's something you're eating? Since it's a skin problem, I would start there. I have some allergies, and one of my triggers took me about 6 years to figure out what it was: freakin' hand soap. Fortunately for me it wasn't a really serious reaction like yours.

If you aren't already, go to a completely hypo-allergenic skin care regimen: stop using soap and switch to something else, use HA sun screen, shampoo, and lotion. Even the soaps and fabric softener you use for cleaning your chothes should be hypo-allergenic.

It's not a skin problem if her eyes are swelling shut.

[Archigeek]

It's not a skin problem if her eyes are swelling shut.

Not necessarily true. If it's a contact chemical issue, the eyes would still be affected. Just ask anyone who has a serious problem with poison ivy: scratch your arm, then touch your eyes and there you go. That shit can actually affect your eyeballs, but mostly it's everything around them that's affected, not the eyes themselves.

If it were the eye balls... they'd be swelling open! Just like Raiders of the Lost Ark, right before your face melts.

[Clove]

fuckin half-vampire


Celephais sparkles?I was thinking more:
http://opiniones.terra.es/tmp/swotti/cacheDGHLIG90AGVYCW==RW50ZXJ0YWLUBWVUDC1NB3ZPZXM=/imgthe%20others3.jpg

[Celephais]

I was thinking more:
http://opiniones.terra.es/tmp/swotti/cacheDGHLIG90AGVYCW==RW50ZXJ0YWLUBWVUDC1NB3ZPZXM=/imgthe%20others3.jpg

First I sparkle, then I crumble into dust.

[Amber]

Thanks for the tips, folks. I know it's not all food-related and I've identified lots of different triggers that I now avoid as much as possible. I know the propellant in most aerosol air fresheners and cleaning products is one, nitrile is another (tried switching from latex to nitrile gloves but wound up with blisters), and penicillin is yet another. Way back when this first started, I eliminated all the household things I can think of. I now use castille soap, Dreft laundry detergent, no make-up or lotions, no deodorant (lots of fun living in Texas in the summer). no hairspray or gel, and usually just water or liquid castille soap for cleaning.

Because I work in a lab, and am surrounded by chemicals, it's a bit trickier than usual to nail down allergens. I do my best to avoid exposure at work, but it's impossible to not come into contact with numerous things on a daily basis. However, while I may have allergies to some of the things I work with, I know that not all of my allergies are due to chemical exposure at work. I stopped working in a lab in June of last year while I moved to Texas and didn't resume working in one until September and I was still having problems with hives.

At this point, I'm really getting desperate. All of the medicines I'm taking, with the exception of prednisone, cause varying degrees of drowsiness. I don't sit down at work if I can possibly avoid it or I know I'll wind up asleep. I fall asleep at meetings, seminars, and lectures, and I can't make it through a movie without falling asleep, which is actually not so bad, as I get to see the same movie over and over and each time it's brand new.

Any way, Saturday's the day. I've got my turkey waiting to be roasted, squash waiting to be squished, and am going to enjoy my last steak for awhile tonight. I sure hope this helps!!!

[Showal]

Thanks for the tips, folks. I know it's not all food-related and I've identified lots of different triggers that I now avoid as much as possible. I know the propellant in most aerosol air fresheners and cleaning products is one, nitrile is another (tried switching from latex to nitrile gloves but wound up with blisters), and penicillin is yet another. Way back when this first started, I eliminated all the household things I can think of. I now use castille soap, Dreft laundry detergent, no make-up or lotions, no deodorant (lots of fun living in Texas in the summer). no hairspray or gel, and usually just water or liquid castille soap for cleaning.

Because I work in a lab, and am surrounded by chemicals, it's a bit trickier than usual to nail down allergens. I do my best to avoid exposure at work, but it's impossible to not come into contact with numerous things on a daily basis. However, while I may have allergies to some of the things I work with, I know that not all of my allergies are due to chemical exposure at work. I stopped working in a lab in June of last year while I moved to Texas and didn't resume working in one until September and I was still having problems with hives.

At this point, I'm really getting desperate. All of the medicines I'm taking, with the exception of prednisone, cause varying degrees of drowsiness. I don't sit down at work if I can possibly avoid it or I know I'll wind up asleep. I fall asleep at meetings, seminars, and lectures, and I can't make it through a movie without falling asleep, which is actually not so bad, as I get to see the same movie over and over and each time it's brand new.

Any way, Saturday's the day. I've got my turkey waiting to be roasted, squash waiting to be squished, and am going to enjoy my last steak for awhile tonight. I sure hope this helps!!!

Good luck. I totally understand the sleepiness aspect. I had to take benadryl daily for a while (I was useless) and now just my claritin helps with my less severe allergies, but I still get a little tired from it. I fall asleep on the train home almost daily. The new generation antihistamines are supposed to be cleaner and not make you drowsy, but that must just be in comparison to benadryl.

If latex and nitrile give you issues, try polyisoprene. I don't know what you do in a lab, but these gloves match the comfort an dexterity of latex (at least in my mind) without being latex. They do come with a price tag though. I've used them for surgerical work and love them. We started using them when one of our surgeons started developing hives from latex and nitrile (and most non-latex) surgical gloves aren't worth shit.

Don't know if you work with animals in the lab either, but N95s are great. Seems like your allergies are more contact or food though, instead of inhaled. Use your chemical hoods and animal transfer hoods or biological containment hoods like they're your best friends. See if your OH+S department can help figure out some engineering fixes to any exposure. You're right that it's probably not chemical exposure, but any exposure is likely not helping.

[Celephais]

and am surrounded by chemicals

/facepalm

[Amber]

Just an update..

So, three months of turkey and rice and I'm still all hive-y. It appears that wheat and eggs are both irritants, but not actual allergens for me, and that's about as far as we've gotten. I'm not on an elimination diet anymore, but I have to say that that wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected it to be. I found this little asian store that sells both brown rice noodles and sweet potato noodles, as well as brown rice and sweet potato flours, which really helped bring some variety. Also, I did manage to get off prednisone temporarily, but last Thursday paid a visit to the ER due to hives on the inside of my throat. I got a shot of epinephrine, another of prednisone, and a prescription for prednisone and yet more anti-histamines. I now get to take SEVENTEEN anti-histamines a day. I'm considering dropping out of school for the semester, as I really am not coping very well right now. I'm beginning testing for auto-immune disorders next Tuesday and while I don't want an auto-immune disorder, it'd really be nice to have some sort of answer. Also, Kitsun, if you could find the names of your stuff, that'd be great. I think I'm at the point where I'll try anything.

[Kitsun]

I am so sorry to hear you're still suffering from that.

I wish I had an easy answer for you with the chinese remedy thing but my grandparent's advice was to find a chinese medicine guy to look at you, so he could diagnose the problem and recommend the proper ingredients. I'm not sure where you live but if you are near NY, I can get an address for you. Apparently there is not a single one solution fix to this. Giving you what helped me might be bad for you instead of helpful.