For the past 2 years (approximately) I have had intermittent
"difficulty swallowing." Combined with heartburn while pregnant, I
supposed it was a sort of GERD, but when I described my symptoms to our pharmacist
he looked rather puzzled and suggested I see a doctor. That's when I found out
I was expecting Ruth, so it waited. My symptoms? Occasionally, at the beginning
of a meal, I would suddenly feel full and rather like I was choking, with a
distinct feeling of the food getting half-way down and hitting a burp that was
half-way up, each blocking the other from going where it needed to go. My mouth
would water and I just tried not to panic while waiting for something to give
way. At least twice the only solution was to throw up.
Finally I did something about it. The same day I had my ear
mole removed, I talked to my doctor about this issue. She sent me for a Barium
Swallow, which wasn't terribly unpleasant, and turned up a hiatal hernia and a
"ring around" the esophagus. So they sent me up the river, er, I
mean, for more tests.
The other day (2-3 weeks ago) I had an EGD. I was put to
sleep, had a camera pushed down my throat, and several pictures and biopsies
taken. A few days later I got a letter saying they had diagnosed me with
"allergic esophagus" and that I probably had an unknown food allergy.
The recommendation was for an allergy elimination diet to determine to what I
am allergic.
I considered just going for testing at the allergy clinic,
but according to what I read, the tests are most effective when coupled with
the experience of the diet. Plus, going is expensive. Sooooo, I am on the diet.
No eggs, milk (or dairy), wheat, soy, nuts, or fish. Those are the most
frequent offenders. To be on the safe side, I've also cut out (most) corn - I
still allow a bit of vinegar and dextrose - as well as coffee and chocolate
(since those aren't any good without milk anyway). The idea is to rid the body
of all traces of whatever is bothering it, then to eat a possible offender 2-3
times in a day and see if it causes a reaction.
Most folks say it takes 7-10 days to get relief of symptoms;
I'm on day 12 now and it may be getting better. Being the unobservant person
that I am, I want to make sure things are better before adding back in any of
the possible offenders. I am writing
down my experiences each day. So far I have lost 11 lbs. If it were only
possible to maintain such loss! I'd be at ideal weight in 3 months! But I doubt
it's possible. Anyway, I wanted to say this has been different for me than previous
attempts at dieting. Mainly, I suppose, because it is for medical reasons and
not for losing weight. When I'm cutting calories, it's easy to get stressed out
and go ahead and grab a chocolate, telling myself that I can get back on the
path tomorrow (or even that I didn't eat some earlier, so it's still less than
what I used to do). With the allergy elimination, though, the effect has to
accumulate, so I knew if I cheated I would have to start over and go through it
all again.
As you may imagine, this diet is quite restrictive. The
hardest part is not being able to just pick something up and stick it in my
mouth without thinking. I can't lick mixing bowls or take the extra bit from
Daniel's plate, or anything! I can't help but wonder if that's where the weight
loss is coming from. But I have noticed a change in my stools, so I think there
has been a change in my gut, which is a good thing, and probably helpful, too.
I did some creative shopping and managed to make
snickerdoodles. I used a recipe from my mom, but with a few modifications.
Instead of butter, I used applesauce with a touch of olive oil. Instead of
flour, I used whole oat flour. Instead of eggs, I used flaxseed mixed with
water. Instead of buttermilk, I used a bit of vinegar (I could have put in
water, but the dough was thin already). I knew chilling would not stiffen the
dough as if it had butter in it, so I just scooped it onto the cookie sheets
and sprinkled sugar/cinnamon over the top. They turned out really great! Bob
said he doesn't usually liked baked goods with applesauce, but he liked these.
I also found an oatmeal cookie recipe where the only substitution I had to make
was for the eggs. It was nice to have something sweet and munchable, but I
don't pig out like I've done in the past.
I have noticed the last 2 days that I haven't felt so
bloated and belchy and chokey. Today I was able to chug a glass of water
without it going down in gulps. I can't remember when I last did that. So a
couple of more days to be sure and then I'll have a glass of milk.
Forgot to mention that the fist 5 days I had a raging headache, was irritable and sweaty. I've had backache for at least 2 weeks but it was better today. I had been taking Claratin for several months, but stopped that a couple of days ago as I'm very congested anyway. When I skipped it the first day of the diet I got very wheezy, but am not so now.
