Allergies and water retention!!

Susi · Mon Mar 19, 2007 5:20 am

A big hello to everybody! Is somebody out there who has allergies and because of this, water retention? I have a lot of allergies, weeds, grasses,
molds trees, you name it I have it. I also have food allergies. I was on the Cave mans diet, it's an elimination diet, and I did very good, but then I started to eat "normal" again and I felt very, very lousy. My body reacts so bad that I retain a lot of water. Sometimes it is so bad that my legs are getting swollen, the hands too, sometimes so bad that it hurts when I try to make a fist, and in the morning my face and my eyelids are swollen so bad that I think I can barely open my eyes. I was already at 4 Doc's and all say the same, stay away from the foods I have to avoid. Does anybody has the same problem and what are you doing about it? :roll:
Anybody there who can give me a pep talk?

Thanks!
Susi

mokajava · Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:36 pm

Hi !

I am actually going through something similar! I have been trying to figure out what the heck is going on with my body. I can do phase 1 no problem....when I introduce any grain, my body loses it . I'm starving all the time and I am irritable and so on....I start to gain weight !

I fall back on phase 1 and I feel great again! It is soooooo weird! I have hypoglycemia but I don't think that is what is causing this. All my grains added are low on the GI index.

I have long suspected wheat to be a problem and I have finally taken the step to have blood tests done for this and I am waiting for the results. It takes two weeks. My doc also said that I may have grain intolerance...meaning ALL grains. Are you kidding me ?????

My hands and legs are swollen but not my face...I have chronic sinus infections and chronic yeast infections, rashes, sometimes some hives and ear infections, and I get mouth sores!!! Fun huh ?

It can be frustrating :evil: but there alternative ways of cooking out there :D . With a little research and some creative cooking you will be able to find a WOE of eating that will complement your lifestyle and your body's issues!!! The main goal is to be healthy!!! The good thing is that we live in a society that offers many solutions to our problems....Go to your local library and look for some alternative cooking methods....maybe some grain free cooking for a while :?:

Hope this helps ! Ciao for now ! :wink:

Susi · Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:17 pm

Hi mokajava! Thanks for the respond. It is so goo to hear that I am not alone with this problem. I just feel very lousy. I have all the other typical allergy symptoms too and it is really no fun. Do you have any quick remedies to feel better? I try to drink a lot of water and hope I can flush most of it out. It usually takes up to 4 days till I really feel myself again.
That makes you think twice if you eat something you should avoid. I hate it, every little slip you get punished. That's not fair!!

Wish you a happy day :D
Susi

maltby_gardner · Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:45 am

I have allergy related edema, too. I have greatly reduced the swelling by cutting out ALL dairy. Unfortunately, I still have a little bit lying along my shin bone right above my ankles. I also have under-eye puffiness and this is too weird...since I cut out dairy it is almost gone under my right eye, but nearly unchanged under my left eye. So I look lopsided.

Susi, if you can, I suggest you visit a naturopath. They will do blood tests to find out what you are allergic to. The tests look for specific antibodies in your blood. The blood tests do return a lot of false positives (or so I've been told), but it will give you a good starting point.

One thing about food allergies, the foods you love and crave the most are often the ones you are allergic to.

Here is a link you might find helpful:

http://www.springboard4health.com/notebook/health_food_addiction.html

Susi · Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:50 pm

Hi maltby!! Thanks so much for your respond. Looks like I am not alone with this problem. They tested me for allergies, I had blood tests done and the normal allergy tests over the skin. They told me that food allergies are very hard to find out because the blood tests are not clear enough. But maybe I will try a different doc and try the test you talked about. Hopefully I am more lucky then! I know that the foods you crave the most you are allergic to, I learned it the hard way. I did the cave man's diet, it's an elimination diet and it really helped me to finds some things out, but I think it is still not enough.
Thanks for your pep talk it really helped me a lot. :D
Have a great day
Susi

maltby_gardner · Wed Mar 21, 2007 1:54 am

It is very difficult to diagnose food allergies through testing. As I mentioned before, the blood tests (those are probably the same tests you already had) give a lot of false positives; the scratch tests give a lot of false negatives. I think the blood test is preferable. At least that way you will know all the foods you are allergic to and over time you can figure out which of the ones on you "positive" list you're not actually allergic to.

I did a mini elimination diet where I cut out the most highly allergenic foods; dairy, eggs, soy, corn, wheat, nuts...the rest are escaping me right now. Anyway, the only things I have added back are eggs and nuts and I'm afraid the eggs have to go again.

It's been really hard to follow the DB way of eating, especially getting a quick bite of protein if you can't have cheese or yogurt, but I feel so much better, I think it's worth it. Most days I can actually breath through my nose now, my snoring is better, ALL of my cravings are gone, the asthma-like stuff I had suffered with all my life when I tried to exercise is gone. The benefits are really tremendous, especially when you add on to that for the first time in my life, I can actually exercise enough to actually get in shape. It's opening up a lot of new activities for me. Too bad I waited until I was in my 50s to try it.


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