MFA Used to be a Degree at my Alma Mater...

[Frische Haus]

But today, I am just adding another category to the Do-Not-Eat Food list for my son. In October of 08, I was filled with wonder when we eliminated gluten (in addition to the already eliminated dairy) and he had instantaneous improvement in his bowel function.

We had a couple of odd glitches like the time he ate a lot of grapefruit & a couple of times that he had fresh lemonade but no big red flags because hey he drank OJ every morning. And then one day towards the end of March I switched OJ brands and things went very sour. Lots of belching immediately after consuming and then hey diarrhea in less than an hour. So, the first time it happened I attributed it to his drinking his juice before his meal. Things didn't improve the second day or the third. I switched back to the old OJ & no dice! Problems were the same. I even offered him kool-aid during this period--and it too led to loads of belching.

After about a week of this tremendous increase in washing, I said, OK no more OJ. The boy does not have a BM for 2 days and then it is completely back to normal.

We go back to the pedi gastro in July and she was going to have us slowly try to reintroduce hard cheeses again because she felt that due to his last response to the reintro that it was more of an allergic response to the food...

He had a skin prick for milk and wheat at a pedi allergist and they came up negative & his ped ran labs for allergies to everything under the sun & he had elevated levels but not to anything in particular. The pedi allergist sd that would be normal if any of the parents had like hayfever--which I do (though ragweed and things of this nature came up negative in his lab).

So, what is this about? We hadn't gained a pound in about 1 year before the GF/CF diet, then we gained almost 4 lbs in 4 months. Of course, we lost one during this citrus ordeal.

I think this is just crazy. What is he going to have a problem with next - green food? How come absolutely noone else in our family has documented "allergies?" "sensitivities?" to food?

Is this normal?

[Pattrish]

I'm going to offer an opinion based on my own personal experience.

It may not be the actual food that's causing the problem, but how the food is produced or processed. Using the OJ as an example. It could be the 2nd brand used contained herbicide or pesticide residue that started the reaction. Since it didn't go away when you switched back is the puzzle unless these chemicals hadn't had enough time to be flushed from his system.

My main "food for thought" is, along with the herbicide or pesticide residues that can be in foods, many foods have been genetically modified and even though agencies say they're safe, I don't trust this statement. Milk produced from cows given hormones, IMHO, are unsafe. Cattle are also fed grains that may contain herbicides/pesticides. This can be passed on to milk as well as meat. The same goes for fruits and vegetables.

I cannot eat meat sold a Wal-Mart. When I do, I don't sleep well at night...toss and turn. It's the sodium-based additives they put in their meat to keep it "fresh looking".

These are generalities; however, as said, it may not be the actual food. There could be an underlying cause.

A suggestion...never serve him anything in plastic. I'm highly allergic as well as my "helper". My "helper" gets terrible indigestion. Me? It burns my entire mouth and throat. I also become extremely agitated and swell.
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