food intolerance

[julieann]

can food intolerance be cured?

[woofgang]

I don't think cured although my experience is that they do come and go. Food allergies however are a different more serious matter

[julieann]

thanks woofgang for taking the time to answer. i have been on a wheat and gluten free diet for two years as a result of a blood test and was wondering if it were possible to try eating those things again in moderation. anyone else out there had experience with this problem?

[woofgang]

julieann, there are loads of issues here. Who gave you the blood test and why did you get it? What symptoms did you have when you were eating wheat and are they gone? Were you given a diagnosis?

[loopey]

if you have an intolerence to a food you need to slowly reintroduce it sometimes you will find you can eat this food normally other times you can only have so much in a day without the symptoms reappearing, my son had a dairy intolerence but now is fine, If I eat too much wheat in 1 day my symptoms reappear it's a matter of trial and error but reintroduce foods slowly.

[joko]

i gave myself a food intolerance because i drank about 3 pints of milk a day.

I developed severe ibs symptoms, but I cut it out completely - including all dairy for about 6 weeks and then gradually reintroduced it.

[Hermia]

Some people seem to be able to introduce foods and some don't. I have a friend with gluten intolerance and she started to introduce food and was fine for a while then the symptoms started to come back. But I know other people who don't need to be so strict. I have lactose intolerance and my consultant suggested I try introducing milk back into my diet, but it didn't work. I've read articles on lactose intolerance where it says LI people should be able to manage a small glass of milk a day. If I did that I'd never be out of the loo!

[julieann]

woolfgang thanks for your concern. i had a test from Yorktest laboratories as they were recommended by my sister. they tested my blood sample against over 150 different foods. the result was that gluten and wheat were the only "red foods" for me. i took the test at a cost of nearly �300 cos i had suffered badly with IBS, constant tiredness, and excessive weight gain altho i was only eating enough to keep a sparrow alive. my GP was no help for over 5 years and just kept telling me to learn to live with IBS. i put myself on a gluten free diet and within 6 months lost over a stone, felt much more energetic and didn't have half as many "bad tummy days" as i called them. now two years later i really miss being able to eat 'normal food'. also the gluten free alternatives are really expensive and dont taste good. i read somewhere that after resting your gut it is possible to introduce problem foods and maybe eat them in moderation. so i thought i would see if i could find others who had sucessfully done this. also thanks to everyone else who has contributed replies.

[SusieW]

Have you been tested for Coeliacs? If you are diagnosed with this you can get gluten free foods on prescription. However, I have read that if you have cut gluten out of your diet that this test may be negative even if you have Coeliacs.

If you have Coeliacs and you re-introduce gluten, you may be ok for a while but it will eventually come back.

[julieann]

yes susie i did have the coeliac test but it came out negative. thanks for the tip anyway. this last week i have tried introducing a few foods into my diet and by the end of the week the old symptoms were back and i couldnt stay off the loo! so now i know it's safer just to stay as i am.