Whole30 + Auto-immune + Low-histamine = Wish me luck!

[angelajl]

Apology:

 

I would like to apologize in advance for the following wall of text! I don't expect anyone to read it; I'm writing it more for myself, to help me remember why I'm doing this. If you do slog through it and/or would like to offer any thoughts or advice, you have my thanks!

 

Basics and Underlying Issues:

 

I'm 39 years old, and I have some problems I'm hoping to solve - or lessen - through food:

 

     * Environmental and seasonal allergies

     * Dermographism (for 15 years)

     * Chronic Urticaria (hives 24/7)

     * Digestive issues

     * Whacky menstrual cycles

 

Previous Attempts:

 

I completed 26 days of a standard Whole30 back in July. (Day 27 began a vacation trip, so I ended a few days early by choice.) Prior to that Whole30, I'd spent most of a year without wheat, corn, soy, or dairy, and I avoided most grains most of the time.

 

I came to that arrangement after I'd discovered that while all four of those triggers gave me sinus problems, wheat also gave me arthritis-like pain in my hands; corn caused huge, painful craters in my tongue; soy gave me bacne and the worst of the sinus problems; and dairy made my face break out. So I had good cause to avoid all of those.

 

I'd also discovered that including any grains in my diet made my seasonal allergies (hay fever) debilitating, but removing all grains from my diet in the spring and fall made the allergies all but disappear!

 

There were several other issues that I was hoping to solve by undertaking that July Whole30, but they all still plagued me at the end. I realized then that there had to be something else contributing to these problems, but as I was going on vacation, I didn't want to take the time to focus on it then.

 

Since I ended that Whole30, I've reverted to my old ways of eating, which still eliminate grains, soy, and dairy, but allow for some dark chocolate (soy- and dairy-free), potato chips (too many, but never with corn or soybean oil), "paleo" baking, and the too-frequent Coke Zero (yeah, I know).

 

Why Auto-immune and Low-histamine?

 

About 2 months ago, I woke up one morning to find nearly a dozen large, raised, itchy, red welts on my body. I had no idea where they'd come from, but my daily antihistamine - which I use to control my dermographism - had no effect on them. The next day, I had even more. And over the following two months, I didn't have a moment without welts/hives somewhere on my body (arms, legs, torso, head, inside my mouth!). I went to my allergist and got some blood work done, and the results showed that I have Chronic Urticaria. My allergist said that it's auto-responsive: my body's mast cells are releasing histamine in reaction to something that my own body is producing. So it's kind of like I'm allergic to myself! However, the medical industry has pretty much no idea what causes this.

 

A couple days ago, I did a bunch of Googling and came across an article that lists the primary symptoms of histamine intolerance…and I have nearly all of those symptoms!

 

Honestly, I don't know if this is the answer – I don't want to get my hopes up – but I am very willing to spend 30 days with a restricted diet on the off chance that this will improve so many of my physical problems.

 

Oh, and anecdotally: My allergist gave me a 5-day course of prednisone, and I'm on Day 3. Days 1 and 2, I had no welts!! It was miraculous! Today – Day 3 – I have welts again. And what did I ingest last night? A little red wine which, it so happens, is at the top of the list of foods that “may increase histamine levelsâ€.

 

So here I go….

[amberino21]

Angela, I hope your experiment finds you some relief from your conditions! I have everything crossed for you

[angelajl]

Thanks Amberino!

 

Yesterday was a transition / prep day. Today I'm diving in head-first! I've just finished my breakfast, and I've got lunch packed to take to work. Dinner is already planned out.

 

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at how restrictive this is going to be. I won't be able to use any of my favorite recipes - even my favorite Whole30 recipes - without modification. My husband suggested that I loosen up on foods that are not histamine-inducing, but might not be Whole30 compliant (such as white potatoes, rice, some sugars, etc), but I don't want to start out that way.

[angelajl]

Pretty good day. Probably 95% compliant. Tomorrow will be 100%.

 

Breakfast: Compliant chicken-apple sausage with sweet potato, onion, and kale cooked in coconut oil.

Lunch: Sweet potato, carrot, and ground beef stew

Dinner: Chicken soup (shredded chicken, parsnips, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf, salt) + grapes

Snack: (This is the non-compliant part) A few sweet potato chips

 

I also drank some cranberry juice, but that was on my doctor's recommendation, so I don't consider that to be bad.

 

Today was day 4 of 5 on Prednisone; I'll be very glad when this part is done. 

[angelajl]

Yesterday (Day 2) was pretty much the same as Day 1, though dinner was a chicken stir fry (out of the Autoimmune Paleo cookbook): Chicken, garlic, onion, ginger, carrots, broccoli, coconut aminos, and a little bit of lemon juice. 

 

Yesterday was also the last day of Prednisone, which I was taking to suppress my welts/hives, so we'll see whether they come back now that I'm done with that drug. I suspect they will, and soon, which is why I'm sticking to this low-histamine diet. I'd be thrilled if this made a positive difference.

[rozamu]

This sounds SO just like my issues! This started years ago for me but I only found out about paleo & Whole30 within this past year or so and have been making changes and things are definitely improving. I just wish less foods would cause my hives instead of more. I'm just going to follow along if that's alright.