When I eat most foods, especially vegetables and fruits, grains not so much, I get a great many of those symptoms.
It starts as lightheadedness and heart pounding. There’s intestinal discomfort, muscle weakness, and extreme fatigue to the point that I HAVE TO lay down. I feel somewhat short of breath but have never been able to determine that it’s due to asthma since I have never had any wheezing.
The symptoms come on very suddenly and subside just as suddenly, on their own, more quickly if I’m laying down, regardless of whether I take anti-histamines or not. Matter of fact, it seems that I feel better sooner by not taking them.
I’ve checked my blood pressure and heart rate at these times and thy are elevated somewhat but not a lot.
I also break out very easily from fruits and vegetables and hydrocoritisone ointment is the only thing that seems to help but the rash does not seem to be connected to the other reaction.
I usually don’t feel well most of the time and do not enjoy eating any more. I eat to survive, that’s all.
Importantly, is it just foods, or do you have other chemical sensitivities?
It would be good to do a survey of your home, to look for possible other causes, like toxic black mold; rodents and birds, whose dropping can sometimes cause serious problems. The air ducts in your home can also act as a breeding ground for spores and fungus.
[quote]When I eat most foods, especially vegetables and fruits, grains not so much, I get a great many of those symptoms.[/quote]
Hello metmom,
I had to register when I read your posting about your intolerance to so many fruits and vegetables.
Please do some online research on FRUCTOSE - almost all fruits, except berries, have huge amounts of fructose, and many vegetables, such as carrots, for instance, also have VERY high levels of fructose.
It is possible that you have what is called: Fructose Intolerance.
This condition used to be termed Dietary Fructose Intolerance, to separate it from an inherited condition called Hereditary Fructose Intolerance.
Some experts suspect that at least 45 percent of all persons of white European descent have difficulty digesting fructose. However, they have no idea whether other races are similarly affected, as the only real research done thus far was in Europe.
There are a number of low fructose vegetables such spinach & red leaf lettuce & celery, but there are not many.
I strongly encourage you to research the exact phrase, ‘FRUCTOSE INTOLERANCE’ on google.
And to get advice about what foods to avoid, you’d also want to check out all the online resources for the genetic variety, too - referred to as HFI for Hereditary Fructose Intolerance.
I’ve dealt with Celiac Disease for decades, but within four days of going on a total ZERO-Fructose “fast” I was pain free for the first time in memory, and had a total complete cessation of any/all digestive problems and peculiar “allergic-type” reactions to food. It all vanished in mere days.
Two American researchers concerned with the impact of fructose upon human health are John LUSTIG, M.D., and Richard J. JOHNSON, M.D.
Also, the European Journal of Nutrition recently had an article suggesting that in order to successfully combat obesity there should be a Fructose-Index of all foods, to replace the current Glucose-Index, as much recent research suggests that the massive fructose consumption of modern times could be behind the obesity epidemic, and could also contribute to the drastic rise in type 2 diabetes.
In past times, most humans consumed diets based upon STARCH - such as rice or potatoes or cornmeal - all of which are exceptionally low in fructose. And before agriculture, most hunter gatherer societies had a diet based primarily on meat & fish.
I had NO idea that all those “healthy” fruits & vegetables, of which we are “supposed” to be eating NINE servings of each day, were making me so ill, and for many years! It is really unfortunate that so few nutritionists are aware of how great a percentage of people have severe problems with fructose — and perhaps ??? you are one of them?
Well, I am not a doctor, nor a nutritionist, but you might want to try a NON-veggie, NON-fruit diet and see how you feel in a week or two.
And you might try going on a strict gluten-free diet which Freepers muawiyah and blam are so knowledgable about.
Also, you might get a copy of the book entitled, “THE SUGAR FIX: The High-Fructose Fallout that is Making You Fat and Sick,” by Richard J. Johnson, M.D.
Good luck to you!