Radio programme

[Copper]

Tonight (14 April) on Radio 4 at 9pm there is a programme about intolerances and allergies.

It is repeated again at 4.30pm tomorrow.

More information can be found here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jmv25

[Copper]

I have just listened to this programme. This is a precis of what was said:-

There are no reliable tests for intolerances except for coeliac. Many people that think they have intolerances do not take into account their lifestyle and stress. Food is only one part of our lives.

Coeliac is serious, life long and genetic. The first test is a blood test to check for anaemia. Then the endoscopy is the final proof.

They had a coeliac who mentioned that she had to take a fibre and iron supplement. She also had a bone density scan at age 25 so they can keep an eye on that too. The have to keep an eye on calcium absorption.

Other intolerances are often diagnosed by listening to the patient and family history. The usual suspects are wheat and milk.

The expert from Addenbrooks hospital said that for those of us who think we have intolerances we could carry out the following:-

Remove one suspect food from our diet for 2 weeks
(if we get daily symptoms 2 weeks is long enough). If we feel better then we have found the problemfood.

She also said that we should then put the food back into our diet and see if we get ill again.

We can repeat this with other suspect foods but only do one at a time.

If we are still feeling ill and unable to identify the food we should go to our GPs.

A dietician talked about lactose intolerance. She did mention all the names for milk which included caseinates. I had wondered if I was a bit over the top excluding things like that but apparently I am not. She also mentioned that lactose is in some medication bought over the counter, so we just need to talk to our pharmacist. We must make sure that we know what is in any medication we need to take.

IBS was mentioned as one Dr thought maybe people with intolerances may be labelled as IBS sufferers. The Addenbrooks expert said she hoped that things like lactose intolerance would have been explored. They did mention the tests for lactose intolernace.

If anybody wants to hear the programme it should be available on listen again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/atoz/index.shtml#c

or on I Player here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006th1n

These may only be available for a week.

[cnc]

Sounds quite interesting. Maybe I need to speak to this expert rather than my own useless one at the hospital!!