Desperate to know if it worked? Help please!

[pink9876pumps]

Hi
I'm after some advice about intolerance as I'm not sure if there is a definitive site that has the correct information (suggestions if there is would be great).

I have had catarrh in my throat for approx 4 years now and I am a singer so can't really sing because of it.
I had sinusitis as a child and asthma still.I also have a dust allergy but no others. I have IBS too.

I recently started acupuncture for depression and fibromyalgia. I have had a septum re-alignment which made no difference to my catarrh in my throat and now await allergy test results which I should getting in about 2 weeks.

I mentioned my catarrh to my acupuncturist who suggested trying to cut out dairy. I had tried this before but perhaps not properly so this I tried properly.

So on the 29 july I started to cut out dairy gradually. By about the 5th august I was dairy free.

I made a mistake on either the 13th or 20th and had something from the freezer I thought was something else (!), so it may have had about a teaspoon or two of ghee in.

Apart from that I have been free from dairy.

I'm desperately wanting to try something with dairy in as I'm a bit fed up but I don't know if I have been on the diet long enough to warrant this? I have had no improvement in the catarrh. What do you guys think?
I sit possible I have been on the elimination diet long enough to see a reasonable result?

I'm dying for some decent chocolate or cake! I know I can order some dairy free as I've not found any good products yet but wanted to see what people thought.
Also is there a good source I can check for CORRECT INFO as I've looked erywhere!

[rebecca c]

Welcome to the site - havent got long to reply. Just to start with I would say for me it takes 6 weeks to see improvement and then it is quite clear.

I have a lot of similar problems to you.

You can make your own cakes by substituting pure or vitalite for butter.

Correct info will be difficult to get hold of - dairy intolerence is not widely accepted.

[rebecca c]

Sorry for my shorter reply - I think the clearance time is different for everyone but as I say for me it is definitely 6 weeks. a dairy free diet does not clear my nose but it does improve it. I have to have regular operations on my nose as polyps regrow very quickly after each op but with the last op whilst I have been on a number of dietary restriction I managed my biggest gap between ops of 8 years - although the last 2 years have been very horrible and I probably should of had it sooner. I am not as full as catahr as I have been at some times in my life.

One of my biggest triggers of all is alcohol(quite a few of the nose sprays the doctors prescribe have alcohol in them). I am also on a low salicylate, no gluten (for IBS and facial swellings and not nose), and no soya diet (quite a few people who are dairy intolerant are or become soya intolerant.

Even those doctors who accept intolerences are not too interested in them. There are some good dieticians out there who can give support and take them seriously. A less conventional route would be to seek help from a nutritionist (there are qualifications and controlling bodies for this profession)

I would keep trying for a bit longer, consider keeping a food diary, dont try eliminating more than one thing at a time without professional help.

[Copper]

As Rebecca has said it takes some people a number of weeks to see an improvement. Keep going a bit longer.

A food diary is worth doing as it is something you can show a doctor. You have to make sure that you write everything down and make a note of any symptoms or worsening of any symptoms.

You must not eliminate more than one food type at once as you will not be abe to pinpoint the food type which is causing the problem.

[pink9876pumps]

After (kind of) four weeks, and being pretty fed up, I tried something yesterday. The throat had been just as bad prior to this and has not got any worse as it didn't when I ate the ghee by accident after two weeks.

I am quite fed up that there might not be anything I can do about the throat and I may have to consider a change in career!

Does anyone know which is the most trusted of sites for information about the intolerance diet?

[Copper]

As far as I know there aren't any.

The medical experts on the radio prog I listened to said that there are reliable tests for lactose intolerance and coeliac. You do of course have to have these in your diet for a number of weeks for the tests to give reliable results.

Other than that it is a case of food diaries and eliminating one food at a time from your diet. This means if after 6 weeks there is no improvement dairy free then you can put dairy back into your diet and remove something else. The usual suspect foods are dairy, eggs, wheat/gluten and possibly soya.

I have identified all of my problem foods using the method above.

[rebecca c]

I feel like I could make lots of suggestions as to what your throat/sinuses may be but that would not be helpful. There are lots of allergens and causes of intolerence and some of us react to more than one thing. the biggest cause of allergies is the faeces of the house dust mite and this would certainly be something worth trying to reduce in your house(see asthma.org). Apart from that, taking advice from an ENT consultant, perhaps asking for a referral to an allergy specialist, or/and a dietician and the suggestions about food diaries and cutting things out one at a time then the only other thing is to try out internet/medical research. When doing this it is important to bear in mind just how many thousands of spurious sites there are on the web.

This is the process I have been through myself and things are not cured for me but my life is comfortable enough for me to enjoy my children and hold down a job (which are definitely my current priorities). I can do gentle physical exercise - nothing aerobic.

The thing which helps my IBS the most is the gluten free which also stops my face swelling up but also a product called ispahalga husk is very helpful. It is the fibre agent you get in fibregel but I buy it on its own as fibregel has all sorts of additives including sorbitol which gives me (and many other people wind) I use half the recommended daily amount and it has really helped me. If I use the full amount it makes me feel a bit nauseous.

[pink9876pumps]

I use ispahalga husk and colpermin for the ibs and have a dust allergy so already try my best with that. I have also moved house since the throat started and have the same problem still even though I control the mites more...
GRR..I dunno..

[rebecca c]

I find my steam cleaner helpful for cleaning - its a powerful polti one.

are you living in an area with more pollution?

I have been using an air filter quite expensive and there is no evidence at all that it works so probably not worth the money!