all,

I've had CFIDS/FMS for what seem like forever, probably as a kid too but undiagnosed then. I'm visiting a Fibro & Fatigue Center in Cleveland, which between pharmaceutical and nutritional supplement prescriptions has been helpful, especially with IBS and the body wide pain from fibro. What seems to be giving me a harder time than ever is reactive hypoglycemia. I'm pretty sure I've had that all my life as well, it's just impossible to control these days for some reason. I recently acquired a glucometer and the numbers reflect my mental/physical state pretty strongly.

My question is, am I alone in the multiple food allergy/sensitivity realm? So many of the protein sources that help you to maintain a healthy LC diet are foods my insides get really grouchy about: eggs, milk, soy to name only a few. I need to eat 6 times a day and I'm struggling terribly. I've gone to two dieticians so far and both were useless. The last one said to me at the end of the visit, "Hmm, you really do have it tough. Sorry, I just don't know how to help you." I asked for my money back. She laughed and said no. Can't say I shared the humor

Right now I'm on the hunt for menu planning software that includes nutritional values and lets you work with it by keeping a database of your preferred foods. Haven't found much yet. I'm spending so many of my days sick because my sugar is too low and that seems to magnify all the fibro symptoms big time. Any , 's or suggestions on how to deal with this logistically and even emotionally would be so hugely appreciated!

P.S. I'm so glad to have found this forum. Don't know if it's the misery loves company thing or what but it helps to know that there's others out there struggling with some of the same problems you are!

Hmmm...you have got it tough!!

I do share the dairy and soy problem, but I just don't eat them.

You must have a lot more than that though.

One of the best things ever, for low carb and others, is peanut butter. I know...fungus...

But it is good for you otherwise, and a good source of protein, which you need I am sure all six meals????

My ex-DH was hypoglycemic and we worked around it until he got tired of not having simple carbs. That was before I knew about low carbing.

Have you tried e-diets? I think they help with menu planning and you can put your allergies in there somewhere, but I may be wrong, it's been awhile since I was on the site.

Thanks quietone for the e-diets suggestion, I'll definitely check them out! Yeah I've definitely got to do all 6 meals or my brain starts to fog up in a big, bad way. I'm lucky with DH cause he's hypoglycemic, lc and the resident cook, so at least dinner is always well rounded and I can eat most of it. The peanut butter recommendation is an excellent one - the hubby lives on the stuff but it's another one of the foods I can't eat. I thought about including a list of no-no foods with my first post but doubted that was a good idea. Didn't want to aggrivate anyone with only my second post. Thanks again for responding tho, just good to know anybody was listening

Isn't it the pits? I have had many of the same problems for decades. Everyone's different of course, but I offer my experience and you see if it fits. One thing that helped me was getting off wheat. If you get a chance to read Life Without Bread, it explains better than I ever could how wheat can be involved in multiple sensitivities, CFS, FM, RLS, etc....I got completely off wheat and felt dramatically different, then weeks later ate one pancake. All the symptoms came back for a week! Even burning inside my knee joints. Who'd a thunk? The Staff of Life causing such agony! It seems to be a common allergen. I feel so much better, I'm not even tempted when I walk by a bakery and smell that aroma we all know so well. I still have fatigue, not nearly as bad as before, but so many symptoms have cleared up for me. I don't know how much is low carbing and how much is avoiding wheat. I will have tests back that tell me more. Can get back to you if that's something you'd be interested in hearing. ANyway, hang in there and keep at it. This forum is great for troubleshooting. I'm pretty new (3 days?) and I've learned so much, it feels like a year's worth of info! My main exercise lately has been wrestling with my dh over who gets the computer! LOL --Gail

Oh how I feel for you with wheat! When I was about 18 mo I was diagnosed by symptoms with Celiac. Did the wheat-free thing until early adolescence (really did not want to explain to the other 7th graders at the lunch table what rice crackers were Looking back on it I'm not sure how much benefit there was for me in going wheat-free as I still had more than my fair share of tummy trouble, allergies, muscle pain, colds/infections as a kid. About 5-6 yrs ago I had the blood serum testing done for gluten and it came back negative. Just recently I had other blood work done that shows a certain serum deficiency in my blood that could have rendered false results in the gluten test. C'est la vie. So much for ruling at least one thing out for sure. With all the other restrictions in my diet I'm not sure I've got the courage to completely drop wheat again, but I'm definitely considering it much more strongly than I had been.

LOL at the wrestling with DH for PC, we finally had to get two. It was either that or death by keyboard bludgeoning for one of us Thanks so much for the words of encouragement, Gail and I'd love to hear your progress! I know what you mean about the overflow of info, a lot to absorb at once. Very glad it's here tho!

One thing that helps me stay away from wheat is that I was allergic to eggs for years. Now I can eat them every day and no headaches. Guess which one I'd rather have with this WOE? (big smile)
Reading your post got me to thinking. I thought I got CFIDS when I caught the flu in July 1978 and it never went away. But thinking back to my childhood, I've been told that I got the mumps twice and my neck swelled completely up both times. I did fine during my teen years, but as a young adult supporting myself, I found my strength going gradually. It got scary. Then I snagged the greatest guy on the planet. The Catch of the Universe. We married and he has been so supportive thru the years. When others (DR. and friends) thought I was being a hypochondriac, he remembered how I was before I got CFIDS. That's so important--being believed.--Gail

AnnEnigma

I too have hypoglycaemia, luckily a Dr put me on to LC, my food intolerances have almost gone since beginning LC 18 mths ago, althiough milk and eggs still have some probs (wind, bloating) cream,butter and cheese don't seem to cause a prob tho, and wheat used to be a prob, is no more, of course don't eat much of it anyway.I also used to have probs with amines ( contained in mushrooms, yeasts and fermented or aged foods, cheese, pickles , wine, etc)LC has minimised all my symptoms, u may find given time that LC will help minimise your intolerances too, of course it can do nothing for true "allergies" (the diff between allergies and intolerances is that allergies invoke an immune response, ie. release histimines, whereas intolerances do not ) I hope it does help u


If u dont want to list all the things u have probs with here then y don't u start a journal, then only those who r interested in u will go there to view it


i use a program called "big oven" u can download recipes from the net, write ur own, or import from other places files, etc quite easily, it has a menu planner, and u can easily allow it to calculate the nutritional requirements of any recipe u put in there. I found it very user friendly, and i've tried out quite alot. It is also a fairly new program, and the writers actually ask for suggestions to upgrade it and make it better. You can check out the site at bigoven.com (sorry i don't know how to make it into a link so u will have to do that urself) only prob with this prog is it will cost about $25 from memory, but u get a free 1 month trial.

Or u can check out "nutrigenie" i think i found that from a link at the atkins site, but i am sure if u typed it into google, or other search engine u would find it. I tried nutrigenie, found it wasnt very easy to use and didnt have the features i wanted.

Good luck, hope u find a dietician to help u, but if u r anything like me u will just have to go it alone with a try until u succeed way of going at it. The 'net has been a great source of info and ideas as have the books at my local library. If u have the right attitude u will succeed and everything will be better because of it.