Thoughts

It's recently been reinforced just how much of an effect what I take into my body has on my physical and mental well being. I managed to get into some poison ivy two weeks ago (it happens every year, and I never know where I get it- I swear I'm a magnet for poison ivy), so I went to the doctor to see if she had any suggestions. She had me do a round of prednisone and gave me a referral to an allergist so I can get some testing done- it's been almost 20 years since the last time I had a skin test, so I figure it's about time for another one.
I've never taken prednisone before, and I have to say it's not been a wonderful experience. I really hope the allergist has some better ideas about how to control my allergies. Yes, the prednisone helped the itching and the rashes cleared up way faster than they ever have, but the side effects stunk. I got a case of the raging munchies, which I haven't had since I eliminated all my food triggers, it knocked my sleep cycle off, and the mental fog reappeared. I HATE the mental fog. Anything that makes it come back is not a good thing in my book. It's a real struggle to get anything done because my brain just kind of checks out- it doesn't want to do anything that requires thought or effort, which is pretty much everything.

The really wet spring has been great for keeping the yellow tree pollen from killing me. Until last night. I was cleaning up after LMS' birthday party that we had on the back deck and I must have gotten some pollen on my chin because it started itching. The itching has gotten progressively worse since then, and I now have hives across my chin, jaw, neck, chest, and ears. And I can't take anything for it. Allergy meds knock me out (I get completely non-functional even with the "non-drowsy" versions), and I've got the allergy appointment this week and can't be taking anything that will affect the results of the tests. I really hope the hives and itching stop before then. I very rarely get hives, so this isn't a normal experience for me.

In the last few weeks I've realized we still haven't identified all our trigger foods. Between family visiting, Easter, and birthday cakes, I've done more baking in the last couple weeks than I have in the last four months. Not neccessarily a bad thing, except that the mock cornbread I made for Easter used both millet and sorghum and at least one of those is a trigger. I made the mock cornbread for Thanksgiving and noticed a reaction then, too, so it didn't catch me off guard this time around. However, you're only supposed to introduce one new food at a time so it's easy to identify the problem. We didn't do that well at all- millet, sorghum, oranges, bananas were all introduced within a few days of each other, and I know at least one of them is a problem. The chocolate cake I made for LMS' birthday didn't react well with her, so I made a coconut cake that used sorghum for her birthday party. That didn't react well either, and I had a very pronounced reaction to it, which I haven't had for quite some time- I've been using LMS' reactions as our main barometer.

So what aren't we eating these days?
Gluten, oats, corn, dairy, egg, soy, nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes), tapioca

Questionable, that we still need to determine for sure:
Citrus, bananas, strawberries, chocolate, millet, sorghum, peanuts

We've had to eliminate all the starches (potato, corn, and tapioca) except for arrowroot starch. This is a problem since gluten free baking requires a starch mixed with a flour. I'm really hoping arrowroot doesn't become a problem since then we won't be able to do any baking. The few commercial baked goods we could eat are now off the ok list since we had to eliminate tapioca.

When it comes to eating a healthy diet, less sweets is a good thing, but sometimes you just want a cookie or a brownie. Not sure how we'll work around it, but we'll come up with something.

The bright part in all of this is at least we don't have an anaphylactic reaction to these foods- the most common effect of eating something on our list is really bad diahrrea that can take days to clear up. And while it's doing that, our intestines aren't absorbing nutrients properly. If we aren't getting the nutrients we need our bodies aren't growing and functioning properly, so the incentive to keep the intestinal walls healthy is strong. Being healthy really is worth all the hassle.  (must remember to keep telling myself this...)