Frustrated.... help me, Nancy Drews. - Page 3

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by KimPM

I didn't take the survey as I'm relatively new to this forum. But add me to the carrot-sensitive list. Make that 6 out of 34.

And I haven't had carrots for two years. Well, okay I tried a tiny bit of them a few months ago and I still reacted. But I enjoy breathing more than I like the carrots.

Anything else on your list or just carrots? I'll add you.

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Anything else on your list or just carrots? I'll add you.

Oh, lots and lots. See the "Roll Call" sticky page 6.

[lily7]

My DS does not react to carrots, but he does not digest them, neither raw or cooked.

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by momofmine

Bleach itself wouldn't have corn in it. There are many different chemical formulas that can be referred to as "bleach", so who knows what they use. BUT whatever solution they dip it in could also have some kind of corn additive in it in addition to the bleach. They probably don't even know. I would stop doing the baby carrots for sure.

I'm pretty sure chlorine bleach does have corn in it. We've had discussions about this on the Avoiding Corn forum and everyone there reacts to things with chlorine bleach, as well as to pools, hot tubs (many people, myself included, can't even go into an indoor pool area because of the bleachy/corny fumes) and things like tea in tea bags, because the bags are bleached. Some people are more sensitive than others, of course, but the general consensus is that chlorine bleach does have corn-derived ingredients in it somehow.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by capsgirl08

CS -- Don't know if this will be helpful. I bought lamb for the first time from Central Market and asked the butcher if they had grassfed lamb. He seemed knowledgeable about some of the other questions I'd asked. Anyway, he said that grassfed lamb is rare -- and that they are usually all fed corn.

I haven't looked into it yet. But just thought I'd share.

That's what I figured. I'm so used to our fabulous co-op lamb (that is somewhat local and 100% grassfed) that it didn't even cross my mind to ask. I just called them, and [surprise, surprise ] they didn't know.... so she's calling a manager and will call me back to let me know if they are fed any grains.

Wow- KimPM, that is a horrible reaction to carrots. I don't blame you at all for not eating them.

We both ate the carrots- I figure it's just easier that way. Carrots were negative on my ELISA (not that that's a guarantee or anything).

We had some more yesterday for lunch. She slept slightly better last night, but not much. Her chin is a little bubbly this morning, but not obvious eczema spots yet. Of course I also had a few sips of water kefir last night, which I haven't been drinking for a few weeks.... so the bubbly chin could be from that too. Or the lamb. Or the beets, which we have trialed, but also haven't eaten for a few weeks. I'm still holding out hope on the carrots.

[Lady TS]

Haven't read the whole thread, but BunnyLuv whole carrots are supposed to be corn-free. Washed only with water.

Also, carrots are in the same family as celery, which is a more common allergy.

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

We had some more yesterday for lunch. She slept slightly better last night, but not much. Her chin is a little bubbly this morning, but not obvious eczema spots yet. Of course I also had a few sips of water kefir last night, which I haven't been drinking for a few weeks.... so the bubbly chin could be from that too. Or the lamb. Or the beets, which we have trialed, but also haven't eaten for a few weeks. I'm still holding out hope on the carrots.

You may want to speak to her homeopath. As we were going through this I gave ds his remedy when he woke screaming or just simply whimpering at night. Made a difference immediately. That's when I started questioning whether or not an allergen stopped the action of the remedy. As soon as it was administered again we were good.

[Panserbjorne]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

PB- We had beets today too, and DD's first pee after lunch was totally pink. I remember you saying that means low HCl, which mean low zinc(?). I knew that I had the beet-pink-pee issue, but I'm a little surprised that DD does too. Do I need to find us a safe zinc supplement asap? Does zinc transfer through BM, or if I would need to supp DD too?

well, I'm not necessarily a "there's a zinc deficiency so throw zinc at it" kinda gal. What *I* would do is a mineral assay (Doctor's Data does a good one and it's around $50) and see the actual levels. Low hydrochloric acid pretty much is a sure trigger for food intolerances. Low zinc means you aren't going to produce HCl the way you should. So, with a reactive kid....I'd pay attention. If the first major part of digestion is missed proteins that are too large pass into the intestines where they have no business being. When proteins that are too large sit in the gut they don't get broken down properly and there is a MUCH higher likelihood of them passing into the bloodstream thereby causing a reaction.

That's a pretty nifty thing to have seen though and it does IMO give you some good info.

You *can* supplement her directly with zinc if you choose....but I would personally feel more comfortable knowing what was skewing the numbers. Is she just not getting enough? can she not access it? Is her copper too high?

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by Panserbjørne

You may want to speak to her homeopath. As we were going through this I gave ds his remedy when he woke screaming or just simply whimpering at night. Made a difference immediately. That's when I started questioning whether or not an allergen stopped the action of the remedy. As soon as it was administered again we were good.

Interesting. I will have to ask her about that.

Originally Posted by Panserbjørne

well, I'm not necessarily a "there's a zinc deficiency so throw zinc at it" kinda gal. What *I* would do is a mineral assay (Doctor's Data does a good one and it's around $50) and see the actual levels. Low hydrochloric acid pretty much is a sure trigger for food intolerances. Low zinc means you aren't going to produce HCl the way you should. So, with a reactive kid....I'd pay attention. If the first major part of digestion is missed proteins that are too large pass into the intestines where they have no business being. When proteins that are too large sit in the gut they don't get broken down properly and there is a MUCH higher likelihood of them passing into the bloodstream thereby causing a reaction.

That's a pretty nifty thing to have seen though and it does IMO give you some good info.

You *can* supplement her directly with zinc if you choose....but I would personally feel more comfortable knowing what was skewing the numbers. Is she just not getting enough? can she not access it? Is her copper too high?

Thanks for that info. I will look into that testing. hmmm... DD just had a bunch of bloodwork done to check for deficiencies, so maybe I can check those. I just called the ped and they are mailing a copy of the results (since I keep forgetting to ask for them when I'm in the office.)

I definitely need to do that testing for myself though. Especially since I have a completely worthless (but covered under insurance ) HCP that rolls her eyes at me every time I request any type of testing, including my latest vitamin D test which was in fact quite low.

[Panserbjorne]

just so you know DD is a hair test. Testing the blood for minerals isn't always accurate because it shows what is circulating, not what is being used. Allopathic thinking says that these tests are useless, much like food allergy testing. But logically....if you test calcium levels and see a reasonable amount in the blood you get cleared...you have plenty of calcium. Except what *may* actually being happening is due to a huge imbalance (phosphorous, vitamin D etc.) calcium is being leeched out of the bones to stabilize the pH of the bloodstream. That is way bad news for your bones and not reflective of your stores at all. I dont' trust blood tests for minerals because I could describe a million scenarios like this.

[lil_miss_understood]

Can a "layman" order the test from DD or do we need a medical professional to do so?
If we're looking for a full nutritional profile/analysis, what would you suggest?

[Panserbjorne]

no, you do need a doctor but a chiro or a ND could do it.

I like the metal screen with nutritional analysis. Gets alot of info for not much money.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by Panserbjørne

just so you know DD is a hair test. Testing the blood for minerals isn't always accurate because it shows what is circulating, not what is being used. Allopathic thinking says that these tests are useless, much like food allergy testing. But logically....if you test calcium levels and see a reasonable amount in the blood you get cleared...you have plenty of calcium. Except what *may* actually being happening is due to a huge imbalance (phosphorous, vitamin D etc.) calcium is being leeched out of the bones to stabilize the pH of the bloodstream. That is way bad news for your bones and not reflective of your stores at all. I dont' trust blood tests for minerals because I could describe a million scenarios like this.

Aah- good to know. I bet our DD's chiro would order that for us. I've been thinking lately that I would like to get her checked for metals too, because that's something that we haven't done yet.

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by Panserbjørne

no, you do need a doctor but a chiro or a ND could do it.

I like the metal screen with nutritional analysis. Gets alot of info for not much money.

KK, thanks, PB.

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by WildIris

I'm pretty sure chlorine bleach does have corn in it. We've had discussions about this on the Avoiding Corn forum and everyone there reacts to things with chlorine bleach, as well as to pools, hot tubs (many people, myself included, can't even go into an indoor pool area because of the bleachy/corny fumes) and things like tea in tea bags, because the bags are bleached. Some people are more sensitive than others, of course, but the general consensus is that chlorine bleach does have corn-derived ingredients in it somehow.

I wonder if this is why DD2 reacts to Dunkin' Donuts tea (in bags) and hasn't had a problem with loose tea (rooibas) at home. I thought it was a black tea/red tea difference. But I wonder if it's the corn in the teabags... i didn't think the organic carrots would have chlorine on them. And does it make any difference if you peel them? Or does it absorb it somehow? My DD2 is okay with carrots, but we always get organic. And I always peel them. So I'm curious.

[changingseasons]

PB- is it this one? And it's really only like $50-ish?

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

I wonder if this is why DD2 reacts to Dunkin' Donuts tea (in bags) and hasn't had a problem with loose tea (rooibas) at home. I thought it was a black tea/red tea difference. But I wonder if it's the corn in the teabags... i didn't think the organic carrots would have chlorine on them. And does it make any difference if you peel them? Or does it absorb it somehow? My DD2 is okay with carrots, but we always get organic. And I always peel them. So I'm curious.

Kathy, My bet is she's reacting to the tea bags. I react to tea bags and I'm not as sensitive as some people.

About the carrots, I know some people scrub them with baking soda first and then rinse well before peeling thickly. I'm not that meticulous, but then again, I've been pretty lucky so far with safe, dirty, whole carrots. I just peel and rinse. Except the last batch DH bought I did seem to react to, but that was a first, and it was a different brand. I think the only way to know if they've been treated with something is call the manufacturer.

[momofmine]

Originally Posted by WildIris

I'm pretty sure chlorine bleach does have corn in it. We've had discussions about this on the Avoiding Corn forum and everyone there reacts to things with chlorine bleach, as well as to pools, hot tubs (many people, myself included, can't even go into an indoor pool area because of the bleachy/corny fumes) and things like tea in tea bags, because the bags are bleached. Some people are more sensitive than others, of course, but the general consensus is that chlorine bleach does have corn-derived ingredients in it somehow.

Yes, I am sure that's possible. I guess I meant that the actual chemicals that are the bleaching part would just be atoms of whatever it is, like if it's sodium hypochlorite, it would be sodium, chlorine, and oxygen. But whatever is added to that to make it into a solution, who knows!

Well, I just tried to look it up and found this about how bleach is made.

But who knows what kind of bleach they are using on food. They use bleaching agents all the time, to bleach wheat flour white, etc.

[mommydancer]

Okay, first, CS.....Oh man. I know where you've been and I am sorry you're struggling so hard. I am with you, too. We have very few foods that are safe and DS is two years plus a couple mos., so I have been eating this way up over two years now. It is actually really scary, I don't know how to hope mine is magically going to "get better", and I can't see how he will have to live if he doesn't. I am so sorry, mama. Oh, and we react to carrots as well. Although I haven't trialed in a long time.

I was struck by a couple of things Panserbjorne said. It's weird it came up, since I had the beets-pink pee thing this morning myself and was concerned because it doesn't ordinarily happen...I had no knowledge of the HCL / zinc connection. (Still don't quite get it, hope I can learn more.) Could it be that we recently had the flu, and my HCL isn't back at normal? Could it be we have chronically low levels of either or both? Could it be something like this could unlock the whole permanent nightmare of our nutritional pergatory? I know, I am up over the top now...sort of.

I just want to make clear, I too am sick of studying every BM, scouring any new store, never going out for food and so on. And what Panserbjorne had to say made me want to climb into her(?) head because I could learn so much.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by mommydancer

And what Panserbjorne had to say made me want to climb into her(?) head because I could learn so much.

No kidding. I want to BE her on a daily basis.