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No More Burning Skin
Quote from eliza1275 on April 21, 2020, 8:57 amAn update: I am now incorporating a few vitamin A foods in my diet, and doing better than ever. I have more energy, sleep pretty well, and feel better mentally. I am eating beef, chicken, turkey, blueberries, bread, butter, potatoes, iceberg lettuce, butter lettuce, sunflower oil, potato chips, pretzels, and some herbs and spices. I really believe that my issues were due to allergic cross reactions (I am severely allergic to all grasses, ragweed, and several trees), which got worse after pregnancy. Now, taking certain supplements including methylated b vitamins, molybdenum, and NAC seems to help.
Also, I wanted to document some of the negative reactions on a high vegetable diet and carnivore diet that I no longer have.
High Vegetable Diet: Dry eye and inflamed pinguecula, bloating, low thyroid, rashes, itchy skin, insomnia, depression
Carnivore Diet: Dry eye, severe acne, fatigue, constipation, feeling cold, worsened Raynauds, low thyroid, insomnia, depression
Hey @eliza1275
I’m so glad you’ve been able to expand your diet a bit, and that you’re feeling so much better!
I want to share an idea with you from Karen Hurd (nutritionist and biochemist). She basically helps clients who have allergies by having them consume soluble fibre.
When you were eating nothing but beef and potatoes basically, you weren’t getting much soluble fibre. (And, as a side-note, soluble fibre binds vitamin A in the digestive tract for removal—without it, our bile and the fat soluble waste it contains just gets reabsorbed/recycled.) Hurd has an explanation for why soluble fibre helps people with allergies on YouTube (basically, it has to do with the bile situation I just described).
One of the things I was confused about for the first year or so on the vitamin A detox was, why aren’t my seasonal-allergies going away? (They were constant—I had post-nasal drip, a cough, and sneezing, so nothing as bad as what you’re dealing with, of course.)
When I started Karen Hurd’s ”Bean Cure” in the past couple of months, all those symptoms started to clear up dramatically. Right now, if I skip my soluble fibre for a couple days in a row, I start sneezing again and my voice lowers. It’s really weird. Once I get back to the plain lentils, it clears up pretty quickly (like by the end of the day I feel way clearer and my breathing is so much better—right now, it feels like I’m breathing crisp ocean air even though I’m inside—my lungs feel that good).
So if you’re allergic to legumes, you’re not going to do Hurd’s “Bean Cure” obviously. 😝 But I wonder if there might be sources of soluble fibre that you would be able to tolerate? Because I wonder if that could be a missing piece for you...
If you’re eating wheat, maybe whole grain wheat could be an option? I know there’s a soluble fibre supplement made from guar gum, but I think that’s from a legume... You’re probably allergic to apples, eh? Apple pectin has soluble fibre... Just trying to think of alternatives to legumes.
I guess the blueberries will have some soluble fibre, so you’ve already increased your intake a bit by expanding your diet.
Anyway, just thought I’d pass that idea along because it seems to have been key for me.
@puddleduck, that is very interesting! I don't tolerate beans (maybe related to sulfite/sulfur intolerance?), and I have tried whole wheat so many times, and end up staying up all night itching. I believe it is due to wheat's cross reactivity to grass. All foods that cross react with grass bother me - oranges, peanut butter, whole grains, almonds, etc. But I can eat refined wheat no problem. I didn't used to be this way, so you may be correct that gradually adding more foods (and resistant starch) into my diet will help.
I also forgot to mention in my above post that I am eating sweets - cookies, cupcakes, candy - and this seems to help me even more. I know, I know - sugar causes cancer, blah blah blah. I don't believe that. Maybe because I am a runner, and I need more carbohydrates than I get from grains and blueberries.
@eliza1275 I eat sugar and refined grains, too. 😝 If I go too low in carbs/calories I don’t do so well... It’s a tricky balance, because I know refined carbs don’t contain thiamin, so I try to eat foods that have thiamin along with them, in addition to supplementation.
Ah okay interesting about the whole wheat. I wonder if apple pectin would be refined enough that you wouldn’t react, or if the soluble fiber might cause an issue itself... I know people seem to find an increase in symptoms when increasing the soluble fibre (I certainly have). I had an increase in symptoms when I started the apple pectin, and even moreso when I started legumes (legumes have a lot more soluble fibre than apples/pectin supplements).
What about psyllium as a form of soluble fibre? Not sure what class of plant that is.
Quote from Rachel on April 27, 2020, 11:56 amWhat about psyllium as a form of soluble fibre? Not sure what class of plant that is.
Yes psyllium is fairly well tolerated, I used to take it years ago as part of keto to get the guts moving. After reading the recent info on soluble fibre I'm definitely going to get some back in the diet.
Quote from Neilky on April 29, 2020, 2:45 amQuote from Rachel on April 27, 2020, 11:56 amWhat about psyllium as a form of soluble fibre? Not sure what class of plant that is.
Yes psyllium is fairly well tolerated, I used to take it years ago as part of keto to get the guts moving. After reading the recent info on soluble fibre I'm definitely going to get some back in the diet.
Because I have really low fiber intake with this white rice, meat diet. I will take at least in the morning 1tsp of psyllium. Will see how it works..
@neilky and @jiri I've considered that I have a problem with FODMAP's, and generally avoid high fiber foods, though I have been trying to reintroduce them recently. I didn't used to eat this way - used to have mostly vegetables and high fiber starches, plus some meat, but not that much. Now I seem to only tolerate low fiber starches, sugar, meat, and fats. I can't pinpoint what caused the change, other than pregnancy. I know that if I eat whole grains, beans, or leafy greens, I have digestive problems, itching, restless leg syndrome, and a myriad of other symptoms. I guess I'm not fully "healed", but I know what works for me.
Also, I should note that I am not discounting Grant's theory. It's just that in my case, there are more variables. I cannot eat sulfites or most foods that cross reacts with grass, ragweed, or various trees. Luckily, I've identified these foods, and have gained 10 or so pounds and am thriving. At my worst, I was eating a ton of dried chili pepper (was told it was good for Raynauds) on top of shredded carrots with broccoli with olive oil. I estimated my vitamin a was about 80,000 IU per day. Yes, I ate that much chili pepper and carrots and other vegetables, for several years. And now, if I try to eat a dark leafy green or even a lot of herbs, my eyes immediately seize up and become irritated and dry. So I believe Grant's theory. I just think that my case is more complicated. Perhaps because of vitamin A toxicity, perhaps not.
In any event, @puddleduck I always love hearing from you - you seem to have a very balanced and healthy mindset. I am happy to hear that someone else eats refined grains and sugar, too - I honestly believe that is helping my health. Also, I believe that what you think makes you healthy, does.
I wanted to post an update, as my health and diet has improved dramatically recently. In the previous post, I had gained much needed weight and experienced fewer symptoms such as eczema and insomnia, but the symptoms were still sporadic despite the very limited diet.
In any event, I am now able to eat a variety of foods, without experiencing any of the symptoms I struggled with before. Here is a brief recap of my history:
2005: Start eating very "healthy" - lots of carrots, broccoli, and leafy greens, plus copious amounts of chili pepper
2012: Start reacting to many foods - itching, hives, insomnia, burning sensations, feelings of electrical impulses or shocks, acne, hypothyroidism, etc. Eventually begin eating only beef.
2016: After years of tapering down my diet to only beef, finally add potato chips on a whim - find much improvement in insomnia, acne, itching, and improvement in thyroid.
2019: Find Grant's work, and believe that there is a connection with my reactions to vitamin A toxicity
2021: Still have intermittent reactions despite eating mostly beef, rice, potatoes, potato chips, etc. (find I cannot tolerate beans). Fed up with it all, so start eating everything.
I literally ate whatever the people around me were eating, and as expected, I had the worst reactions. However, after a couple of days, it all just stopped! I stopped itching, started sleeping, and felt great. And I have maintained this for almost a month now!
My theory is that my gut microbiome was so badly out of balance from all of those years just eating meat (and perhaps from too much vitamin A prior to that), and adding in a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, though very painful at first, has brought back balance to my gut. I have been experimenting with a wide variety of foods, and the only ones I seem to react to now are leafy greens. All that happens is my eyes get very dry within a half hour or so of eating them. I do not itch or "burn" as I used to.
So now I am eating whole grains, fruits, berries, vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, fish, poultry, meat, potatoes, olive oil, some baked goods, and the like. I have read several studies on polyphenols and other substances helping gut bacteria, and perhaps that is why I no longer react to things like pepper, tomatoes, and apples. However, I do not plan on going back to eating a very high vitamin A diet, as things like kale and spinach still give me more problems than benefits.
Hi Eliza, glad you are feeling well! Thanks for the update!