Could food Sensativities be causing my fatigue?

[prefer2breathe]

I've been on Cpap for 2.5 years and am still tired all the time. My osa is under control according to my data. I am just wondering if any of you know anything about food sensativities? My wife and I have been reading quite a bit about it and have read that one of the side effects can be constant fatigue. I am just wondering if this is something to look into. There is testing for food allergies but there is no concrete test for food sensativities. We have a local chiropractor in town that practices kinesiology to determine sensativities but I am pretty sceptical about these guys. To me, it seems like we're going to a witch doctor that is practicing voodoo. Is there anyone that has experience with this whether good or bad??

Thanks,
Jason

[Breathe Jimbo]

Better to see a board-certified asthma & allergy specialist. A chiropractor has no business dealing with allergies; one who does is a quack. Don't waste your time with quacks.

[BlackSpinner]

Try it out. I have seen some good stuff come out of kinesiology, allergist as useless for food sensitivity because -- tra la - it is not an allergy! It can destroy your life but it is not an allergy and they get very upset if you call it that and most of them will not want to deal with it.

One of the first things to consider is gluten. Try eliminating all wheat products from your diet of a few weeks and keep a diary of how you feel each day. Many people are sensitive to gluten without having Celiacs', it gets worse as you age. Other things to consider are diary products, however work at eliminating one thing at the time.

Note that you may feel worse at first. This is a good sign, it means your body is protesting. Food sensitivities often feel like addictions, with withdrawals.

Another food related issue is Candida - yeast - It is implicated in many sinus issues. Yeast is fed by wheat and sugars. If you go on a Candida diet you will feel awful at first as the dieing yeasts make you sick.

[archangle]

I was investigating food allergies for some of my problems at one time. What I did was cut out entire food groups for a week or so and see what happens. At one time, I ate nothing but microwaved spiceless chicken breasts for a week. (Not a good diet long term, but isn't going to kill you in a week or so.) Then I'd try no wheat products at all for a week, etc. No meat or dairy for a week.

Also, check out any vitamin pills or similar things you're taking. Some of them have rice or other additives and some people have problems with that. Drop all such things for a week or two and see if there's a difference.

Something "simple" like the chicken breasts is a good test because you never know what's in prepared foods. Even if there's an ingredient list, it can include unidentified "natural and artificial" flavorings. Or it might be processed on equipment that handles other food. Unprocessed foods may not be "healthier" long term, but they do reduce the number of variables when you're experimenting.

A doctor once suggested I try out the "Paleo diet" just as a test because it cuts out a lot of the things that people are allergic to. Neither he nor I particularly believed the hype behind the diet, but it was a good test.

I don't recommend anything too weird or too restrictive for more than a week or so, with at least a week of "normal" food between.

In my case, I decided it probably wasn't food allergies. Diet didn't seem to affect me.

Better to see a board-certified asthma & allergy specialist. A chiropractor has no business dealing with allergies; one who does is a quack. Don't waste your time with quacks.

I think there's some witch doctory with allergy specialists, too. Particularly with them acting like they know more than they do. (However, I'd put a lot less faith in a Chiropractor for allergy treatment.)

Of course, there's going to be a lot of witch doctory in asking a bunch of anonymous people on an internet board, too.

Listen to the various information sources and figure out what works.

[Breathe Jimbo]

According to the American Kinesiology Association, "Kinesiology is an academic discipline which involves the study of physical activity and its impact on health, society, and quality of life. It includes, but is not limited to, such areas of study as exercise science, sports management, athletic training and sports medicine, socio-cultural analyses of sports, sport and exercise psychology, fitness leadership, physical education-teacher education, and pre-professional training for physical therapy, occupational therapy, medicine and other health related fields."

What on earth does that have to do with food sensitivities? Quack!

[roster]

I remember that Sixty Minutes expose where they went to some chiropractors and saw their miraculous treatments. Then they took their films to Harvard medical school and exposed the chiros as quacks. Harvard had nothing to say good about the entire practice of chiropractory.

I also remember one Saturday going to a health fair with my son and being lured into a chiropractor's booth. He checked me for scoliosis and gave me a clean bill of health. But then he grabbed a funny looking instrument with a funny name and placed it on the back of my five-year old son's neck. He immediately said, "This instrument shows that your son has a large tumor on his spine near his brain. Here is my business card, call any one of our three conveniently located offices Monday morning and make an appointment to have it checked out immediately."

So what to do? Go home and tell my wife and cry about it all weekend? I left and threw his card in the first trash can and never mentioned it to my wife. My son is 25 now and in good health.

In hindsight maybe I should have started wailing at the top of my lungs in the booth and had the guys in the white coats wrap me up and carry me out.

[SleepingUgly]

Why not check for the more likely culprits before trying to figure out if it's a food sensitivity (both because it's more likely to be something else, and because it may be simpler to eliminate those than to figure out if it's a particular food)? But don't take my advice, as I know less than nothing on the subject.

[NightMonkey]

To me, it seems like we're going to a witch doctor that is practicing voodoo.

A witch doctor who lives in a 6000 sq. ft. house and owns a BMW 500 series, a Porsche Carrera, and a Cadillac Escalade.

I can tell you a little about food sensitivities. Lunch yesterday at Target I had two hot dogs, nachos with jalapenos, a bag of popcorn and a 32-oz cherry soda (one refill) all down in 16 minutes. Now that is food sensitivity. Don't need kinesiology to figure that one out.

[Captain_Midnight]

Re your question, yes! I am an example. As a college student a few decades back, I had some evenings when it was difficult for me to concentrate, and I felt flat fatigued. (Yes, I had undiagnosed OSA, but this was over and above.)

One evening, feeling fine, I was making some chili. All was well until I diced some onions and ... ugh, I suddenly had the I.Q. of a turnip. I repeated the experiment several times, and sure enough, I have an allergy to onions and garlic (fairly rare, but it happens.)

Still have the allergy, but my onion/garlic/leek/chive avoidance radar is now highly tuned.

For rare allergies such as this one, they don't always have patch test challenge material, so it's elimination trials.

Good luck.

BTW, I second what Jimbo says...Better to see a board-certified asthma & allergy specialist. A chiropractor has no business dealing with allergies; one who does is a quack. Don't waste your time with quacks.

.

[cflame1]

there are a couple of blood tests that you can get for food sensitivities... one's an ELISA (sp?) and the other's a MRT-LEAP... could be more but those are the one's that I know of.

I've actually had the MRT-LEAP... comes up with a food dye sensitivity for me along with other things.

[Bugdude]

As someone who is now on a low FODMAP diet after many many years trying to find out the cause of my digestive issues, I've done lots of research.

Yes a food intolerance can cause chronic fatigue, "brain fog", low motivation, etc. But they're not common, so I wouldn't go off half-cocked and start cutting out food of your diet.

First things first I'd go see your GP, explain your concerns and get some blood works done: test for thyroid, insulin, blood glucose, IgG Gliadin (celiac disease), etc. i.e., all the common culprits for chronic fatigue.

If that comes back clear, see a dietitian (not a nutritionist, they're not degree qualified) and see about an elimination diet. If you're suffering bloating and diarhoea, I'd start on a low FODMAP diet, otherwise look at eliminating salycilates & amines et al.

And other causes of fatigue are depression, ADHD and bipolar; so if you think you're that way inclined see a Psych.

[archangle]

I think someone made a very important point here. Not all food "allergies" are actual allergies. Allergies are immune system disorders. Non allergy food sensitivities still can cause you problems.

If you think you might have a food allergy, it's cheap and easy to try limiting your food intake to certain things for a short period of time and seeing what happens. If you find something, good, pursue that idea. If you don't find anything out, you haven't lost anything other than a few good meals. I'm just wondering how long you really need to try a different diet. I'm thinking a week should show something in most cases, but would be interested in anyone else's experience.

There is a lot of food allergy quackery out there, so be careful. Some of the quacks are even true believers, who may be more dangerous than the quacks for money.