Time to try something else?
Hi there. My 17 year old son has been on the FID program for nearly 3 months. Apart from amine test right at the beginning, we haven't been able to pin down any other sensitivities. As well as amines, we have tested salicylates, oats, spelt, and potato with no obvious results, but his skin still keeps cycling through bad patches. The amine test gave asthma and hay fever symptoms, but didn't obviously affect his skin. So, we are no further ahead skin wise. The limited diet is getting quite stressful to manage, particularly as he has camps and weekends away. I'm not sure how much longer we can keep hoping that maybe the next test might show something, or eliminating something else might be the answer.
How do we know whether food is even the problem, or if we have environmental issues going on, eg mould etc?? What tests do we use? We are in NZ.
I have asked a few questions via the chat option, but there seems to be a bit of a delay in getting a response. Hoping someone here might be able to shed some light! We are seriously thinking of ditching the diet, and returning to a less stressful 'normal'. My fear is that now we have eliminated so many things, my son's system might not cope well with changing. I guess we just reintroduce foods slowly....
I am happy to share, and this worked for me, and may not be appropriate for others. Full disclosure, I also have MCAS, Oral Allergy Syndrome (aka Pollen Food Allergy) and am sensitive to contact items like fabrics, detergents and skin care products.
First and foremost, clean your home to get rid of dust and switch to 100% cotton during this journey! (Wool, Polyester and synthetic fabric makes me break out, ugh!) Make sure you don’t have contact allergies and cut out products that are not eczema friendly, especially those with SLS (devil ingredient!). Changing my soap was a massive game changer! Cleared MOST of my problems in 2-3 weeks. I’m a huge fan of cetaphil, cerave, native, Avene, and sunbum.
Also, this food journey was emotionally and physically difficult for me… but so worth it. I’m happier and healthier than I’ve ever been!
Essentially, I found my safe foods. For me, this was nice cuts of red meat, flash-frozen wild caught fish (I’m not near an ocean!), blueberries, brussel sprouts and salt. I ate only this until my skin was totally clear. (This is the most challenging part!) Then, I added in a single food and gave it 24 hours watching for runny nose, itchiness, rashes, hives, etc. I’d record the reaction, wait for it to clear and test another food. If the food I tested had no reaction, I ate some more for a week to see how it went. If I had only a runny nose, I gave it a few more tries to see if there was a skin reaction. If no skin reaction, I ate it in moderation. If I had a skin reaction, I pretty much avoid that food (due to oral allergy syndrome) (but you should be able to ease it back in bc that’s the goal!!)
A special note on gluten, dairy and dessert like foods, this is a threshold thing for me. I can have a little bit here and there, but if I eat a little bit daily, I break out.
Grocery wise, I stay in the produce and meat sections. I avoid processed foods, foods with additives and preservatives, etc.
Last piece of advice, your attitude towards this journey is critical! My outlook was, there are foods out there I can eat, and I will find them! The focus on what you can have is helpful (if you focus on what you can’t have or what you’re missing, it will crush you.)
I hope this helps! Again, this is what worked for me and may not be appropriate for anyone else!
Oh, and drink lots of water!! Not sparking water, just boring, still water. Hydration makes a difference!
Re: your Q on environmental allergens- an allergist can do a skin prick test. Contact allergens - your dermatologist can do patch testing. For what’s actually in your home, if you’re worried about mold, have a mold remediation company come and look at your house. If you’re worried about dust, have your ducts evaluated to see if they need to be cleaned. Otherwise, just do a good cleaning and maintain it :)