I’m intolerant to all sorts of things (gluten, dairy, soya, corn, NSAID’s) and have a lot of migraine triggers too. On Monday I ate a GF oat bar (may contain milk) but I also upped my migraine medicine. I’ve been suffering terrible bloating ever since. I didn’t really know about any rescue remedies other than peppermint and fennel tea (I’m new to this site).
I’m Trying to work out if it was just the oat bar or if it’s something else I’ve changed. If it was a one off, how long do you think this would take to settle on its own? I am normally ok with gf oats. Any help really appreciated.
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Doggywalker
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How disappointing. It may be something in the bar that is a preservative or stabiliser, or even a humectant to keep it 'moist'. Malto-dextrin and dextrin can be derived from wheat and are rarely labelled as such.
The ingredients are pretty basic: GF oats, rice syrup, sunflower oil, chicory fibre, dried apple, concentrated apple juice, apple powder.but if they are saying may contain milk, soya etc I wonder what else it 'may contain'!
The dreaded 'alibi labelling'. Some manufacturers use this to protect themselves from any complaints. Some may use it because their systems are not as robust as they could be. Particularly with dry ingredients, residue can get trapped in corners of the production line, and they often use compressed air to clean instead of a water based system so residue may remain trapped. 'May contain' is often for their benefit, not the consumer's. You will not be making a repeat purchase I think. So annoying.
Hopefully settles soon for you. A few thoughts though, What were the ingredients of the gf oat bar? Have you had before and been ok?Hard to tell as bloating could be caused by anything eaten within the preceding 3 days as a general rule.
Is there any side affects listed on leaflet of migraine meds that maybe you normally tolerate but upping has gone over your personal tolerance threshold? or slowing of bowel motility so food has more time to cause bloating? Can be a side affect of some meds.
Migraines can be the symptom of either a true allergy or histamine intolerance too. Worth checking out.
It took me personally a long time to figure out headaches and occasional migraines related to mild allergies (actual igE sensitive) not just intolerance. But also histamine intolerance.
Interesting, the most obvious thing to me in the oat bar was that it said may contain milk or soya, I had one a couple of weeks ago but never before that (it was a substitution on an online shop that I shouldn’t have accepted!) other ingredients are GF oats, rice syrup, sunflower oil, chicory fibre, dried apple, concentrated apple juice, apple powder.
Thanks for your reply. I'm aware of the three day 'rule', we did have a Chinese takeaway on the Saturday, but they are very good about allergies, speak very good English and I've never had a problem with them before. So, possible, but as it's now Saturday and I'm still struggling with tummy ache, though not so much the bloating it is looking less likely that it was a one off item that caused it (what do you think?)
Other than that, my food tends to be very much, 'tried and tested' recipes, mostly homemade. So unless a manufacturer changes an ingredient I tend to be safe.
Regarding the migraine meds, there are loads of side effects! Sadly! Unfortunately, my migraines had got to a point where I'd have done almost anything to get rid of them, even this isn't quite as bad as the state I was in! However the tablets do contain lactose monohydrate. I spoke to a dietician who diagnosed me as dairy intolerant, but said that form of lactose is normally tolerated OK by people with dairy intolerance, but perhaps this has tripped over my tolerance level. But they also do tend to slow bowel motility so I'm having to work quite hard to keep things moving too.
Interested to know a little more about the histamines - can't read a lot online at the moment though - it's still a big migraine trigger for me sadly.
Hi, I hear you regards may contain milk and soya. And I’ve been caught out with substituted items with online shopping too! It’s getting more difficult even when something labelled gf! (Most gf items contain soya and corn and or milk which I’m sensitive to as well. I’m not coeliac but igE sensitive to wheat and soya and other foods).
My thought about the other ingredients you listed, “chicory fibre, dried apple, concentrated apple juice, apple powder”. My personal no no’s. would definitely trigger ibs, bloating etc. especially chicory fibre (popular ingredient nowadays as ‘inulin’). They’re FODMAPs (fermentable carbs) to avoid on low FODMAP elimination diet, lactose is another. Apple a FODMAP too. But if you’re normally ok with these not sure.But it’s worth looking into a low histamine diet to help your migraines if you’ve tried everything else.
I understand about the screens and migraine triggers. The gist of it is food as fresh as possible, no leftovers as accumulate histamine, unless frozen quickly and then reheated.
No fermented or aged foods such as meat, cheese, bacon, ham, sausages.
Fresh meats and poultry, or frozen fish and meat only etc. Canned tuna high in histamine. And avoid known foods high in histamine naturally, main ones tomatoes, avocados, bananas, aubergine, citrus fruit, strawberries, dried fruit with added sulphites, chickpeas, egg whites, alcoholic drinks.
It’s a strict elimination diet for just 1 to 2 weeks initially and if histamine intolerance is problem for you you would see some noticeable improvement in that time. If no improvement at all in symptoms then not histamine and go back to your normal diet. Another way to tell is if an antihistamine tablet helps symptoms too.
And if you go down this road and it helps maybe look into the DAO enzyme tablets (basically the enzyme lacking in most cases of histamine intolerance). I have just recently tried myself and are very useful when can’t avoid high histamine ingredients, though expensive to buy.
Dr Joneja an authority on histamine sensitivity (foods matter dot com website has loads free info and articles when you can read).
Thanks for that. I'll bear that in mind. I've looked into the FODMAP diet and definitely eliminated that - it made me worse, not better, and apples are really helpful for me! Chicory root, I'll keep an eye out for, not something I come across often. The histamines thing sounds difficult in a way eg avoiding tomatoes on a dairy and gluten free diet!, Although I don't do a lot of the things on that list anyway - eg I avoid sulphites so aged meats are out, so I'll certainly keep it in mind & watch it on my migraine diary. Thanks for all that info. x
You’re welcome. One thing I’ve learned is one size does not fit all (no matter how much modern medicine might think). Interesting. The FODMAP diet helped me figure some things out especially regarding fructose and sorbitol. I’m ok with cooked apples in small amounts (allergic to raw). 👍
Here’s the Swiss interest group comprehensive list relating to histamine in foods and histamine liberators,
There’s a lot of high histamine foods but equally a lot of nutritious foods that are not high in histamine (thank goodness).
x
What was the brand of oat bar? Be aware that you don't have to test products to label them gluten free, so they may be gluten free in the faddy diet sense, but not gluten free in the coeliac requirement sense. Oats also have proteins that may mimic coeliac, so could be that you are not ok with oats. As to the 'may contain milk', I would take that as a given that it is cross-contaminated with milk (it's a wooly term that should be made illegal as it pretends that people give a damn, but really they don't - they are just covering themselves for people who have dangerous milk allergies).
Normally I am Ok with oats, it was a Morrison's oat bar, but it was a substitution on an online shop that I really shouldn't have accepted: The 'may contain milk' should have been a red light for me. I will be a lot more careful in future with that term. Though I suspect it's been a combination of the two things on the same day that triggered me.
If I see one 'may contain' on the back, I just assume the entire manufacturing line is a hazard. It's always worth reporting to the retailer just to see how they bluff their way out of it. Very annoying when that happens.
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