How long for exclusion diet trial?

[Andie222]

Hello everyone

I am currently 28 days into a diet trial excluding wheat, gluten, milk, cheese, eggs, soya, and nuts. As you can imagine it hasn’t been easy to give up my favourite foods, but I promised myself that if it made a difference it would be worth it. If it didn’t make a difference then I could reintroduce them.

I had private allergy testing and my GP has referred me to an NHS dermatologist but I have no idea when I will be seen.

Sadly to date it hasn’t made any noticeable difference to my skin (eczema). I haven’t noticed any changes to stomach, bowels or energy levels either. Of course, I could be allergic to my substitute foods (for example coconut) but as this wasn’t included in the testing process I wouldn’t know.

So my question is how long do I need to continue the trial for? What would a dermatologist say? Please share your experience.

[Fruitandnutcase]

What are you putting on your skin? My husband had eczema from when he was a baby. Eventually after we met in our twenties I suggested allergy testing and it turned out he was very allergic to the lanolin that he was rubbing into his skin to keep it soft. Were you tested for that sort of thing?

Is someone helping you to supervise your exclusion diet? You are giving up a lot of foods at once.

[Andie222 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Well I've tried lots of creams, some help, some don't. The testing didn't cover that sort of thing. I'm not receiving any help at the moment. Waiting on my referral but as it could be months I thought I'd do a trial myself.

[Anthea55 in reply to Andie222]

It's best to give up one thing at a time. By giving them up all at once you won't know which one caused the problem.

From my own experience it takes at least 2 months for your body to eliminate whatever you've stopped eating.

Coconut? My son is sensitive to coconut!

[Andie222 in reply to Anthea55]

Hi. Thanks for replying. I did consider one at a time but if I'm allergic to several then just giving up one item probably wouldn't make any difference. How do you know he is sensitive to coconut? Is there a test or just a reaction after eating it?

[Wattsea in reply to Andie222]

Hi Andie222, when I did a similar test many years ago now it was like a caveman diet, basically some meat (not including pork or chicken) and limited veg. Then foods were re-introduced slowly. As I recall it took about 2 months. With each re-introduction of food (starting from the least possible allergenic) you wait roughly 48-72 hours for any reaction. You obviously need to keep notes on any reactions: runny nose, headaches, itching, etc. This method was very successful for me but you need to do it properly and give it time. Good luck.

[Andie222 in reply to Wattsea]

Thank you Wattsea. I was thinking I might introduce one new food per week. But sounds as though I ought to give it another month before I do so.

[greygoose]

I take it you are planning to reintroduce these foods one at a time to see if any of them make you worse, is that correct? Well, I would say at least three months. And, yes, that is hard! I did it that way, stopped gluten/wheat, soy, sugar, dairy for three months. Didn't feel in the least bit better in any way. Reintroduced the foods one at a time and the only thing that gave me a reaction (like coming down violently with flu!) was soy. So, now I avoid soy like the plague and continue with the other things.

I didn't exclude nuts, like you, but I don't tend to eat much in the way of nuts, anyway.

[Andie222 in reply to greygoose]

Hi Greygoose. Very interesting.

How did you select the items to give up? Was it from allergy testing? Did your original symptoms, which prompted the diet changes, clear up?

On my allergy tests, Soy was my strongest allergy. The other items were a ‘low allergy’ scores. I don’t really like nuts so quite happy to give up, although they do tend to be snuck into things. A bit like soy and eggs which are popped into all sorts. I’ve never before read so many ingredients lists!

[greygoose in reply to Andie222]

I had allery testing many, many years ago due to allergic rhynitis, long before I was diagnosed but already hypo. But it wasn't specifically for food. I don't really know all the things they tested for but it was scratch testing and I was covered in scratches! The only things that came back positive were dust mites, feathers and wool. So, that had no bearing on my exclusion diet.

That was suggested by a doctor some years later - don't ask me what sort of doctor, I never did find out, but someone recommended by my dentist! lol She suggested the things I should exclude. But, to be perfectly honest, I can't really remember why I went to see her.

But, as I said above, nothing improved. I remainded the same with whatever hypos symptoms it was that I had at the time. The only positive was the loss of 3 kilos, which didn't even seem worth the effort. And I promptly put them back on again when I started eating normally. But, I did find out I couldn't tolerate soy. But, that only affected me when I ate it, it didn't cause lingering symptoms. Oh well, at least I tried.

[Andie222 in reply to greygoose]

Well I suppose the process was worthwhile if you learnt that soy was not good for you. It is a lot of effort and determination to go through with it though.

[greygoose in reply to Andie222]

Yes, it is. And living on such a restricted diet for so long is horrible. But, I shouldn't complain because that's life for some people! At least I was able to go back to my beloved cheese sandwiches in the end! And I don't even like soy! Soy sauce tastes to me like something horrible died in it and has been slowly marinating for years! lol So, now I'm also reading all the labels to make sure I don't accidentally ingest it. I'd only ever read the labels on sauce bottles before that.

[Andie222 in reply to greygoose]

Ah cheese sandwiches. I’m really missing those. 😕

[greygoose in reply to Andie222]

Sorry. Shouldn't have mentioned them.

[Humphre]

Hi, a few years ago i contacted foodintolerance.co.uk as I believed something wasn't quite right. A number of items were highlighted, one was I was missing pepsin and had an intolerance to an element in milk, plus a few other things to be aware of. Test for ceoliac which was negative.Since being on this forum for which I have learned so much decided to stop eating gluten, dairy & soya see how I faired this has been a good few months now & at least my bloating stopped. I've tried to reintroduce dairy milk, that's a no-no as is soft cheese seem ok on fermented cheese but I can't eat a lot. I guess it's trail & error intolerance is different to allergies in that intolerances can improve/change. Good luck

[Andie222 in reply to Humphre]

Ah yes I fear intolerances are another issue. I have some identified in my testing but if I cut those out as well I might die of starvation. I certainly would end up deficient in something or other. Have you felt any different on this diet, apart from less bloating? More energy? Better sleep?

[Humphre in reply to Andie222]

Not especially, at first maybe not much different. I start well in morning but by afternoon it's petered out. Sleeping very varied waiting for results for sleep apnea I guess we are all individual. I used to be ok with oats but last couple of times I'm thinking hmm I need to rest from these for a while.