Had a quick chat with my nutritionist today, and have booked an appointment in a couple of weeks to go through the results of the food intolerance test and the CDSA test (the CDSA results haven't come in yet).
The nutritionist said that he had only ever seen four or five results on the food test that had come in higher than my 99 for cow's milk, so that's pretty encouraging - obviously not in the sense that my body hates milk, but in the sense that the higher the score the greater the chance is that I will see some improvement with a new diet.
I've been dairy-free now since Monday lunchtime, and I've been feeling pretty good, no symptoms to speak of. It's still far too early to make any conclusions though. If I have two weeks without pain then that might be progress; if I have two months without pain then we're definitely onto something.
So glad that things seem to be looking up for you. I have actually started cutting out bread and havent been bloated for a few weeks now, which is good. And also the spasms dont seem to be as strong - but I am ok with milk anyway. Its just finding what works for you isnt it. There is always that warning tho that it will get worse before it gets better, while your body adjusts to the new diet. Hope it all goes to plan for you. x
Hi Sophie & Emma.
I'm glad to see a change in your diets is already starting to make a difference.
I had my ELISA test results back today. As I had the test done via YorkTest, they grade foods from +1 to +4. The higher the grading the higher the test reaction, though not necessarily an indication of the severity of your reaction to those foods.
My results were for AVOID foods were:
Cow's Milk (+2) - no suprise to me.
Oat (+1)
Peach (+2) - did not suspect that at all
Pear (+1) - I detest pears, so must be in something I have eaten or eat regularly.
Apple (+1) - no surprise
Cranberry (+1)- no more cranberry juice for me then!
Chilli pepper & mustard seed (+1) - no idea how many products contain these!
Yeast (+2) - again, no surprise. I can not drink alcohol as I get a blotchy rash.
My rotate foods were:
Walnut, Lemon, Olive, Apricot, & Tomato - apart from tomatoes, these others must be ingredients, as I do not eat them knowingly.
I am definitely taking your advice Sophie with regard to consulting a doctor. Yorktest provide a half hour telephone consultation with a nutritionist, which I am going to take up before making any radical changes in my diet. I have also made an appointment with my doctor next week.
Fingers crossed!
Ellie x
Thanks very much for your comments Emma and Ellie. It's very interesting to see another sufferer's results - I really hope they produce some good results for you Ellie. And it's good that they include a consultation, because as you say some of the foods are kind of 'ingredient' foods which you don't really imagine you are eating until you look at labels closely.
I have to say though that I think I prefer getting the exact numbers for the reaction levels, rather than +2 or +3 or whatever, as I think it was useful to know that my cow's milk reaction was so much higher than the other scores. My test was done through Cambridge Nutritional Science rather than Yorktest, which is why there is a difference in how they report the results. I'm not sure how the prices compare though, maybe there's a difference there.
In the end though, hopefully we should both see some real improvement from this!
Funny... I just started a website called Dairy Free Me, and then found your blog post from 2006. Anyway, I hope the new diet has worked well for you - my fiancee has certainly been a lot better off since he started avoiding milk a couple of years ago.