Alexa Fleckenstein M.D.

In my thirty years in medicine, I have never diagnosed anybody with “irritable bowel syndrome.” Not that I didn't want to make the diagnosis. But it always seemed to be the last resort - if there wasn't a better explanation for the patient's symptoms. And there always was. If my patients came with the label, I quietly looked for a more appropriate diagnosis, mostly some kind of food intolerance and/or infections. And if they came with any of the myriad of gastrointestinal complaints, they deserved a thorough workup. Food allergies: Physicians differ between food allergies and food intolerance. For the patient the difference is minimal: The only action that will help is leaving out the offending food. Allergies are mediated either through blood – then they show up in blood tests. Or they are cell-mediated, which means they can’t be detected by blood tests; skin prick test is the way to go then. If you usually feel good (or even just better) in the morning before you eat, food problems are likely. – Floating stools point to a food culprit, too. There are rare and dangerous diseases, therefore a doctor should eliminate serious diagnoses. But this is what you can do yourself: • Write a food journal. Everything that goes into your mouth should go in here – including beverages, pills and chewing gum. A pattern might become clear once you regularly record everything. • In my experience, these are the most common food offenders: dairy, soy, nuts, gluten, corn – especially HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), nightshades (tomato, potato, eggplant, bell and hot peppers), citrus, seafood, lectins, food colorings, preservatives, flavor enhancers (like MSG), eggs, apples and other fruit, chocolate (though probably less common than people think – it usually are the non-cacao ingredients that cause trouble), yeast. And don’t forget: prescription medication! Recreational drugs. • Read labels! Of course, foods without labels – like kale and carrots – are healthier anyway because only processed food is required to be labeled. • Has anybody in your family a bowel disease? You might have the same. • Jot down pains, headache, heartburn, stomach ache, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, blurred vision, slow urination, skin rashes, blocked nose or ears, • Don’t eat after dinner – and don’t have dinner late. The sheer bulk in your stomach may create the discomfort; besides it prevents the cell repair that should be taking place nightly – but can’t happen when your body is busy digesting. • Are you very thirsty – especially during and after a meal? That might be a sign of a food allergy. Don’t suppress your thirst – this is how your body gets rid of the offending food: by diluting it. • If you suspect food allergies, leave out the whole list above plus whatever you suspect for a week. Then one by one, every few days reintroduce another food from the list. – Sometimes only repeated exposure shows the problem – that happens mostly with cell-mediated allergies. • Blood-mediated allergies are the quick ones – that can bring you to the emergency room - like peanuts. Never try to force your body into accepting any food that it doesn’t want! • Slow allergies make you sick over time – by the chronic inflammation in your body. That causes for instance cancer in the long run. • Take a probiotics regularly. I personally like Primal Defense (this is not an endorsement – only an idea to start with. Begin with a small dose, slowly take more. If a probiotic does not agree with you, change the brand. • Most people benefit from fish oil – to counteract the constant inflammation that comes with food allergies. • Chew well. • Eat vegetables, vegetables, vegetables. Not only are they good for you – they also seem to cause fewer allergies. • Serious runners suffer from a curious disease called “runner’s diarrhea” (about fifty percent of them. • Obesity might be a sign for food allergies: We tend to crave exactly the foods that are worst for us. • And most importantly: Don’t eat it if it hurts you! Unfortunately, you can even have a bowel disease without any gastrointestinal complaints: About fifty percent of gluten intolerance (celiac sprue) patients never notice anything wrong with their belly. But they might have joint or back pain, diabetes, autoimmune disease, mental fog, depression – and a host of other problems. Read More