Hi Sara:
We're a family with sensitivies. Starting with my grandmother who had lots of allergies, hives to foods etc..., aunts, cousins - the whole family had hay fever and different food allergies. My mom had bad allergies too, and my dad had Crohns.I was the first one to start having sensitivities when I was really young. But of course, no one realized what it was until I started to out some things on my own as a young adult. When I had kids, a lot of my allergies got better, but the sensitivities got worse. My son was the first one to show the signs of food sensitivities. He also had lots of fatigue and brain fog with it. We went to a clinic for electrodermal testing and followed the restrictions that they suggested, although I'm not sold on it - I think most people would feel better if they cut out sugar, wheat, caffeine etc.... My daughter who is 8 years younger started to show signs of lactose intolerance and when she hit puberty she developed really bad food sensitivities, IBS, migraines and candida. She was missing 50% of the school week. Just lied around with fatigue and headaches all the time and I was trying to be a good Mummy giving her comfort food which was turning out to be poisoning her! I took her to various doctors but because I was recently divorced, they all blamed it on that, not just a coincidence of timing, which I knew was the case. Finally someone told me about a doctor in Ottawa who took her complaints seriously. I took her there and he did some testing, recommended a diet and medication for candida and she started to feel better, go to school regularly and although she still struggles when she cheats, she's a highly functioning graduate student! The IBS, GERD, even migraines aren't as bad when I stay away from the offending foods. When I decide to have that piece of chocolate cake for dessert, I still have the advil ready for the headache I'll get during the night. If I have a glass of wine I'm okay, but if I have a piece of bread at the same meal the IBS kicks in and within minutes I look 8 months pregnant. But to me, it's a matter of choice, and the reaction are painful consequences of bad choices. At least my IBS is a constant reminder to stay away from sugar and wheat which actually isn't such a bad thing, my BMI is 20.8!