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I finally went to my doctor yesterday to talk to him about my allium intolerance. I figured out the intolerance on my own after having violent reactions to a delicious omelet I used to make all the time. Well, I've become more and more sensitive to anything allium, in any form, over the last couple of months. I finally thought, enough is enough! I have to go to the Dr. and see what is really going on. Sadly, my doctor also gave me the response of "well, if that's what you think it is, then just stay away from it." Translation: Change your entire lifestyle. Don't go out to eat anymore, don't have dinner parties with friends anymore. And now make everything from scratch...why don't you even grow yourself a little garden while you're at it-as to make the trip to get food a little easier. Ok, fine....I'm working on it. But it's REALLY HARD!! I love food. I love cooking. I love to go out to eat. And of course I love ALLIUMS!
After talking to the doctor for a while, he confesses to me that he doesn't believe that my reactions have anything to do with a food intolerance (even though all my symptoms match the GI symptoms all of you speak of...to the T) but rather that I might have IBS. That he wants me to go thru a ton of tests (who knows if my insurance will cover them) and then go back to see him in a month. Oh, that is after he gave me a prescription for a daily dose of antacid and another prescription for something to take as needed to deal with the symptoms.
Now, I reminded him that my reactions ONLY occurred after ingesting alliums. He could care less...let me add that I don't like taking prescriptions, and I'm afraid of what the medical bills might look like. Any alternative/herbal/complementary treatment known? I've tried papaya, pineapple and Bean-o. All digestive enzymes, but each failed in its own way.
Has anyone else been told the same thing? or at least been given a similar diagnosis? do we all just have IBS?
After talking to the doctor for a while, he confesses to me that he doesn't believe that my reactions have anything to do with a food intolerance (even though all my symptoms match the GI symptoms all of you speak of...to the T) but rather that I might have IBS. That he wants me to go thru a ton of tests (who knows if my insurance will cover them) and then go back to see him in a month. Oh, that is after he gave me a prescription for a daily dose of antacid and another prescription for something to take as needed to deal with the symptoms.
Now, I reminded him that my reactions ONLY occurred after ingesting alliums. He could care less...let me add that I don't like taking prescriptions, and I'm afraid of what the medical bills might look like. Any alternative/herbal/complementary treatment known? I've tried papaya, pineapple and Bean-o. All digestive enzymes, but each failed in its own way.
Has anyone else been told the same thing? or at least been given a similar diagnosis? do we all just have IBS?
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Re: Allium intolerance or IBS?
Mon, March 5, 2007 - 10:59 PMOh, Natasha, I SO know where you're coming from.
So many doctors seem to be resistant to the impact of nutrition on health, especially when it comes to food intolerances. There has been a lot of progress made in the last few years with Celiac disease (gluten intolerance), so I do have hope that we're getting somewhere, but... OY!
I was diagnosed with IBS when I was 20 after a long series of tests that came up negative. Like other syndromes, Irritable Bowel Syndrome is not a "real" diagnosis but merely a collection of symptoms that seem to occur together. Ten years later (and on my own initiative), I finally figured out that the root (hee hee) of my problem was onion and garlic intolerance. Once I stopped eating them, my IBS went away. I am much healthier today since figuring this out.
I strongly suspect that most cases of IBS are actually dietary intolerances, and I'd bet that a large percentage of those are onion and garlic intolerances. With onions and/or garlic being in just about every prepackaged food out there and used so heavily in restaurants and even at-home cooking, this is a really difficult one to isolate. I would love to see more awareness of this in the media and in the medical community.
There is an onionfree yahoo group which is much more active than this tribe; I recommend it for anyone interested in quick feedback and onion activism!
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Re: Allium intolerance or IBS?
Sun, March 18, 2007 - 6:00 PMI was diagnosed with IBS, especially after the doctor watched my colon spasming repeatedly on the scope. My sister is almost crippled by it, and she has a very good doctor, and onions are ruled out for her as one of the "most common triggers" for IBS. Irritable Bowel Syndrome is just that, a syndrome. So it can have many or varied causes for the same or similar effect. The cause isn't what is named in the diagnosis, just the effect. I know that onions cause mine! No doubting that cause and effect!
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Re: Allium intolerance or IBS?
Tue, March 20, 2007 - 5:11 PMI too suffer from violent reactions to onions. Only I don't even have to ingest them. The mere smell of a raw onion is enough to induce gagging and near vomiting. God forbid I eat them. I should clarify though, it seems that these violent reactions are only when I'm in contact with raw or unpickled onions. Onions in salsa don't bother me very much, nor do severely sauteed or cooked thoroughly onions. It seems that there is some chemical in raw onions that is cooked away or chemically removed in pickling that I am reacting to. Now I may be incorrect in my assessment as many of you have reported IBS like symptoms. Perhaps I am still suffering although not as severely. Hopefully my comments have been helpful. -
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Re: Allium intolerance or IBS?
Sun, April 6, 2008 - 3:17 PMi have the same thing ONLY WITH RAW ONIONS!! If i eat them in salsa or cooked with meat im okay but once I eat a raw Onion I feel like im going to die. I know its not IBS because my reactions are migraines, nasuea, violent vomiting, cold sweat, sinsitivity to light and noise, and pressure in my head. only somtimes i get stomach cramps and they usually only come with the vomiting. I only start feeling better after I vomit and my stomach is completly empty. Sorry if this all sounds gross, but I really dont think it has anything to do with IBS!!
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Re: Allium intolerance or IBS?
Sun, October 7, 2007 - 11:01 AMThat seems like a load of hooey, imo. The people I know with "IBS" (called a "syndrome" for a reason) are affected by many foods and not just one thing. Is the guy trying to bill more to get $ from the insurance people? You got to wonder . . .
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Re: Allium intolerance or IBS?
Mon, October 15, 2007 - 9:11 PMAloha, I am new to this site. I have had IBS diagnosed as my problem for over 7 years. All of my doctors have given up on what could be causing the extreme gas, cramps, and bloating that I have. Recently, I took an extensive blood test by a group called Immuno Labs (Web site = www.immunolabs.com/) and did their IgG ELISA Immuno 1 Bloodprint test for 115 food allergies. It cost $900, which my Blue/Cross picked up over 80% of it. They identified 28 food allergies including onion and garlic. Once your allergies are identified, they want you to avoid the trigger foods for at least 3 months and then try to reintroduce identifed allergy related products one at a time to see if you can reintroduce them. I pass this on to those of you who have hit a dead end with established medicine. It is worth a try to understand your body. These are delayed food sensitivities which take time to build up and are not necessarily easily identified.
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Re: Allium intolerance or IBS?
Sun, January 13, 2008 - 10:53 PMa couple things... 1, with my study of another medical topic (namely childbirth) where doctors stand to profit monetarily from giving as many tests and prescriptions as possible, I've come to the conclusion that the medical field is a buyer beware matter (and though there are individuals that are good, as a group I don't trust OBs as far as I can throw them) and they learn a little about many things and sometimes don't really know what they're talking about... In a situation like yours, I'd seriously consider seeing a naturopath since they're at least willing to look at root causes of problems rather than just being symptomologists (they'll actually follow a symptom to its source if they can).
Example of doctors being limited in their knowledge? I've been hypo-thyroid since birth (back in the 70s) and no dr. has ever said anything to me about dietary matters that can affect it or interfere with thyroid absorption. I had to stumble across info by myself to find out that soy products and "the pill" (which I wouldn't use anyway for a variety of reasons) interfere with thyroid absorption and that broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower contain goitrogens and should be boiled before I eat them. They just say "Let's test your thyroid levels to see if you should stay on this dose of synthroid/thyroxine or change it."
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Re: Allium intolerance or IBS?
Mon, February 18, 2008 - 4:59 PMCan I just say ... wow? It's so nice to hear that other people have experienced the same things I have. IBS bothered me for a couple years until I took matters into my own hands to figure out what was actually causing the discomfort. I didn't just want a term to call it; I wanted to be done with the discomfort and the digestive problems. So being diagnosed with "IBS" wasn' t going to cut it. Turns out, lactose and allium intolerances were the culprits. Now that I take Lactaid with, well, basically everything that has a trace of dairy, and try hard to avoid onions, I have VERY little stomach discomfort (if any). It's an amazing difference and now I feel like I can relax and eat what I like, as long as there are no onions!
I highly agree with the poster who said that IBS is probably generally caused by food intolerances.
The only annoying thing now is trying to ignore the odd looks from friends who haven't heard of allium intolerances :)
