my stomach hurts

[Sue]

About 1.5 years ago, maybe a bit longer, I had a couple of HORRIBLE headaches that were pretty obviously linked to gluten/wheat. My mother has problems with it too, so I decided I should cut it out of my diet. After two months (!!!) of being mostly grain-free, which was easier for me than just doing standard gluten-free would have been, the frequent headaches I'd had for most of my adult life...vanished. Wow. It was very cool to not have several bad headaches every week.

I stayed grain-free for a while, but slipped into more standard gluten-free because of my daughter. She was very sad that we couldn't share more food. Well, at the beginning of last September, I had several nasty bouts of unexplained nausea. My ND thought it might be from contaminated water (I'd been traveling just prior). I took a berberine complex for exactly one week. At the end of that week, EVERYTHING solid made my stomach hurt. I could do broth and teas and that's about it. Digestive enzymes helped a little at the time, but didn't make everything better by any stretch of the imagination. I stopped taking those for fear I was just going to replace one problem with another.

I've been pounding probiotic foods, which helped somewhat. I think. Tried the GAPS diet, which was a tremendous fail for me at that time. Helped my stomach somewhat, but pushed me into the shadow of the black dog, which is not good. So I tried going back to MOSTLY grain-free.

It wasn't until I cut out even white rice that my stomach stopped hurting every single day. It didn't stop altogether, plus on days when it doesn't, I'm sometimes very bloated and gassy. And my hair is falling out, for no readily apparent reason.

I'm not sure where to go from here, really. I might try GAPS again, when the garden is more in full swing. I might try digestive enzymes again in the meantime. I'm going to be doing a little travel and something portable would be nice. I tried slippery elm and it actually seemed to make things worse, which is puzzling. Might be coincidental, so I'll probably give it another go at some point.

My husband thinks I should go see an MD in case it's something really serious. I just fear that will lead to a lot of expense for no good purpose. We have very little insurance, so all the lovely tests they can do are out of pocket.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[Pat Robinson]

Are you still eating dairy (hidden by many names)? Are you consuming iodine (kelp) and selenium (Brazil nuts)? What about magnesium (nettles)? Meat (grass-fed or soy-fed)? Healthy fats (vit A&D) and cholesterol (pastured eggs, CLO)? Getting enough sunlight on your skin (vit D, sulfate)?

Here is a list of hidden diary: http://www.kellymom.com/store/handouts/concerns/hidden-dairy.pdf

Hidden corn: http://www.cornallergens.com/list/corn-allergen-list.php

I take kefir grains with us when we travel. Homeopathic Arsenium Album can help for stomach/diarrhea issues acutely.


Pat

[Sue]

A little dairy, but only a little. Mostly butter, at this point, and very infrequently. Seaweed, yes. Selenium I supplement as buying Brazil nuts costs too much (my husband looooves Brazil nuts, so I have to buy a ton if I want to get any). Nettles, yes, plus Mg supplement and Epsom salt baths a couple of times a week. Meat mostly home-grown and soy/corn free. No eggs lately as I suspect they're something I might be reacting to. Our ducks are laying well now though, so I'm probably going to try duck egg yolks soon. Not much CLO, but I try to eat fatty fish a couple of times a week. I live in Washington state, so I have to supplement D, which I do.

That corn list is SCARY! I'm amazed at all the places corn can turn up. Magnesium stearate is in almost every supplement, I think!