Saturday 29 September 2012

I can't take much more

This is all doing my head in. One minute I'm starting the diet and then I'm not. Then one doctor says I can but then another says wait.

Well,  I've had enough of waiting!

The nutritionist said to wait until either the end of October or my eczema stopping improving. Whichever comes first.

This is because we thought the b12 jabs might improve it.

I'm now putting that initial improvement down to me coming off my period. Pure coincidence. My eczema always worsens when I'm due on. It then improves as my hormones settle (another blog post methinks). Anyway,  it just so happens that this time it coincided with the b12 jabs.

The difference that I have noticed however is that it heals quicker. I can have a really bad breakout which would normally lead to me waking up sore and having to bandage my hands. Now I'm always pleasantly surprised when I wake up.

I had chicken tikka 2 nights ago because I swear that is a bad one for me. True to form I had a breakout. I've also noticed a few hours after ice cream my fingers itch,  burn and swell.

So,  I'm going to email my nutritionist to inform him I'm doing the diet and that's that!

Thursday 20 September 2012

...and then it ends

This is soooooo frustrating.

I've just had an email from my nutritionist telling me to not start the diet!!!!!!!!

I've noticed an improvement in my eczema since the b12 jabs. He reckons that if I do the diet and my eczema clears up then we won't know if its because of cutting out the food or the B12 jabs.

As the doctor said it could take 6-8 weeks to give their full effect then I guess that's the end of October?

I'd got myself all psyched up to do this so am really disappointed. I guess that makes no sense because if its the B12 jabs that help then that's a great thing. I'm sure you understand. Sigh.

Day 2 - here goes everything!

Right,  my days of easing myself in are now over.

The photo shows my breakfast.

Todays meal plan:

Breakfast -  3 rice cakes
Snack -  grapes
Lunch - chips in sunflower oil with turkey
Snack -  apple
Dinner -  baked potato with dairy free butter,  shredded turkey and cabbage
Drinks -  water with a treat glass of 7 up

Thank god for the 7 up being on the list. I need to convince myself that it has caffeine in it because the withdrawals from no daily dr pepper will kick in. Good job I don't drink coffee!

Wish me luck.


Wednesday 19 September 2012

The Food Hospital

Quick post!

The Food Hospital on Channel 4 tonight at 8pm is about eczema.

Sorry about the short notice,  I only just notuced it.

Day 1: Elimination diet begins...sort of

Yesterday I started the diet. I had my last b12 jab on Friday and got the all clear to start.

So,  breakfast was 3 rice cakes and a handful of grapes.

Lunch...well...that's where it all went a bit pear shaped. I realised that I had forgotten to buy the potatoes! They are a key part of the diet.

So, I then had that fatal attitude of "I'll start tonight" and went and bought a pasty!

However, after purchasing some spuds I then had roast potatoes in sunflower oil for dinner. This was with some turkey....and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Today I've started with my rice cakes again.

I wonder how long before I notice a difference?

I've been reading up on b12 and apparently one of the symptoms is eczema!!!!!!

Maybe the difference will be down to that?

Time will tell.

Saturday 15 September 2012

My B12 deficiency and eczema

I've completely forgotten if I've got around to telling you about my B12 deficiency. This was discovered a month or so ago. I finished my 6th injection yesterday.

I'm already noticing a massive change in my energy levels.

I'm also noticing an improvement in my eczema. I was wondering if this was hormonal or something to do with the b12 jabs.

As you can see by the photo it appears b12 is important with regards to eczema! How exciting!!

I've now been given the all clear to start the elimination diet on Monday.


Sunday 9 September 2012

MSG - Monosodium Glutamate... The sneaky one

Oh it's been a while since I sat down and typed out a blog post.

I won't go into the health reasons that have put my elimination diet on hold right now because I want to share with you some information I learned about MSG (Monosodium Glutamate)

Before I saw my nutritionist I had been making notes about everything that I ate. One ingredient kept popping up over and over.

I mentioned it to my nutritionist and apparently there is a link between MSG and eczema.

He gave me a sheet of information which I'm now going to share with you. (ref Food Allergy Simpson pg 360)

MSG also known as:

1. Hydrolysed vegetable protein
2. Natural Flavouring
3. Kumbu extract
4. Ajinomoto
5. E 621

[My note: "natural flavouring" is the sneaky one in my opinion. The word "natural" conjures up something to be safe,  pure etc but this is not always the case.]

MSG naturally occurs in Tomatoes and is a constituent of parmesan cheese and camembert cheese.

Problem foods include:

1. Flavoured crisps e.g salt and vinegar flavour
2. Dips
3. Tinned and packet sauces
4. Sausages/sausage meat
5. Meat pies and other processed meats
6. Cream crackers
7. Stock cubes
8. Bisto etc
9. Chinese food

Symptoms induced by MSG :

1. Sweating
2. Palpitations
3. Headaches
4. Fainting - light headedness
5. Diarrhoea
6. Bronchospasm (rarely)

Scary stuff eh.

Please note: I have no medical knowledge and what I write on this blog is what I've experienced myself or read. I take no responsibility for my readers with regards to what they choose to do with this information. In other words,  chat to a medical professional first. :-)