3 days off diet = 3 weeks recovery

Today I’m off to see the UK’s only/best mastocytosis specialist. The reason is simple – I want to know exactly what I’m dealing with. Thing is, I don’t suffer like I used to. In fact, it’s almost a distant memory, so right or wrong, I decided show him some of what I used to go through before changing my diet. In short, I went off the grid these last few days.

My 3 day “cheat”

4 slices home made organic wheat bread (with yeast)

8 tbsp agave

1 raw chocolate bar (home made)

1/4 raw chocolate cake (avocado/agave)

8 tbsp sugar free all natural marmalade

1 orange

3 shots of alcohol

1 pack plantain chips (organic)

1/2 box organic cornflakes (2 ingredients – corn and salt)

whole wheat pasta

8 tomatoes

The fallout

Rash around my mouth

Rash on my face and chest (brownish)

Breathlessness

Palpitations

Insomnia/extreme tiredness

Stomach bloating (can’t zip up my trousers – I look 6 months preggers), IBS symptoms

Joint pain

Feeling like I’m getting the flu

Feeling of electricity running through my body

Zapping in my fingers and toes

Itching all over

Severe anxiety

I really didn’t need any proof that the high nutrient, low histamine approach works but I’m horrified by how I feel. In my case, probably because I’m not on antihistamines, the slight deviation from my histamine intolerance diet has me feeling like crap. I cannot imagine how some with histamine disorders continue to eat a “normal” diet and NOT go into shock. I know I was – frequently. I just cannot bring myself to take antihistamines just so I can eat more of the foods that make me feel like this. While I completely understand that food is not the root cause of what’s happening with me, for better or worse, my body is begging me to treat it right diet-wise. I’m all ears. I will spend the next 3-4 weeks fixing what I have spent 3 days undoing. I would much rather live the next 20 years drinking nothing but vegetable juice rather than suffer like I used to. It’s just not worth it. There’s a whole world of experience beyond the (unhealthy) dinner plate…and I plan on enjoying every last minute of it.

How? By continuing my low histamine, high nutrient diet. Check out my recipe books for some inspiration.

6 responses to “3 days off diet = 3 weeks recovery”

pheynix

November 12, 2012

Oh wow, Yasmina, I can so relate to this post and most of the symptoms you get from eating “normal” food. The insomnia, the breathlessness, anxiety, palpitations, feeling sick with flu, rash, pain – been there! I also get extremely high blood pressure, and angioedema of my face, eyelids, neck, and throat.

I also love this sentence: “I cannot imagine how some with histamine disorders continue to eat a “normal” diet and NOT go into shock”. I used to shock a lot when I didn’t know about the low-histamine diet. I don’t know how others do it either!

I hope you find something out. Doctors in America have given up on me. Praying it goes well for you today.
thelowhistaminechef

November 12, 2012

Thank you Amy! I really appreciate you taking the time to comment. Your other symptoms – me too. You seem to be doing so much better on your diet so congratulations for making the nutritional approach work for you! Keep at it!!
pheynix

November 13, 2012

Thanks Yasmina! I must say, it is such a relief for me to know there are other people, like you, who have the same struggles as I do. I don’t feel so alone in dealing with this health condition anymore. Thanks for putting yourself “out there” on the internet and advising us. It’s a lot of work on your part, but very much appreciated by those of us struggling to get to – or to maintain – the balance so that we can live well.
Jan Hempstead

June 12, 2013

What is soooo frustrating to me is that my “specialists” tell me the low histamine diet is “too restrictive” and only gave me 5 foods to avoid… even after I ended up in intensive care unit 3 times in anaphylaxis… despite 3 antihistamines (double doses) and 4 other mast cell meds!!!!
And I’m an RN and bring them studies and other scientific proof. I just don’t get it. So sad to me 🙁
swinkie

July 2, 2014

Who is the Uks best specialist please?
Also, what foods do I start with on the Low Histamine Diet?
swinkie

July 2, 2014

Who is the Uks best specialist please?
Also, what foods do I start with on the Low Histamine Diet?

Welcome!

Yasmina was an award-winning broadcast journalist with a decade of experience covering war zones for CNN and the BBC. She devoted her journalism skills to researching and writing about histamine. Click here to learn about her. Each post is carefully and fully referenced with the latest scientific research. Not sure where to start? Here’s a four week meal plan and overall Histamine Reset.