Healing My Gut
From a food sensitivity.
I have never had any real stomach issues or food sensitives. Maybe the occasional stomach aches from ice cream but that was about it. That all changed in the fall of 2020.
Getting To The Root Of The Problem
For ten months I battled Lyme Disease undiagnosed and during that time I started to have stomach issues I never experienced before including heartburn, acid reflux, and GERD. I even ended up at Urgent Care and they told me it was a combination of lifestyle and my body changing and to take some over-the-counter medicine and move on. The stomach aches persisted and I could never quite put my finger on what was causing them and the doctors had a hard time piecing together the story.
When I met with a Functional Medicine Doctor who was also a Lyme Specialist he suggested a food sensitivity test. My insurance wouldn’t cover the test but it was only $200.00 for 200 different foods and it would be the best money I had ever spent.
It was a simple blood test and the results were easy to read and explained a lot about the constant stomach aches. Each food that I was tested for had a number from 1–3 next to it. 1 standing for no real issues and 3 a high sensitivity to that specific food. The foods marked with a one or two were not surprising and I adjusted my diet.
Casein came up as a three, never hearing of this I immediately Googled and it is the protein found in cows’ milk. I was surprised that I had food sensitivity altogether but common with Lyme Disease I met with a nutritionist for the next steps.
Let The Healing Begin
The nutritionist and I came up with a plan to eliminate all dairy from my diet and allow my gut to heal fully. By doing this and sticking to the antibiotics regimen to get rid of the infection the Lyme was causing I would be able to heal my gut.
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I did this along with drinking lots of water, rest, and exercise to allow my body to fully heal and recover.
Elimination
I was a little nervous about eliminating dairy after all I loved pizza and ice cream. I stuck to the plan because I knew the less I had the more successful this would be. I did make one exception and that was the cream in my coffee I decided I would allow myself that one small luxury each morning.
It was hard at first and a lot more things have dairy in them than I thought. I continued and saying no got easier over time. My motivation came from how I knew I would feel splurging on the ice cream along with the hope that the sensitivity would be a thing of the past someday.
Reintroducing Dairy
Once I had stopped the antibiotics, was feeling better overall, and was recovered, it was time to reintroduce dairy into my diet. I did it slowly with a piece of pizza, cheese on a burger or sandwich, or a couple of cheese and crackers. Overall the results were positive and I noticed that my stomach aches had gone away for the most part.
I’m happy to say that last week I had pizza night with my niece and nephew when I went out for girls’ night for Mexican I had a quesadilla , and I’m waiting for the first warm day to have some ice cream ( hopefully with positive results).
Yes, six months is a long time without dairy but I’m glad I made the sacrifices to heal my gut and make an even stronger recovery from Lyme Disease.
I am not a medical professional but solely speaking from personal experience and what worked for me.
