

Trip to the ER
If you follow my facebook page, you’re probably aware that a couple of weeks ago I wound up in the ER. I was having severe abdominal pain, and immense belly distention. I made an appointment with my doctor, and then received a call back a little while later telling me that she was canceling the appointment, and advising me to go to the ER, as the pain sounded like appendix pain, and she didn’t want me to waste time I may not have, coming into the office. Begrudgingly, my husband and I made the trip. I should note that it was begrudgingly by me, not him.
While they weren’t able to get a good reading from the MRI (who would have ever thought I don’t have enough intra abdominal fat for a good reading?! Goes to show you, appearances can be deceiving.), they didn’t find anything of concern. Everything looked good. My doctor followed up with the hospital, and they did find that I have a stone in my appendix, but I was assured that was not the cause, and that it may have been there for many years.
Back to the Doctor We Go
We went in for a followup with my doctor. She suggested FODMAP. FODMAP diet, is simply eating foods that are low in Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Mono-saccharides And Polyols, which are short chain carbohydrates. They are often not well absorbed in the small intestine, which can cause bloating, diarrhea, and other symptoms. Sounds cool, right? Well, yes. Except that includes my beloved beets, garlic, and onions. While beets are a seasonal thing for us, now is when they’re harvested, and that’s heartbreaking for me. Maybe not heartbreaking, but a real bummer. Garlic and onions, on the other hand, are what I use in basically every meal I ever cook. Also honey. Honey is high FODMAP, and something I traditionally use in almost every meat dish I make. So it’s been interesting to figure out how to create tasty dishes without my trinity of onions, garlic, and honey. I’ve done quite well, I must say, so at least there’s that!
The Culprit
I digress, as I often do. Let’s loop back to the cause of the ER visit. It’s been a mystery. My beloved Jamie (one of my favorite people in the entire world) suggested before I even went to the ER that perhaps the cause of my belly woes was the vegan cheese I ate the night before. I didn’t think so, because I’d had it without incident the week before. Cut to last night, I wanted a grilled cheese so badly it was all I could think about, and I was at the store picking up almond milk, so I grabbed another package of the vegan cheddar, since the stuff in my fridge was now too old to use. I made a grilled cheese (gluten free, dairy free…my life is so wild), and by 2am I was in pretty intense pain. Jamie was right all along! It was the vegan cheese!
Mind you, I’d checked the ingredients the first time I had it, and didn’t see anything strange. And last night I checked it against the FODMAP allowances, and it still checked out. So, I’m just allergic to something in it. We don’t know what, but my husband, who is just the best, by the way, suggested I email the doctor and just let her know what we’ve figured out, send her the ingredients, and see if she has any thoughts on it. I’d like to do some food allergy testing, but I’ve been shot down every time I’ve asked. I think it’s a pain for doctors to justify with insurance, so insurance usually just rejects it. But maybe since I’ve now twice poisoned myself because I don’t know what I’m supposed to be avoiding (while already avoiding gluten, dairy, and high FODMAP foods) I can get it justified.
What I’m Doing
However, in the meantime…I’m in pain. I tried everything last time. Copious amounts of digestive enzymes, peppermint tea, peppermint EO topically, gas-X, etc. Nothing touched it. This time because I believe it’s an allergy, I’m approaching it differently, and hoping beyond hopes that I’m able to curb some of the reaction and not be in pain and distended for four days, like I was last time. Here’s what I’m doing:
I’m drinking a tea consisting of turmeric, freshly ground black pepper, and coconut oil. Turmeric is a great anti-inflammatory, but is best absorbed by the body when black pepper is added. Coconut oil also aids in absorption because of the fat content. I added some organic cane sugar for palatability, but if you’re not low FODMAP, honey would be great, as well.


Consensus
I don’t have results yet, since I’m sitting here having just taken the activated charcoal. However, since I’ve taken the charcoal, it hasn’t gotten worse, and prior to that I was rapidly blowing up like a balloon. I’m hopeful! I just wanted to share because it would have been helpful for me to see this from someone else. I never would have thought the vegan cheese was the issue. I never would have thought it was an allergy to one of the ingredients. And I didn’t initially think to treat the inflammation. I hope this can help someone!
UPDATE: I am almost back to normal one day later. The activated charcoal and turmeric tea really seemed to help. I was still quite sore and a bit distended last night, but nothing compared to the previous time (which was the purpose of the ER visit). This morning I’m just a little sore, nothing bad, and my distention is almost gone. That’s INCREDIBLE. This was the number of days in that I wound up going to the ER last time, and looked a solid 18 weeks pregnant. To have that much of a difference tells me that the activated charcoal, and likely the turmeric tea, really nipped the reaction in the bud. I am beyond pleased with the results! While I hope to never have to do this again, I’m making sure to keep activated charcoal and turmeric on hand at all times, now! I really hope anyone reading this, going through something similar, finds relief with this, as well.
I’d also like to note that this is NOT for anaphylactic allergies. Those require an epi pen and an ER visist. PLEASE do not try to combat an anaphylactic reaction with activated charcoal or turmeric.
***I am not a medical doctor and nothing in this blog is medical advice or to be used in lieu of medical treatment or advice from a doctor.
I had to do the same ER visit last week bc my doctor was on vacation and I had pain on my right side ;( it turned out to be an ovarian cyst that had burst but it was scary for a while when we thought it was appendicitis! Good luck <3
Dana, I’m so sorry to hear that! I hope you’ve gotten some relief. I know ovarian cysts can be truly terrible.
I’m sorry to hear about your pain. I don’t have any food sinsitvities but like you through trial and error I have found inflammatory foods that I need to avoid. The activated charcoal is something new to me and it maybe something I should have in my meds cabinet. Thank you for posting this I truly hope you feel better and can get a food allergy test.
I’m glad you were able to identify problem foods. My husband and I are just truly in awe of the difference the activated charcoal made. Without it, I have no doubt that I’d still be in a good deal of pain internally, but also from distention. My belly is basically back to normal (a little bloated, but almost unnoticeable), and was yesterday. Without the charcoal, I was distended and in pain for four days. I hope you never need to use it, but it’s definitely good to have on hand just in case!
Food allergies are no joke. While I didn’t have the pain you describe, I was having anaphylactic reactions in my throat. Not good! I saw a functional medicine doc who had me on an elimination diet for months and even after feeling better, but still having episodes of the swelling/lump in my throat, she said there wasn’t anything else to do but to prescribe me an epi-pen and suggest I stay away from offending foods (which were A LOT!). A friend suggested I look into homeopathy. So I did. Within just a few days of taking the remedies that were suggested to me by my homeopath, the throat swelling/lump went away. I haven’t had it since. I’ve also started eating most of the foods that I was allergic to and have had no further reaction. If you end up having allergy testing and show up allergic to foods, this is something you may want to look into. Hope you are feeling much better at this point though.
Kristi, it is AWESOME that you found someone so knowledgeable and who was able to help you! Anaphylactic reaction is something I’ve never dealt with, and I can only imagine how scary it would be. I’ve always had a lump in my throat. I thought it was my thyroid, but have been assured it’s not (of course, I’ve always been refused an ultrasound, so really, they don’t know), so no one knows what causes it. I’m very interested in hearing more about your experience and the homeopathic remedies you’ve used and found success with!
Scary when something like that happens! I hope you feel 100% soon!!