ser·en·dip·i·ty
/ˌserənˈdipədē/
noun
- the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
Some of the most useful things have happened to me through serendipity. That was how I discovered that Prozac might be responsible for me sleeping all of the time. It was supposed to be this amazing antidepressant that lacked the side effect that made those before it unappealing: drowsiness. So when I was sleeping 12-16 hours a day, falling asleep driving...not one doctor ever thought to blame the prozac. I had a sleep study done, was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, then chronic fatigue syndrome then excessive sleep disorder..or some weird, never heard of thing like that. None of them truly fit my experience and so I kept searching and one day while working at a brand new pharmacy that was filing about 10 prescriptions in a 12 hour day, I stumbled upon a study that the manufacturer had buried. Some patients DID experience drowsiness....to the excess. And I cold turkey stopped and got my life back. I think I did a whole blog about it a million years ago. But once again I digress....
It was surfing the glorious internet that led me to that discovery. And once again the internet comes through. I don't even know how I stumbled upon the first blog. It was about eggs being linked to depression. (I would love to share the link but can not find the blog I read...it was a woman doctor and she was discussing elimination diets and menopause and eliminating eggs being her cure--I have searched and can not find it!!)And I don't believe everything I read on the internet so I searched some more. And I found other stories suggesting the same. Then thanks to cookies and the oh so invasive nature of facebook I got an ad for a food sensitivity test on my fb page. Again..very leery...I investigated it to death. And decided it was worth the gamble...it was a little more than a hundred bucks and I was going to spend way more than that going to a holistic doctor recommended by someone I work with or on copays to see a therapist, and I was at that point. So tired of being depressed so often.
The basis behind the food sensitivity test is IgG. Food ALLERGIES test for IgE, there is a difference between an allergy and a sensitivity. I am not going to get into all of the science behind immunoglobulins (Ig), you can find it on the internet if it interests you. I was familiar with it from my years of being tested for lupus-- another Ig disorder. When I was 19 or so I got paid a lot of money (for a poor college student) to donate serum (just the clear part of your blood) because my IgM level had come back at a level never seen before. I never heard from those studying it what that actually meant, but here I am at 51, lupus free, clot free (I was told I was much more likely to develop blood clots, put on aspirin for awhile and then taken off of it with no real explanation, but it still is in the back of my mind and one reason I won't take hormones for my perimenopause).
Anyway, I believe in the science behind Ig's. You can find people arguing both sides of whether this IgG test really matters or not, but again....I decided why not?
I had no idea what to expect --would I have a reaction to eggs and could that really be behind my symptoms?
At the time I was eating about a dozen eggs a week....not including products that contain eggs, like salad dressing, mayo, cookies, etc. (and yes my cholesterol is just fine!)
So I get the results and egg whites and egg yolks are moderate or high! I only had 2 super high and about 8 moderate, out of 96 foods tested. And both of these were at the top of the list, cow's milk being the other high one.
To properly determine whether something is causing symptoms you must eliminate it entirely for 30 days and then reintroduce one item at a time..eat it once and wait 4 days, that's how long a reaction can take. I had some duh moments in the beginning...oops ate cake! oops mayo on my sandwich...but finally I made it 30 days with no mistakes.
And here's what I discovered: no more anxiety symptoms...NONE...ever....to this day still NONE....I am almost 3 months egg free and still not one anxiety symptom. I had been blaming hormones for my anxiety...it was eggs!
I had a spell of 10 happy, truly happy days in a row. Unbelievable! Then I got my period..and I wasn't unhappy, but I had a bout of anger and that caused me to doubt the egg stuff. I started to spiral down and feel defeated. I got my shit together and realized I am human and eggs couldn't possibly save me from all of my emotions. I realized even eggs can't beat a menstrual cycle. So I sucked it up and got through a couple bad days. As the next month approached I started to dread my period. I was having so many good days again, I didn't want a bad one. But again talked myself down and said I would deal with it when it happened. And, surprise....period came and went uneventfully (well emotionally anyway!).
No more nausea. I used to have "morning sickness" type nausea very regularly...again blaming perimenopause or anxiety. Since the egg elimination, I have had maybe 2 or 3 incidents...moments, not lengthy bouts, of nausea. It was never a huge concern, I had gotten used to it but it is really nice to not have to deal with it anymore.
So to sum up so far...no eggs equals no anxiety, no depression (some sadness but no depression) and no nausea.
Then I tried reintroducing a little mayo...it's kinda hard to live without. I like to use it on grilled sandwiches instead of butter, much easier to spread. I thought I had no effect from it but then realized another symptom that had disappeared: insomnia.
A day or two after I had the mayo I couldn't fall asleep til 2am. I hadn't realized I had been falling asleep easily again. Since the mayo incident I have had horseradish (which also has eggs) and had a similar reaction...insomnia again.
I decided that I can live with that to occasionally have some mayo.
We ended up having Dave do the test too, just to see if we shared common sensitivities, figuring if we did we should try to minimize those foods. He is also highly sensitive to eggs and cow's milk. So we have been using coconut milk.
You might think no cow's milk means no dairy (which if true, I would die!!) but they tested for cheeses and due to protein stuff (heating, processing whatever) just because you have a sensitivity to milk doesn't mean no dairy! My cheddar and cottage cheese was fine and mozzarella not too bad. We have cut back on ice cream, but even with reintroducing it haven't really noticed anything.
The point being a sensitivity doesn't definitely translate to a reaction. The company I used had a follow up webinar that was very helpful in explaining all of this.
I don't miss eggs at all. We have tried some recipes substituting eggs with applesauce (chocolate chip cookies, which I daresay may have been even better without eggs!). We have had pancakes where we just left them out and didn't notice. I am able to eat dry pasta, apparently freshly made pasta has eggs but most dry doesn't (even the box covers their ass and says "may contain" egg, apparently that is just because it's made in facilities where egg cross contamination is possible, but since I don't have an allergy I decided to risk it and have been ok.)
It seems absolutely insane that eggs could make such a difference for me, but I will take it!
The woman who recommended the holistic doctor wasn't surprised at all, she said he has said most women should not have more than one egg a week, we react differently than men. I don't feel the need to investigate any further but if you have any issues it might be something to consider.
Thanks again for reading....I hope this info helps someone even half as much as it has helped me.
Food sensitivities are usually responsible for symptoms that aren't related to mental health. Everything from skin irritation to GI issues to headaches to generalized fatigue. Prices for the tests vary but I have found it to be worth every penny!
If you are interested in checking out the tests, I used Everlywell. Use the link and get 20% off and yes, I get a little something for sending you there. https://refer.everlywell.com/s/Dave187
There are many different tests available. Not just food sensitivity. It was a very easy process and their turn around time was very fast!
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