Until recently, I was prone to sinus infections – or not so much prone, but rather, I had a sinus infection all of the time. My voice was nasally, I was fatigued all of the time, and I pretty much felt gross. I had seen a number of doctors over the years for my recurrent sinusitis. They tended to test me for environmental allergies, stick a camera up my nose, and ultimately prescribe some bullshit allergy medication that didn’t work, or even convince me to try nasal irrigation – which was actually their best idea.
Then one day I was reading an old book on holistic medicine. Of course, the first thing I wanted to know was how could I prevent being constantly congested. The book said that foods such as wheat, meat, and dairy often contributed to excess mucous production – and thus, sinusitis. I was miserable, and clearly willing to try anything, so I cut out all three of those things the very next day.
Within two days, the difference was incredible. My head had cleared up, I had boundless energy, and other problems – such as a patch of eczema that I had on my eyelid for years – all cleared up. My armpits didn’t even smell – which is an odd observation, but remarkable, so I’m remarking upon it.
I continued with this “fast” of sorts for about a week. Through a bit of experimentation I was able to place the blame for my sinus woes (and that eczema thing) on wheat. Since I re-introduced animal products like meat and dairy, my armpits just smell like a normal person’s.
“Wheat!? You can’t eat wheat!?,” is the usual response of anyone whom I tell this to. Yeah, that’s right – I can’t eat bread, pasta, flour tortillas (burritos), cupcakes, crackers, cookies, brownies, cake, or even drink beer. This means staples such as pizza and sandwiches have been out of my diet – except for the occasional (regretted) indulgence – since I discovered this problem seven months ago. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been quite worth it.
How could you avoid something as ubiquitous as wheat? Good question. Fortunately I had the advantages both of living in the hippie capital known as San Francisco, and working at a hippie company; so knowledge on this subject was pretty easy to find. I discovered grains such as quinoa, and millet, and these other things called “fruits” and “vegetables.” The whole experience of trying to restructure my diet had me looking at food totally differently. Ultimately, I found it easiest to just eat Thai and Indian food every day, but there are websites dedicated to wheat and gluten free diets, if one is so inclined.
Not only did the experience have me looking at food differently, it also had me looking at medicine differently. How could I see so many GPs, allergy specialists, ENT specialists, and dermatologists without a single one of them saying “you know, you should look at your diet?” How many other people are out there with health problems related to food allergies and intolerances that are being underinformed by their doctors? I get the sneaking suspicion that somewhere in the depths of that problem lies the fact that there’s so much money to be made pumping people full of drugs.
But keeping wheat out of my diet has just plain gotten old, so I’m seeing an accupuncturist with the hopes I can have that allergy (and a few others) eliminated. You can bet that if she can make it so I can eat pizza and drink beer again, you will hear about it right here.
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Mary said,
August 6, 2007 @ 7:07 am
What, no mucus photos?
I want to see that picture of your Mouth Lesion from Hell again.
If your next medical problem is constipation, we don’t want to know. I DO want to know how the acupuncture goes, though.
I have an ear infection. If I get it drained, I’ll put a photo on my Web site.
jksellors said,
August 16, 2007 @ 6:01 am
Have you tried spelt flour as an alternative to modern wheat. The ancient Spelt Triticum Spelta, has only 21 chromosomes as opposed to the 42 chromosomes in modern wheat.
There is lots of info on spelt on the web—this site for instance:
http://www.allaboutbread.com.au/dinkelbrot.htm
says:
“The gluten in this grain is “softer” and more gentle to the digestive system and many people who experience such symptoms as “bloating” and skin rashes, find that this provides an excellent alternative to normal wheats.”
kadavy said,
August 16, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
Thanks for the suggestion! I did have a spelt pizza crust a few weeks ago, from which I made a homemade pizza. I think everthing went well, but the main problem is that I’m not really much for cooking for myself, so anything “convenient” (burritos, pizza, sandwiches) is kind of off limits.
Cheryl said,
December 13, 2007 @ 4:53 pm
Great story. I’ve given up wheat but still have some sinus issues. I feel better overall though and my sinus issues are not as bad. I’m still using my neti pot. I may have to give it a while longer to see if I get results. Thanks for sharing your story.
Lidia said,
June 4, 2008 @ 9:35 am
I thought it was just dairy products, but having stopped eating bread and pasta for a few weeks my sinus went away. Yesterday, I had a plate of spelt tortellini with veg inside, to my surprise a few hours later my nose was completely blocked again! So, I am afraid that spelt has to go out as well.
k7n43 said,
June 5, 2008 @ 10:15 am
Hey Lidia,
I’ve been off dairy for about 6 days but still have the sinus issues. I plan to go dairy and wheat free for a while and see how that goes.
I’m curious if you’ve tried dairy when you were off wheat. Also, are you sure your tortellini was dairy free?
John said,
November 30, 2008 @ 3:11 pm
Why no beer? Beer is made of barley, hops, water and yeast (at least the good stuff is).
Avoid hefeweizens, belgians and other wheat styles and anything low grade & mass market (Bud, Miller, Coors, etc)–they’re more likely to be made from corn or rice than wheat, but who knows what scientific wonders end up in those “brews.”
kadavy said,
November 30, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
Yeah, you’re right about that John – I hear some popular brands are even made with rice.
My methods are pretty unscientific, but I do know a night of many beers stuffs me up alot more than a night of many Gin & Tonics. Maybe it’s the yeast that’s the problem?
ellie said,
April 11, 2009 @ 9:50 pm
John, beer usually contains barley, which contains a protein that can cause issues with those who are sensitive to gluten. Gluten intolerance and/or celiac disease is a reaction to gluten, which is in wheat and many other grains. Unless one purchases a gluten-free beer, usually they are better off avoiding beer if they have a sensitivity to gluten.
ellie said,
April 11, 2009 @ 9:52 pm
Another source of info. you may find interesting is http://www.knowthecause.com This website and show is about how many issues are due to fungus.
joe said,
May 26, 2009 @ 11:00 am
I’ve been suffering from this too, and was glad to find your blog. I’ve been through numerous doctors too, that prescribe anitbiotics, steriods, etc. Had polyp surgery too, which made it 10x worse. Tired of hacking up stuff.
I have a neti pot. But also, I have tried this nasal spray that claims to have dead sea salt and I feel that it helps a lot. My natural health friend says to try a “candida diet”…still need to google that.
kadavy said,
May 26, 2009 @ 11:40 am
Hi Joe: I presently avoid wheat as much as I can – but it’s pretty much inescapable. I also eat very little dairy or meat. I try to fast about one day a month. I just drink a mixture of: 16oz water, juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons organic maple syrup (or sucanat), and some cayenne. Doing this has not only helped my sinuses, but it’s alleviated many of my seasonal allergies.
StaceyK said,
June 6, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
Thank you for sharing. I’m on day 7 of a wheat free (as much as it is possible) diet. By day 2 my sinuses were 50% clear and by today I would say 90%. I do have some stuffiness, but there is also a ton of pollen in the air, so we’ll see how things go as summer progresses. More importantly I feel amazing. Better than I have felt in years.
I never looked to something as simple as bread for what was making me sick. The day I did really changed my life.
kadavy said,
June 6, 2009 @ 6:58 pm
@StaceyK, that’s great news about your new wheat-free diet. On the subject of seasonal allergies, I’ve noticed mine have nearly disappeared since I stopped eating wheat. It probably really exacerbated my allergies.
I noticed on your blog that you said you lost some weight since the new diet change. I experienced the same thing (probably in large part to eating being so inconvenient with the ubiquity of wheat
) The weight loss was not a welcome side-effect for me, though, as I’ve always been skinnier than I would like to be. I lost something like 10% of my body weight over about 6 months.
Colleen said,
December 14, 2009 @ 3:10 pm
Hey,
Stumbled on this while looking for connections between food allergies and seasonal allergies. I have had all kinds of problems in Spring, Summer and Fall for years and recently connected it to wheat. Had the skin prick and it showed a mild allergic reaction to wheat. My symptoms, however, were *not* mild over the Summer, etc. Now that it’s winter though, I’m finding that I can tolerate wheat without any problems that I can detect. I’m still being careful though because wheat really caused a lot of physical and psychological problems (depression, anxiety, brain fog). I notice now though that when i eat wheat it feels like empty calories… like how you’d feel when you eat a lollipop or a soda… empty. It doesn’t give me energy. It’s funny how apparent the sensation is after going so long w/o… And it makes sense as white flour is stripped of any nutritional value and is basically just sugar.
I can relate to your feelings about modern medicine. The main problem caused by wheat for years were mysterious bumps on my arms and legs. I kept trying to tell doctors that I suspected allergy since it was mostly seasonal, but no one listened. I kept being told it was folliculitis and I needed to take and antibiotic. NO ONE LISTENED. Finally everything got so bad last Spring/Summer that I just bit the bullet and eliminated wheat on a hunch. The difference was incredible. To this day, despite the overall improvement and the skin prick test, doctors STILL don’t believe me.
Bah! Glad we’re all figuring it out on our own!
kadavy said,
December 16, 2009 @ 8:25 am
Thanks for sharing Colleen. I also noticed I couldn’t think as clearly, and had an unstable mood when I was eating wheat. As far as allergies – I believe there can be some cross reactions (for example, ragweed & honey) between foods and airborne allergies: so, maybe that has something to do with your seasonal intolerance. I sure wish I could take a break from wheat intolerance over the winter!