Why is it important to know what foods one might be sensitive to. Food allergy/intolerance is extremely common in the United States. Up to perhaps 50% of symptoms seen in the offices of general or family medicine practitioners are related to food sensitivity.

Symptoms maybe mild to debilitating. Some food allergy reactions occur immediately, but the majority maybe be delayed up to several days, making food allergen identification more difficult. Your doctor can perform several effective tests to help diagnose your food sensititivies, and many effective self-testing measures are also available.

Knowing and eliminating food allergies will usually make a significant difference in how you feel day to day and may even lessen your chances of developing a chronic illness. Some food allergies are “fixed” and lifelong, but most are temporary. Any two people allergic to the same food can be affected in an entirely different area.

Food allergy reactions can show up in nearly any organ or part of the body, either by excitation (stimulation) or inhibition. They are capable of giving rise to any set of symptoms these tissues or organs are able to produce.

To give you a better understanding of how people get ill, we need to describe some mechanisms of these inflammatory agents derived from allergic or allergic-like reactions. The lysosomal enzymes digest and destroy tissue. Histamine causes leakage from capillaries and produces tissue swelling, constriction of bronchioles, excessive mucus production, and more. Toxic oxygen radicals destroy cellular membranes, accelerate the aging process, and contribute to a list of illnesses.

Wether you have an autoimmune condition, hay fever, or food allergies, allergic or allergic-like phenomena all create inflammation. If the inflammation occures on the skin, a rash will develop. If it occures in the nose or sinuses, hay-fever-like symptoms will develop.

If the site of the inflammation happens to be in the brain, swollen and irritated brain cells can produce a host of symptoms: depression, fatigue, head pressure, dizziness, mental fogginess, difficulty concentrating. Other reactions of cerebral allergy include mood swings, learning disorders, hyperactivity, paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, manic behavior, poor memory, and seizures.

If the inflammation happens to be in the joints, arthritis, stiffness, pain occures. If it is in the muscles, there can be myalgias or muscle aches. If it’s in the bladdder, the symptoms are increased frequency of urination or recurrent bladder infections. If in the kidneys, unexplained blood cells or protein can appear in the urine. Inflammation in the bowel can cause diarrhea, constipation, spastic colon, mucuous colitis, bloating, nausea, gas and itchy anus. Any part of the body can be involved.

Your primary care physician will not discuss that with you, let us help you.