Thursday 31 January 2008

Picklesdad

A couple of weeks before Christmas, after a long time of not feeling well with various ailments, Picklesdad went to an allergy tester in Woodbridge. The GP's have been unable to pinpoint anything causing the problems, so a different approach was called for.
The therapist tests for 'intolerances or allergies' by muscle testing as described below.

Muscle Testing
One method of allergy testing, recommended by The British Institute of Allergy & Environmental Therapies, is allergy detection by means of muscle testing (applied kinesiology). Muscle testing is usually to be preferred in that it is simpler to use and involves the patient in no discomfort. It may be used with children, infants and the elderly. The goal of this particular method is to identify all the patients allergens whether they are foods, chemicals or environmental pollutants such as traffic fumes and other chemicals, dusts, hair, pollens and so on.


From using this method she diagnosed Picklesdad with a few intolerances which were...
  1. Cow Dairy Products
  2. Yeast
  3. Chocolate (NOOOOOOOOOO!!!)
  4. House Dust (Damn!)
  5. Cats (awkward, we have 3)
  6. Dog
  7. Mixed grasses
  8. Potato (mild, allowed rarely)
  9. Ethanol (drinking alcohol, see chocolate for my reaction)
As a vegetarian, and just a couple of weeks before Christmas this has made meal times very complicated in our house.



Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net


We have tried sheep or goat milk and cheese but to be honest they taste like a warm wet sheep (or so I would imagine, not ACTUALLY having tried one), so it has been rice or soya milk for Picklesdad. The rest of us have stuck with cow, thank you very much.


Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net


The yeast is proving the hardest as not only is it in all bread type products (withe the exception of some tortilla wraps) it also covers Marmite (NOOOOOOO, again), mushrooms, vinegars, some fruits which apparently have some on their skins and as an additive (yeast extract) in numerous foods.
So for Picklesdad it has meant avoiding lot sof his favourite foods, and for me it has meant rethinking nearly every meal we have ever eaten. I think though that we are eating better as a result, many more fresh foods and Picklesdad is feeling that it is helping.

8 comments:

Charlotte Howard said...

Poor Picklesdad. I had a whole lot of needles stuck in my arm in the early 1960s to tell me I was allergic to dust and stuff. I grew out of it and it emerged as asthma in early middle age - then went. Perhaps PD is going through a mid-life crisis?!

Must be horrid for you. Mrs F is very ill if she has even a tiny bit of gluten, so we often eat differently - even worse with Atkins. But she hasan't any Pickleses to deal with.

Picklesmum said...

Yes Paul, mid life crisis makes sense! Luckily he seems to be intolerant rather than allergic to these things, so if he does eat some by accident it is unpleasant but not serious and life threatening.
It is now a right pain cooking for all the faddy Pickleses in this house. Even the rabbit refuses all food except his favourite brand!

Christina S said...

Poor picklesdad. I guess the upside, is that you're eating healthily as a result - and have no choice but to stick to it.

LOL @ the warm wet sheep description (I've never tried sheep's milk and don't think I'll bother now!) and LOL @ your rabbit too :-D

(My guinea pigs eat most things, but they won't touch banana - in fact it seems to repel them. Whereas other people's do eat it, I am told.)

Anonymous said...

Actually you lot, we don't all want the gory details!

Paul f don't you cook for yourslef?

Hey I like this blogging lark. Yooooooooo!

Picklesmum said...

Sorry Bury Girl but there are PLENTY more gory details I could share with you.... Are you going to write a blog too? T'is fun!

Charlotte Howard said...

No BG. I have a wonderful wife/mistress/girlfriend/bestfriend/dietician/trainer/phoneanswerer/escort/chef/smalltimeearner/Chauffeuse/nurse called Mrs F. I'm very lucky.

PM you've taken my advice re those horrid letters!

Charlotte Howard said...

what happened to the:

answerer/chef/chauffeuse/cleaner/nurse/etc

Picklesmum said...

Paul, does Mrs F know about all these people in your life? nurse?!?!

...and yes I have got rid of the letter thingy so if I am inundated with messages about Viagra and whatnot I'll send them over to you!