Okay, about a couple of months ago, I did an elimination type of diet. Basically, I avoided foods with gluten, wheat, milk, and other allergens. I did this diet for about 3-4 weeks (I had a couple of days in that period where I had small traces of possible milk/gluten, but overall I was very disciplined). Warning: it wasn’t easy to forget about all the tasty food in the world…
During this time, my Cholinergic Urticaria became less & less reactive, but not completely cured. I could do sit-ups, and go out in the sun for quite a while, but eventually I would get itchy. It wasn’t as intense, and seemed to stop quicker as well.
So I called the diet quits thinking that it wasn’t the answer, and reintroduced milk into my diet. I had severe stomach problems about 4 hours after eating ice cream (no gluten in it). That is how I discovered my milk issue (which I had recently been mostly solving with the use of lactose pills). However, I have now realized that there could be a connection with milk-hives. It is at least a possibility.
Also, I have read a few articles online, that indicate when you have an food intolerance that causes skin conditions, certain antibodies (IgA, IgG, etc.) can take as long as 1 year before the excess antibody deposits are completely gone from the skin. So perhaps my original diet wasn’t long enough anyways?
My New Diet: Milk/Dairy Free
So with my new diet, I will be once again completely avoiding dairy/milk products. I will continue this diet, and continue keeping everyone updated on my progress. My plan is to avoid milk products only, and see if the rash on my finger goes away, and if I start becoming less sensitive with my cholinergic urticaria–while at the same time eating lots of other foods (such as wheat, etc). Again, I will make sure to keep everyone updated with my condition, and also may post some of the foods I am eating while on the diet (it helps me stay motivated & keep track of my progress).
Also, I am still not ruling out a possible gluten issue or other food intolerance 100% at this point. Gluten intolerance is known to destroy the villi in your intestines, which also break down milk & causes lactose intolerance symptoms. So it could be linked to gluten, but at this point I think it may just be milk/dairy, and gluten may be okay for me.
So I will continue to eat oatmeal/wheat, etc. I plan to cut out dairy, and see how that works over the next month or two. If I start to see good results, I will stay on the diet of NO milk.
However, if I don’t see good results, I may remove other things from my diet (such as gluten). Hopefully these next few months will be a learning experience. If nothing else, I can at least see once & for all if there is a diet link to my Cholinergic Urticaria symptoms.
