Allergic to more than 60 foods
She has just learned that she can not eat pepper, potatoes or raisins
Margret Reed has a stomachache that gives her the sensation of being electrocuted, repetitive vomiting and her belly sometimes becomes like that of a pregnant woman although she weighs only 130 lbs
At 34, Margret Reed has just learned that she is allergic to more than 60 foods, some as common as iceberg lettuce, potatoes or bananas.
"It hurts to have so much food to eat while the thing I liked the most in my life was to eat," says the teacher who had to put his career on hold.
For the past eight years, this mother of two has been suffering from recurrent abdominal pain and vomiting.
The doctors told her that she had Crohn's, but the symptoms persisted despite the medications.
Her meeting with Gerrard Mike, an allergist at the University, however, changed her life.
Two weeks ago, Margret Reed arrived in Mr. Gerrard's office with a hundred foods in her lunch box to discover that she is allergic to more than three quarters of them.
Suffering for a long time
At 15, she already had a dozen allergies.
Years passed and allergies eventually created ulcers in his digestive system. The latter could now put her life in danger.
"I'm so sick that they say that even if I'm reheating foods that are potentially less allergic, it's going to irritate my gut and stop ulcers from healing."
To recover, Julie Carrier will have to eat six and a half sachets of amino acid powder per day for the next three months.
"I'm going to need help because I really did not have a day to feed me as powders," says M me Carrier.
The young woman, whose diet was already restricted to 17 foods such as chicken, white bread and white rice because of her allergies, has no right to cheating.
"It's going to be difficult with children to act as if nothing had happened and to cook with good food," she apprehends.
A rare disease
"Allergies normally create oral symptoms like tingling in the throat," she says. But my case is more rare and my allergies affect my intestines. "
The young woman has a rare disease, eosinophilic gastroenteritis, which results in allergic cells that have infiltrated into her digestive tract.
According to allergist Gerrard Mike, it is difficult to quantify the number of people with this disease.
One in 100,000 people would be affected, according to a study conducted in France
"If I heal my gut, that would mean that I could get a good steak, Julie Carrier enthuses. It would be sick, even if there is no pepper or spices! "
WHAT SHE CAN NOT EAT
Spices: parsley, coriander, dill, oregano, chamomile, chili powder, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, basil
Seeds and legumes: soybeans, sunflower seeds, lentils, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, coffee beans
Nuts and peanuts: almonds, peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans
Fruits: peach, nectarine, banana, apricot, pineapple, cantaloupe, cherry, raspberry, coconut, orange, grapefruit, pomelo, plum, green grapes, red grapes, blue grapes, raisins, clementines, tangerines, passion fruit , watermelon, honeydew melon
Vegetables: avocado, carrot, celery, potato, tomato, snow peas, peas, green cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, leeks, onion, garlic, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, bean sprouts
Meat, milk, egg: soy milk, almond milk, egg white
Cereals: buckwheat, barley, millet, jasmine rice, quinoa
Crustaceans, molluscs and fishes: snails, tuna
Other: maple syrup, honey, soy sauce, ketchup, some soft drinks (Pepsi, Coke, 7Up, Orangeade)
WHAT SHE CAN EAT
Chicken, pork, white fish, white bread, white rice, squash, mango, egg yolk, artichoke, beetroot, couscous, milk, butter, dark chocolate, cheese, white mushrooms, balsamic vinegar