D has gone through the five stages of grief, so I feel like it's OK for me to blog about this now. Brace yourselves for the bad news: D is allergic/sensitive to nightshades. He's still reintroducing foods so it may not be the only thing, but his eczema and psoriasis have improved vastly without the nightshades and when he reintroduced them, the itching immediately resumed. D was pretty devastated with this discovery. Nightshades include tomatoes, white potatoes, yams, eggplant, peppers and a type of cherry. On the surface, it doesn't sound like a bad allergy/sensitivity to have, but D loves spicy food. How do most people get heat into spicy food? Peppers. Most curries have red pepper in them. Most Thai food has peppers. Most Mexican food has peppers. And tomatoes are in almost everything.
So it's a tough one. And it makes us to the single most difficult household ever to cook for. Between D's chosen exclusions (pig, lobster, shrimp) and his forced exclusions (nightshades) and my forced exclusion (gluten), I'm pretty sure we'll never be invited to dinner ever again. On the bright side, a nightshade sensitivity doesn't really change much of my cooking. I made a few dishes with tomatoes, but in general I don't cook with any nightshades. I don't like spicy food, I would much rather eat rice than potatoes, and who cares about eggplant?
My diet
I've limited my added sugar intake dramatically since last weekend's PPC binge. It's improved my mood, but I'm still having headaches and nausea at times, with the headaches being the more frequent of the two. Yesterday I did well all day, but after I ate at Pastini for dinner, I got a slight stomachache and headache. Damn it!
Loose ends
I'm going to tie up some loose ends on topics that I've talked about on the blog, but then never followed up.
- Moving and/or downsizing. I think this is ship that has sailed. I've accepted and embraced that this will be our house* until we downsize for retirement. I know that I'll still get the moving itch every once in a while, but we're here. I do love this house, and I do love many things about where we live. It's not where I would choose to live if I could pick right now, but I'm content and D is, too. (* assuming & hoping the economy doesn't go off the deep end and something goes horribly, horribly wrong)
- Avery & sleeping. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we'd had some regression with Avery's sleeping. What I meant was that she'd started coming into bed with us around 1 am or so. D sleeps horribly when she's in the bed, I sleep only slightly better, Avery sleeps just dandy. The rule now is that if she comes into our bed before 6 am, then she cannot watch her morning TV show. I thought that would clear it right up, and it does help immensely, but she still comes in maybe 1-2 nights per week. We could tell her no when she comes in, but that would involve crying and less sleep for me. I just don't have it in me to disrupt my sleep anymore than I have to, so I just scoot over and let her into bed.
- Mom's moving plan. People often ask about Mom's move and what the plan is for when she moves. As of now, she'll be here around March 26th. She'll live with us for several months, then decide what to do. Her options are: live with us for longer; rent; buy.
- Others? Now's your time to ask, oh-so-many readers.
Is the problematic cherry a ground cherry? Another name for it is pineapple tomatillo -- it's not really a cherry at all.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea one could be allergic to something as seemingly benign as tomatoes or potatoes. That seems heartbreaking for d.
(I've been having the toughest time commenting on your blog lately--this is actually the first time that a box has even appeared. Anyone else having that problem??)
ReplyDeleteI second Rachele's comment--people are allergic to potatoes? Of all things! I find "nightshades" to be such an odd grouping. Is there some commonality that they all share?
I haven't had that problem. I do most of my commenting via iPod.
ReplyDeleteAmber - yes, I find the grouping of nightshades weird too. The common factor in nightshade vegetables is the amount of alkaloids found in them. The content of alkaloids is highest in the raw form, so it's possible that he may be able to eat cooked alkaloids when he does further investigation. However, he's had reactions even to a tomato sauce, which is cooked, so that does not bode well. Tobacco is also a nightshade, so it's a good thing D quit smoking oh-so-many years ago.
ReplyDeleteRachele - yes, it's a ground cherry. D just said "one type of cherry" when he was reading it to me, so I wasn't sure what it was. I just knew it wasn't all cherries. So apparently, it's no *actual* cherries, but it is a ground cherry.
Interestingly, sweet potatoes belong to the same order as nightshades, but it does not belong to the same family as other nightshades, so it's OK.
Spices/sauces with nightshades: paprika, red pepper, cayenne, curry powder (which has red pepper in it) and tabasco sauce. Black pepper is, thankfully, OK.
People with joint problems should test eliminating nightshades may contribute to joint problems.
Thus concludes my researching of nightshades.