Nightshades and scalp change

[juliaclare]

A few years ago I identified nightshades and wheat as making my scalp itch and erupt into some kind of psoroasis, and have mostly avoided them.  However the other variable is that I've hit the menopause so hormonal changes may also have made this change for the better. Anyone had a surprising improvement in their nightshade tolerance? 

[saravandy]

It could be that your gut has healed and it would take more exposures to see the reaction. I wouldn't test wheat myself. Ever.

[ccobine]

I have found a small change. I can eat a tiny amount, like one tomato slice, without apparent reaction. If I do that twice in 24 hours, I'll start reacting. I'll take bifidobacterium to help mitigate the reaction. I've learned that I can tolerate some homemade baked goods and breads, but even after years of attempted reintroduction, eggs and nightshades remain a problem. I don't worry about exposure as much now, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to tolerate them well.


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[jb]

May 23, 2014 22:50:48 GMT -5 juliaclare said:

A few years ago I identified nightshades and wheat as making my scalp itch and erupt into some kind of psoroasis, and have mostly avoided them. I've been on 50mg iodine doing the Iodine Protocol for some time now, months, and recently have had enough nightshades and wheat to expect my scalp to get very itchy...but no it hasn't. I'm not sure if it will take more to get the old response or if somehow iodine has made my skin more resilient to the solanin and gluten etc.  However the other variable is that I've hit the menopause so hormonal changes may also have made this change for the better. Anyone had a surprising improvement in their nightshade tolerance? I'm quite pleasantly surprised!

Julia,

I too have noticed much less sensitivity to foods since taking iodine! 

Iodine helps moisture-secreting glands (tears, sweat, saliva, stomach acid), so maybe it reduces leaky gut too?  Perhaps it keeps the intestinal lining moist, with sufficient thickness.  Just my working hypothesis, no idea if it's true or not. 

I first noticed the effect when I ate 2 slices of pizza with no major effects afterward.  I've been mostly GFCF for several years.   After the pizza episode, I googled to see if this was a common effect, but didn't find many hits. It may be that the food-sensitive/paleo population doesn't overlap much with the supplement/iodine crowd.

 
I also ate Mexican food twice since then; the first time I felt spacey for about three hours (i.e. not long), the second time (with different foods) I had no reaction.

Currently I take 25mg of Iodoral.  Did you take a loading test before supplementing with iodine?  I did; my excretion rate was 44%, pretty low.  So I think I really needed the iodine.  It has helped me in many ways. 

[jb]

May 24, 2014 9:42:25 GMT -5 ccobine said:

I have found a small change. I can eat a tiny amount, like one tomato slice, without apparent reaction. If I do that twice in 24 hours, I'll start reacting. I'll take bifidobacterium to help mitigate the reaction. I've learned that I can tolerate some homemade baked goods and breads, but even after years of attempted reintroduction, eggs and nightshades remain a problem. I don't worry about exposure as much now, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to tolerate them well.


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ccobine, 

How much iodine are you taking?  Also, did you take a loading test before supplementing?  

Just trying to see if food sensitivity could be a result of iodine insufficiency in some cases. 

Thanks.

[ccobine]

I don't take iodine, I noticed a change after taking bifidobacterium (probiotics).


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[jb]

Oh, right. I thought the thread was about iodine and changes, but now I see it is about anything that helped with nightshade sensitivity. And in your case, that was probiotics. :-)

[adevinephilemon]

Eliminating nightshades within my diet helped with my morning joint aches and stiffness. I am able to get out of bed in the mornings without moving extremely slow.

[robinf]

Good news that you seem to have increased tolerance to some foods!

I have psoriasis. It has been mostly in remission for several years. I had a severe flare (the trigger was probably a systemic infection) earlier this year, but I was so pleasantly surprised about how quickly it healed, compared to my previous experiences.

As my gut health improves, I am able to tolerate some, but not all, nightshades. At the current time, my nightshade tolerance is dependent not just on type of nightshade, but also amount and frequency, and cooking method. For example, I can tolerate a little tomato paste in another cooked dish, or the juice of tomatoes in a broth-based soup, but I cannot tolerate raw tomatoes. I cannot tolerate bell peppers, raw or cooked, in any quantity. I haven't tried to reintroduce eggplant or pepper-based spices such as paprika. I can eat some potato, but I pressure cook them and try to store them in the fridge overnight before eating them (the storage guideline is to increase their resistant starch; but I do think pressure cooking helps with my tolerance).

Like saravandy, I have not/will never knowingly trial anything with wheat.

I think that the 3 biggest factors in improving my gut health and thereby improving my food tolerance are: 1) consuming bone broth regularly and consistently (pretty much every day); 2) consuming prebiotic foods like fermented vegetables each day; and 3) making sure I have adequate stomach acid so I can digest and absorb nutrients properly. I also used probiotics during my healing period, and feel that they played an important role though I don't take them regularly now.

[juliaclare]

I still have to keep the nightshade level pretty low, but I'm not reacting so fast to every little bit. Not sure why. Hormonal changes?