Food allergies and chronic fatigue/depression ?
Q.About 10 years ago I began to experience severe lethargy, chronic fatigue, and depression. Although there were days when the symptoms were better and days when they were worse, I never had any days when I was fatigue free. Basically, each day was a struggle to get up and find the energy for work.
A.I had a physical examination and nothing abnormal was found. Exercise was recommended and I began to take 45 minute walks every day; however, the exercise had no effect on the fatigue. I also tried various vitamin combinations. Some of the vitamins (especially the B's) had a stimulative effect, but the underlying fatigue was still there. It was sort of like trying to keep yourself going with an artificial charge of caffeine. Due to good fortune (possibly Divine intervention), I happened to read an article discussing some of the more subtle effects of food allergies. I have had hay fever since I was a child, but I was not aware of any food allergies. However, the book mentioned that fatigue is sometimes caused by food allergies. So, lacking alternatives, I begin to perform small experiments with food variations, but I did not observe any effects. I discussed my problems with my allergist, but he thought it was unlikely that food allergies could be the cause. He gave me a shot of cortosone to see if the symptoms would clear up, but they did not. So his conclusion was that they were not allergy related. Once I became aware of these allergies, I made a major dietary change to avoid these foods and experienced a dramatic recovery of energy in a few days. Since then, I periodically slip and eat some food that I am allergic to. I can feel the fatigue settle in an hour or so after eating. Unless I have eaten a great deal, the fatigue usually lifts 6 to 12 hours later. However, if I went back into saturation mode, I am sure the recovery period would be much longer. I am sharing this because I believe there are many people who are suffering from food allergies and are unaware that they may produce symptoms such as chronic fatigue and depression. The traditional symptoms such as hives may be completely absent. Also, I have discovered that it may take the body a day or two to recover from an allergen, so if you consume it every day you will be unable to relate the cause and effect -- it will be continuous. Other allergies such as hay fever seem to exacerbate the effect because the total allergic load on the body is greater. Although I don't believe I have experienced them, I have read of other psychological effects of food allergies. Some are fairly dramatic such as extreme mood swings, severe depression, and manic effects. I hope this will help some people. If you have any allergies, or if you are experiencing problems such as fatigue that cannot be otherwise explained, I urge you to consider getting tested for food allergies. The traditional testing method is with skin pricks. However, the newer method is called a RAST test which is accomplished by drawing a sample of blood. If you don't want to undertake the allergy testing, you might consider a two day fast on distilled water only. If you do this, be sure to omit any vitamin and mineral supplements because you may be allergic to them too.
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