My Reunion with Cheese and That Time I Got Scammed

Today I ate cheese.  Gloriously, cheesy, cheese.  It was mozzarella and sat atop a pizza with gluten-free thin crust. It was ever so perfectly browned on top with just the right amount of stringiness and that one of a kind cheese texture that no vegan cheese I have tasted can quite mimic (sorry vegans, its good but just not the same).  Today marked my two-year reunion with cheese, my most beloved of dairy products.  Why have I not eaten cheese in two years you ask?  What has changed?  Well that’s a long story that I’m about to tell you now.

Before it was determined that my true diagnoses are chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, the one thing that doctor’s could find wrong with me was a hypothyroid disorder, specifically Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.  I worked with an endocrinologist who put me on Synthroid (a synthetic thyroid hormone) and my levels returned to normal, however, I still didn’t feel better.  When I told this to the endocrinologist he told me that there was nothing else wrong with me that he could see and refused to look any further.  Thus, began a marathon to see just about every relevant specialist in the search for an explanation for my symptoms to no avail. 

That’s when my mother and father started researching thyroid disorders and various approaches to endocrinology.  Disappointed with traditional medicine’s inability to help me, I started seeing Dr. Robban Sica, an endocrinologist who also practices alternative medicine.  Dr. Sica seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to the doctors I had seen before.  She took me seriously, understood my frustration, and assured me I wouldn’t have to struggle any longer.  She claimed I was on far too little thyroid medication and that my past treatment with the use of antibiotics etc. had caused damage to my system.  She also believed that I had several environmental and food related allergies.  For the first time after 5 years I finally felt like I we were onto something.  She was going to be my miracle worker.  She was going to cure me of whatever it was that was making me sick.  She treated me with a higher dose of thyroid medication, supplements, IV vitamin infusions, and electrodermal screening for the allergies.

Lucky for Dr. Sica, I began seeing her over the winter when I experience my symptoms the most intensely.  Therefore, the transition into the next season aligned well with the start of my treatment, making it appear that I was improving.  According to the electrodermal screening I was allergic to onion, garlic, tomatoes, any fruits and vegetables with blue and purple coloring (berries, watermelon etc.), yeast, corn, and cow’s milk.  Also lucky for Dr. Sica, my corn allergy caused me to stop eating all processed food that tends to be loaded with sugar (which I now know I am allergic to), onion and garlic cause stomach irritation (especially in already irritated stomachs), and I am allergic to uncooked tomatoes.  Therefore, my stomach did improve a bit with these eliminations.

At first, the experience of working with Dr. Sica was really positive.  She really gained my trust so I let her continue to try new things even though I wasn’t sure they were making a difference.  However, as time went by I reached a plateau where I wasn’t improving any further.  That’s when her practices become more questionable.  My parents and I could start to see that she was getting desperate and running out of ideas, yet she continued to throw pills at me.  In the end, I was taking 64 pills a day (supplements and prescriptions) and she had claimed to cure my allergies to onion, garlic, tomatoes, any fruits and vegetables with blue and purple coloring with drops that I took 3 times a day under my tongue but the other one continued to fluctuate.  So what was really going on here?

For starters, here’s the truth about “electordermal screening”: It looks quite fancy and medical.  The patient to be evaluated holds a source electrode, or brass bar, covered with wet gauze in one hand and the practitioner holds a second brass electrode, or probe, like a pen and touches a specific conductance point in the other hand or in a foot with the probe while firmly supporting the finger. But here’s the catch: all the device actually measures is how hard the practitioner presses the probe against the patient's skin.  

And the pills, supplements, and IVs? To this day, I’m still not sure if any of them really worked.  What I do know is that some of them could have caused major complications had I been on them much longer.  Dr. Sica had me taking 2.5 times more thyroid hormone than I actually need.  She prescribed me Prednisone for adrenal fatigue that I don’t actually have, which could have caused my adrenal gland to stop producing adrenaline on its own if I had been on it longer.  And she had me taking a drug that interferes with the efficacy of birth control pills, but failed to tell me.  

So now here we are, back to me eating cheese with my loving parents who are now $12,000+ poorer thanks to Dr. Sica.  Don’t worry, she didn’t get off scot-free.  Last I checked she is facing charges that could result in the revocation of her medical license.  And I am not a spiteful person, but if it happens, I will eat cheese and laugh. 

Elimination Diet

About 4 years ago, I began to experience very troubling acid reflux.  Taking the traditional route I saw a GI doctor and had an endoscopy.  The test came back showing mild irritation so I was tried on several different proton pump inhibitors but got no relief.  The only thing that seemed to help was TUMS, which I began taking several times a day.  About 2 years later I started seeing a new doctor who put me on Aciphex, a proton pump inhibitor I had not tried before, and told me that I had a large list of food allergies (corn, cow’s milk, tomatoes, yeast, and all red, blue, and purple fruits).  I felt some relief but not completely so I continued with the TUMS and continued to deal with the discomfort as best I could. 

My symptoms were manageable until March of this year when I went to the emergency room with stomach pain so severe that I thought my appendix was bursting.  I was evaluated and sent home with a week’s worth of pain medication.  I was told to follow up with a GI doctor if my symptoms did not resolve by then.  After a week spent hugging my heating pad, I was out of pain medication and left with serious discomfort so off to a new GI for another endoscopy as well as a colonoscopy.  Both came back negative so I was given a diagnosis of IBS, the diagnosis you get when you have lower GI issues with no visible explanation.  I was put on every anti-spasmodic medication available but they did nothing.

As a result of this negative experience, I began seeing a chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia specialist who told me that the allergy test I had been give 2 years earlier was a scam and that I had avoided the list of foods for nothing.  At this point, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I believed that if there were no visible abnormalities in my esophagus, stomach, colon, or intestines, then my problem must stem from what I put in my body.  Based on my own research and discussion with the new doctor, I decided to try an elimination diet. I went on Amazon.com and settled on the book “Dealing with Food Allergies” by Janice Vickerstaff Joneja (to look into it further or buy one for yourself, the link is available in "My Favorite Things" section). 

The diet begins with 10 days of the “few-foods elimination diet” which includes a small (emphasis on small) list of food that do not cause allergies in the majority of the population.  This was not easy.  By the end of the 10 days I would sit and watch people eat because I was feeling so deprived.  The next phase of the diet is called the “challenge phase” in which food groups are reintroduced sequentially.  I am still working on this phase but so far I have discovered that I have sensitivity to egg yolks, uncooked tomatoes, cauliflower, and sugar in large amounts.  I have still not reintroduced dairy, wheat, yeast, and alcohol (except for vodka in honor of my 21^st birthday). 

The results?  The feelings of starvation and deprivation were totally worth it.  I am not completely symptom-free but my upper and lower GI issues are the most controlled they have been since they began.  If anyone out there is struggling with chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia and GI issues I would definitely recommend looking into food allergies and trying an elimination diet.