If your physician has exhaustively tested and cannot provide a diagnosis to explain intestinal issues. itchy rashes, and fatigue you may want to let curiosity lead. When your health team begins suggesting the best next step is to consider dietary or environmental triggers, it can be easy to resist. Getting curious can help get you past reluctance to explore.
It’s easy to hear the suggestion of dietary or environmental triggers as I won’t be able to have anything I enjoy; or I’m going to have to spend time I don’t have cooking. To some extent, you may be correct. But it’s unlikely that you won’t be able to have ANYTHING you enjoy. And you will most likely find ways to spend less time than you anticipate.
The easiest way to move past a feeling of I CAN’T is to start wondering what, when, why, how?
Think of the process as a treasure hunt or mystery to solve. You may discover things you’ve known all along but put aside as silly or impossible. And you may feel better more quickly than you think.
What is causing the problem?
Keeping journals or lists is a good way to start determining what makes you feel bad or leads to specific symptoms. Write down where you are, what you just did, and what is happening when a symptom begins.
If you break out in a rash after your morning coffee. Write that down and also include the room where you consume it, and any other food, drink or medication you have taken. If you’re in the kitchen and someone sprayed a cleaner of some sort, record that too.
If you sneeze every time you go to the bathroom, mold or mildew may be a trigger.
If your chest feels tight when someone sprays a certain disinfectant, something in that product may be a trigger.
If you burp excessively or have reflux after eating chocolate, that may be a trigger.
It is time consuming to keep track, but it will allow you to see patterns that narrow the field. In the long run, that’s faster than hit or miss guesses.
When do I have a problem?
If you’re keeping a journal but not really seeing a pattern, observing when you have a problem can help. Before I figured out that my toothpaste was causing a rash, I observed that the rash went away when I was traveling in my RV. So, I had a problem when I was at home, but not as much when I was on the road.
From that observation, I made note of what I do differently on the road. While that didn’t immediately lead to me remembering my travel toothpaste was different, once I noticed my tongue felt swollen and my mouth felt unusually dry after I brushed my teeth, it became confirming evidence for trying a change in toothpaste.
Why do I have a problem?
Once you’ve observed when and where you have an issue, you can go back to asking why. This question can lead you back to your doctor to determine whether you have an allergy, sensitivity, celiac disease, or some other autoimmune condition or dysautonomia. Taking the patterns you’ve identified to your doctor can inform their next steps.
This is not an automatic guarantee you will get a diagnosis. There are many conditions that take years to diagnose. That’s frustrating and discouraging but doesn’t mean you can’t find some relief. There are diets you can try on your own without sacrificing nutrition.
How do I proceed?
Get support for your mental health. If your medical team begins to treat you as though you may be imaging symptoms, it can make you feel crazy. That doesn’t mean you are. Physical and emotional health are intertwined.
Ask questions. If you have read something you think could be related, ask your doctor about it. Take them a research study you found. Doctors are busy. They may not be aware of the newest research.
Get a second opinion or a third if you need to. If you have the means, you may want to consider getting a referral to a physician in a larger city or at a more diagnostically sophisticated hospital.
Take an advocate. If you’re exhausted and not sure you can absorb what you’re being told, take a trusted relative or friend with you to ask questions and note the answers.
Do what you can. When you discover a trigger you can safely eliminate that may be contributing to your symptoms, eliminate it and see what happens.
When answers are hard to come by, the quickest way to relief can be to let curiosity lead.