Dark circles under the eyes and now a rash... help :-\

[tigerlilly905]

Please talk to me about dark circles under the eyes. It was suggested to me that they are related to food allergy/sensitivity.  Ds1 has recently gotten very bad dark circles and most recently a new rash has developed on his tummy, up and around his neck and some spots on his face.  We have not introduced any new foods recently. His mood is great, although he is sleeping a bit more then normal the past couple of days.

Some important points:

Over 2 months ago we discovered Ds1 has a cows milk sensitivity. He's been doing great off of cows milk and has seemed to be fine with fermented dairy (such as cheese and yogurt), and he will occationally drink goats milk.  

Our whole family has been following the GAPS diet - basically no dairy (unless fermented), no grains, nothing with added sugar. Included in this diet are all meats, fruits, vegs, oils, cheese and yogurt, legumes ect.

I've noticed Ds1 can not digest legumes, even if fermented (they just pass right through) - so I've kept those out of his foods.

He's still breastfed. He gets 8oz around nap time and nurses before bed.

He's on a high quality infant probiotic by Klaire labs which he gets once a day.

I'm stumped. This diet is supposed to be healing his gut and helping to eliminate any allergies/intolerences, yet he seems to be having a reaction to something.

Any thoughts? What should I do

[~inbalance~]

What about eggs?  Our ND said dark circles under the eyes was something to look for with an egg allergy. 

Hugs!!

[kim&savannah]

Rebecca--Isn't it normal to have flair ups of symptoms as the yeast are dying?  I've been thinking this . . . And thought it explained why I just broke out in a small rash around my mouth yesterday. Either that, or I've developed an allergy to nuts that I've never had before.

The dark circles and rash definately sound like they could be an allergy--those were Savannah's reaction to dairy as a baby and we couldn't do any dairy at all.  Maybe just cut the cheese out for a week or so, and if it goes away, then try a little cheese and see what happens.

[tigerlilly905]

Rebecca--Isn't it normal to have flair ups of symptoms as the yeast are dying?  I've been thinking this . . . And thought it explained why I just broke out in a small rash around my mouth yesterday. Either that, or I've developed an allergy to nuts that I've never had before.

YES - it's called "dye off" in GAPS'ville I've been wondering this as well. We were doing really well with the dietary changes for so long, but the past week or so I've noticed both myself and Ds1 feeling off, and DH has noticed he's VERY sensitive to perfumes/smells lately. I'm wondering if we've hit a wall and we're at that detox point where things get worse before they get better, kwim? That's a great point Kim, thanks for making me feel better - I thought I was crazy! Perhaps we'll have to push through it?

I should keep an eye on the cheese. Hum. Just seems so bizzar b/c he's been fine w/ cheese since 9 months old. Same with egg. We've never had an issue with egg.

[~inbalance~]

Remember allergies can develop at any time, even when previously fine with the food. 

[Buntybear]

How recently has this appened? I ask because Olly has had the same thing for the last week and I put it down to a virus and not an allergy at all! However if it has been for more than a couple of weeks then maybe it is soemthing else.

[kim&savannah]

Rebecca--have you seen this site?  http://www.gaps.me/preview/?page_id=32

They adress how to tell the difference between die-off and allergies (although the answer seems to be mostly and wait-and-see approach).  Thought you might like to look through the FAQ on there.

[tigerlilly905]

Thanks ladies

Kim - No, I hadn't look through that site yet - I'll check it out for sure, thank you!

Pretty sure he's detoxing. I've kept his diet the same, but gone back to more of the "intro" GAPS diet for him. I've upped the juicing, and we've been doing detox baths w/ epsom salts and it seems to be helping. Here's hoping that's all it is  Go figure, we started this to fix Ds2's tummy troubles, but it would seem we all needed it!

ETA - I also realized that we introduced the homemade sauerkraut into his diet recently. Although he's been fine w/ cabbage and carrots on their own, I'm sure the detox properties of sauerkraut are kicking in.. so I've scaled that back now too.

[deb]

Any nightshades? And yes, some dairy  might still be bugging him; we can eat yogurt just fine, but no cheese to speak of.

[EloysH]

Unless the dairy he is having is not being tolerated .....

If it is die off how long would you allow for die-off to explain his symptoms?

Is there anything that he is eating in larger quantities than ever before and that are also a food that one would be intolerant to? As dark circles also belong in the symptoms for food intolerance.

[tigerlilly905]

He seems to be doing much better the last few days. It could very well have been the cheese or tomatoes along w/ detox too. Hard to say completely, but since we backtracked to the intro diet and removed all dairy again (The only dairy he was having was a small bit of cheese and goat milk yogurt) he does seem to be doing better. Guess his tummy still needs more time to heal. Interesting b/c cheese never bothered him before. As soon as we removed the cows milk his poops improved instantly.

If it was the cheese, can anyone explain why you get a flare up like that when there wasn't one before?

[kim&savannah]

From what I understand, as you begin to heal and stop exposing yourself to things that do bother you, your body then isn't used to having to "fight" that food, and so you get a new reaction.  So with DS1, you took away the dairy, his body was relieved to the point that it started recovery, but then the more it got used to not being challenged by milk, it became more sensitive to the smaller bits of dairy.  I'm sure the reaction was a bit of a combination of things.  Maybe if you'd continued eating how you always did, but just removed milk, his poops would have gotten better, and he never would have reacted to cheese, but since you are also doing a lot of other healing techniques, he's just more sensitive and his body is able to respond more to the little things.

I've still got a rash around my mouth (not very attractive )--it's been almost 2 weeks, and I'm really hoping it goes away soon, but I'm assuming that even though I've never reacted like this to any foods, that my body has just become more sensitive because I've taken away so many things that could have confused things.  I also still need to do better with cutting back on the nuts--I'm sure that I've never eaten so many nuts in my life, so I guess I could have sensitivity to eating cups of nuts each day   they're just such an easy snack.

[EloysH]

And what I have been toldis similar - my naturopath and dietician both said that you always had the sensitivity but the symptoms were masked as your version of "normal", you were experiencing so many symptoms at once,you just did not notice.  once you remove the offending foods you create a new normal of much better health and less symptoms.  Then you eat the same foods and really notice the fine nuances of reactions and change on your body.  You feel that you are more sensitive. but really you are not you are just more aware of what works with your body and what doesn't at this time.

I think Kims theory makes sense though.  I though that once your body has healed quite welll it is in a much better position to start tolerating things again, but if the body ids not ready it will seemingly over react.

[tigerlilly905]

Completely makes sense, thanks ladies!

[*Kara*]

Bananas can also cause those wonderful allergic shiners