You may remember my blog post last week about food allergies and intolerances, and how I felt I may be allergic or sensitive to nightshades like potatoes and tomatoes. I began wondering if I might be sensitive in some way when I was camping and found that the lymph node swelling that I had been experiencing constantly for the past month or two reduced dramatically. I decided then to stop eating tomatoes and potatoes for a month or so to find out if symptoms improved consistently, and then add them back slowly to check for reemergence of symptoms.
Getting rid of potatoes was harder than I thought it would be. Many of the special dairy- and egg-free food items in my home are also gluten-free, and gluten free foods often contain potato starch/flour. This means that I also can’t eat my bean crackers, my egg- and dairy-free cookies, and more. Getting rid of tomatoes also means no ketchup or pasta sauce, since pasta sauces usually contain dairy or tomato, unless you go Asian style. Shucks, aren’t food sensitivities fun?
The first thing I noticed a couple of days after I stopped eating the nightshades was that my lymph nodes began to settle down again. I’ve had a minor itch on the back of one knee, and a little bit of itching/pressure/pain behind my ears on the back of my scalp, but nothing like before, when my armpits, decolletage, back of scalp, neck, and more were constantly bothering me. I woke up one night to itching behind my right ear, but a bit of massage cleared it up and I was able to sleep again.
The second thing I’ve noticed, and this I did not expect, was that the dryness and itching I’ve had going on around my mouth have eased, and my mouth area is clearing up. Also, although I do get itching around my eyes, it’s been less frequent, and mostly limited to spending time in public buildings or around people now.
Finally, I’ve noticed that when I get a rash on my arms it clears up much more easily. It used to take several days of medicated cream to clear things up, and now one or two applications tends to fix the problem. I also am not getting an annoying and semi-permanent rash on my lower back anymore.
All in all, I think my experiment is coming up quite fruitful. Which is both awesome and unpleasant at the same time, because I like fries and ketchup. We’ll see how the next three weeks go.
Have you experienced lymph node swelling from foods? What other symptoms did you get? Comment below.
Google nightshade free salsa, it’s radishes and cucumbers and stuff.
I use pumpkin sauce instead of tomato for pasta.
Nightshades are potatoes, tomatoes, egg plant, and peppers but can also have comorbidity with cherries, and goji berries. I can do black pepper and hot pepper in small doses.
There are gf flour mixes out there without potatoes but it takes digging.