Yes, chocolate!
Dairy free chocolate doesn't taste as good!)
A lot of foods have caused problems over the years. I have had IBS since I was a young teenager, though it wasn't diagnosed until my late 30s. I was sent away to get on with it as best I could with the advice to eat lots of bran. Quickly found that made it 10 times worse!
From my 40s, I started to react violently to the tiniest amount of wheat in any form, cross contamination, beer etc. It never got to my stomach, as I got very painful spasms in my oesophagus, resulting in bringing up everything and not being able to swallow for hours. Obviously, I went to see the doctor, but was met with indifference and a prescription for stuff for indigestion. This was one time I should have taken DH with me. I turned to a highly recommended nutritionist, who help me identify other foods that were causing problems. Over time the reaction to wheat has eased. Now l get a mild sensation of having a lump in my throat that passes fairly quickly. Enough to know that avoiding wheat is advisable, but not disastrous if I do have some inadvertently.
However, the spasms started to happen when I ate foods like meat and fish. It was obviously not an intolerance as I could eat the same foods if minced or puréed in liquid. Once after eating chicken, I was unable to swallow for 5 hours. My DH took me to A&E to see what was going on and the doctor I saw was very helpful and reassuring. He explained it was unlikely that there was anything organically wrong and not that unusual. That drinking sparkling water would help, which it did as it helped bring up the offending food. But he did feel I should see my GP for a referral for an endoscopy. GP said utter nonsense and sent me on my way! It's no wonder that I was rarely seen at the doctors!
Time passed and things didn't really improve. I had to see a new doctor about something else and I mentioned in passing the continuing problems I was having. She took it very seriously and while she thought it was a functional problem, she thought it was important to rule out anything more serious. It was reassuring to have the endoscopy at long last and know that there was nothing organically wrong.
What has helped is regularly seeing a Body Stress Practitioner, who works on the muscles of the body. She found the muscles round my neck are very tight. She works on them at each session, which I hate, but I can now eat hamburgers ( home made of course!), but I wouldn't tackle a steak. It means I can eat Christmas chicken as long as it is tender. The throat area round my neck is very sensitive, which means no roll necks, high collars or scarves.
All this has had an impact on not just me, but my family. It meant eating out was a nightmare and difficult for friends to cater for me. I was given poor service by the doctors in the past. I am encouraged by the treatment from new younger doctors in the last few years. They seem to realise how important it is to listen, value, reassure where appropriate, and that just because they are unable to diagnose, a problem can still exist.
