Has Anyone Found They Can Overcome Nightshade Sensitivity After Healing?

[boysmom]

Once I got the gluten out of my system, I became aware of a similar, but slightly milder, reaction to nightshade vegetables. I am avoiding them (mostly) but feeling the loss of tomatoes and bell peppers even more than wheat. I'm wondering whether this is an outright allergy, another sensitivity or intolerance, or just being unable to digest them at this stage of healing. I've been gluten-free since the beginning of June and the only other sensitivities I've noticed so far seem to be manageable on a rotation schedule (ie as long as I only eat them every 3 days or so I don't have a problem). I did have to limit corn and rice for the first few months, but haven't noticed any problem with those for a while. So can anyone offer me hope that one day I will be able to eat tomatoes again? If so, how long did it take you to heal enough to eat them safely?

[mushroom]

The nightshades are a bit of a puzzlement to me. I initially gave them up because I knew they were inflammatory and I was concerned about my RA. Giving up bell peppers was easy because they never had sat well with me (I hated fajitas!) and I have not really missed eggplant, although strangely enough ratatouille used to be one of my signature dishes. So I kinda mostly gave up potatoes and tomatoes, definitely canned tomatoes, tomato paste, etc.. Then one night I had half my husband's baked potato and woke up at 4:00 a.m. with extreme all-over itchies. I repeated the experiment a few days later with the same result so that did it for potatoes too. I then realized I was still eating potato starch and had always had residual itching so gave that up. All my itching went away. That leaves tomatoes. I am able to eat two or three slices of raw tomato in a BLT without any repercussions. But if I even attempt a small sample of cooked tomato I get the bloats and gas big-time. I don't know if it is something to do with cooking the lycopene--I read it gets transformed into trans lycopene and whether that's what does it, or whether it's just because cooked tomato tends to be more concentrated, but I can't handle it at all. I can handle some chili, paprika, a little cooked red pepper, no problem with McCormick's taco seasoning. Have never challenged eggplant. That's just my personal experience. I know it's hard living without the tomato sauces but I have adjusted. Fortunately I can do dairy so my pizzas are big on cheese and pesto and basil, and I do a great white lasagna with bechamel sauce and mushrooms. My name signifies my love of mushrooms and I make lots of mushroomy sauces in place of tomato.

[oceangirl]

Hi,

I have successfully put tomatoes back in for 2 years now (didn't have any nightshades for about 2 and 1/2 years) with success. Occasionally, I'll have a little bit of white potato but they still bother me a bit. Potato chips don't (??!!!!!) but I can't find a company without cross-contamination! I sometimes eat red peppers as well.

I'm highly sensitive to gluten and still eat no soy as well.

lisa

[boysmom]

Thanks, Lisa, that is promising that patience may pay off.

Neroli, it looks to me (from your sig info) like you're still fairly recently off nightshades as well? So maybe after some more time you will be able to add a limited amount back in.

I first noticed that potatoes caused abdominal bloating shortly after eating, and overall water retention and joint irritation/inflammation by the next morning. As time went on I began to react similarly to tomatoes and peppers and I had a really BAD experience with a plate of eggplant and zucchini very early in my gluten-free life (don't think I like eggplant enough in the first place to make it worth risking that again). As I thought back I remembered that I have in the past had D and cramps with green peppers occasionally, which I had blamed on the wax the groceries shined them with. It didn't happen every time I ate them, but I only remember it happening with raw green peppers. One of my gluten symptoms is that in the night I begin to feel short of breath and my heart rate speeds up a little and feels like my heart is pounding out of my chest... so much so that I can see my stomach jump and hear my heart in my ears. With nightshades I have a much milder version that I can usually ignore and go back to sleep, whereas with gluten I will be up for a couple of hours before it settles enough I can sleep.

I would probably ignore a little stomach irritation and even the heart pounding, but the 3 days of joint inflammation and water retention are too much to ignore. I find that now that I'm getting used to feeling good so much of the time I have a very low tolerance for feeling less than optimal. LOL

[jackay]

I am consuming nightshades now but they will probably be next on my list to eliminate. I really rely on them since I have given up so many other foods.

I'm waiting for my food sensitivity test results to come back and am afraid there isn't going to be much left for me to eat. I did try an elimination and rotation diet before I gave up wheat. Didn't get positive results from the diet. At that time had no reaction to gluten, gliadin, eggs, soy or casein. I year later I tested positive for gliadin, eggs, soy and casein. I had a major surgery between tests so that could have messed up my system.

My first food sensitivity test showed a severe intolerance to apples, beet, beet sugar, and safflower. I had a moderate reaction to banana, barley, crab, cranberry, flaxseed, ginger, lobster, spinach, string bean, sunflower and veal. I had a mild reaction to avacado, basil, bay leaf, blackberry, blueberry, broccoli, cocoa, corn, cottonseed, fig, goat's milk, grapefruit, haddock, halibut, lemon, malt, mustard, paprika, pumpkin, radish, salmon, scallop, sole, tomato, walnut.

Right now I am eating some of the foods I reacted to in my first test after I eliminated them the suggested time. I didn't notice a change when I eliminated them nor did I notice a change when I slowly brought them back. The only foods lately I can pinpoint that still bother me are grapefruit and corn. I am currently taking a prescription that has corn starch in it. That may have to go after I get my new test results.

So for now I am not eating gluten, eggs, soy, corn (except for cornstarch in prescription) and grapefruit. I tried dairy for a few days and am going to avoid that again.

I eat lots of fruit, veggies, meat and rice. Fruits are so convenient since don't need to be prepared. If I need to start rotating my foods again, it is going to be even more of a challenge than it was last time. If I start feeling better it will be worth it.

[sickchick]

It's been 2 years going gluten free for me (I am soy dairy and nightshade free, carageenan free, and I developed a nasty intolerance to rice in May) And I accidentally ate some organic mayo that had paprika in it and I had an awful reaction. I got all achy and felt really irritable and edgy.

I miss tomatoes more than anything but I am really at the mindset I will never be able to eat them again.

good luck doll!!!

[txplowgirl]

I would love to eat a baked potato right now. mmmmmm. Anyway, I have had joint pain and swelling since I was 7 or 8 years old. The pain has gone down to a manageble level that I don't need Enbrel anymore. I have more movement and flexibility now. But man, If I eat anything i'm not supposed to I can't hardly move in the mornings. It causes my Fibro and RA to really act up and I'm in a lot of pain for the next couple days. So no more nightshades. I hope eventually I will be able to eat a potato or tomato but to me it's not worth the pain.

[shivermetimbers]

I reintroduced tomatoes four weeks ago and no problems so far. Went off gluten two years ago and at the time had a really short list of tolerable foods left. I was very allergic to tomatoes back then, tomato juice would make my skin blister within minutes. In a month or two I will try potatoes.

[mushroom]

I reintroduced tomatoes four weeks ago and no problems so far. Went off gluten two years ago and at the time had a really short list of tolerable foods left. I was very allergic to tomatoes back then, tomato juice would make my skin blister within minutes. In a month or two I will try potatoes.

Did you know you had a problem with nightshades before going gluten free? I think for most of us we only find out after we get the gluten out of our systems, and then some, like me, take longer to figure it out...

[shivermetimbers]

Did you know you had a problem with nightshades before going gluten free?

Tests done years earlier showed allergies to tomatoes and potatoes. I ate potatoes anyway since I thought I was ok when they were cooked.

For two months after going gluten free I basically only had rice, poultry and supplements. I reintroduced foods one by one then and quickly learned that potatotes and paprika were bad for me at the time.

[RiceGuy]

I've been off all nightshades for some time now, and haven't attempted to try any yet. Not sure if I will. I kinda like the ability to walk far more than the taste of any of them

However, I do believe that with sufficient healing of the intestines, the toxic alkaloids wouldn't so easily get into the bloodstream, and therefore should be less of a problem. I just don't think I'm at that stage yet. An allergy or intolerance would be another matter though, and in that case one might not be able to eat them again.

But if you miss potatoes, try taro root. It has a white, starchy inside, just like potato. It's slightly sweeter, and I think it's more flavorful than potato. Some say the flavor has a slight hint of water chestnut. It can be used in virtually any way that a potato can, including baked, fried, mashed, etc. I even made taro chips, and they where wonderfully tasty and crispy. But I don't recommend eating the skin. Also, handle the raw root with rubber gloves if you have sensitive skin. There are apparently oxalate crystals, which may be irritating, but cooking destroys them thankfully. Same as with sweet potato, according to what I've read.

In place of tomato sauce, try "Nomato". It's basically carrots and beets, with a few other things to approximate the taste of tomato sauce. I make my own, and it really does taste good. The nice thing is you can adjust the acidity to suit your preference.

BTW, turnips and parsnips work fairly well in many recipes calling for potatoes. Especially soups and stews, where all the flavors mingle together anyway. Both are basically white, and chunks of them in a stew look nearly identical to potato. They end up tasting rather similar to potato too. I've found it not so easy to tell the difference, though one of them (not sure which) is easier to distinguish.

[Jana315]

It seems like there's a lot of variation here - I went nightshade free just a few days after going gluten-free. My reaction to potatoes was obvious & not fun! Tomatoes weren't as bad, but they did give me a stomach ache. Several months avoiding tomatoes & peppers did the trick because I can now have limited amounts of tomatoes & peppers. A lot of my issues are related to carb content, so I think that helps explain why I can tolerate the tomatoes & peppers but not the potatoes or potato starch... I haven't even tried eggplant - I don't mind it but I don't love it either, so it really isn't worth trying for me. I will occasionally cheat with a small amount potatoes (not a full serving & certainly not so much as a baked potato - it isn't terrible but I do get gas & bloating. I'm able to sub sweet potatoes (the white ones) and yams (the orange ones) for most potatoes dishes and the only one who protests this is my 6 year old, so I sometimes make mashed potatoes from the flakes just for the family.

[James-F]

Hi everyone I am new here. I am a working mother of 2 young mischievous boys, with a passion to create and promote healthy home cooking for my family and friends. I spent most of my life suffering from severe migraines and my pains eventually extended also to cramps and heavy fatigue. Blood tests were all normal but after several tests and consultant visits, I learnt that you do not need to be diagnosed as being Coeliac to have a gluten intolerance. In addition to gluten, I was told that I had to eliminate Cow’s milk, nightshades (mainly consisting of potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, chili, paprika, eggplant) and eggs from my diet! I thought ‘Oh Boy’ what on earth shall I eat, lettuce and water?! I can assure you that my adaptation to my new diet regime didn’t happen overnight, however it worked, as eventually the symptoms stopped, my energy levels shot up and I felt that i had a new life and could give more energy to my kids.

Weekday cooking time is limited, so I wanted to be able to prepare meals which were great for me and the whole family at once, whilst ensuring that nutritious and delicious food was still on the menu. Through passionate research and hundreds of recipes later, today I am cooking meals that not only meet my dietary limitations, but also satisfy the strong appetite and nutritional demand of a family of four. This motivated me to share my passion as well as my recipes with like minded home cooks who share my passion and maybe some of my dietary limitations.

For people like me…eating out is close to impossible right? Most menus fail to cater for a combination of intolerances. A restaurant might have a gluten free pizza, but one without cow’s mozarella and tomato sauce is hard to find! Hands on heart I can say that I do not miss restaurant food any longer.

Yes, I do miss the luxury of being able to take a night off from cooking, but with some planning I have learnt to get around that too.

Finally I decided to create my own blog and start sharing my ideas and recipes with whoever shares the same passion for food as i do but has food intolerance. I would really appreciate your help support and if you share my blog with like minded friends and family.

love to all.

[anonymousplease]

This has been my experience with a nightshade intolerance and maybe it will help some of y'all. I apologize for the length, and thank you if you get through it. 

To preface, I have been gluten free for 11 years but it was not until year 9 that I really started to understand celiac's disease and crack down on eliminating anything that was sketchy from my diet. Sketchy meaning "gluten free" rather than Certified Gluten Free. 

By the end of July 2018 I came down with tonsillitis.  Antibiotics, despite being taken correctly, did not work. They minimized the tonsillitis but it was still there a little bit. In August 2018 came night terrors, leg cramps, and Charlie horses in my calf muscles that would wake me up from my sleep. But for the most part I felt fine.

In October I went to an ENT who told me that I should live with the acute tonsillitis and if I get sick of it, he would perform surgery to remove my tonsils. He talked me out of taking more antibiotics. I started to live with acute chronic tonsillitis as my new normal. It didn't really hurt or bother me so it didn't seem like that big of a deal.

January 2nd, 2019 I came down with a head cold that turned into bronchitis that ended up lasting the entire month. I did every natural thing I could to help my body heal. Coughed myself into some extreme rib pain. Finally recovered from it by the beginning of February.

During the first week of February, one day I got in the shower and felt too weak to stand up. I felt on the verge of passing out. My leg muscles could not be flexed without cramping up. I had pins and needles in my feet. My heart rate was fluctuating and I had chest pain. It goes on for a couple days, on and off. I go to the hospital because we are supposed to leave for vacation in a few days. The doctors are so puzzled by what is happening to me. They test my reflexes and my muscles. All seem normal. They test me for pregnancy, but I was not pregnant. They suggest it is anemia and that I need to eat more spinach and cook it in a cast iron pan. They send me home.

I go to urgent care a day later and ask them to test for anemia but it comes back negative. They too are puzzled and can't offer any good advice except to find a PCP. 

I order travel insurance and head off to vacation feeling like absolute garbage, terrified of what my body is doing. I can barely walk much or stand for long periods of time. Any sip of alcohol and I can barely feel my legs except for the pins and needles. The symptoms are coming and going. While on vacation I'm not eating at restaurants but going to grocery stores and getting raw veggies and fruits. Eating tomatoes like apples. Day 5 of 8 on vacation I get watery eyes and a nose like a faucet. I knew it was allergies and I checked the mattress we slept on. It was covered in mold. I sleep on the couch for the rest of the time and quickly recover almost to 100% normalcy except for lingering stuffiness and the other stuff.

I get home and book a PCP appointment. He is also an internal medicine doctor. He orders a bunch of blood tests and urine tests. They all come back normal EXCEPT for the immune system panel which comes back dangerously low. He tells me I need to see an immunologist to get every shot known to man to vaccinate me. (I said NO WAY). This doctor is also totally stumped by my symptoms and after four appointments and multiple blood tests over the course of two months he suggests it could be MS. After having me take an insulting psychological exam he dismisses me and says "come back in 3 months if you're still having these problems." He knew nothing about celiac disease or food allergies. In my gut I knew my problem was not MS. This was too sudden and I was not displaying the telltale symptoms, in my opinion. I decided not to go through with the MS test and try to experiment by myself on myself first. And by experiment I mean read medical journals and studies until my eyes hurt. BTW, still stuffy in my nose and now have acute chronic tonsillitis and sinusitis for the first time in my life + weakness, muscle cramps, chest pain, brain fog, headaches, fluctuating heartbeat, pins and needles in my feet, and an intolerance to caffeine and alcohol. I started to notice that my symptoms ramped up every day after lunch. I was eating home cooked meals every day for lunch in my own home. They usually involved rice, chicken, veggies or eggs and veggies, always always hot sauce or salsa on top. TOMATOES, JALAPENOS, ETC. It was at this point I linked it to food.

It was June 2019, 5 months after the symptoms started that I learned about nightshades. I eliminated all nightshades from my diet immediately and within three days I felt 100% normal. It is now August 2019, and I've accidentally eaten a nightshade twice and felt the symptoms again within 3 hours. I recovered within 3 days to 1 week.

I started to realize that these symptoms, although much less intense, the weakness, fatigue, feeling like I could faint, feeling jittery like a diabetic person, etc, had been coming and going for my entire life. I can remember being 15 and having a really bad bout of gluten symptoms that put me out of school for 2 weeks. I recovered (somehow despite eating bread and pasta as recommended by the doctor *eye roll*) but then these nightshade intolerance symptoms lingered for a while. I would see doctors throughout my teens to have blood tests for diabetes and anemia and they always came back negative. And many EKG's that always came back normal too. I would get no where with doctors and then the symptoms would vanish and I would forget about them.

The point is that it went away. I had been able to eat nightshades for the past 10 years with little to no problem. 

I'm pretty sure that the nightshade intolerance I currently have won't go away until I heal these other infections that are causing inflammation. This seems to be the worst, most intense and extreme case of it I've had. Maybe it's because I'm 31 and not 15 anymore. Who knows.

I think the nightshade intolerance happens when we're fighting something else, whether it's an infection or inflammation or virus. Perhaps there in inflammation in the gut when it's healing after we've gone gluten free. Just an thought.

I really do think we can recover from the nightshade intolerance because I have before. But it might be something that comes and goes forever. 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Ali Rae
grammar

[cyclinglady]

Thanks so much for sharing.  Your post was not too long.  It is a shame that most of us have had to muddle through the medical system and often find answers on our own.  

Nightshades can cause issues for many.  It is probably one of the reasons they are excluded on the Autoimmune Paleo diet.  I think that with healing, those with celiac disease or NCGS may over come their food intolerances.  I try to avoid night shades as much as possible because they have a higher carbohydrate content and I am diabetic.   Some of my food intolerances have not resolve (like peppers, garlic and onions).  These impact not only my GI tract but trigger my Acne Rosacea.  A sure sign that food intolerances can be systemic.  I do have good news.  My lactose and egg intolerance has permanently resolved.  It comes back if my celiac disease is flaring (due to gluten exposures).  

[anonymousplease]

46 minutes ago, cyclinglady said:

Thanks so much for sharing.  Your post was not too long.  It is a shame that most of us have had to muddle through the medical system and often find answers on our own.  

Nightshades can cause issues for many.  It is probably one of the reasons they are excluded on the Autoimmune Paleo diet.  I think that with healing, those with celiac disease or NCGS may over come their food intolerances.  I try to avoid night shades as much as possible because they have a higher carbohydrate content and I am diabetic.   Some of my food intolerances have not resolve (like peppers, garlic and onions).  These impact not only my GI tract but trigger my Acne Rosacea.  A sure sign that food intolerances can be systemic.  I do have good news.  My lactose and egg intolerance has permanently resolved.  It comes back if my celiac disease is flaring (due to gluten exposures).  

Thanks for reading. I too recovered from the lactose intolerance. It only comes back when I've consumed gluten but not nearly to the same extent as it did when I was a child. These days its minor gut aches and pains that often lead to nothing. The canker sores for me these days are more of a red flag that I've been exposed. My tongue will break out instantly or I'll get a big nasty one that does not heal for 2-3 weeks. Changing up toothpastes about 6 years ago was a game changer in that department. No SLS for me!

[SamyLo]

When I was younger eating gluten the only nightshade I would eat is white potatoes everything else made me sick. My family is italian and it was a huge thing that I wouldn’t eat anything tomato. After I was diagnosed with Celiac I remained off nightshade and at one point even stopped eating potatoes I have been gluten free for 11 years now and four years ago started eating nightshade vegetables and have had no problems eggplant has become  my favorite veggie and I went from hating tomato sauce to loving it. When I started eating nightshadeS my celiac symptoms had all disappeared I am very careful about avoiding cross contact and possible exposures.  Four years of eating them and I still have no problems with them anymore. 

[Larzipan]

I never had an issue with potatoes but I always got so sick when I ate bell peppers and other veggies. This might just be a weird rare case, but my doctor had me do a stool sample test when I first stopped eating gluten because I was still bothered by many types of food, and it turned out that I had the C Diff bacteria in my gut, which is most common in healthcare workers and the elderly (I am neither). Since I had been eating gluten for 26 years and didn't know I had celiac, I had destroyed my GI villi and it made me very susceptible to bad bacterias (this seems to be the case for everyone with Celiac). I think I had the c diff bacteria living in my gut for at least a year because once I went on antibiotics to kill it, I was able to eat all kinds of foods that had previously upset my stomach and given me chronic diarrhea. I had also taken a food intolerance blood test around that same time and it said that I was intolerant to almost every single type of veggie, fruit, nut, grain, egg, and milk because of the C Diff bacteria and my weak GI tract. I'm always very grateful that my doctor thought to do a comprehensive stool sample test because we Celiac folk are very susceptible to getting bacterias from weak guts and immune systems. I have been feeling a lot better since killing that c diff bacteria and have been able to eat all of those intolerant foods again without any issues (other than gluten).