To scream in frustration because I cannot eat meat?

[Cocklodger]

I'll probably be hugely outted by this as I've never met anyone who suffers the same I can feel a NC coming on
But I feel so frustrated. I posted on a thread about this but just want to get some opinions etc on the situation so decided fuck it may as well post one of my own.
Unsure if relevant but my mums a vegetarian (By choice) Father isn't. As a baby I was weaned on whatever everyone else was having, by large. so I'd have bits off my dads plate, and my mums. Eating off my dads plate 9/10 meant I was sick. Or just gagged and wouldn't swallow it, even if the chunks of food were manageable. By the time I was 3 and starting nursery the nursery staff had the same issue with me. If the food I ate was meat or came into contact with a large amount of meat oil/fat (the latter causing a lot less problems than the former) They reported this to my mum over a fortnight. Mum took me to the doctors.
Doctor suggested I just didn't like meat and said to tell if thats the case (or if its a psychological thing somehow) to 'spike' my food somewhat. which my mum did. I failed to detect anything wrong with each meal, Threw up each time(Spiked me 3 times) . When we went to my doctors appointment again he said Oh well she's in good health just make sure you give her these food groups and make sure she gets such and such vitamins.. righty-o then. Throughout my life I've attempted to go to the doctors but have been told much of the same really. That I'm in good health, get what I need from my diet and what do I want them to do? Well, find out WHY I'm chundering within no more than 90 mins of eating meat.
Still to this day I try a bit of meat off DH's plate, sometimes DH will 'spike' me again with meat, and conceal it with quorn and a strong-ish flavor (like a garlic sauce) which results in me puking. But I want to eat meat. This has been going on for years and years, since I was a baby/toddler really.
No one understands as being allergic to all (white and red) meat is not a recognized allergy, but to my understanding you can be allergic to red meat. But again that isn't really known, so at a restaurant there is always one dickhead there that bangs on and on and on about how its impossible, how I should just 'try a bit' and I'll be fine. A couple of times this has ended in me giving in and puking by the time we're ready to leave and probably offending a chef or three. I do try to say I'm a vegetarian nowadays and some people fancy arguing it with me (How its daft to be a tree hugger yadayadayada...) which is annoying as its not my choice but I feel I cannot say that as there is always one person who thinks I'm talking out of my ass basically.
AIBU to just want to scream in frustration with this? :(

Doing a quick google it's highly unlikely that it's s tick bite that caused the ops problem. Yes I know that's not conclusive.

Besides which there is no cure or further problems created.

The treatment is....don't eat meat!

I don't really know what deserves mean but I repeat, our NHS is at breaking point and does not have the resources to investigate a condition that has a very straightforward resolution.

sorry i didn't mean a tick bite caused the problem i meant they have done research into meat allergy's therefore people know something .But problem is i dont know much about this subject the woman here needs to find the right person with the right information .

i know the NHS at breaking point i need surgery myself for a old injury but cant.I can live with this but this woman her problem is hard to live with.Not only that but because she has no diagnosis she has no idea if this will get worst as she ages.My injury is unlikely to create problems down the line but for people like this woman they need a diagnosis.just so they know were they stand. Whether she wants it investigated further after diagnosis or its simply shes happy to know what it is

Do you eat fish OP?

If you don't eat meat or fish for a long time you lack the enzyme or something to digest it and it makes you sick. If you eat fish you will have the enzyme so will be able to cope with meat and if your puking it's an intolerance.

I can't remember how you wean yourself onto meat though

I wonder if a faecal transplant might reset your gut flora.
(I'm not trolling, it's a thing!)

roseteapot...sometimes there is no answer ! medicine and doctors are not secretly hiding things from people and only giving out the answerrs when bugged enough...fgs....why as a reasonably intelligent adult can the OP not just accept she cannot eat meat and get on with it ...would you really rather the nhs funded loads of unscientific quackery based tests and investigations to come up with the same thing...some things do not have a reason or an answer...live with it

would you tell me to do the same for my inconvenient allergy to champagne ?

A right, rose? What right would that be? She has a right to medical advice and she has had it and some testing. The doctors have said she's healthy. Morally speaking, what right does a healthy person have to drain limited NHS resources? Plenty of people have to avoid foods every day that we are allergic or intolerant to. Those of us who've got few enough of these issues to still consume a healthy diet are extremely lucky.

YABU. You're intolerant to meat so don't eat it. You have tried to eat it over the years and it just doesn't suit you. If you don't eat it, you're fine and healthy.
NHS care is free at the point of need. You don't need it, you know what makes you sick and you know how not to be sick. Stop pestering the doctors for a pointless diagnosis and impossible 'cure'. Avoiding meat couldn't be easier in the UK these days.

i understand that but by the sounds of it shes just being fobbed off .if they investigated and said we have no answer fair enough.

I just know that research has already been done on meat allergy. A general doctor at a local doctors surgery has vast knowledge but deals daily with more common problems.This is why we have specialists who deal with allergy's,heart problems,nerve problems the list gos on.I am saying she has the right to speak to someone more informed

the world of allergy's is complex some are standard just a allergy but some are more complex like coeliac disease or immune disorders. Problem is we have no idea which it is.All forms of meat is a very strange allergy ,if it one meat fair enough like the champagne

I haven't read all the replies on this thread so it may have been mentioned already, but if your mum didn't eat meat while pregnant it may have caused your body to not produce the enzymes required for your body to break down meat, meaning your body just refuses to digest it causing you to, unfortunately, throw up after ingesting it.
it must be so frustrating to be unable to eat meat when you WANT to, this wasn't a concious choice you've made, but there are plenty of yummy recipes out there that don't require meat or meat products. I would never say 'get over it', you didn't ask for this and it obviously has a pretty significant effect on you. I hope your GP gives you some sort of answer soon OP!

I am saying she has the right to speak to someone more informed.

No, she doesn't. GPs will decide whether a problem or condition requires referral to a specialist and can only do so if that onward service is commissioned in that geographical area. This 'problem' has a very simple solution. Of course the OP could always seek private advice.

OP I have histamine intolerance as mentioned further upthread, the reason I mention this is that I've lived with it all my life but only got a name for it when I saw a dietician with my son. Maybe that could be a path for you to follow seeing a dietician with special interest in allergies/intolerances. As far as the labelling of allergies/intolerances yes there are serious allergies which cause anaphalxis but that's not to say eating a food that makes you seriously ill is also not an allergy. My sister developed an egg allergy after having a baby, eating it causes her horrendous abdominal cramps and makes her sick. The blood test shows as an allergy.
I understand your frustration, you certainly do sound like you have a problem with proteins (my son has presumed food protein induced enterocolonopathy and the dietician has helped us introduce meat into his diet so he can now eat it as normal). I wish you luck

There is an allergy to meat, as someone linked up thread (sorry, on evil iPhone so can't check who or do proper links). It's on the rise in the USA. Did your parents travel with you as a baby?

acaai.org/allergies/types/food-allergies/types-food-allergy/meat-allergy

There's a blood test to diagnose it

Excellent find there from Viking.

It is an American organisation, so who knows whether you can request a blood test here (presuming you're in the UK ofc).

In fact, I'd imagine you may have to pay privately for that kind of blood test as, righty or wrongly, I suspect it'd be deemed unnecessary on the NHS. Could be wrong though!

Yanbu to be frustrated at not having a diagnosis.

But as PPs have said, the solution is just to not eat meat. Yeah, it sucks if you actually enjoy meat (although I have no idea how you can since it makes you so sick!) but it's the same for coeliac sufferers - cut out gluten.

Sorry OP, but I think you're gonna have to accept it and learn to live with it.

I'm a vegetarian and tbh I find it cheaper and easier. Also, and I don't intend to offend meat eaters, our long digestive tracts are not designed to eat meat. You'll cut your risk of disease and bowel and breast cancer too. Positives!

It may not be recognised but I knowill someone else like this. She's always been made sick by meat, gravy, gelatine. There is a little that medical science still doesn't know.

Two choices: be veggie or go private. This is not what the NHS is for

I'm surprised the people you eat with are rude about it. I've been vegetarian (by choice) since I was about 8 and a few people have asked me why, but nobody has been rude about it. And most (every?) restaurants in the UK have few vegetarian dishes, at home you can eat quorn/soya/etc if you want but you can get protein without buying these things.

If you want more medical testing, I suggest you go private (people upthread talking about America/etc -- remember that, effectively, everyone in the USA is going to a private GP). Private GPs/hospitals have the time and resources to give you whatever blood tests or referrals you want in return for your money, while the NHS is for those who need treatment - and even then it's difficult to get.

But there is unlikely to be any substantial outcome Most likely tests would be done and not eating meat will be recommended.

The gold standard of testing for food intolerances is an elimination diet. Eliminate meat, reintroduce meat slowly, observe symptoms. If you don't have symptoms with any other food, you've effectively done this.

The PP who is worried that the OP might get sicker as she ages? If she continues to eat meat, the intolerances are very likely to increase. That's how they work.

because she has a right to know and how do we know this is not the symptom of something else.

No she doesn't. And unless 'life long meat allergy' is a symptom of something else, the NHS won't spend the money on it.

This is something that started out of the blue.

In this world if we never asked why how did we learn

This isn't the issue. The issue is the NHS doesn't have enough money looking into these things, especially when it's not life threatening or damaging in anyway and easily solvable, by not eating meat.

I know this thread is a few weeks dead now, but this has just popped into my FB newsfeed - re. the Australian tick that causes meat allergy. Might be interesting to see, even if it's not relevant to the OP. Hopefully you'll be able to see it (it's an Aussie site) but if not, google paralysis tick and Sydney northern beaches.
www.sbs.com.au/news/thefeed/article/2016/09/14/epidemic-tick-induced-meat-allergy-sydneys-northern-beaches

Also worth noting from that article that there are 5000+ cases in the USA, which is possibly why they're better able to test and diagnose for it. Yes, you should be able to send your blood to the USA for testing, there are protocols for doing that, should you wish to; but yes, you will also have to pay for it.

As an aside, and I know it's a different condition and probably a different tick - but Lyme disease, also tick-borne, is supposedly not found in the UK or Australia, except it is. More research really needs to be done into tick-borne diseases in countries where they haven't previously been a problem, because Lyme disease, at least, is preventable IF the tick bite and initial infection resulting is treated. It may be possible to prevent meat allergy in the same way, IF the tick bite is treated - I don't know, I don't know enough about it, just speculating and extrapolating from what I do know about Lyme disease. That won't help the OP of course, because she already has the allergy - but it might help someone else.

" if your mum didn't eat meat while pregnant it may have caused your body to not produce the enzymes required for your body to break down meat,"

^^ this

Also, OP, you do NOT have to eat horrible expensive Quorn if you are a veggie. You can have cheese, lentils, chickpeas all of which are high in protein. Honestly, if your body cannot deal with meat, don't eat it, end of story. No need to waste NHS resources on it.

www.lymedisease.org.au/about-lyme-disease/prevention/

As I said, different situation, but may also help someone reading this thread!

I have one food allergy (crippling abdominal pain & projectile vomiting) and one intolerance (endless squits). Between them, they've stopped me enjoying my two favourite food groups: cheese & wine. Both developed in middle age - apparently this isn't uncommon, and they can go away again too. It might be worth trying some meat once a year, to see if it's fixed itself?

Little is known about allergies. I think it's possible mine might be related to a parasite infection, as I travelled widely for some years and then started developing "mystery" health problems. But getting tested for every possible parasite isn't even feasible with unlimited funds and time! It certainly isn't going to happen on the NHS. I had a course of antibiotics that are used to treat some common parasites, and that was my lot.

I'm just rambling ... point being that we can avoid our allergy/intolerance triggers, so why strain the health service and your own patience by looking for a cure?

Like millions of other people I'm allergic to a particular type of medicine; if I have it again I will die immediately. So I make sure it's written in big red letters on all my notes, and also tell anyone who's treating me. There's nowt else you can do, really. Life doesn't always run exactly as we'd wish.

I knew a girl who was allergic to alcohol. It was terrible! If she took a swig of someone else's drink by mistake, it was a 999 call. Nobody ever believed it was an allergy, either. At least I can still drink beer & vodka

But if she doesn't have a diagnosis, how does she know that avoiding meat is a resolution? There could be other, as yet unknown/ yet to arise consequences of the condition.

People are advised if they get a tummy bug, just to drink plenty of fluids and bother the doctor about it.

But a lot of cases of IBS are due to previous tummy bugs. The IBS is a complication arising from an untreated infection.

What is emerging is that a short course of anti-biotics plus steroids (IIRC) soon after a tummy bug could save thousands of people from years of misery and the NHS a fortune in repeat prescriptions for IBS drugs, never mind investigative procedures and so on. Similar connections are mooted to IBD and even gastro-intestinal cancers.

Medicine is an evolving field- plenty of things are connected that we are only just becoming aware. There are things theatre connected that we are currently totally unaware of.

People pushing for answers is part of what gets the dots joined up and medical discoveries made and new treatments discovered. And I don't just mean new drugs, I mean sayings of using existing medicines and techniques in a novel applications.

Looks like some cases of incontinence in old age are caused by a low level bladder infection. It is often not spotted because urine samples wait hours/days to be tested. If they are tested "bedside" then the infection can be detected.

Then a course of antibiotics combined with regular testing is effective at curing old age incontinence. The course needs to continue for a couple of weeks after the infection drops to levels undetectable in a fresh urine sample.

How many old people live in misery, how much does the NHS spend on care, that could be saved just by changing some procedures?