From running to the loo to running along the beach
by Sue Kira, Naturopath & Clinical Nutritionist
Client name and identifying information changed
Jamie is a runner. He loves to run everywhere, the beach, the park, on the roads and on the treadmill at the gym if the weather is not good. But for a while, the only place Jamie was running to was to the toilet. It seemed that every time he drank a cup of tea or coffee or ate a meal, he was off, running with diarrhea to the loo.
He said he had to ‘put his life on hold’ as he couldn’t run anywhere because of the fear of not being close enough to a toilet. He was terrified to even leave his house and worked from home as much as possible.
On the day he visited me, he didn’t eat or drink prior to seeing me for fear of having to ‘run’ off. Because he already had parasites ruled out by his doctor I was certain that he was reacting to dairy products. I was surprised that he hadn’t been tested previously for allergies or intolerances (perhaps that would have been checked next). I suggested that he stopped consuming all dairy products, as well as gluten foods, to allow his gut to heal.
Sometimes a person who has an intolerance may not show symptoms for many years, but an incident may trigger the symptoms such as flu, a gastro bug, or even stress. it’s like a cascade of events that eventuates in a food reaction.
Within a couple of days on the new diet, Jamie’s stools were almost perfect and although he still needed some probiotics (dairy-free of course) to re-balance his gut flora, he was back out there, running around freely again.