Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
I'm just sayin', based on my own experience and what I learned from my allergist in an exhaustive (and exhausting!) initiation when I was first diagnosed.

Fatigue is probably the #1 symptom of allergies in general and food allergies in particular.

Leave open the possibility that it isn't necessarily (or exclusively) the synthetic ingredients that are causing your symptoms, but "natural" ingredients in both processed and unprocessed foods. It's very, very difficult to find a processed food that doesn't contain both wheat and corn products. Also soy - I knew there was at least one very common allergen I was leaving out. Reading the ingredient list doesn't always tell you, unless you know what you're looking for.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to have your thyroid checked, but if your thyroid panel was normal in the fall and you were symptomatic then, then something else is likely to be the culprit.
This. I also had fatigue symptoms, migraines (since I was 22 when I first went on the pill, actually) and brain fog, digestive distress and a few other minor problems. None of these things were enough to see a doctor about (except the migraines), and most of them I attributed to being either 'normal' or just due to aging or something (like the brain fog). My thyroid tested fine twice, so I know there were no issues there.

The migraines reduced to only once every couple of months once I got off all forms of hormonal birth control.

They went away completely once I had been paleo for about 4 - 5 weeks. All the other symptoms are gone now too. I thought I felt damn healthy for having lost weight and gotten back in shape, but I had no idea how much BETTER I could feel once I eliminated so many other things from my diet.

I have experimented with adding a few different things back in here and there and discovered that I do have sensitivities to certain grains. I haven't tried eating legumes yet...that'll be my test in January.

There is an online guide to doing a complete elimination for 30 days. It's called Whole 30 and the website is here: Whole30 It's based on the paleo diet, but it goes further to be very, very strict for the first 30 days. I haven't done it, but I've heard very good things from some of the people I work with, most of which are not paleo, by the way.