IBS Girl Will Say ‘No' To Turkey This Xmas

Erica Hadley, will be sitting down to her first Christmas dinner in eight years knowing the food on her plate won’t be making her ill. The 24-year old Barnsley girl was living, day-to-day with a chronic case of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) until a food intolerance test revealed turkey as one of the foods that was making her ill.

“Sometimes it hurt so much it made me cry and I was in so much pain I couldn’t even stand up”, said Erica. “I couldn’t go out, I didn’t sleep and always felt exhausted from the moment I got up on a morning.”

From the age of 16, Erica went back and forth to her GP over the years and was prescribed several different types of painkillers. He eventually referred her to a specialist gastroenterologist when she was 18 who conducted a colonoscopy – a camera to look at the bowel – and a barium enema. The test didn’t reveal anything unusual and the specialist told Erica that there was nothing wrong with her.

Erica was reluctant to believe this. “I knew it couldn’t be true”, said Erica.

Erica tried a varied mix of other treatments in a bid to combat her condition. It wasn’t until she was off sick from work and watching ITV’s ‘This Morning’ programme that she heard a presenter talking of the food intolerance test and decided to give it a go.

‘I didn’t expect it to work but I sent off for the test and received the kit in the post containing a small pinprick lancet and a small container to collect the two drops of blood needed.’

Erica took the YORKTEST foodSCAN 113 home food intolerance test in November 2005. The results showed that she was intolerant to wheat, gluten, milk, lamb, turkey, millet, peaches, white fish, cashews, coffee, cola nut, hops, sunflower seeds, tea and yeast.

Within three days of eliminating these foods from her diet, the constant pain had reduced by about 90%. Luckily, Erica had never drunk coffee or tea, but she loved chocolate, so found the first two weeks incredibly hard. She is back to normal now and the improvement has continued. Another unexpected benefit is that her skin is much clearer and she is sleeping brilliantly.

Erica considers the YORKTEST foodSCAN 113 home food intolerance test to be the best thing she has ever spent money on. Erica said that it was difficult at first finding things she could eat, but this has got far easier over time as she realises that there are actually a lot of products available on the market for those with food intolerances.

The YORKTEST foodSCAN range contains three types of test. The Food Intolerance Indicator will tell you ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if you have a food intolerance and costs £19.99 (rsp). The specific food tests, that tell you the problem foods can then be taken following the Food Intolerance Indicator. A foodSCAN 113 food test costs £250 (rsp), and a 42-food screen costs £135 (rsp). The tests include a telephone consultation with a nutrition consultant, a year's membership of Allergy UK, plus extra advice and support materials. Visit Yorktest.com for more information.