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Even the smell of water can be a problem

February 25, 2017 by Joan Breakey   Article

As a migraine sufferer I am extremely sensitive to smells. To the point of water coming from pipes in hotels… and I suspect greens in salads washed with this water. (Novotel restaurant) I had to spit them out!

Just stayed at the Novotel in Brisbane on Creek Street. Couldn’t stomach the water. But at a restaurant on the river, (Il Centro) who also said they were using tap water, I had no problem.

This is more than just the meats going off!!  Maybe the salad was one of those bagged salads and really was bad!

I’ve decided bagged salads is not worth the risk. Maxalt is still my only saviour having tried the elimination diet for 10 weeks

Dear Beverley

Smells matter to most migraine sufferers. The smell that is most often detected in the water supply is chlorine. It is more often noticed here in the warm climate in Queensland. And it is more noticeable when coming from the hot water pipes. The important idea is that each smell sensitive person has smells that they react to more than others. As an example I met a man who could smell the plastic on a pool kick board quite a distance from him. Maybe you can detect something in the water pipes in one hotel but not the restaurant. If you react to bagged salads then avoid them, and test one some day in the future. And also think about the contents. Lots of smell sensitive people react to rocket and other lettuces with strong tastes. Do read the Article on What’s smell got to do with it? https://foodintolerancepro.com/category/food-intolerance/whats-smell-got-to-do-with-it/

Being so smell sensitive means that you are probably food chemical sensitive. Since I have been the dietitian most focused on smells and flavours the elimination diet you most need to use is the Baseline Diet in my book: Are You Food Sensitive? which is low in the suspect food chemicals, and includes the information from your Family Sensitivity History. When you go on the Diet Detective Diet you may be more smell sensitive for the first one or two weeks, but the good news here is that once established on the diet, smells decrease in their impact. This can make your life less distressing.

The next important idea is that you cannot tell if you are food sensitive by using a diet. It is by challenging after four weeks that you know, because you have a reaction to reintroducing foods from that baseline. It is important not to just stay on an elimination diet, especially one reducing fruit, which is necessary in this situation. As part of the challenges you reintroduce some or all of the suspect groups and find out which are important exclusions, which are useful but not essential, and which are no problem at all. There is also a chapter in Are You Food Sensitive? which describes doing challenges.

Of course even if diet has some role you still need to have a medication if you have a migraine. Maxalt is a saviour to many. Anyone using it should make sure they read all the fine print applying it to themselves.

I wish you well in your diet and smell detective work. Warm regards   Joan

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Joan Breakey

Joan Breakey is the author of foodintolerancepro.com.  She is one of the few dietitians in the world who has a lifetime of specialisation in the area of Food Sensitivity. She is a  Dietitian, Home Economist and Teacher. In 1975 she began her first work on Diet and Hyperactivity, investigating the effects of the Feingold diet on children’s behaviour. For more than 45 years Joan has been writing books and articles, publishing and presenting the results of her ongoing research in this area.

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