Environmental medicine
What does treatment involve?
Before embarking on a long-term diet that you have read about in a book, please do seek advice from your GP, a relevant specialist or a dietician. Exactly what is likely to happen in your consultation will to some extent depend on the mechanisms used to try and isolate your food intolerance. If this is primarily based on dietary avoidance and food reintroduction then you may need several consultations and it will involve quite a prolonged process. If one of the unconventional diagnostic methods is used for you, then the diagnostic process used may be quite short and you may simply be asked to follow a specific diet for 4-6 weeks before returning to discuss your symptoms. You should never be left on a long-term diet without follow-up as this may be inadequate. Diets should always be used as part of your overall management plan and you should always be supported with appropriate nutritional advice so that any diet you choose to use long term to control your symptoms does not end up resulting in you suffering from deficiencies of essential vitamins or minerals a year or two later.
Is dietary avoidance safe?
In general, and in responsible hands, diets are a particularly safe
approach to illness. They are also very empowering in that you can begin
to control your own illness through the foods that you eat. There are
two major potential problems with using food avoidance diets in the long
term. The first is the possible risk of developing nutritional deficiencies;
this can be avoided with appropriate follow-up and competent nutritional
advice. The second is that long-term diets can be psychologically damaging
and can in effect become part of a more generalised eating disorder.
For instance, telling an obsessional young woman to avoid milk or wheat
on a long-term basis may actually fuel a pre-existing tendency for them
to develop an eating disorder. Diets therefore need to be used in a responsible
and conscientious manner.
