I want to second this idea of a food allergy test. Back in 2005, I went to
an allergist to determine how big of a role allergies were playing in my
chronic nasal congestion, because the latter was aggravating my rosacea (in
fact, it still is, and now I finally know it's a deviated septum, which I
mentioned in an earlier message on this forum, and I hope to get it fixed
surgically).

The allergist had me get a blood analysis that tested a spectrum of food
types. The results came back in a week. Unsurprisingly, cow-derived dairy
products registered high-level allergic reactions, but, curiously,
goat-derived dairy registered a rather low-level reaction--in any case,
dairy wasn't such a big issue anyway because I had long been aware of a
dairy sensitivity, and so tried to minimize my intake of it. What did
surprise me, however, was that eggs and sesame registered very high-level
reactions as well.

Begrudgingly, I went ahead and cut out all foods that contained any eggs,
dairy, or sesame. That was hard to do. I had never noticed how many of the
best-tasting foods happen to contain either eggs or dairy or both. But after
a couple of weeks, I did begin to see an improvement. Up until then, I lived
with sort of a mild, running cold that got worse during stressful times. Not
only did that go away, but I was finally able to breathe through both
nostrils--not very consistently, mind you, but at all was better than not at
all! Another benefit was that my skin began to clear of all the little bumps
and pimples I was starting to get across my forehead and cheeks at the time,
although that happened somewhat more slowly.

-Alex


----- Original Message -----
From: leftthemopenforsolong
To: rosacea-support@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:17 AM
Subject: [rosacea] Food allergy


I just saw someone's entry listing foods to avoid, and wanted to add a
thought.
While this user listed soy products including milk and tofu, I think
most know that varies from person to person. And that avoiding spicy
foods is basic to treating rosacea.

My point is: while there are the basic and obvious foods to avoid
everyone has their own triggers or food "intolerances."

If this is the case and your rosacea won't clear with typical methods,
I strongly advise you to have blood drawn and have allergy testing done.
My wise dermatologist urged me to do this and I discovered I have a
medium range yeast intolerance (along with wheat and corn). And because
yeast is already a rosacea antagonist, it was that much worse for me.

It's been about a month and I have seen dramatic improvement since
cutting breads, vinegars, and cheese flavorings (yeast extract) out of
my diet.

My point: you can sit around forever eliminating and re-adding item
after item to your diet. With a panel test, you'll know in a week or
less what's keeping your rosacea inflamed.