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[mike]

Im Mike. Currently living in Germany but will return to NC in about 2-3 years. Waiting on the DNA test which should get back in a week or so. January is when it got severe and I have been in and out of the emergency room and hospital for a long time. After they suspected Lymphoma they accidentally found out about the Fructose Intolerance when doing the tests and when my Bilirubin was skyrocketing. When they gave me the fructose I got very sick. Just waiting to see if it is HFI or DFI right now although they are leaning towards HFI since many of my relatives have similar symptoms.

[julienc]

Hi Mike! Welcome. I'm glad you found this board.

I'm curious about your symptoms. Have you always felt ill when consuming sugar or fruit? The family link can be a big indicator. Both my brother and I have had the same eating habits our whole life, and without that similarity, the doctors were very skeptical. It wasn't until I mentioned my brother that they believed HFI could even be a possibility for me.

I hope you can get some answers soon! That's interesting about Lymphoma. I'm curious about those symptoms.

[mike]

I have always hated sweet food. I could never eat Little Debbie things except twinkies. The Shortcake rolls and other stuff made me sick almost immediately

The only fruits that never hurt or made me sick were Blueberries, strawberries, and Stachelbeere. I think its a gooseberry but don't know the English word for it. I have never seen it until I moved to Germany.I stopped eating out in High school because I was afraid of getting sick when I would eat out. Everytime I drank sweet tea, I would get very sick.

The worst part started Dec 06 when I drank some sweet champagne. After that my small intestine began to have problems and I couldnt run. I thought it went away and kept running again. Collapsed and had tests done. From pictures taken with a scope in May and August I had lost almost all function of the small intestine and what looked exactly like Lymphoma. When that was a negative they found out about the Fructose. Never heard of it until then but it made everything make sense. Even my cousin has had the same things go on for 37 years and gets Gout regularly. He is being tested now too. My kidneys and liver are recovering from that thankfully but they are unsure about how well the intestine can recover. I should gain back the 35 pounds Ive lost since Jan. soon. Eating more sugar to try to gain weight back didn't really help Ha.

[colormist]

Just thinking about eating a twinkie is making me sick.

Just to be on the safe side, Miguel, I would go on a strict HFI diet. If anything, it'll make you more sensitive to sugars so you'll know when to not eat them. Of course, you could just be like I was and grew so accustomed to being sick all the time that it was just a part of daily life and you didn't even realize you were sick.

Take a sugar-free multivitamin and stop eating anything with the words sugar, sucrose, sorbitol, splenda on the label. I'd stay away from fruit, too.

I'm just making suggestions, here. If this doesn't seem to help then obviously don't do it.

[mike]

I don't even notice feeling sick unless it gets bad enough. Kinda tuned it out. I have already started a strict HFI since I was told that was causing a problem. Havent had too much trouble finding food here after reading about brands on this site.

[Tammy]

Hi Mike,
Glad to hear you're recovering from all the hospital trips. Also glad to hear you've gotten some help from everyone here, too.
I've only one thing to add, just watch for all the hidden sugars. The big thing is to just read labels. It's amazing all the things you find sugar is in, that you would never expect. When we visited Germany, It seemed like there wasn't as many things with hidden sweetness as there is here in the states. When you return you'll have to start reading all over again.

Sure hope this helps and you find out how nice it is to not be sick all the time.

[mike]

All of the chips I eat here are no-gos now. Covered with sugars. Meat, cheese, and pasta are pretty common and usually plain so that helps. German food doesn't have much sugar here except for Bavarian Sauerkraut and the Italian or German style pizzas don't have tomato sauce, at least on the ones I usually order.