i have issue

[maxbale]

hi everyone

I read an old thread on this topic, but many responders did not understand that ELISA/ACT is different from other blood tests for delayed food sensitivities.

This is a specific type of testing for delayed (food and other) allergies that supposedly is more accurate, with fewer false positives and greater sensitivity, but the vast majority of the reviews and articles about it online are by the person/company that does the testing.  Unlike typical food allergy (IgE) or food intolerance (IgG4) testing, this tests for lymphocyte response (LRA).

I've had blood tests over the years for over 80 foods and have delayed allergies (aka intolerances) to dozens of foods (all IgE responses were negative, but many IgG4 were positive).  I try to avoid those foods - or, if impossible to avoid, rotate so that I eat them no more often than every 5 days. But avoiding so many foods means I am eating other foods more frequently and so am likely to have become sensitive to those foods.  I can't take the years to experiment starting with an elimination diet because I have a family to feed and a limited energy budget (I have ME/CFS and that comes with super-sensitivity to light, noise, and apparently foods, too).

I've been making all meals from scratch - with many ingredients coming from my own, organic garden - for decades.  I'm even trying to improve my gut flora and fauna with homemade kefir (water kefir cuz I'm allergic to dairy), raw fermented vegetables and inulin (in my homegrown sunchokes; the powdered inulin you can buy didn't have the same effectiveness).  I've been journaling daily, foods and MANY other things that can affect symptoms for 10 years, but have so many sensitivities that journaling alone is not helping.

The ELISA/ACT testing is expensive, but I'm certain I've spent more than the $1,700.00max over the years on buying and growing the few foods left that I CAN eat.  I'd sure like to have a more accurate test of which foods are causing the many delayed symptoms I am experiencing.

Please let me know if you have had the testing and whether it seemed it really was more accurate.

thanks