Other Food Allergies

[Guest cassidy]

I know I have celiac, so that is not what I'm concerned about. I'm now trying to find out what other foods are bothering me. My tongue feels burnt and my teeth feel like they aren't sitting well in their gums (my mouth itself is very healthy) when I eat certain things. I know strawberries, kiwi and pineapple have always bothered me. Now I have eaten potatoes, and chocolate around the time when it happened, so I'm susupecting those. I amd trying to stop eating anything I had around the time of the reaction, but as most of you know, this is a laborous process and I'm afraid I will draw poor conclusions.

So, I went to my family doctor and asked about a test for food allergies. He said there isn't one and to keep doing what I'm doing.

I have an allergist because I have always had allergies. I have had allergy shots (years ago) and several skin prick tests. Surprisingly, this spring (I'm in FL so things are blooming) I don't have any allergies. Not even to dust or the cat that sleeps on my bed. I don't know how that could be related to stopping gluten, but I haven't changed anything else.

So, I called my allergist and talked to the nurse. She said the doctor only has one celiac patient and doesn't know too much about it. She said I would be better off with a gi guy for that. I didn't specifically ask her about food allergies because I didn't realize I had them at the time, but she didn't mention anything about them doing food allergy testing.

My question is, is there a reliable test to show if you have food allergies? I have read that skin tests are not reliable. I have also found blood tests online that aren't in the US, has anyone done this?

[Carriefaith]

So, I went to my family doctor and asked about a test for food allergies. He said there isn't one and to keep doing what I'm doing.

I was tested for about 30 food allergies from one simple blood test! I live in Canada, but they must do this test in the US.

I was tested for foods such as wheat, oats, rye, barley, milk, yeast, eggs, nuts, and different types of fruits and vegetables. I think there were 30 in total.

[penguin]

I was tested for about 30 food allergies from one simple blood test! I live in Canada, but they must do this test in the US.

I was tested for foods such as wheat, oats, rye, barley, milk, yeast, eggs, nuts, and different types of fruits and vegetables. I think there were 30 in total.

Yep, me too, and I'm in the US. It's IgE testing, and they take it from a blood sample.

I'm not allergic to anything but nuts (which he didn't test for, redundant), so all came up negative. Don't know about accuracy, but the allergist said it's a good indicator.

You could also do the scratch test, but eh, not accurate for foods.

[Guest cassidy]

I wonder why my doctor specifically said that there isn't a test?

[jerseyangel]

Cassidy--I saw an allergist 2 weeks ago for the first time. I really liked him and he not only understood what I meant by food intolerances, he told me he was intolerant to some foods himself. I asked him about the blood tests offered by some of the independant labs for intolerances. He told me that they resulted in many false positives--because when you eat a food, you can develop antibodies to it. He said that the best way to figure out what you are intolerant to is to do a rotation diet. He offered to guide me through one. I see him again in 2 weeks to finish up the skin testing I'm having done for allergies. I have been thinking about the rotation diet, and think that I may do it. Although, in the past 9 months, I've figured out quite a bit on my own. I'm still thinking about it. Others have had the blood test--it does exist--and on a thread I started a while back asking for opinions, some were glad they had it done, more, as I remember told me to save my money.

[specialdiets]

I would use York Labs, Open Original Shared Link they have a comprehensive home blood test kit that checks for 96 foods in the US test. They also have a European test. On their site they detail how the test works and information about allergy reactions. You have to pay outright for the test as they don't accept insurance, but you can always submit a claim to your ins company for reimbursement.

The lab also has some other tests, like one for gluten sensitivity/celiac disease.

Sunni

[Carriefaith]

I wonder why my doctor specifically said that there isn't a test?

My doctor said that the test is very expensive, about $100 Canadian. He said that the test isn't issued unless there is a good reason becasue of the high cost (Basically, if everyone got that test done our taxes would go up). Since you are from the US, I don't think that the expense would have been a problem since you pay for your own tests? (Correct me if I'm wrong). Maybe your doctor just didn't know about the test?

[Mahee34]

There is that blood test to test for food allergies....be careful though, I have Highmark insurance and they don't cover it because they think it is "experimental" which then was 145 bucks out of my pocket.....from what my GI Dr. said to the best of his knowledge all other insurance companies cover the test.