Is A Wheat Allergy The Same As Gluten Intolerant?

[thezoo17]

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone knows if a wheat allergy

is the same as being gluten intolerant? I have blood

test done and I am not allergic to rye or barley just

wheat, eggs, green bean, yeast, cranberries.

My Iga ELISA test was a weak positive.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Joyce

[Lisa]

Joyce,

Yes there is a difference between an allergy and an intollerance I am not the best to answer you question as I don't know all the facts... but and allergy creates discomfort, an intollerence creates damage to your system. I am not an expert in allergies, because I have an intollerance.

If I ingest gluten, it is like ingesting rat poison to my system. If an allergy, it may show discomfort.

But.... this is where I am not qualified to go. Others will post.

Lisa

[shai76]

An allergy is an IGE antibody reaction to food. You can die immediatly from a food allergy. It causes much more than discomfort. Gluten intolerance is when your body can not digest gluten from wheat, barely, oats and rye.

Generally a gluten intolerance will slowly kill you. The wheat allergy can immediatly kill you.

Symptoms of food allergy range from asthma, hives, eczema, swelling, to digestive problems the same as celiac, such as vomiting, bloody diarrhea, reflux. Food intolerance does not involve the histamine reaction.

I am both gluten intolerant and allergic to wheat. I was diagnosed with the gluten intolerance, and then the wheat allergy showed up in my allergy testing.

[Carriefaith]

There is a difference between wheat allergy and gluten intolerance and you can have both. I have both celiac disease and a wheat allergy.

[thezoo17]

Thanks everyone for responding so quickly!

I guess the reason I am asking is because I am so

confused. I meant to say "Is a wheat allergy the same as a Gluten allergy". I dont think I have Celiac disease but could

eating wheat cause Celiac disease?".

I was told by my Holistic dr that I am allergic to these foods but I guess he could me intolerant since I do not have any of the histamine reactions just the intestinal and mental reactions.

I am currently seeing a Holistic doctor for exteme fatigue, racing heart, severe mental fogginess, low thyroid,

constipation, fibromyalgia and intestinal pain.

Two years ago I had such severe intestinal pain and constipation and went to my regular GP and she sent me for an ultrasound which did not show anything wrong so she sent me on my way.

Somehow without doing anything different the pain and constipation went away for 2 years, but this past Jan it came back double, I suffered for a few months, scared of what it could be (my mom was just dx'd with stage 4 ovarian cancer and she had alot of intestinal symptoms).

Finally I went to this Holistic dr that I had gone to a few years back for the fibromyalgia (I didnt have the intestinal pain then). I had to quit seeing him because I could no longer afford him.

Well, I decided that for 25+ years and probally 100's of doctors later that this Hoslitic dr was helping and understanding me more than all of the drs put together, so I went back to him this past Feb.

He is treating me for low thyroid, low B12, low testosterone, low progesterone and low DHEA.

Then in March my intestines started acting up again but this time worse than 2 years ago, this time I have severe nausea, hot & cold, feverish and extreme gas and

constipation in which the more I ate it felt like the food was just sitting on top of the other food and never coming out. I just felt plain sick.

One night after work, it was so bad that my dh wanted to take me to the ER, but I refused. I immediately called my Holistic dr and told him what was happening and he told me it sounded like food allergies.

Well, at first I did not believe him until I got on the internet and food this site. And low and behold alot of people on here sounded just like me.

So the next day I went into his office and he drew blood for the food allergies and it came back that I have increasing levels of antibodies to all of the foods I mentioned in my previous post (I forgot to mention milk and eggs as well). He also tested for Celiac disease but he says that I do not have Celiac Disease.

The place where the testing was done is Immuno Lab. (Has anyone heard of that?)

The test he also ran were:

IgG ELISA: results were 15 units (Negative <20)

IgA ELISA: results were 21 units (Weak Positive 20-30)

Tissue Transglutaminase Assay: results were 4 units (Negative <20)

Are these the correct tests for Celiac, other than the Biopsy?

So far he is telling me that I have an allergy to these certain foods and not to eat them. So far I am doing alot better but sometimes I will get the extreme gas and C but I can not figure out what caused it. Usually it happens right before my monthly period is about to begin.

I am so afraid that after all of the dr searching and testing that maybe this is not my problem.

Sorry this is so long, I just wanted to let you all know how I came about looking at an allergy as my problem.

Any more input would be more than greatly appreciated.

Sincerely, Joyce

[shai76]

I would talk to the doctor about your results, and stay clear of those things you tested positive for on the allergy tests. Are you only allergy symptoms gastrointestinal, or do you get rashes or breathing difficulties, stuff like that?

Other people here might be able to go over the blood test for gluten intolerance. My doctor just gave me a reoprtof operation that said "Positive celiac antibodies." I have no clue.

[AndreaB]

An allergy is an IGE antibody reaction to food. You can die immediatly from a food allergy. It causes much more than discomfort. Gluten intolerance is when your body can not digest gluten from wheat, barely, oats and rye.

Generally a gluten intolerance will slowly kill you. The wheat allergy can immediatly kill you.

Symptoms of food allergy range from asthma, hives, eczema, swelling, to digestive problems the same as celiac, such as vomiting, bloody diarrhea, reflux. Food intolerance does not involve the histamine reaction.

I am both gluten intolerant and allergic to wheat. I was diagnosed with the gluten intolerance, and then the wheat allergy showed up in my allergy testing.

That's something I haven't thought of. I am both allergic and intolerant to gluten but was not allergic to all gluten grains. I am mildly allergic to dairy, with the exception of cheddar cheese, but not intolerant to it. I just started eating some dairy again. I'll have to make sure I don't go overboard. My infant son broke out in eczema which cleared up with removing soy and gluten. I figured he was intolerant, maybe he's allergic (or both).

[thezoo17]

I would talk to the doctor about your results, and stay clear of those things you tested positive for on the allergy tests. Are you only allergy symptoms gastrointestinal, or do you get rashes or breathing difficulties, stuff like that?

Other people here might be able to go over the blood test for gluten intolerance. My doctor just gave me a reoprtof operation that said "Positive celiac antibodies." I have no clue.

Hi Andrea & Shai

thanks for responding~

I will talk to my dr. the next time I see him so I understand this all better.

My symptoms are mostly gastrointestinal symptoms, however my eyes are

always blood shot badly and my right is full of fluid 24/7 for the past 6 years.

But I also am allergic to almost everything under the sun, penicillin, cat saliva,

mold, dust, dander, cigerattes (in which i smoke--dumb I know)...

Thanks again!

Joyce

[thezoo17]

Hi everyone,

In response to my last post regarding what is the difference between wheat allergy and gluten intolerance.

I think I have multiple food intolerances not an actual allergy.

On my test results it says I have a total of 9 IgG sensitivity reactions. So I guess that means it is an intolerance rather than an allergy.

I guess that makes sense.

Thanks for your help everyone and for helping me to understand it better!

Joyce

[Nancym]

Sometimes people use allergy instead of intolerance because everyone understands what an allergy can do, but not everyone understands what an intolerance can do. Sometimes people fail to recognize the significance or take "intolerance" seriously because an intolerance sounds like a little bit of indigestion. On the other hand everyone has heard of the girl who died when she kissed someone who had just had peanuts.