Help! Elisa Test Beneficial

[rez]

Help. My son tested positive for gluten and casein sensitivity through enterolab. No malabsorbtion and was a 9 for ttg. He also has two DQ2 genes. the ttg number was one mark below postive. First doctor ran the wrong test while he was eating gluten and second doc wanted to run the right test when he had been off it for a month. I have a meeting w/ his doctor (family practice) tomorrow and I want to know if it would be beneficial for me to have him order the ELISA test. Does anyone have experience w/ this and do you find it helpful and reliable. Also, do you have to be eating the foods for it to work and have a positive response. Thanks.

[AndreaB]

I had ELISA testing in March, enterolab for the family in May, and ELISA for the rest in September. I wish I had done the ELISA sooner than I did with the family. Enterolab is good and for whatever you test positive for they say to be "free" of for life. Which reminds me, I need to email them.

When I talked to Phyllis at enterolab she said that there tests were more reliable than allergy testing. She previously worked for an allergist. The problem with enterolab is they don't test for everything (someone had posted that they were looking at adding more foods but I don't know when).

I liked having the ELISA done to see what foods could be problems. You've still got to go off of them for a few weeks and then add them back in one at a time to see if there is a reaction or not. ELISA gives you something to work with instead of going down to a very basic diet of a few foods and then adding a food in at a time.

My husband tested ok with dairy and eggs with enterolab, but moderate or high intolerance with ELISA. We hadn't been eating much of those items in May which may have been a part of that. It could just mean that he doesn't have to be free from those for life but it is still an intolerance to him through the ELISA test.

I don't know if I really answered your question. I like both if you have the money for both....if not, it depends on whether you want to test for a lot of things that enterolab doesn't test for. Enterolab is supposed to be very accurate.

[JenKuz]

Help. My son tested positive for gluten and casein sensitivity through enterolab. No malabsorbtion and was a 9 for ttg. He also has two DQ2 genes. the ttg number was one mark below postive. First doctor ran the wrong test while he was eating gluten and second doc wanted to run the right test when he had been off it for a month. I have a meeting w/ his doctor (family practice) tomorrow and I want to know if it would be beneficial for me to have him order the ELISA test. Does anyone have experience w/ this and do you find it helpful and reliable. Also, do you have to be eating the foods for it to work and have a positive response. Thanks.

Hi Rez,

Did you mean the ELISA for anti-gliadin and anti-tissue transglutaminase, or an allergy panel?

[rez]

Hi Rez,

Did you mean the ELISA for anti-gliadin and anti-tissue transglutaminase, or an allergy panel?

allergy panel, and does a doctor have to order them or can I order them myself? thanks guys!!!

[JenKuz]

allergy panel, and does a doctor have to order them or can I order them myself? thanks guys!!!

Well, there are a couple of different kinds. Neither are perfect. One allergy panel, which is the kind prescriped by most regular allergy doctors, only tests for IgE. This antibody is specific to allergic responses, which are a very specific kind of intolerance. The other type measures IgG to certain foods. This one is controversial. My understanding is that it results in a lot of false positives, but I think for someone who has inflammation in the gut, it's a good guide to an elimination diet. You just have to be aware, as Andrea said, that a positive through ELISA doesn't necessarily mean that your son will have to avoid that food for life.

What will probably happen is that a regular doc will try to do a skin prick test instead of the ELISA for IgE. Most regular docs will NOT approve the ELISA for IgG. You'll have to find someone specifically who will order it, usually a naturopathic doctor. That test is very conterversial among "regular" allopathic docs.

You can also order it yourself for home use; this involves a finger prick using a spring-loaded lancet that you would administer yourself. Here's the website:

Open Original Shared Link

This method is just as good as serum. The ELISAs at the lab I worked at use these "blood spots." The blood is dried on the special filter paper, then standard-sized punched out holes are reconstituted into a solution that mimics serum. Antibodies are very stable proteins, so they last up to being dried and reconstituted quite well.

The nice part of that test is that you don't have to go in to a lab to have it done, meaning that you don't need an Rx for it. It also means, however, that your insurance won't cover it and docs are even less liable to recognize the results.

I should also note that a lot of people have complained about the service they've gotten with this lab.

Personally, I think there's a good reason these tests are controversial, but like a lot of things in medicine, they can serve as a diagnostic guide, or another piece of the puzzle....

The action of IgG antibodies against food is anything but clear. There are a few different kinds of IgG; IgG1 may indicate an intolerance, and these IgG antibodies can activate mast cells and cause real problems. However, IgG4 are made to every food we eat, and may actually be involved in *preventing* food intolerance, by "tolerizing" immune cells against foods. Unfortunately, I don't know of any IgG ELISAs for food intolerance that distinguish among the different kinds of IgG. So you're just as likely to have a positive test result for anything you eat a lot of as for the things you're intolerant to.

I try to be open minded, but I have to admit I think the IgG ELISAs are mostly snake oil. I trust Enterolabs, however, because the science makes more sense to me. Also, there's very little scientific evidence to back up the IgG ELISAs, in spite of being around for 20 years. One has to wonder why they haven't been tested yet...or to suspect that maybe they have been tested, and shown not to work too well. Enterolabs has little data, either, but they haven't been around as long and

at least there are NIH funded trials being done.

[AndreaB]

Rez,

If you are interested in the ELISA IgE/IgG test and live in the N Oregon/S Washington area I can give you my doctors number. He's an allopathic doctor with some holistic leanings. He's branched out into intolerances and mercury toxicity.