Skin Test For Gluten Allergy

[bulrush]

I'm going to an allergist in January (for non-gluten related reasons) and they do a skin test. My last info is old (from 1996) but this is what I understand. A skin test does NOT test for the correct IG antibody for a gluten allergy. They need to do a blood test to test for the correct antibody.

Could someone explain to me why it does not so I can explain it to the doctor? I'm sure the doc will claim they can test for a gluten allergy using a skin test. (BTW, my skin test in 1996 came out negative on wheat, but several weeks later a blood test for wheat allergy came back positive.)

Note: I have not been tested for celiac disease, but I do have a positive blood test for a gluten allergy (the lab called it a "wheat" allergy). My gluten-free diet has helped a lot, though I still have other unrelated medical problems.

Thank you.

[ravenwoodglass]

Celiac is not an allergy and the skin tests for allergies will not show it. It will show if you have an allergy but gluten intolerance is not an allergic reaction. It is an autoimmune reaction. There are blood tests for celiac but we do still see some false negatives even with the newer tests. Fecal antibody testing seems more reliable and can be ordered through Enterolab. They can't diagnose celiac but they can tell you if your are throwing gluten antibodies unto your stool

Your allegist however could be helpful to you. I was finally diagnosed by one after years of false negative blood tests. He did skin testing and then guided me through an elimination diet.

Many times just doing the diet strictly and for long enough and seeing a resolution of symptoms and/or a recurrance through an accidental glutening or direct challenge is a good enough diagnosis and some doctors are starting to recognize that. Finally.

[sneezydiva]

Ravenwoodglass is correct gluten intolerance/celiac is not an allergy, and will not show up on the skin test or an allergy blood test.

However, food allergies can and do show up on skin tests if they are IgE related immediate allergic reactions. Small children's food allergies almost always show up in skin testing because of their less developed immune system, and immediate anapylatic allergic reactions to food do also. I have a skin diagnosed wheat allergy. Definitely let the allergist do any skin testing he wants to do. It might come up with some answers that suprise you. You might even have environmental allergies you don't know about.

Allergists are very mixed on allergy blood testing. The reason for this is there were a lot of false results with IgE blood test (called RAST testing) in the past. For example, if you were allergic to dairy as a infant and outgrew that allergy, a small amount of antibodies can still show up in the blood, just like you have antibodies from any vaccines you've received. There are also a false negatives. My blood testing for my wheat allergy was iffy. Negative was 0.05 or less, mine was 0.08. But there was no mistaking the welt on my arm from skin testing. I had the unfortunate experience of getting allergy shots for pollen allergies from RAST testing, and they were useless. I've had much better luck with allergy shots from skin testing. And so have most allergists, which is why they don't trust the RAST tests and adhere to the skin tests. However, newer RAST tests are supposed to be more accurate, but it is taking some time for allergists to grow to trust them.

The IgG test is the ELISA panel. I admit I don't know as much about this, but know a lot of people have had success in identifying their delayed food allergies using it. Again this panel is fairly new, and not every allergist embraces it. But from what I understand, many food allergy experts believe that delayed food allergies are far more prevelant than the medical community believes at the moment.

Hopefully, your doctor will be more update and use some of these blood tests. But if your allergist doesn't buy into blood testing for allergies, there isn't much you will be able to do to convince him. But let him do his own testing, as it might provide you some answers. Also, many allergists recognize not all food allergies show up in testing, and that intolerance won't at all, and will help you with an elimination diet.

You may also convince him to order a celiac panel, given your previous blood test showing a gluten alllergy and your experience with the diet. But I'm not sure how useful that would be if you've been on the gluten free diet for awhile.