Rast Blood Tests And Panel

[Guest maybe I have celiac]

Ok, after months of suspecting gluten and casein are causing my depression,anxiety and so on, I will have blood drawn tomorrow. I will be tested for wheat, milk, gluten, among several other foods.

Three questions:

1. What do you think of the RAST? Reliability and accuracy.

2. Did you have any surprises when the test results came back?

3. Anyone have similar circumstances as me in terms of neurological conditions? Again my symptoms are mostly in the brain.

Oh and I have lost 15 pounds the past two weeks, I think exercise and avoiding gluten and milk - Any comments about this???

[sneezydiva]

Ok, after months of suspecting gluten and casein are causing my depression,anxiety and so on, I will have blood drawn tomorrow. I will be tested for wheat, milk, gluten, among several other foods.

Three questions:

1. What do you think of the RAST? Reliability and accuracy.

2. Did you have any surprises when the test results came back?

3. Anyone have similar circumstances as me in terms of neurological conditions? Again my symptoms are mostly in the brain.

Oh and I have lost 15 pounds the past two weeks, I think exercise and avoiding gluten and milk - Any comments about this???

In general, the skin prick tests are better and more accurate than RAST. RAST is supposedly not as sensitive as skin tests for IgE allergies. I believe this to be true with my allergy testing experiences. I have had better success with allergy shots for pollen allergies based on skin tests than I have from the RAST test. Many pollens that showed up in skin testing did not show on my RAST test. Also, my wheat allergy was very iffy on RAST. A negative result was <0.05, mine was 0.08, which most allergists would say was a borderline negative result. But on the skin test, there was no mistaking it, it was positive. The blood tests can also have a false positive, and show borderline reactions to allergies that you have actually outgrown, much in the same way as you will test positive for antibodies for diseases in which you have been vacinated against. The skin test, on the other hand, is very indicative of what you are allergic to at the moment you are tested. Though they aren't foolproof. Allergy shots can affect the results of skin tests.

All of this said, if you test positive to a RAST and it is very high, you can be confident that you are indeed allergic to that food. The trouble comes when people start interpreting borderline results as positives.

The newest test for food allergies is the ELISA panel, which measures IgG, not IgE. Many experts believe the ELISA is a better choice to test for food allergies, but it hasn't been embraced by everyone yet.

I'm sure you know, but I want to clarify, that the RAST or any other allergy test is not the same as a celiac panel.