Can Avoidance Cause Ige Sensitivity To Foods?

[mags]

Does anyone know if people following gluten free (or any other food free) diets are at an increased risk for developing true allergies to foods?

I'm gluten free for a month and a half now, but I also have casein issues, namely when I eat casein I get very mild hives several hours later. Sometimes it's even as late as the next morning. This is probably an IgG reaction but it's not totally clear it's not an IgE reaction.

I would think it'd be a simple dairy avoidance issue, but then I read this horrifying study that described how sometimes long term elimination diets can increase sensitization and cause life threatening or fatal allergies, so you don't want to do them lightly.

link to an article describing the issue:

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[Ursa Major]

I read that story, which is a very poor example. This girl was allergic to dairy all along and it was appropriate to exclude it from her diet.

Several of my grandchildren are dairy intolerant and had extreme eczema, which cleared up completely when dairy was eliminated. Not a single one of them subsequently developed a severe, life threatening allergy to dairy. If they inadvertently get it they don't get really ill. They do get some symptoms, but they are not severe.

They also eliminated soy for all of them, and nightshades for two. And they are all gluten-free.

I have eliminated more foods than anybody else in the family. I haven't had gluten for two years, pretty much eliminated dairy twenty-five years ago (and have been pretty strict about it), and eliminated all nightshades from my diet six years ago.

I haven't developed a life threatening allergy to any of those foods.

This story is unfortunate, but an exception. I believe that she would have developed that severe allergy anyway. It had nothing to do with eliminating the dairy. Also, the idea that instead of eliminating the allergen she should have been on asthma medication and steroids is terrible. That would be like saying that we should be on IBS meds instead of the gluten-free diet!

[JulesH]

I don't know about severe cases like that one, or causing fatal allergies, but I do know that I have grown more sensitive to gluten since going gluten-free. I really never had any noticeable reaction to gluten before I was diagnosed with celiac, as my only symptoms were severe weight loss and anemia. But since then any slight glutening causes indigestion, and I recently had my first really bad glutening since I first went on the diet. The reaction was horrible gassy pain that came on within an hour and did not go away until the next day. I had to force myself to sleep the whole day just to avoid the pain. So, yes, my sensitivity, or at least my reaction, has increased.

[Ursa Major]

I don't know about severe cases like that one, or causing fatal allergies, but I do know that I have grown more sensitive to gluten since going gluten-free. I really never had any noticeable reaction to gluten before I was diagnosed with celiac, as my only symptoms were severe weight loss and anemia. But since then any slight glutening causes indigestion, and I recently had my first really bad glutening since I first went on the diet. The reaction was horrible gassy pain that came on within an hour and did not go away until the next day. I had to force myself to sleep the whole day just to avoid the pain. So, yes, my sensitivity, or at least my reaction, has increased.

Really, just your NOTICEABLE reaction has increased. In reality, the gluten was causing severe damage to your intestines, as evidenced by your severe weight loss and anemia.

Now that your body isn't constantly on high alert and having a continuous autoimmune reaction any more, you generally feel better, and are healing. And now your immune system only goes into high gear, causing symptoms you may not have had before, when you get glutened.

Which is a good thing, because it keeps you on the straight and narrow. Otherwise you may keep eating gluten and end up with cancer in your fifties or sixties.

But are those life threatening anaphylactic reactions? No, they are not. And it isn't likely that they ever will be.

[trents]

Think about the large number of contributors to this forum lately who complain that they felt much better for the first few months after going gluten free but then seem to start feeling crummy again despite not cheating on their guten elimination. Makes me wonder if going gluten free brings on other food allergies/intolerances. This is not exactly what this string is addressing but it triggered this thought for me.

[Aleshia]

Think about the large number of contributors to this forum lately who complain that they felt much better for the first few months after going gluten free but then seem to start feeling crummy again despite not cheating on their guten elimination. Makes me wonder if going gluten free brings on other food allergies/intolerances. This is not exactly what this string is addressing but it triggered this thought for me.

I think I read on some of the medical sites when I was researching symptoms and stuff that celiacs are at a higher risk or have a higher incidence of other food related allergies... I don't think it was just those on the gluten-free diet though... I think its just how their immune systems act... or overreact to things... maybe the reason people notice it more after going gluten-free is that they are absorbing more of whatever the food is than they were before going gluten-free....

[ravenwoodglass]

I have to wonder what else was going on in this young lady.

First thing to remember is that celiac is not an allergy it is an intolerance. It is not unusual to have a person who has a allergic reaction to something to have a strong allergic reaction when it is added back in. We do also see this with intolerances but it is a different reaction. Intolerance produces an antibody reaction, allergy causes a histamine reaction. Histamine reactions can be fatal, that is why they have folks that have severe allergies carry epipens. I wonder if the young lady had one.

That said celiac can and does cause the immune system to go into overdrive. When this happens we can become allergic, or show allergic to allergens. In my own case right before the allergist put me on the elimination diet he skin tested me for 99 different allergens. I showed postive to all but one! This was one of the clues he had that I was actually celiac. Within a year gluten-free almost all those extra allergies had resolved. I should note that my doctor did not send me off with a list and a prayer, he actually had me call once a week with the results of the food I had added and was 'on call' so to speak if anything unusual should occur. For me nothing did and after I started the diet I was able to put my asthma inhalors and singulair into the unused meds case. I have never had to have either refilled and when tested a while back by a pulmonary therapist I had no indication of asthma or any other breathing related problems when they put me on the machine. It kind of annoyed the therapist since he had just give me a 20 minute speech on smoking (a smoker for over 40 years) and asthma. My lung function was completely normal, no trace of reaction no matter what 'mist' he used.

It is also normal for an intolerance reaction to be more severe after we have eliminated the item and added it back in. As already stated this is your body reacting to something it considers a poison and basically saying 'what the heck are you doing, I thought we were done with this' .

[Jestgar]

Really, just your NOTICEABLE reaction has increased. In reality, the gluten was causing severe damage to your intestines, as evidenced by your severe weight loss and anemia.

Now that your body isn't constantly on high alert and having a continuous autoimmune reaction any more, you generally feel better, and are healing. And now your immune system only goes into high gear, causing symptoms you may not have had before, when you get glutened.

It is also normal for an intolerance reaction to be more severe after we have eliminated the item and added it back in. As already stated this is your body reacting to something it considers a poison and basically saying 'what the heck are you doing, I thought we were done with this' .

If your basement always has a foot of water in it, it will take a lot more than a small leak for you to notice a change in the water level. Once you've gotten it dried out, you're going to see even the smallest bit of water coming in.

[fedora]

This article pissed me off. I feel so sorry for the girl and her family mostly.

The girl tested positive for milk protein allergies- an IgE reaction at three and was not taken off dairy until 11?????? Why? Although she had no "systematic reaction" she had eczema. Then after going off dairy her reactions get worse. Although some people outgrow IgE allergies, lots don't. It is also common for these reactions to get stronger. I do not understand why they said it was an "inappropriate exclusion diet." Her tests were positive. She could have had stronger reactions over time regardless.

They keep calling her asymptomatic, but she had eczema, just no breathing problems from food. Yet she had athma that was being treated till 11. At that time she went off dairy. After that she had life threatening reactions when exposed to dairy. I do wonder if she had her epi-pen with her.

I see so many problems with the assumptions made in this article. I can make assumptions too. Maybe if she had been taken off dairy at 3 her reactions would have still increased but at a slower rate. Maybe if she had continued to eat it she would have been covered in eczema and still had increasing reactions resulting in death.

My sister has an IgE allergy to the cellin antibiotics and their cousing. We know because as a child she was given penicillian and had hives. When she had omaxacillin as a teenager she had a stronger reaction. As an adult she had a cousin of penicillan and her face and tongue started swelling. She has been told to never have any of them again ever, that next time her reaction could be life threatening. The doctors said this is normal for the reaction to get stronger.

This is not the same thing as food sensitivities and intolerances-sometimes I FEEL like I am dying, but I am not. Thankfully!!!!

I am going to convince my sister to get a medical bracelet. And get epi pens for my DH- he is allergic to walnuts and pecans.

my sincere condolences to her family. Very tragic.

[Ursa Major]

I don't know if they have something like epi-pens in italy (where this girl lived). When I told my family in Germany about them, they had no idea what it was, and had never seen one. In Germany, if you have an emergency, you call the emergency hotline, and they immediately send a doctor to your house (or wherever you are) if you can't get to a hospital or doctor quickly on your own.

I guess if that would have happened in Germany, she would have died, too. Unless somebody would have gotten to her in less than a couple of minutes.

I agree with Fedora. Normally, the longer and more often you are exposed to an allergen, the worse your reaction gets. So, this girl might have developed a deadly allergy to dairy precisely because she was exposed to it for 11 years! Those so-called scientists have it backward.

If you are allergic to bee stings, the first time you get stung it swells much more than normal, and you feel sick. The second time you get a severe reaction that lands you in the hospital. And the third time it is life threatening.

My mother had a bee sting allergy, and was always afraid of getting stung. And no, of course she didn't have an epi-pen, she lived in Germany. Besides, I don't think those have been around long enough, anyway.