Hating The Allergist We Saw!

[Rook's Mommy]

We got Rook into an allergist after a 3 month waiting list. And the guy was a total jerk. He tested him for twenty-six things and he is only not allergic to 4 of them. Anyway he was asking why we were there and I gave him the run down, after the test was done he points at the piece of paper and says "See no wheat allergy, you need to add it back into his diet." I stared at him like he was babbling and drooling. I said what about celiacs? He said no of his blood work shows he has celiacs or anything else. So I again told him what happens when Rook eats gluten. The screaming, cramping, gas and not to mention he is underweight. He said it's was just a fluke that it happened at the same time. And that I needed to add wheat back in to get him to gain weight.

Sorry, I know I am not a big poster here. But I had to vent. I feel like every time I bring him in to the doctors we just go backwards.

We did find out he is allergic to all trees, grass, mold, ragweed, corn, soybeans, peanuts and cats. He told me to expect the list to grow. My poor boy.

Thanks for listening.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Time to fire the allergist--he is an idiot if he thinks anyone needs wheat, even without obvious reactions like what your son has. Did he run a celiac panel, or just allergy tests, anyway? And if Rook was gluten-free or even gluten-lite when the testing was done, that makes the test invalid, as you don't produce antibodies to gluten if you are not consuming it.

I could be wrong, but my instinct tells me that the list of allergies will shrink without wheat (and possibly dairy)--if his immune system is going kaflooie because of something he's eating (like gluten or dairy), of course it will go crazy at the drop of a hat. Many people here have found that their "standard" allergies, like hayfever, disappeared after they stopped eating foods to which they were sensitive.

[gfpaperdoll]

wow, total clueless allergist!!! That is dangerous.

yes, his allergies, should get better. The food & the inhalants should improve on a gluten-free diet. You might also have to eliminate dairy at first. & I would forget soy, that stuff is just not good for anyone. He might keep the peanut allergy, but the allergic effect should be lessened on the gluten-free diet.

I used to have an allergy to corn. Now I am fine with corn. Except, I do not eat canned corn. Corn meal, corn chips & fresh corn, I am fine with. Even when I was allergic to corn at least once a year I would have fresh corn on the cob for lunch & dinner with butter & salt - no other foods that day & it never made me sick.

Food combining is another aspect of allergies that they do not tell you about.

I have also added back oranges, peaches, pork, tomatoes, peas, & a couple of other things that I have forgotten...

So there is a great possibility that his allergies will get better, maybe a year or two gluten-free. I saw improvemnets at 2 years & 2 1/2 years gluten-free, I am 61, so it might not happen for a child, but there again, I would not be surprised if it did.

oh, & my hayfever allergies, sinus problems, ear aches (from dairy), & all that are GONE.

[Rook's Mommy]

Time to fire the allergist--he is an idiot if he thinks anyone needs wheat, even without obvious reactions like what your son has. Did he run a celiac panel, or just allergy tests, anyway? And if Rook was gluten-free or even gluten-lite when the testing was done, that makes the test invalid, as you don't produce antibodies to gluten if you are not consuming it.

I could be wrong, but my instinct tells me that the list of allergies will shrink without wheat (and possibly dairy)--if his immune system is going kaflooie because of something he's eating (like gluten or dairy), of course it will go crazy at the drop of a hat. Many people here have found that their "standard" allergies, like hayfever, disappeared after they stopped eating foods to which they were sensitive.

Rook was gluten free at the time of the test. Which our doctor not the allergist did. They want to repeat it but I won't let them. It makes no sense to me when it may not come back + anyway. So we are putting it off until he is older.

I call our doctor right way and she said she wouldn't recommend him again. That makes feel feel a little better.

I am hopping his allergies lessen as he gets older not worsen. I have a hard enough time feeding this boy as it is.

[debmom]

Your story sounds eerily familiar. Try a different allergist, one who tests with small amounts of the allergen one at a time with a needle injection. AFter negatives on mold and wheat, which we strongly suspected were culprits for my daughter's illness, we tried a different allergist who did blind testing one at a time for allergens. she had a severe reaction (stomach pain) to the wheat-- just as she did when she ate it and a severe reaction to several types of mold (headband headaches) just as she does with mold. She didn't know what we were testing each time though so it couldn't have been psychosomatic. Avoiding wheat and allergy shots for the mold and she's much better.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Keep in mind that allergists test for allergies--and celiac disease is not an allergy. From what I hear, most allergists are not educated about autoimmune disorders like celiac.

[Darn210]

I wasn't impressed with our allergist either . . . my daughter already had a positivie Celiac diagnosis from a ped GI and we were looking for some help with residual issues. The allergist said we needed to challenge my daughter with wheat because it is too hard of a diet (Yeah, that's a good reason! ) and because she didn't look like a Celiac kid (Oh, that's an even better reason! ). I also told him that she appeared to be intolerant to blue dye, just for his information, and he said "I can't test for an intolerance". He then tested for environmental allergies and decided she didn't have any food allergies . . . um, not sure why . . . guess he could tell by looking at her. Got no where with him and haven't been back!! Get a new allergist if you can and stick to your guns on the gluten free diet.

[slmprofesseur]

Wow, that's crazy! Fire the allergist!

I just had my son tested for allergies again. He's allergic to everything with gluten(wheat, barley, rye). I asked the doctor about celiac and she said it definitely was an allergy. What she failed to understand is that he's been Gluten-free for over a year!!!! I ruled out dairy also. She called me to say that the RASt for milk was questionable and that I should try some milk anyway. I said ok and hung up the phone. There's no way I am going to do that.

[Trust Birth]

Hello!

This is my first post. We have taken our son gluten-free after doing much research. I did this before we saw an allergist. I had a horrible experience with the allergist. He basically treated me as though I knew nothing and that my concerns were exaggerated. He tested DS for wheat, dairy and egg and everything came back negative. Despite the fact that he had a blister type rash on face (which I strongly suspect to be DH), horrible intestinal cramps while on gluten, ADHD symptoms etc. I left defeated. I did not go back, he wanted to give me a steroid nose spray for environmental allergies. *sigh*

After doing much research I think we may end up going with a firm in Texas to get him tested. I really don't want to put the poor guy back on gluten. He's an emotional disaster when we do, not to mention this rash comes back all over his face and his stomach/abdominal pains are even worse now that he's been off it.

I'm glad I caught this post, it's normalized what happened to us with the allergist. It's so hard to find a Doc who'll listen and take us seriously. I know there's something wrong with him and I'm more and more certain that it's gluten.

[gfpaperdoll]

Trust Birth, That lab in Texas is Enterolab.com

I highly recommend them. No need to be eating gluten to test with them.

& they will test for the celiac genes & the gluten intolerant genes.

[Amyleigh0007]

I'm sorry everyone had such terrible experiences with allergists. My trip to the allergist was my saving grace! She was great and was much more knowledgable about Celiac and gluten intolerance than my primary doctor. She told me bloodtesting is not always reliable and there are many false negatives and I sounded like one of those. She listened to my entire sob story and took two pages of notes! Even though my allergy tests came back negative she seemed concerned about me and offered great advice.

[3groovygirls]

Someone told me that if you have Celiacs and they only do the scratch test you can actually get a false positive b/c the skin reacts to gluten. Is this true? Did any allergists bring that up to you all?