Help Needed In Making Sense Of Allergies/sensitivities Test

[sfamor]

Hello- I'm going to give a good amount of background info to my situation so thank you in advance for bearing with me for a long post!

I was diagnosed celiac (biopsy & blood test) exactly two years ago and have been gluten free ever since. Some symptoms like brain fog, severe acid reflux, and extended stomach/bloating went away within several months, but I continued to feel sick all the time- tired, backaches, stomach cramps and pain, bad gas, etc. About a year and a half ago I started having terrible nausea after eating and began actually throw up, particularly after dinner. Prior to this happening I feel extremely full as if food isn't moving through my stomach (even if I've only had a small meal) and it is extremely uncomfortable/painful. The vomiting, although unpleasant, relieves the uncomfortable fullness. My gastroenterologist told me that I have "cyclical vomiting" and that "some people just throw up often and we don't know why." To me, this answer was totally frustrating and unacceptable and I ended up trying to seek some answers on my own.

I have long suspected other food allergies/sensitivities and I had actually had skin prick testing done about a year ago at a regular allergist paid for by my insurance. It didn't show any positives except for what I presume to be a false positive to squash (I rarely eat it, but when I do I've never had had any issues). I took the lack of positive results at face value and put the allergy idea to rest. However, I have been working with a local naturopath for about two months now and she had me tested for allergies and sensitivities through a company called USBiotek. I still don't totally understand how the test works (it is a blood test using the ELISA measure) and maybe someone on here can help me understand, but it says that it tests for three antibody types- IgA, IgE, and IgG. My understanding is that an IgE reaction is what is usually considered a "true" allergic response in which you'd see symptoms immediately or within a couple hours after consuming and IgA and IgG are "sensitivities" with symptoms showing up within 72 hours. Please correct me if I have this wrong because I still am not sure I totally understand.

To the point...so my panel came back showing IgE reactions that fell in the "mid moderate to high" range to cows milk, including whey (but not casein or oddly mozzarella cheese and yogurt), beef, and lamb. I also had IgG and IgE responses in the high to extremely high range for Casein, mozzarella cheese, goats milk, yogurt, and egg. In fact the IgG reaction to egg was as high as the test gets. A lot of this makes sense to me. Milk and eggs were two foods that I had a feeling might be making me sick (and unfortunately for me foods that I consume a lot!). My ultimate question is what does it mean that this ELISA test showed that I had true IgE allergies to milk and beef whereas the skin prick test (that seems to be the standard among mainstream western allergists) showed no reactions and I had been deemed free of food allergens? I'd be really grateful some assistance in making sense of all this! I know that my allergist's office does do blood tests, in addition to the skin prick tests- should I make another appointment and see if they'll do their own blood test for the dairy and beef to see if I can duplicate the results??

[Juliebove]

Were you tested for gastroparesis? I have it. It makes me feel full and it sometimes makes me throw up. The food that I throw up is mostly undigested. If you have that, you need to find a new gastroenterologist.

Perhaps you need to stick to easy to digest foods for awhile? Things like white rice, chicken breast and applesauce. You might also do well with a liquid diet. I can't really do that because of diabetes. But juices and broths go down easily.

[sfamor]

Were you tested for gastroparesis? I have it. It makes me feel full and it sometimes makes me throw up. The food that I throw up is mostly undigested. If you have that, you need to find a new gastroenterologist.

Perhaps you need to stick to easy to digest foods for awhile? Things like white rice, chicken breast and applesauce. You might also do well with a liquid diet. I can't really do that because of diabetes. But juices and broths go down easily.

I really thought that it might be gasroparesis too (as much of the food I throw up is undigested or only partially digested), but when I did a gastric emptying study they actually found that the food moved through my stomach too quickly instead of too slowly. And, of course, they could give me no explanation for that and just told me it wasn't an issue (thanks but throwing up daily is kind of an issue for me!). The thing that interests me now in light of getting the results about the strong sensitivity to eggs, is that they have you eat eggs (with something radioactive on them) to do the gastric emptying test. Maybe that impacted it somehow?? I think I will follow your advice though and try another gastroenterologist to get a second opinion.

[StephanieL]

IgE is though of as a "true" allergy. These are the ones that can and often do lead to anaphylactic reactions.

IgG are usually GI mediated responses or sensitivities.

Basically, if you aren't reacting with things like hives, breathing problems, facial/lip swelling and the like, blood or skin prick test (SPT) aren't going to show positives. Negatives on SPT and the associated blood testing is only 50% accurate for positives (90%+ for a negative). I wouldn't go for blood work based on what you are describing (but that's me ). The testing your NP does would be more in line with sensitivities/intolerances.