Have you been tested for food intolerances/allergies?

[Dee123]

Anyone been tested for food intolerance/allergies?

Partly because my Crohn's diagnosis doesn't explain all of my symptoms (I'm having a bad year medically, though, with the list including a brief bout with cancer, a long struggle with costochondritis) and partly because I want to come at this thing from all sides, I think it's worth doing.

A friend of mine who's struggled with IBD (but has never had a colonoscopy nor a nailed down diagnosis) has had success with these, but any time I've brought it up to my western docs they say food intolerance tests are unreliable. I have no illusions that food allergies/intolerance CAUSE Crohn's, but I think it's possible they could make things worse/add to the typical symptoms. Hell, I'd like to at least be tested for lactose intolerance---it's one temporarily eliminated ingredient I think DID make a difference when I was at my worst, flare-wise, and while a nutritionist told me testing is avoided so people can keep up a greater variety in their diet instead of operating under false notions of intolerance, it'd be nice to have an alternative to the trial-and-error method, especially now that I'm not in an aggressive "you be sure you carry your extra underwear in your purse like a whore, be aware of bathroom locations and wary of farts" flare.

Overall, I've been frustrated by the lack of synthesis between natural and conventional approaches to treating IBD and I think doctors too easily dismiss food intolerance/allergy tests. Would like to hear if anyone has done them, especially if the results improved their situation. Thanks!

 

[Beach]

I did the skin scratch allergy food test twice. The results didn't reveal useful information for me the first go around. It was around 20 years ago, so don't remember for sure everything mentioned, but believe the first test said I had a slight allergy to peanuts. Not a problem avoiding those I recall as I pretty much didn't eat peanuts. The second test taken about a year later mentioned corn and I think it was wheat as being problem foods, along with some other stuff I was not familiar with. I recall the corn mention for sure, and the wheat red bump result might be faulty, running into memories of other doctors mention of celiac possibilities and trying to avoid wheat for periods of time. I came away from the skin scratch testing as having little faith in it and didn't take the advice. Would have been better if I had listened to the wheat and corn mention at the time, as later on I've found some relief when avoiding those two grains.

I recall that there are other allergy food tests out there. Don't recall the name of it now, but there was one blood test that I did my homework on, wanted to give a try, but none of the doctors were willing to arrange, believing it was an untested method. I recall being disappointed and frustrated.

 

[Beach]

I ran across this mention of an allergy test with a chiropractor. I might have to look into this myself.

"Why athletes are overweight"

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2012/02/why-athletes-are-overweight/

excerpt:

...Jump to September 2011 when I started working with my chiropractor to alleviate some nerve issues in my arms. He looked at my most recent blood work and said he thought I needed to make some changes to my diet. He noticed my Triglycerides were high, my TSH was high (hypothyroid), my bloodsugars were low. We did a blood panel to test for wheat-sensitivity, and sure enough, I showed reaction to the Gliadin IgA on every part of the test. I also showed a sensitivity to corn, potatoes, rice, and sesame. Wow!!

He recommended that I do a three-week diet change that excluded all gluten, corn, rice, potatoes, dairy, soy. After this, we would start adding foods back and see what reactions I had. Well, after the first three weeks, I had lost 10 pounds and was feeling really great! Then, I came across the “Wheat Belly” book, which affirmed what I had been doing and also helped me understand what went wrong with wheat!!..

 

[lowone]

I was tested for quite a few allergies includeing dairy and gluten/wheat.. Gluten was done several times over the two years leading up to my big flare and then diagnosis(my gp really wanted it to be gluten for some reason). All the food allergy tests came back negative. (as expected, never been truly allergic to anything)

 

[Rebecca85]

If you find your symptoms improve by cutting out lactose, then does it matter if you are officially 'lactose intolerant' or not? The fact that it was contributing to your symptoms is one type of intolerance.

I haven't had official intolerance testing. But I have undergone food diary/ elimination as a baby/small child, and it was discovered I was intolerant to dairy products.

Now my Crohn's is in remission, I no longer have a problem with dairy! So I probably never was truly intolerant (since dairy intolerance is something you grow into rather than out of). So had I had blood tests rather than an elimination diet, I would probably never have been diagnosed as lactose intolerant, and my poor parents would have continued to deal with the copious amounts of diarrhoea and wind I managed to produce!

 

[Dee123]

Thanks, Beach. I should've been clearer--the test my friend mentioned WAS a blood test, not a scratch test. I wonder if it's the same one you're thinking of. I will have to find where I wrote this down and post back here.

Rebecca, it matters because now's around the time when I need to start letting foods back into my diet, and I'd prefer to find out about an intolerance via blood test instead of through elimination/trial and error. It's important to me especially because I'm still having other symptoms related to still as-of-yet-undiagnosed condition(s), and part of what's impeded my diagnos(es) has been not being able to tell what's been caused by what (plus more diarrhea is just one more unpleasant thing I don't need right now if I can avoid it). And I'm not 100% sure whether cutting out dairy helped me improve.
Your story makes me think I may need to look up exactly why doctors find lactose intolerance tests in particular "unreliable", though. Because while I appreciate you sharing your experience, I'm confused by the conclusion you draw. If you were lactose intolerant, you still would be even if you were in remission from Crohn's. So I'm assuming you never were lactose intolerant and the diarrhea you had was caused by Crohn's. Were your parents (incorrectly) told you were lactose intolerant by some doctors? Because your conclusion that if you'd had blood testing your parents would have continued to deal with all your (probably Crohn's-caused) diarrhea seems to infer that if you'd had (a blood test?) when you were young and having issues with dairy products, that it would've given you a false positive for lactose intolerance? Or did you just mean yeah, intolerance tests shouldn't be the first line of defense bc obviously if you don't know yet that you have Crohn's, it might keep you from finding out? I'm talking about intolerance testing post-Crohn's diagnosis to find out if maybe the two are conspiring together. (Hope this doesn't sound rude, I just want to understand what you meant by your last sentence).

 

[Beach]

Another link from the doctor I mentioned earlier. His writing and the Wall Street Journal article might be of help. It is on the difficulty of diagnosing allergies and sensitivities with blood tests - wheat in particular.

"My letter to the Wall Street Journal: It’s MORE than gluten"

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2012/02/my-letter-to-the-wall-street-journal-its-more-than-gluten/

 

[toml99]

Dee, you're on the right track. Even if you have no food allergies, it's worthwhile to at least know that without having to go through a lot of pain and problems. I'm not sure about lactose testing, but there is a blood test for celiac disease (gluten intolerance). I had to have it before my GI doctor would start me on meds -- he said the symptoms were similar.

And you should also be alert to any continuing pattern from food additives. As an example, I have a high sensitivity to the preservative potassium sorbate. It's regularly found in salad dressings, some cheeses, sauces, etc. Within an hour after eating it I'll be on the toilet. It took a long time for me to connect to this, and I had years of unexplained diarrhea episodes. When I was initially diagnosed with Crohn's I thought that was the explanation for everything, but it wasn't.

 

[Catherine]

There is a breath test for lactose intolence and fructose malsorption. Sarah has had both.

 

[Rebecca85]

Yes, my parents were told I was intolerant to cow's milk by a doctor. He made this diagnosis based on an elimination diet.

As I can now tolerate cow's milk, I assume that I never was intolerant and it was Crohn's or something similar all along. So a blood test would (correctly) have given me a negative for lactose intolerance.

So if my parents had had blood tests done rather than elimination diet, the fact that cow's milk made my symptoms worse may have been missed- leading to possibly years of uncomfortable symptoms.

A blood test picks up on antibodies in the blood. For that to happen, the material in question must have been digested and absorbed into the body. But what if it irritates the skin of your intestines, is expelled through diarrhoea, so is never ingested to cause antibodies in the blood? I believe that is what was happening in my body.

It might help to liken it to dermatitis. If you noticed that your wrist had a rash from where your watch touched, would you want a blood test to prove that you have nickel dermatitis? Or would you just think 'oh, something in my watch disagreed, I won't wear that one in future?'

If eating something gives you diarrhoea, that's a sign that your body doesn't like it! even if you have the intolerance tests done, I would still advise keeping a food and symptom diary just in case something was missed (like Tom said with the preservative, I am not sure if that is tested for)

I hope that clears things up a little.

 

[Rebecca85]

And of course, it may not have even been lactose in cow's milk that gave me the trouble. It could have been some protein (casein?). In which case a lactose test would definitely not have helped my parents out!

 

[jwfoise]

Anyone been tested for food intolerance/allergies?

Partly because my Crohn's diagnosis doesn't explain all of my symptoms (I'm having a bad year medically, though, with the list including a brief bout with cancer, a long struggle with costochondritis) and partly because I want to come at this thing from all sides, I think it's worth doing.

Yes, I've been tested, but it was actually the other way around.

Originally my GP thought my digestive problems were possibly a food allergy. I went off lactose for a while, and that didn't make any difference. I've also had a broad spectrum blood test for allergents, including various foods, but more for my sinus problems, but that also came up negative.

I actually went to a GI originally for colon cancer screening (big family history) and he eventually diagnosed me with UC. I do have flare-ups, but as near as I can tell, food is not a trigger (though stress is).

But that's just me.

 

[Traverse]

My doctor said basically it would be pointless, because the testing would be pretty limited, and because they didn't tend to be that accurate. I.E. it's frequent for people to get results that they know aren't representative of what happens when they take certain medications.

I'm still considering it, particularly because my diet is so insanely restricted... but if it's just as easy to "test" myself it doesn't seem to be worth it.