role of allergy testing

[riomidwife]

Hello there! I am new here, and I feel like I am just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg with all this allergy stuff.....:

I suspect my LO might have eczema (I recently posted in H and H), but I am still unsure at this point. We have never done much dairy save for goat yogurt, no soy. I am in the process of figuring out what to feed my family while we try a serious elimination diet, and I am wondering about the role of allergy testing in the meantime. (IF my child has eczema, I understand that allergies may be the trigger behind the condition, as well as sensitivity to virtually everything a person might encounter in the day. )

In your opinion, was allergy testing a vital part of your diagnosis and management of your LOs condition or allergy?

Does it make sense to do the allergy test first, because it is easier and can definitively specify allergens, before going through the whole elimination diet process?

Is there anything else I should be considering?


Thank you !

[riomidwife]

perhaps this info is already covered somewhere here?

[changingseasons]

Sorry, the allergy forum has been moving pretty fast lately. You must have fallen off the first page before anyone saw your question.

If you have any reason to suspect a "true" (IgE/anaphylactic) allergy, I would definitely do allergy testing with a conventional allergist.

Eczema can go either way.. it can be from IgE allergies, or IgG intolerances. A conventional allergy test will only show the IgE allergies, not intolerances. (And btw- most conventional allergists will tell you that food intolerances don't exist, but just ignore them.) There are alternative tests, such as ELISA, ALCAT, muscle testing, etc. that will show intolerances as well.

We did an ELISA for DD and myself. We got a LOT of positives for DD, some for me. We also got a LOT of false negatives for DD. But it was a good starting point, just because I had already taken so many things out of my diet and didn't know what to remove next. They also gave us a rotation diet to follow, which is helpful for some.

Elimination diets and food journaling are really the most accurate way to determine food allergies. But tests can help if you're not sure where to begin. FWIW- the top triggers in babes are: dairy, soy, egg, gluten, and corn.

HTH!

[Panserbjorne]

how old is your little one?

[pokeymama]

We had ELISA testing done for IgG intolerances at 9 months (eczema started at 3 months). I'm not the greatest at journaling (far from it) so it really helped me with the introduction of solids.

[riomidwife]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

Eczema can go either way.. it can be from IgE allergies, or IgG intolerances. A conventional allergy test will only show the IgE allergies, not intolerances. (And btw- most conventional allergists will tell you that food intolerances don't exist, but just ignore them.) There are alternative tests, such as ELISA, ALCAT, muscle testing, etc. that will show intolerances as well.

Thank you!

DS is 19 months.

I started my first thread on this topic in the main H and H folder. http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1036770
If you have any thoughts on that one, I'd love to hear them too!

I am not sure if we are dealing with a true food allergy or intolerance, and I am not 100% positive we are dealing with eczema, but I am becoming convinced as time goes on.

My first challenge is to figure out how long it takes for foods I've consumed, versus what he's consumed, to trigger a flare up. This feels virtually impossible at this point with all the possible variation in timing, but we have started our food journal (and been virtually dairy free for weeks) so, we'll see. I can't get in to see the allergist for another week anyway!

[tanyalynn]

My impression, fwiw, is that if your list of problematic foods is fairly short, it's not unreasonable to be able to do this with eliminating the top allergens (either all top 8 and then re-adding, or taking out one or several you particularly suspect). That was enough for us, our only problematic foods are gluten, dairy, cashews and chocolate (the last two needed journalling once I _finally_ realized that the rash around my son's mouth was a food reaction--the others don't cause rashes/skin issues for us). But the longer the list of bad foods, the more helpful testing is. We haven't done any testing, our situation has been pretty straightforward, but it seems very helpful for some people.

And to the forum!

[riomidwife]

Thank you Tanya. I am beginning to think our list might be quite long (or we're on the wrong track all together). The soonest I can get in for allergy testing is in about a month so I guess we'll keep up with the ED for now.

[matey]

I am going to be going to an allergist in myay with my LO (14 months). I am hoping to get an ELISA done, but really I have no idea what kind of allergist I will be dealing with. I am sure I will stress about it closer to the date, but for now I am just happy to have an appointment. Anyway, for now our list is fairly short, and are only tested through breastmilk, dairy and soy, with eggs giving DS hives when they touch him. I know there are other foods, becasue we have random reactions. I try taking things back out and putting back in, but it is hard to figure out, so I am hoping to get some kind of a better idea through the ELISA.