ALCAT vs ELISA vs TED

Here's what I think I would do:

1. Immediately start an ED (not full-blown TED yet), avoiding the top 8 plus corn, nightshades, citrus, refined sugars, food dyes/preservatives, caffeine. Eat a LOT of everything else- lots of meat, lots of oils/fats, lots of non-gluten grains, lots of fresh produce. I probably would not eat much fruit as many of the babes around here have issues with fruit. But lots of veggies! Try to eat nutrient dense and calorie dense foods (like coconut milk/oil and avocado if you can have them). If you are eating often and a lot of what you can have, you shouldn't lose weight on the ED.
2. Ask your doctor to write an order for either ALCAT or ELISA. I think both have their pros and cons, but either would give you some answers and a starting point for you diet.

Will your insurance cover either test? I don't know if cost is a factor in your decision, but the tests can range from a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars. DD's insurance did cover her ELISA, but I don't think they would have covered the ALCAT. I didn't have coverage for either for myself, so I did my ELISA through Meridian Valley labs- it is cheap ($125/$250ish for small or full food panel), and you don't have to have doctor's orders.

I'd add 1 Tablespoon sauerkraut juice per day, divide it up, if necessary. Sprinkle on vegetables, give with a syringe, take with a medicine cup, add to foods, give it straight, mix in dips.

Are you doing any water kefir? Bone broths? Fresh green juices? Those are the most nutrient dense foods to help with digestion, absorption, detox and gut healing.

Are you doing any magnesium, zinc, vit C? Those are the most commonly deficient nutrients which help with healing, imo.

Is she receiving an antacid?

I'd do Epsom salt baths every day.

Start here about detox pathways: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/forum/t...bstacle-course

And here are a few informal videos about detox pathways: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/video/video

and here about evaluating digestion and stomach acid (beet "pink pee" test"): http://heal-thyself.ning.com/forum/topics/the-beet-test

This thread about Healing the Gut with Food: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/forum/t...-gut-with-food

Nutrient Dense Foods: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/forum/t...nt-dense-foods

Foods to Help Phase I and Phase II Detoxification:
http://heal-thyself.ning.com/forum/t...4160Comment655

check out www.eatingcultures.com to try and guess on some of your detox pathways, and figure out which nutrients will be important for you all.

Have you read about eliminating environmental allergens: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...l#post13414042

I'd go see a classical homeopath. Ours cured dh's allergies and asthma.

Pat

Here's the Synthroid inactive ingredients: Inactive Ingredients: acacia, confectioner's sugar (contains CORN starch), LACTOSE monohydrate, magnesium stearate, povidone, and talc.

It doesn't say the source of the lactose but there is some in there, in the tablet form. Is there another form? I only saw tablets.

Which alternative milks have you tried. As far as I can tell, there is another thing common to almost all the alternative milks (besides the --- Dream line, vanilla and original flavors) and that is carageenan (kelp/seaweed) which my DD2 happens to react to (probably the only one around here, but if she reacts to all the alternative milks, it's a possibility.

I agree with the plan ChangingSeasons gave you. Or my theory is soy, gluten, dairy, corn and see where that gets you. Were you keeping a food journal? You said when you started off gluten, things got better then worse, so I'm wondering if you added something back in that could have made it worse...

We did ALCAT. You can call them and they'll tell you whether it's covered by your insurance or not. Mine did not cover it, but I didn't need a "prescription" for it either. My kids had mostly GI symptoms (though some odd ones like bedwetting, growing pains, mood problems as well) and ALCAT had one false negative on each kid's test (DS and DD2). I had done an ED with DD2 two years prior to it and had good results with that as well (and it's free). You just have to remember to eat a lot of what you can have. I'm off the top 4 (soy, gluten, dairy, corn) plus chocolate, and I'm finding plenty to eat. Haven't lost any but haven't gained any either (and I was underweight to begin with as well). We never had any IgG testing.

Thanks Mamas. Would you believe after all this time I still don't know how to quote from multiple posts, so I won't quote at all but just respond.

CS - good idea for the diet. DD's pedi already pretty much said no to the ELISA awhile back so I may have to go through somewhere that doesn't need an order. I doubt, but don't know for sure, that my insurance will cover it. At this point, though, I'm willing to invest some $ to get the answers (though we don't have a thousand or more). I'll have to check to be sure. I wonder if I should do myself too, since I positive I have a bunch of food allergies/ intolerances that haven't been discovered or that I suspect but I'm not currently avoiding. I wonder if that's hindering dd's progress.

Mtn.mama - I thought corn at first too with the alt milks, but she eats corn straight with no obvious reaction. As for malabsorption, she definitely has undigested foods sometimes but poops are very regular and usually pretty normal, though I'm questioning my definition of normal since last week she had a formed poop for the 1st time ever and I wondered - I had assumed it looks smooshed because it was in a diaper. She has chronic dry skin on her face but her hair doesn't seem dry and the enamel on her teeth seems okay. Nothing else that I have noticed indicating malabsorption.

WhoMe - interesting about the sulfate. I had suspected eggs back last year but then decided they were okay. More recently I haven't been very suspicious of eggs b/c I didn't think they were tied commonly to mucous. I had considered eliminating them for myself though, so that should probably go. Thanks for the link.

Pat - we are doing bone broth, but not every day. She gets Vit C (about a teaspoon powder), 1/2 a probiotic capsule, and Epsom Salt baths every day and green juices sometimes. We haven't taken the time to perfect water kefir yet but it's on my list. I imagine the sauerkraut should be homemade, eh? She is not on an antacid. I did the beet test and didn't have pink pee. I couldn't get dd to eat the beets but plan to try again. Thanks for the links. I'm trying to get through them.

Kathy - What's up with the Lactose? I had checked myself and found the same info you did. And I called the pharmacy. But the Endo was adamate that there is no Lactose in Synthroid. (I had called to ask her to switch dd off for a trial). I don't know what to believe now. She said she looked it up and spoke with the pharmacy today about it.

One of our alt milks had carageenan and another had guar gum, so there was not a common ingredient.

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The ALCAT was about $500 for 150 foods (or was that 200 foods?). The prices are listed on the website.

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If she's had congestion, low weight gain, etc. then she's always having a "reaction" so you don't know if it's corn (or any other food). The only way to know is to eliminate it for a time then trial it. And if she's BFing, then you have to go off it too.

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Sorry, but I find pharmacists a lot more knowledgeable about ingredients than doctors. That's their business after all. The lactose might not be milk derived though. You could call the company and ask.

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Or she's sensitive to both of those. The rice dream/almond dream don't have guar gum or carageenan.

Well, a weird palate shape implies some type of nutritional issue (as far as I know it has to be A and/or folate, not sure if minerals would do the same thing), but soft seems concerning if kids' palates aren't supposed to be soft (I never checked when my kids were that age, and I have no idea if this is something like a kids' soft spot, but it doesn't sound like it). For that, I'd probably want to talk to a real doc, one who could order blood tests for things like calcium, vitamin D (the correct test for both, since there are a couple and you need to be careful what you get) and undercarboxylated osteocalcin (I just read that a minute ago, else I wouldn't have remembered the correct term--and I'm not sure if it's easily available commercially, but I have read about it before in the vitamin k yahoo group, and in another article just this evening). That last one is a measure of an active form of a chemical that is involved in building bone (and it's very K2 related).

This is coming from my perspective, which is that I was supplementing my son with cod liver oil for a while and didn't realize that our family seems to need extra vit K as well (in very high doses), and I think I induced tartar on his teeth, basically calcium deposits in places they aren't supposed to be. Think about it for a moment re: a growing 1-year old and you'll see that I was somewhat horrified with myself. But, it made me appreciate a bit more the relationship between A, D, and K and how they put down bone, and I guess that's where I'd look. Because soft bone seems very concerning (not to be alarmist).

On another note, and not that it really matters, but I like the idea of some sort of food intolerance test for you, maybe removing your reactions from the picture (and supporting your body however it needs, adrenals or otherwise--though removing problematic foods should help your adrenals) would make things clearer with your LO.

You've got a lot of overlapping complicated stuff, I'm sorry it's feeling slow to figure out. It seems, from here, that you're making progress. It _is_ going to all make sense someday, everything will tell a coherent story.

Thank, Tanya. I'll look more in to the A/ Folate idea. I probed around her palate a bit - it feels padded, and that's how it looks too. Like it's hard underneath but she has a layer of fat or muscle on top of it.

I'm going to start my extended ED Sunday after we host our Easter brunch. I'm thinking through my meals and am mostly concerned about breakfast and snacks. My typical breakfast involves lots of eggs, nuts, coconut milk smoothies (with fruit). What would you recommend for breakfast that is quick? I don't always have time to make something and where I get caught is when I start skipping meals b/c I don't have time. Also need good snack ideas

I'm pretty sure I react to avocados - my mouth gets a little tingly. But I still eat them for the good calories. I guess that's one thing that should go, too.

What about legumes? In or out? And spices?

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If you make a big batch of buckwheat waffles or pancakes when you do have time, then they freeze well and you can just pop them in the microwave or toaster to reheat them. Cream of buckwheat cereal is pretty quick in the microwave as well. I roast a chicken, then we snack on that with the gravy and rice for a few days. And we almost always have chicken bone broth around for a quick liquid lunch full of vitamins.

Just thinking - if the Synthroid has corn in it (and possibly milk too) and dd must have it every day will this make it nearly impossible to draw any conclusions from an ED?

I'm thinking the lactose (if indeed present) must not be milk based. I didn't know it was possible to have a non-milk-based lactose, but it does make sense what the Endo said - that they prescribe Synthroid to all the babies and don't allow generics presumably due to the particular ingredients in the Synthroid as opposed to other thyroid meds. It would be a generally bad idea, it seems to me, to prescribe a milk-based medication to a bunch of babies who already have health issues.

But the corn - this could be an issue.

I'm leaning toward the ALCAT for both me and dd, but I ran across that thread where there was some discussion about whether you have to have recently eaten the foods in order to get accurate results.

Kathy - did you ever call them or hear more about that?

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It's lactose monohydrate that's the ingredient in Synthroid. All the definitions I'm finding say the sugar found in milk. But I will check it out with the company. The trick is how to tell the doc she's wrong (if indeed she is) and still have a good relationship with her. I sort of need her - DD will need a pediatric endocrinologist for about the next 17 yrs. If I alienate her I'll make a name for myself with all her collegues too.

Ugh.

On the other hand, I am not willing to put my baby thru unnecessary surgery, not to mention what this is doing to her immune system, hearing, speech, absorption of nutrients, sleep, mood without at least exploring the possibility that the milk derivative in her medication is causing some problems for my extremely milk allergic child.

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They said you had to have consumed it in the last 6 months for it to be accurate (my DS hadn't had milk or soy in 14 months though and milk still showed up as severe, and soy still showed up as a mild). Each of my kids did have a false negative (white potato for DS, corn [her worst] for DD2). I didn't get a second test for DS though, because I was trying to figure out what I could add back in and it won't be accurate for that because he hasn't consumed it.

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I would call the company and ask. Then if it is milk-based, just tell the doctor that you called the company to be sure and they told you it was milk based and that you're not comfortable with it. Maybe you can find a compounding pharmacy that could make it without lactose? I've heard that thyroid meds are VERY tricky though which is why most endos won't do generics, etc. that even though they're supposedly the same ingredients, they just don't always work the same. If you do find out that it's milk based, could you find out if it can be compounded and find a compounding pharmacy, so that you'll know your options before you go in?

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Only had time to read the first couple of posts, but

You've got to come up w/some high calorie things you can consume, mama!

I get a rice protein powder which I really like and make a smoothie daily of rice milk, protein powder, a banana and 1 TBLS of flax oil. I also add some blueberries sometimes. You could make it with juice instead of a milk substitue though. I bet orange juice would be good -it would turn out kind of like a julius. The flax oil adds calories and fat.

I know what you mean though, my weight is down quite a bit.

I wish I had time to type more, and more helpful stuff. I'm feeling for you and your little one mama, and sending out such loving, healing thoughts for you both.



Tracy