Food intolerance/Allergy testing question

[HillbillyMama]

Will the skin prick food allergy testing pick up on intolerances? I don't have any "true" food allergies (hives, anaphalactic shock,etc..) but we are trying to figure out where my overwhelming eczema is coming from, and my dermatologist scheduled the food testing. I wonder though if this will show anything, or just give me false readings if anything

[jbug_4]

No. Allergy testing- either skin prick or RAST (IgE blood work) will not show an intolerance. I am not entirely sure if there is a general panel intolerance test. DD was never tested for her intolerance- dairy. It was pretty straight forward- her doc also has a dairy intolerance and it was the obvious choice in dd's diet since it started when the only "food" she was getting was formula. I believe in general only intolerance testing for lactose and gluten are dependable. All other are kind of iffy. And again none will show on an allergy test. Elimination diet works best. Its actually how dd got her official diagnosis. She was 1 and already eating other foods when i finally got a doc to listen. Based on history and the doc's personal experience she said take all forms of dairy out for 2 weeks and see what happens. So we had something specific to take out and trail rather then a full elimination. Her doc never tested for anything until she had an allergic reaction then she threw milk in just to verify that it wasn't an allergy but an intolerance. So diagnosed by process of elimination.

[DalesWidda]

No. Allergy testing will not show intolerances. You can get an igg panel done. Its a blood test. A lot of regular doctors don't do it. My chiropractor and midwife offer the test. You get a printout that shows your intolerances and how severe they are.

[Rockinmama24]

Originally Posted by DalesWidda No. Allergy testing will not show intolerances. You can get an igg panel done. Its a blood test. A lot of regular doctors don't do it. My chiropractor and midwife offer the test. You get a printout that shows your intolerances and how severe they are.

It's an ige panel, not igg & they're not accurate, however neither is the scratch test.

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[jbug_4]

Originally Posted by Rockinmama24 It's an ige panel, not igg & they're not accurate, however neither is the scratch test. Sent from my iPhone using DS Forum

There is an igg panel as well- it looks at immunoglobulin G vs immunoglobulin E of a IgE. Its suppose to help identify food sensitivities that don't cause a immune response (which would be an allergy).

[MDever]

All allergy and sensitivity testing is similar. You can test with a high positive on a scratch or blood test and never be symptomatic to that substance. Food challenge and elimination diets are really the most accurate way short of having GI scopes for true allergies. In your place I would eliminate the most common culprits from your diet milk, wheat, eggs, peanuts, soy for a minimum of 30 days. Keep a detailed food and symptom diary and then reintroduce one food at a time.

[Rockinmama24]

Originally Posted by jbug_4 There is an igg panel as well- it looks at immunoglobulin G vs immunoglobulin E of a IgE. Its suppose to help identify food sensitivities that don't cause a immune response (which would be an allergy).

Huh, never heard of an igg my mistake. My kids have had IgE/IgA, RAST, etc but never an IgG.
But as I said none of them are 100% accurate anyway.
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[craigwick]

Originally Posted by MDever All allergy and sensitivity testing is similar. You can test with a high positive on a scratch or blood test and never be symptomatic to that substance. Food challenge and elimination diets are really the most accurate way short of having GI scopes for true allergies. In your place I would eliminate the most common culprits from your diet milk, wheat, eggs, peanuts, soy for a minimum of 30 days. Keep a detailed food and symptom diary and then reintroduce one food at a time.

Totally agree with this, elimination and food challenge is the best way to tell. My DD has intolerances and skin pricks and RAST showed nothing, but our allergist considers her "allergic" just based on symptoms from food trials.

[jbug_4]

Originally Posted by Rockinmama24 Huh, never heard of an igg my mistake. My kids have had IgE/IgA, RAST, etc but never an IgG. But as I said none of them are 100% accurate anyway. Sent from my iPhone using DS Forum

I think its usually only used by reg doc to look for long term infection/illnesses like AIDS or MS. But they are suppose to help diagnose food sensitivities- jsut not usually done by a reg doc. Not really sure how. Ours was diagnosed by elimination and dd actual allergies by real world reactions, RAST and skin prick. All were accurate for us. Our doc looks for a real world reaction (or food challenge reaction- after a negative skin or RAST) to claim an allergy. A failed food challenge with negative test results she claims allergy, but she said she has never had someone react to a food and not test positive on either the skin or RAST. But when she does skin on a questionable items she uses both the commercial serum and a real world product. There is a huge difference in the reaction in between the 2. Real world product almost always produces a much higher positive than the commercial serum. And then there is the pseudo reaction, dd had one of those when one in question was tested in between 2 known allergens. The whole area went crazy and she had an initial positive for the one in the middle. But ruled out on the intradermal. Any doc that only relies on Skin or RAST is going to have bad results.

[Rockinmama24]

Originally Posted by jbug_4 I think its usually only used by reg doc to look for long term infection/illnesses like AIDS or MS. But they are suppose to help diagnose food sensitivities- jsut not usually done by a reg doc. Not really sure how. Ours was diagnosed by elimination and dd actual allergies by real world reactions, RAST and skin prick. All were accurate for us. Our doc looks for a real world reaction (or food challenge reaction- after a negative skin or RAST) to claim an allergy. A failed food challenge with negative test results she claims allergy, but she said she has never had someone react to a food and not test positive on either the skin or RAST. But when she does skin on a questionable items she uses both the commercial serum and a real world product. There is a huge difference in the reaction in between the 2. Real world product almost always produces a much higher positive than the commercial serum. And then there is the pseudo reaction, dd had one of those when one in question was tested in between 2 known allergens. The whole area went crazy and she had an initial positive for the one in the middle. But ruled out on the intradermal. Any doc that only relies on Skin or RAST is going to have bad results.

My dd tested positive on all of the tests but they said low for things she reacts more severely to, & high for things she has little to no actual reaction to.

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