Food intolerance

[Guest guest]

please all, dont forget to have the gallbladder checked. it took them over

two painfuls years for the docs to figure it out. they never even thought of

checking until he was in the er with a severe gallbladder attack!

kerrie mom to ben 16ds & alex 13 nda

[Guest guest]

please all, dont forget to have the gallbladder checked. it took them over

two painfuls years for the docs to figure it out. they never even thought of

checking until he was in the er with a severe gallbladder attack!

kerrie mom to ben 16ds & alex 13 nda

[Guest guest]

Hi Sue:

Val here. And hi everyone. I've been away far too long. Our Tim has just

seemingly come down with something, as well, and he's been soiling

frequently in the past two days. He's also been complaining of fierce

stomach aches. When he had the milk intolerance (and likely still does

although not as severe) he had the runs continually and complained of pains

in his tummy. We went through all the tests including the ones for Celiac

and came up with a possible Celiac but not likely result. Also, he's not

one that eats bread, cookies, etc. Anyway, we cut down on dairy for a while

and things seemed to settle down. He eats yogurt though and it doesn't seem

to cause him any problems.

Val

[Guest guest]

Hi Sue:

Val here. And hi everyone. I've been away far too long. Our Tim has just

seemingly come down with something, as well, and he's been soiling

frequently in the past two days. He's also been complaining of fierce

stomach aches. When he had the milk intolerance (and likely still does

although not as severe) he had the runs continually and complained of pains

in his tummy. We went through all the tests including the ones for Celiac

and came up with a possible Celiac but not likely result. Also, he's not

one that eats bread, cookies, etc. Anyway, we cut down on dairy for a while

and things seemed to settle down. He eats yogurt though and it doesn't seem

to cause him any problems.

Val

[Guest guest]

Hello,

With all the info going around about food intolerances on the board, I was

curious about my

son. Seth is 6 years old, severely apraxic, low impulse control and

emotional/behavior issues.

We took him to an allergist and the test came back positive for pretty much

everything except

food. So heres my question, since his allergy test came back showing no food

allergies does

that mean he doesn't have food intolerances either? Or should I still be

concerned? Thanks,

Tara

[Guest guest]

Is the doctor suggesting treating his environmental allergies?

Both my children have allergies to many things, mostly seasonal (spring

juniper and fall chamisa - both major allergies for me too!) I treat them

with 5mg chewable zyrtec daily during the allergy seasons. My older

(non-apraxic) child has always been my difficult one. High energy, little

impulse control when he was younger, whiney, irritable, very needy. When I

started him on the zyrtec it was like a miracle! His stopped whining,

cooperated better and the huge dark circles under his eyes that always made

people ask if he was getting enough sleep went away. This past spring fall

I started my younger apraxic child. He started sleeping a little longer

and better (both need little sleep and wake fairly often at night) and he

didn't just stare off into space as much. I think he was probably

suffering from sinus headaches like I do.

Normally we're off meds in the winter, but I had noticed my allergy nose

and sinus headaches returning so I started them on meds again last week (I

can't take my allergy meds as I'm pregnant so I'll just have to keep

suffering!) We've had a very mild winter with almost no snow and regular

warm days enough so my irises started coming up! Eeek! Both my boys have

had improved concentration and behavior (less whining) this last week since

restarting them.

Neither of my children have food allergies or intolerances thankfully so I

can't offer much advice on that.

Miche

At 05:55 PM 1/20/2006, you wrote:

>Hello,

>

>With all the info going around about food intolerances on the board, I was

>curious about my

>son. Seth is 6 years old, severely apraxic, low impulse control and

>emotional/behavior issues.

>We took him to an allergist and the test came back positive for pretty

>much everything except

>food. So heres my question, since his allergy test came back showing no

>food allergies does

>that mean he doesn't have food intolerances either? Or should I still be

>concerned? Thanks,

>Tara

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Most allergists do a scratch test, which usually don't reveal food

sensitivities. I recommend doing a comprehensive food panel, hopefully

one that tests for IgG as well as IgE reactions to a variety of foods.

US Biotek, Metametrix and Immunosciences all have such a test (the

Immunosciences test is IgG only). A Dan doctor, many osteopaths, and

some chiropractors will order such a test.

>

> Hello,

>

> With all the info going around about food intolerances on the board,

I was curious about my

> son. Seth is 6 years old, severely apraxic, low impulse control and

emotional/behavior issues.

> We took him to an allergist and the test came back positive for

pretty much everything except

> food. So heres my question, since his allergy test came back showing

no food allergies does

> that mean he doesn't have food intolerances either? Or should I

still be concerned? Thanks,

> Tara

>

[Guest guest]

Hello Tara:

I just took Landon to the Allergist. She said that he can have food

intolerance even though it didn't show up on his skin test.

Tina

>

> >

So heres my question, since his allergy test came back showing

> no food allergies does

> > that mean he doesn't have food intolerances either? Or should I

> still be concerned? Thanks,

> > Tara

> >

>

[Guest guest]

So heres my question, since his allergy test came back showing no food allergies

does

> that mean he doesn't have food intolerances either? Or should I still be

concerned?

He could absolutely still have issues with foods. Currently available allergy

tests (food

and environmental) only test for IgE-mediated allergies. My ds had non-IgE

mediated

issues with milk and soy from 1 week old until he outgrew them both (fingers

crossed

here!) at around age 2. There are no tests for non-IgE allergies, because they

don't

know what aspect of the immune system is involved, just that it's not IgE. Some

say

it's IgG, but that's yet to be proven, and while there are IgG tests offered,

they are not

widely accepted. (But, who knows, most allergists also don't accept that

anything

other than an IgE-mediated allergy is an allergy. Those allergists should have

spent a

few days at my house when ds was still consuming milk/soy.)

Anyway, I could ramble on forever about this topic as it's a huge thorn in my

side that

non-IgE's get shoved back and forth from GI to allergist and parents are left

spinning

in circles, but just know that often non-IgE issues are delayed from the point

of

consumption, making it ever more difficult to pinpoint. Example: My ds would

tolerate each new formula as a newborn for around 5-7 days before his body began

reacting to it.

Best way to determine if foods are non-IgE issues: food diary. We recently used

this

to discover that ds reacts behaviorally to high fructose corn syrup. I swear it

just

never ends!

Debbie

mom to , 9, nka, my INTENSE child, and , 2.5, outgrew non-IgE

allergies to dairy/soy/apple around age 2, currently suspecting grape, reflux

since 10

months (Zegerid), avoiding nuts/peanuts/fish/shellfish until forever, Neocate

from 8

weeks to 2 yrs., low in IgG1 (just re-tested, getting better!), loves balls,

trucks, and

swimming (no fear)! Current priority: speech (limited vocab and very hard to

understand).

[Guest guest]

Dear Debbie,

My son also reacts behaviorally to corn syrup. (He has eosinophilic

gastroenteritis). We've re-introduced corn/corn syrup so many times through

the years only to see the re-emergence of a very aggressive reaction (that's

kind of scary) in my otherwise sweet and reasonable kid. Its the only

" allergy " that he has that doesn't manifest as abdominal symptoms. He has

multiple food allergies to grains and dairy (including rice - which is the

only Ig-E mediated, hives inducing item) that include pretty violent cyclic

vomiting, diarrhea and abd pain, and skin rashes (that don't look like

eczema). The allergic GI reaction is typically delayed, sometimes 4-5 days

after ingestion - so yes, making it very difficult to identify the culprits.

But even corn on the cob has the behavior effect in my son - and that is

usually, at least for us withing 24 to 48 hours. Most allergists know and

understand that this is not an Ig-E process. The problem is that the IgG

testing is not very sensitive or specific. So too many false positives or

false negatives to make it reliable. This is why they don't use it. Usually

clinical suspicion and careful elimination diet with reintroduction of only

1 food item at a time to identify reactions (with a 2 week period of

observation) is the best way to identify a true reaction. Yet it is

incredibly labor-intensive, subjective and difficult to do. (But can be

done). There is also evidence that patch testing may be helpful - still not

as sensitive/specific as one would like - but better than the Ig-G tests.

You have to find an allergist who actually does it. Interesting for us is

that patch testing identified all the foods in my 4 year old as allergy that

we were already clinically suspicious of & had eliminated from his diet. So

we felt good about its reliability, but it didn't really help us clinically

for him. However his brother - who was only a year at the time, and on the

same diet do to severe reaction to cow's milk in my diet through breast milk

the 1st 3 weeks of life (until I went on my older son's diet and all

symptoms disappeared withing a week) also got patch tested, and he had such

a huge reaction to wheat (and milk) that it was very helpful. In his case we

did not go through the elimination/reintroduction and make him constantly

sick because we had learned from experience with his older brother. A few

accidental milk ingestions with babysitters reminded us that he could get

just as sick as his brother...and these symptoms typically lasted over 2

weeks and resulted in > 10% body weight-loss. What's nice is that you can

repeat patch testing in a few years to see if still reacting - without

having to give the food in a trial and error and risk making them ill. Food

for thought. -

[ ] Re: Food intolerance

So heres my question, since his allergy test came back showing no food

allergies

does

> that mean he doesn't have food intolerances either? Or should I still be

concerned?

He could absolutely still have issues with foods. Currently available

allergy tests (food

and environmental) only test for IgE-mediated allergies. My ds had non-IgE

mediated

issues with milk and soy from 1 week old until he outgrew them both (fingers

crossed

here!) at around age 2. There are no tests for non-IgE allergies, because

they don't

know what aspect of the immune system is involved, just that it's not IgE.

Some say

it's IgG, but that's yet to be proven, and while there are IgG tests

offered, they are not

widely accepted. (But, who knows, most allergists also don't accept that

anything

other than an IgE-mediated allergy is an allergy. Those allergists should

have spent a

few days at my house when ds was still consuming milk/soy.)

Anyway, I could ramble on forever about this topic as it's a huge thorn in

my side that

non-IgE's get shoved back and forth from GI to allergist and parents are

left spinning

in circles, but just know that often non-IgE issues are delayed from the

point of

consumption, making it ever more difficult to pinpoint. Example: My ds would

tolerate each new formula as a newborn for around 5-7 days before his body

began

reacting to it.

Best way to determine if foods are non-IgE issues: food diary. We recently

used this

to discover that ds reacts behaviorally to high fructose corn syrup. I swear

it just

never ends!

Debbie

mom to , 9, nka, my INTENSE child, and , 2.5, outgrew non-IgE

allergies to dairy/soy/apple around age 2, currently suspecting grape,

reflux since 10

months (Zegerid), avoiding nuts/peanuts/fish/shellfish until forever,

Neocate from 8

weeks to 2 yrs., low in IgG1 (just re-tested, getting better!), loves balls,

trucks, and

swimming (no fear)! Current priority: speech (limited vocab and very hard to

understand).

[Guest guest]

Oh, , thanks for bringing up patch testing. Totally forgot to mention

that. That

seems to be the one possible test out there for non-IgE's. Trouble is, not many

facilities offer it currently, to my knowledge. But, believe me, if anyone near

me did,

we'd try it in a heartbeat.

As to IgG tests, my understanding is that the body makes IgG antibodies to all

foods

consumed, making the results very unreliable. But hey, Kerri, if it works for

you,

great! I've become a big believer in " never say never " since ds was born, and

there are

no absolutes in the allergy world! What doesn't work for one may be the

" miracle " for

the next!

[Guest guest]

That is the problem with the IgG tests. People may actually have a true

allergy to one or more of the positive tests, but you can't trust it. So you

are back to clinical trial and error.

For trial and error, most people can start by removing all dairy (and

educating themselves on food labels) and see the results over 2 weeks if you

are starting with the concept of " allergy " but to what? Then take out other

highly allergic items (like wheat, gluten). Alternatively you can start

cold turkey on a very restrictive elimination diet (ie only 4 or 5 items -

not much fun) - this should be done with the guidance of a medical

professional/allergist or nutritionalist because deficiencies in the diet

are not good from growing kids...do this for 2 weeks - see the eczema

disappear, watch for whatever symptoms you are suspicious are linked to

allergy improve...and then add one idem back at a time. But the problem with

processed foods is that one item mean one item...not trying corn so

therefore all corn products are OK. One product at a time. There are just

too many ingredients in many of the processed foods (some not on the label)

which is why its so difficult to pinpoint the culprits. It can be something

totally unexpected (like garlic, or some food coloring), in addition to the

typical milk, soy, wheat/gluten, egg, nuts. -

BTW Patch testing is basically the specific food item ground up and placed

on a disc on the back for 2-3 days to look for a reaction. Pretty simple.

If your skin reacts to it, you can guess your gut will too. We brought

literature in an discussed it with our allergist. If you have a child that

is failure to thrive and the allergist and family is having a hard time

identifying the food allergies - you many be able to persuade an allergist

to do it. They would just have to contact a site that does the testing (like

Cincinnati Children's).

[ ] Re: Food intolerance

Oh, , thanks for bringing up patch testing. Totally forgot to mention

that. That

seems to be the one possible test out there for non-IgE's. Trouble is, not

many

facilities offer it currently, to my knowledge. But, believe me, if anyone

near me did,

we'd try it in a heartbeat.

As to IgG tests, my understanding is that the body makes IgG antibodies to

all foods

consumed, making the results very unreliable. But hey, Kerri, if it works

for you,

great! I've become a big believer in " never say never " since ds was born,

and there are

no absolutes in the allergy world! What doesn't work for one may be the

" miracle " for

the next!