Food allergies / intolerances

Hi guys, hope everyone is doing well!

I know that there are a few people on this forum who have been diagnosed with food allergies / intolerances and I am just curious to know a) how do you get tests done to check this - is this with your dietician or someone else? b) how accurate are the tests? and c) how has this impacted on the way you eat and do you know feel a lot better avoiding that food?

I live in Aus and although I do have a distorted body image I have always had some issues with my digestive system from cramps to severe bloating with pain and gas but I cannot really pinpoint it to anything so am thinking about trying to get some allergy tests done.

Food allergies can be detected by simply keeping a food and symptom diary for a while.   Record what you eat, when and how you felt afterwards.  If you start to see any obvious links then try excluding that particular food for a week..... see if the symptoms improve.  Reintroduce the food and if the symptoms return then you've found your culprit.  That's a good time to talk to your doctor.

There are conditions like IBS and some types of constipation which can cause severe bloating.  Quite often, simple measures like increasing the amount of fibre in the diet, eating more slowly and being better hydrated can help there.  Some common foods like the cruciferous vegetables (the cabbage family) and beans can make matters worse.   And refined carbohydrates can do the same..... does not mean you're 'allergic' to these foods but if you replace refined carbohydrates with complex ones you can find it helps.

NB.... it's very, very important not to exclude important food-groups without replacing the nutrition and calories with other foods.

What I would caution against is going for a commercial 'food intolerance test'.  These are no better than scams and different testing companies will give the same person radically different lists of foods to avoid. 

Original Post by gi-jane:

What I would caution against is going for a commercial 'food intolerance test'.  These are no better than scams and different testing companies will give the same person radically different lists of foods to avoid. 

 

Well said Gi Jane!

I had all my tests done at my doctor's surgery in the first instance, then was referred to a hospital for further investigation in the form of blood tests and two endoscopies.

It turned out that I'm allergic to gluten and also lactose intolerant.

It took a bit of getting used to, but now several years on it's second nature for me to eat foods that are OK for me.  And alot of basic gluten free stuff like bread and pasta is available on prescription here in the UK.

Allergists handle many food allergies with scratch tests. A scratch test simply has a small amount of the allergen on a pin and they scratch it across your back. The scratching doesn't hurt at all -- but if you have reaction it can certainly itch!

Not all food allergies are created equal. If you had hay fever or asthma as a child (allergic to grasses, molds) then in later life you can develop cross-reactivity to all manner of things: tree nuts, peaches, plums, apples...and the reactions are not usually anaphylaxis (swelling up and turning blue like with a peanut allergy) -- they can cause bloating, nausea, cramping and diarrhea.

Lactose intolerance is done as breath test which doctors can administer. Lactose intolerance is highly likely if you are not of northern european ancestry. However, 97% of those with northern european ancestry have a genetic mutation that enables them to produce lactase their entire lives. If you are of northern european descent and are having trouble digesting milk products, then make sure your doctor looks for underlying possibilities (H. pylori, other parasites and celiac disease can all compromise your ability to digest lactose).

Celiac Disease (wheat/gluten intolerance) is done in a very archaic way. Although they are developing a stool sample test for it (makes much more sense), at present, it is a blood test to determine if you have the genetic marker for developing an intolerance. Then a rather hit and miss blood test (while you stuff yourself full of wheat for several weeks) to determine if you have a reaction to wheat and then it is topped off with a biopsy of the small intestine to become "biopsy-confirmed".

You can discuss these all with your doctor. While I personally see value in the blood test to determine if you have the genetic marker for celiac disease (if you even think wheat is a possible issue), both the blood test to determine the presence of a reaction and the biopsy are not accurate enough to really rule the condition in or out. This is a good article outlining the issues with celiac disease diagnosis today: http://www.celiac.com/articles/75/1/Extract-f rom-Nutrition-Therapy-by-Stephen-J-Gislason-M D/Page1.html

Irritable Bowel Syndrome is of idiopathic origin (which means they have ruled out every other possible condition and are left with IBS). So be careful that you are not assigned a diagnosis of IBS before every other possibility is ruled out -- that's just good medicine.

Good Luck!

Forgot to mention that when a patient successfully isolates any food allergen and removes it completely from his or her diet, all the gastric symptoms (bloating, constipation, diarrhea, cramping, nausea) completely go away.

So it's worth investigating.

thank you to all for your replies. I will discuss this with my dietician when I see her on Friday.

Out of curiosity - what is the difference between rye bread and wholemeal bread? I had a rye sandwich today and have ended up quite gassy and bloaty but had a very similar sandwich on wholemeal on the weekend and was ok...

I think I might try to take something to settle this down - I used to take 'mintec' a few years back (peppermint oil capsules) - anyone know of anything else good I can get in Australia?

Original Post by eringo2:

thank you to all for your replies. I will discuss this with my dietician when I see her on Friday.

Out of curiosity - what is the difference between rye bread and wholemeal bread? I had a rye sandwich today and have ended up quite gassy and bloaty but had a very similar sandwich on wholemeal on the weekend and was ok.

Good luck with your doctor appointment.

As for your rye bread versus wholemeal bread as far as I can find on the net they are probably the same or very similar- I found some sites using "wholemeal" interchangeably.

Tagain for the feedback. I will discuss this with my dietician on Friday but maybe also need to see my GP if the problems continue.

Also I guess part of me just wonders if this is my ED trying to create issues but I did experience abdominal discomfort prior to my ED so probably worth getting it checked out.

Anyone know how IBS gets diagnosed? I did speak with a pharmacist about this yesterday and she said it is best to see a GP???