IgG reliability

[Debbie1]

Hi everyone,

 

I have come across several doctors and articles lately who have disputed the reliability of IgG results. Can those who have done the IgG testing please confirm for me that after eliminating the foods that scored the highest, they saw direct results?

 

I don't mean to sound negative. With all of the negative feedback I have gotten regarding this test, I guess I just need some encouragement. Going GF is HARD!!

 

Thanks,

Debbie

[ad_ccl]

I was a total non believer but we saw amazing and pretty immediate results when we first went dairy free - we then did gluten free and again saw great results. My husband also went dairy free and his asthma improved 80%.

[faith]

Debbie,

What I will say about the Igg testing is that it is just another "tool" to help sort things out. We did one last year, and I feel it gave me a good direction to see if there was any issues with food that I could put my finger on. At that time it showed corn/yeast/flax as some of the high reactives, and so when we did eliminate them, yes, I did see a diminishing of the head tic he had at that time. HOWEVER, I don't think it is a 100% absolute answer to all this, just one of the pieces. By no means have we been tic free ever since, but it did "point" me in the right direction. And keep in mind that sensitivities can and probably do change over time, so again, I think it is something you have to weigh in on how much you want to pay ($$) to see if this is part of your child's problem. At the time, I was quite desperate and a few hundred dollars was nothing to at least find some answers.

 

We have also recenlty retested thru Sage Labs, and I still have corn and yeast, along with some others (that I am still in denial about!!), but it looks like Caryn, et. al may have to clear a spot for me at the gluten free table!!

 

So what I'm saying is that I was tired of guessing and second guessing at everything I fed my son. This is just another diagnostic tool. You will have to do the trial and error to see if these foods are the ones causing the problems. It doesn't mean all of them are an issue for tics, and you may be able to reintroduce foods without a problem, but again, its a direction.

 

You could also do an elimination diet in which you eliminate all the high allergen foods like gluten/diary/corn etc. for a month or so and then see where you stand. You then reintroduce things one at a time to see if reaction or symptoms return. My Dan believes this is the best way to do it. there is a book called "Food allergies and intolerances" , by I forget who? last name Astor? you could do a search, I found the book at my library and it explains this premise.

 

Faith

[kim]

but it looks like Caryn, et. al may have to clear a spot for me at the gluten free table!!

 

That was WAY cute, Faith!

[annag]

Debbie- hi, just wanted to mention - we have been glutten free since the end of November. My husband who used to blink a lot and clear his thrroat - does not do it any more and feels so much better overall. My daughter, who is almost 13 (because of her extreme tics and related pain last year we began this journey) is hardly ticing at all. If someone does not know, they would probably not even notice it at all. We went away to the Islands last week, to an all inclusive resort, and she ate very little gluten for the first time since Nov. Towards the end of the week, her tics were more pronounced. We are back and will continue with the diet, it definately gets much easier as you learn how and where to shop.

She had IGG test in Oct last year and it showed nothing that was of use to us, the doctor who prescribed though, did not even mark gluten as one of the indicators it should test for (there is a separate box on the form for that).

 

Good Luck!

 

Anna

[faith]

Hi annaq,

glad to hear things are going well. How long after starting the gluten free did you feel the tics were diminishing? Also, have you ever used enzymes?

 

Thanks

Faith

[annag]

Hi, Faith,

No we never used enzymes. You can look at my profile to see our whole journey so far, but basically we did all supplements first, prior to gluten free diet and there was absolutely no change. My child just turned 12 at that time. We started gluten free diet out of sheer desperation, after saying goodbye to all traditional doctors and going thru the accupunture, homeopath and intergrative manual therapy ((still continue with homeopath and IMT).

Anna

[annag]

sorry...did not answer the q fully- we saw the tics starting to diminish about 2.5 mo after going glutten free. However, we were doing the diet at the same time as intergrative manual therapy.

Anna

[Caryn]

Hi All,

Ahem,

Congratulations, Faith.

And you are welcome over at my house any night of the week. No matter what we are serving I am sure your ds and my ds will be fine with it! LOL. Looks like your son has passed the test and is now an official member of the 'nothing to eat' club. Frustrating, isn't it? Sorry for the delayed response. Please forgive. I am taking a bit of a scale-backed holiday on the posting. We've been busy erecting a mansion-sized clubhouse in our backyard. (DH is a tradesman, and now the boys are the envy of the neighborhood.) We 'pimped' it out with a whole bunch of garage-sale finds and recyclables. Kids love it. My arms, back, and legs are killing me though from all the heavy lifting and gardening work.

Faith, you are going to have to go green, you know! We have literally rototilled half of our backyard LOL for our organic garden.

You all should have known me three years ago. I was a Dorito loving burger eating city girl. Didn't even know how to plant seeds. Now I'm Mrs. Green thumb over here. I used to get my nails done every two, three weeks. Now I say, what's the point? They are black no matter what I do! LOL.

 

As far as IgG reliability. I have heard both sides of the story. I understand why doctors shy away from them. They are not a good indicator of a 'true' anaphlyactic allergy, histamine, etc... and as far as delayed reactions go-- they can be unpredictable if the person is not eating the food for a period of time before the test (otherwise, giving you a false 'negative'). Having said that, just the GFCF diet was not enough for us and I would have NEVER, EVER, in a Million years ever figured out the corn thing without the IgG test. Never. It is just in too many prepared, processed, and even GF foods. I think the Alcat claims an 80% accuracy rate on a double blind test if you go to their website. For me 80% is good. It is enough to get you moving in the right direction. Tigger was off the charts on the corn and it is in everything including toothpaste and the wax spray the put on fresh fruit at the store. It is even dusted on cheeses. I would have been hunting in the dark without a flashlight trying to figure out what makes him tic without that test.

 

Caryn