Allergy tests

[crazy]

Are the IGG and the IGE allergy tests that you can get at a typical allergists office or are they through an environmental physician or naturopath?

[Caryn]

IgE is an allergist test. They look for histamine reactions.

IgG looks at delayed reaction. It is a white blood cell test. It could be done through naturopath, pediatrician or G.P. (if they are game) or Dan Doc. I don't know of any allergist that does such a test. They don't believe in it. If you look at the criticisms of the IgG there are many 'experts' that say it is not scientifically proven. We decided to try it anyway. Now I really believe it worked for us as we would have never in a million years figured out the corn allergy otherwise and it is his major trigger. It was nice having a list of things to avoid. We did follow their protocol to the letter-- full avoidance of all allergies for 3 mos, inclusion of low alleriges on rotation at 3 mos, then medium allergies at 6 mos, and finally testing of major allergens on rotation after six months. We learned that the major allergens were not okay, even on rotation so we kept that diet for the next 1 1/2 years and have been successful with keeping the tics at bay. We also do supps and probiotics and are committed to a low sugar diet overall. We do as organic as possible but with food prices and economy that may change in time. We found the IgG test online and then asked our ped to write a script. He said no. Our chiro heard the story when I complained about it during an adjustment the next week. He said, "I'll do it!" (Thankfully he had adjusted Tigger a month earlier for his neck injury and he was already a patient). He knew the symptoms were pretty bad and sincerely wanted to help us get answers. My current G.P. would have no problem writing the script for us if I asked. He has been awesome.

 

Here is a critical view of the different food intolerance tests:

http://breathspakids.blogspot.com/2007/02/...lerance-is.html

 

It certainly isn't foolproof. I was told that a previous food avoidance could skew the results, showing an avoided food as a non-allergic one when in fact if it had been eaten in abundance prior to the test it would have shown up as an intolerance. As with any test, it is good to weigh the pros and cons. For us it worked, but to play devil's advocate, I could say that it was 'dumb luck'--

My instinct tells me otherwise.

Caryn