Food Allergies/ Sensitivies

[dcmom]

There has been a lot of discussion regarding diet and allergies on this forum. I have not done testing yet, but am seriously considering it. Buster's research seems to point to a failure in the blood brain barrier, which has also been implicated in MS. It seems diet/food sensitivity can be a culprit here. So, if you have done testing

 

What specific testing have you done?

 

What were your results? (please let us know if there were no allergies also)

 

Have you made a dietary change? How long ago?

 

Have you seen any improvements from this change?

 

I hope this will be helpful to those of us considering testing... Thank you!!!!

[ShaesMom]

Don't know if this will help any since her food allergy existed first...Our dd has had an anaphylatic allergy to dairy since birth. She also has seasonal allergies--do not know to what specifically.

 

She had her first strep infection around the age of 2. Approximately 6 months later we were at the allergist having her retested for allergies to soy, wheat, peanut, and corn. She was not allergic to any of these. She was also tested for celiac's at that time and two times since. Tests always come back negative.

 

We took her to the allergist for the additional testing because we had noticed that she was no longer eating the soy products that she had lived on for the first 2 years of her life. She became extremely picky about what she would eat. Plus there may have been other changes in overall mood and health but I don't remember exactly.

 

Looking back over her history with strep and the constant visits to the doctor this may have been when this whole PANDAS thing started. Within the next year and after another strep infection she had constant UTI's and constipation/encopresis. The UTI's have disappeared but the constipation/encopresis remains three years later.

 

Sam

[Suzan]

Although I don't know if my daughters have PANDAS, it seems we are falling into this category somehow with symptoms so I thought I'd post about our allergy testing....

 

They both had a blood test of the most common allergies several years ago.

DD7 was highly allergic to dairy and dust and many grasses and trees. I tried to reduce dust and she's been dairy free on and off since then. Saw much improvement off dairy (dark circles gone, skin less itchy)

DD6 had a few minor but nothing to speak of

 

They both have had a celiac panel last year

DD7 was negative but I took her off diary and gluten (12/08) and she has a huge improvement in her behavior and her skin (her skin totally cleared up from eczema, itchy...). She says she feels angry and out of control when she eats gluten.

DD6 showed positive gluten intolerance (celiac possible but unconfirmed) took her off gluren (9/08)- She's much improved without gluten (no more gas, tummy pain, more energy and participation in life, started growing and finally started losing her baby teeth) but she is still struggling a lot.

 

They both had strep for the first time around 1 1/2 years old. Countless ear and sinus infections and many strep infections. Both had ear tubes put in. DD7 had her tonsils and adenoids removed. She improved a lot after this surgery, sick less, slept better, better behavior.

 

DD7 wet the bed until I put her through a bed wetting program and she finally is dry since the end of 2008.

 

But with each "better behavior" improvement, something always seems to set us back so here we are.... I think we'd be much worse off without the dietary changes.

 

Susan

[ShaesMom]

Just thought I'd add--when I was pregnant with her I was unable to eat dairy products because they always made me sick. After giving birth, I remained lactose intollerant and have since developed Fibromyalgia. I have always found it interesting that I now have immune issues since carrying her and believe that whatever "misfired" in her body during the pregnancy somehow screwed up my immune system as well as hers.

[ShaesMom]

My dd had eczema until she was completely diary free as well.

[LoriL]

There has been a lot of discussion regarding diet and allergies on this forum. I have not done testing yet, but am seriously considering it. Buster's research seems to point to a failure in the blood brain barrier, which has also been implicated in MS. It seems diet/food sensitivity can be a culprit here. So, if you have done testing

 

What specific testing have you done?

 

What were your results? (please let us know if there were no allergies also)

 

Have you made a dietary change? How long ago?

 

Have you seen any improvements from this change?

 

I hope this will be helpful to those of us considering testing... Thank you!!!!

 

I had my daughter tested several years ago and we know that she has many allergies- we did the "scratch" test not the needles! Most of her food allergies did not register as severe,but things like grasses cats and typical hayfever culprits/symptoms rated higher. The doctor told us that she may outgrow her food allergies and to continue to allow them in moderation in her diet-which we did. However with the onset of pandas, her history of infections which are non typical presentations of strep, overuse of antibiotics and food allergies I am convinced that there are some suspicious correlations that are well worth investigating.

We are starting slow introducing a probiotic into her diet and removing wheat . We are currently using a drug call fluvoxamine "luvox" and have seen significant improvements in her OCD symptoms so far.... we are just starting on this path I will keep you posted... good luck to you.

[swim]

We found it is important to know the difference between IgE allergies and IgG allergies as we have read that most food allergies are IgG reactions. IgG related reactions are delayed and can take a few hours or a few days to surface. We had our son (now 10) tested about 6 years ago for allergies at the pediatricians office and he came back with no allergies to wheat, diary or gluten. The problem was they only tested his IgE reactions. In February of this year, we had him retested using a different doctor and a different test and he still came back with no IgE allergies. BUT - he came back with severe IgG allergies to wheat, dairy and gluten.

 

The test we asked the doctor to do was called the ELISA allergy panel. It tested IgE and IgG reactions to 96 different foods. If you can't find a doctor to do the test, you can order it on line through www.directlabs.com. The test was the 96 General Food Panel, IgG & IgE (USB) Plus CMP-14. You can see a sample report on the website if you look up this test.

 

Based on the results of the allergy tests, we removed all wheat, gluten and dairy from his diet. Within 3 or 4 days, there was a noticeable improvement with regard to what we call brain fog. Our son even commented that it was easier for him to pay attention to his teacher in class. He used to get very frustrated when doing homework. Now, he gets it done on his own and even works ahead. It used to be a struggle to get him to sit and read for 20 minutes. Now, he will sit and read for an hour on his own.

 

After a recent strep infection a month ago, we are struggling with increased tics and OCD behavior, but we are still enjoying the new improvements in brain fog that I mentioned above. I would say from a parents perspective (non-medical), the changes in diet have made a huge difference. I feel we would be seeing much worse PANDAS reactions from his strep infection a month ago if we had not made the changes in his diet.

[swim]

I am pretty sure the scratch test only measures IgE allergy reactions. To get an accruate read on food allergies, I have read that you do need to do the blood draw and have the IgG reactions tested because most food allergies are IgG reactions. The immediate and severe reaction we see like in a peanut allergy is an IgE reaction.

[Suzan]

I am pretty sure the scratch test only measures IgE allergy reactions. To get an accruate read on food allergies, I have read that you do need to do the blood draw and have the IgG reactions tested because most food allergies are IgG reactions. The immediate and severe reaction we see like in a peanut allergy is an IgE reaction.

 

I think the IgG response is so important to look at and very often is not by doc's. I always wanted to get an ELISA test for the girls but never have. The celiac panel tests do test for IgG for gluten but our initial blood test years ago was only IgE so we didn't catch her intolerance until much later.

[Caryn]

We used the IgG food intolerance test through ALCAT. Our son's intolerances coincided with what would be considered a good anti-candida diet-- in other words candida causing foods were what he was largely allergic to.

 

Shaesmom mentioned testing negative on celiac screens multiple times. I want to mention a word on that. There are nine gluten intolerant genes and only two are associated with celiac. A negative celiac screen does not necessarily mean gluten is okay to eat. Our whole family is gluten intolerant. We haven't tested the three year old yet (but he eats like the rest of us). My son who was dxd with a chronic multifocal tic disorder has the celiac gene and one other non-celiac gluten intolerant gene. If more people had genetic screening done it would be interesting to see if the other non-celiac gene was a common factor in these kids. The celiac may be a coincidence. My 4 1/2 yr old does not have the celiac gene and has a perfect digestion system. He has two gluten intolerant genes (neither the same as my dxd son) and one of the 4 1/2 yr olds' is associated with narcolepsy (which he doesn't have).

 

Cheri's son was food allergy tested twice and was not found to have allergies. I do not know if it was IgE or IgG. He is dxd with crohns disease (which has to do with digestion). She will tell you that they had problems with yeast. Most others find there are allergies/intolerances present when they do actually do the testing.

 

I will say that low glutathione levels can cause allergies to develop especially when the diet is low in antioxidants and the body is under oxidative stress. Many orthomolecular docs write about this phenomena. Blood brain barrier stuff is prevalent in Celiac studies and is a well known phenomena in many diseases. There is something written about in celiac circles relating to zonulin. It is a protein that is 'gate keeper' of the G.I. Tract. It would be interesting if this were also a factor in these kids as well. I can think of many possible studies.... too bad there is little funding/interest. I would love to start a foundation to raise money for these kinds of studies. There is more to the story than what meets the eye. My son's recovery is a mystery and I would love to know the details of why and how from a scientific standpoint.

 

There is definitely some kind of correlation there. Who knows what it is until more research is done in the blood-brain area of science in patients with T.S. et al.