Anybody have experience with IgG food testing?

[monarchcat]

I had a consultation with Kelly Dorfman (nutritionist) a few months ago and she recommended I have an IgG food antibody test done. We did a test from metametrix lab whereby I pricked DS's finger and filled in four circles with blood drops. That was sent back and they then test for 30 foods. His results came back showing a "mild +1 and +2" reaction to corn, wheat, tuna and turkey; a "moderate +3 and +4" reaction to pork; and a "severe +5" reaction to egg (whole), milk and peanut

 

He has never shown any overt allergies or reactions to foods before but I wouldn't be surprised if there were underlying issues feeding the tics, etc. Since starting antibiotics a few months ago we have gained ground with behavior and mood (sawtooth, but improvement nonetheless) but the tics are worse than ever.

 

Has anyone had these tests done? What did you do with the results? I don't know how to pull him off eggs and milk. He only eats pancakes and pizza! As for pork, he LOVES bacon and we have been eating more of it in the last month or so because he begs me to make it every weekend. He's soooo picky and he's been through so much that I like to make him happy when I can.... We never used to even have it in the house except for special breakfasts a couple times a year. He likes peanuts and peanut butter, but could easily do without it so that one is less of a problem.

 

I have a followup with Kelly in a couple weeks, but am just interested in hearing about others' experiences with this kind of test....

[faith]

I think it is worth a try, especially if you spent the money on the test. those things are not hard to take out. I would start with the high ones (4 and 5). you don't have to do it forever, give it two to four weeks. just try to find alternatives to the milk and eggs. eggs are not hard and actually neither is dairy, just find alternatives if you can.

 

we've had Igg testing, and I feel like I had some good results when I found corn to be my son's higher sensitivity, altho we have major weight (underweight) issues here, so I could not do that forever. I won't say it helped absolutely, but eliminating things like high fructose corn syrup that he lapped up at the time did seem to help with the tics he had at the time, this was several years ago. I won't say it was the answer to it all, but I think it is worth the try. you never know what symptoms might be alleviated by the restrictions. At the very least, limit it or at least gauge how he does on days when he didnt' get those foods.

 

Faith

[Fixit]

we did metamatx through Brain Balance and ds only came up a 1 on caisen....

 

so as per program and trying it even though no real numbers ..we went gf/cf for over 3 months and we were strict about it.....

my son did have some mild psrysoris or was that eschzema...that went away and i hear that wheats flare or can cause that.

his mood did get better but he was never over the top but i did feel like i would walk on egg shells around him sometimes

his aminos were all over the place though.

 

we went off and no real change but again we had no real numbers...curious 3 other people with the same draw time and no food allergies to show either...but i don't think ds has food issues...maybe digetstive....but defineitly seasonal and so milk will be elimimated soon to keep histamines down...looking into sublingual drops through a traditional allergist

 

you should absolutly start 4 and 5s at least.....once you find foods it kind of becomes a way of life...of course being off diet is eassier but i try to rotate and no artificials

[dee45]

Hi,

we did the ALCAT testing which shows delayed food sensitivities I am not sure at this point if it was beneficial for us. I know others have found this tool very helpful.

 

Deanna

[smartyjones]

we did a food igg test when we were first trying to discover what was going on. i think it was for close to 100 foods. he was off the chart reactive to over 15 foods - all dairy, both egg white and yolk and most grains. i've posted about this and sorry but i don't know how to link a post. you can search under my name and see if you can find it.

 

basically, we took him off those foods at the same time he went on keflex for a month. even at the time, i thought the improvements were due to keflex. he's been not eating those for almost a year. he had a backslide when got off the abx and an exacerbation with the flu - both while on this diet. bottom line, i keep him on this diet not b/c i see an measurable changes in him from it -- i do it as another measure to try to help 'calm' his immune system b/c i think it's not functioning correctly. i think it's just another piece of the puzzle.

 

he's always been a bit small (of course after 9 lbs, 3 oz birth - now he decides he wants to be a 10-20%ile person!) during troubling time, he was getting really scrawny - he was falling off the chart at this time so i was very concerned about what would happen if he ate this way. i kept track of what he was eating and a few days counted calories for both my boys - very tedious! he gained something like 4 lbs in 6 weeks - at the time he was only about 32 lbs so it was considerable! he's still on the thin side but looks quite healthy and seems to be growing better this past year than he had in the 2 prior.

 

we consulted 2 traditional allergists who do not believe in that test(one directly for the test, one for general pandas- he's an allergist/immunologist at hopkins) - they agree his immune system produces antibodies against those foods, they just don't care. he's not showing any outward signs of a problem from it. "so what" - direct quote.

 

i liked the hopkins dr and asked what about the theory that his immune system is spending time doing this, couldn't that cause him problems that may not be seen but in the future. he was very respectful and said there is a school of thought that says exactly that but there's no science to prove it. i think - if you can't tell me why kids develop diabetes and other chronic diseases, or have extensive info on pandas and what's happening with my child -- it can be a viable theory.

 

it's surprising that it's not as tragic as you may think - there's a girl in his class that eats similarly b/c her mom is a naturopathic nutritionist. he eats a lot of meat. he doesn't eat fruit or veggies, if he did, i think it's be a breeze.

 

let me know if you have questions or need to suggestions -- we make really good pancakes, muffins, cakes. we eat rice and potatoes and rice pasta at dinner. however, we do still miss good bread with dinner!