Food intolerance tests?
Posted , 10 users are following.
Hi,
Clutching at straws here. Has anyone found any good places/websites for food intolerance testing? I'm in the UK, in Glasgow.
In going issue with severe nausea and loose bowels for almost 3 years. Can't for the life of me work out what I am eating. Kept food diaries, makes no difference. Can eat the food one week and be fine, the next not. Then I go back several days and can't see anything.
Or does anyone have an intolerance to modified ingredients in foods? Or fortified foods? I don't know if it's something like that even? But even that I can eat something with
modified maize starch In it and feel awful then eat something else with it in it and be fine?! So confused and helpless.
Had so many tests done but showed nothing. Only test not done is colonoscopy.
Thanks in advance!
0 likes, 22 replies
diane79126 ElleJ22
Posted
Sorry to hear that. Have you tried a gluten free dairy free diet. I never suffered from nausea just frequent bums and pain. Since I have been on gf/ df I have had no issues. Try it. Let me know if that helps. Good luck
ElleJ22 diane79126
Posted
Hi Diane,
I did try gluten free and dairy free in the past but I still didn't feel good. It's maybe something I should try again but and see! Thanks for your reply. Glad you've been feeling better cutting it out
anne68902 ElleJ22
Posted
ElleJ22 anne68902
Posted
paul75665 ElleJ22
Posted
I was referred to York Laboratories, the do a food intolerance scan. Cost quite a bit, but it discovered I was intolerant to Yeast, Sesame seeds, Cows milk, Millet, Wheat and Tuna. Since eliminating these from my diet for the past 4 days I am starting to see an improvement in my symptoms. Apparently I have to wait up to 6 weeks for the antibody levels to drop and see a significant improvement in my general health, I also my start to feel worse before I start to feel better as I will be experiencing withdraw symptoms from no ingesting these problem foods. Give them a look up and see what you think.
ElleJ22 paul75665
Posted
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your reply. I had actually been looking them up. I seen they were pretty expensive but I suppose worth it in the long run if it helps us feel better than deal with this the rest of our life! They do seem good and it's good to know you found it helpful.
Hope you continue to feel better.
Thank you!
leeniepie ElleJ22
Edited
unfortunately food intolerance tests aren't worth the paper they're written on. food diary/ elimination is the way to go.
have you had your thyroid and gall bladder checked?
paul75665 leeniepie
Edited
Whilst I somewhat agree with your comments, I have to say that recent research into IgG antibody levels in blood samples caused by food intolerances have proved to be useful in identifying people who suffer with food intolerance. I am a managerial trained Microbiologist and microbiology 'IS' an exact science, we look for definitive answers and facts rather than relying on best guesses, and as long as the control media for a batch of tests come back as clear, then you can guarantee the results of the samples you test within that batch are accurate. Don't forget that there are people who dedicate their lives to discovering and implementing test procedures to find answers to numerous unanswered questions, of course one of their driving forces is to make money, but that doesn't mean everyone offering these sorts of tests are trying to scam money out of the general public, in this day and age it is hard for a company to make claims that aren't true, especially a company that have been around for 30+ years. On top of that an 'Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire' would not be a Brand Ambassador if they didn't think the service provided was in any way not legitimate.
Of course, it's not a definitive, accurate answer by no means and should only be used as a blunt tool, however bloods tests have proved that IgG antibody levels can be differentiated between certain groups. There is a test that uses samples of hair and Bioresonance testing to evaluate someones food intolerances, these should be avoided at all costs as there is no scientific evidence to back this up, however blood samples are far more useful. The fact that I have also spoken to a number of people suspecting food intolerances as a cause for their symptoms, that have had the York test performed on their blood, and had positive results when excluding these foods, myself included, are far too many to dismiss and ignore. Even my doctor has accepted my results as a valid testing method, surely he wouldn't be allowed to do this if there was any doubt?
So yes, these tests I believe won't give you definitive answers, and the 'Gold Standard' test is a food elimination diet as you said, but if you want to know if you do in fact suffer with food intolerance then this test can be a useful tool. Just because a few people doubt its effectiveness, doesn't mean it's not valid, there are plenty of skeptics out there.
ElleJ22 leeniepie
Posted
Hi, thank you for your reply.
I had seen some mixed reviews on the food intolerance tests. The problem is, I have cut out things in the past, gluten, dairy, for a while I thought tomatoes but I'm still feeling sick. I can't seem to work it out so I don't know if it is a specific ingredient in a food. I'm just finding it so difficult and have suffered for 3 years now. I just don't know how people manage to work out an ingredient they can't eat. Then I begin to wonder if it's actually a problem with my bowel in general and nothing to do with what I eat.
My thyroid was checked way back when this all started. I'm not sure about my gallbladder, they done an ultrasound scan of my tummy which showed nothing so maybe seen my gallbladder from that? I have no pains or cramps
graham9772 ElleJ22
Posted
The theory behind an elimination diet is that you eat a very limited range of foods that are well known to be very unlikely to produce an intolerant reaction You stick to this diet to see if your condition improves. If it does you wait until everything is stable and then introduce new foods one at the time to see if that food upsets you. Fortunately foods can be grouped together based on what the ingredients are so you might only have to test 5 foods which might indicate you can eat three of the five groups of food. This defines your diet from then on. Of course I wouldn't expect it to go so smoothly and that's why you need to hire a good dietician to supervise your experiment. This is a controlled methodical approach which should find a result quicker than just keeping a food diary and eating a big mixture of foods. One of the difficulties is that there are two effects that make it difficult to see the relationships. I have a delay so that if I eat a slice of bread today I might sleep well tonight but I am then awake for the following two nights. There are also threshholds. If I eat 10 grams of foodA it might have no effect. If I eat 50 grams I have a problem. If I eat 20 grams per day for a week I might then have built up my level of foodA to a tripping point and I lose a night's sleep. That makes it hard to recognise that the problem was caused by FoodA
If you start with a FODMAP elimination diet and it doesn't work then there are other elimination diets to try such as the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital low chemical diet which might reveal that you are intolerant of some of the naturally occurring chemicals that are found in our foods.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are other exclusion diets you can try that might help if neither of these two diets help discover your intolerance and you are still willing to keep trying to find a food intolerance.
There might be dieticians available from your local government but make sure they have experience with FODMAP diet and the Low Chemical Diet for starters.
A little bit of help is all it will take once you get started.
Good Luck
Graham
ElleJ22 graham9772
Posted
Hi Graham,
Thanks very much for your reply.
I found what you said very useful. I did do an elimination diet previously following the FODMAP which my doctor gave me. The issue is, like yourself, I have a delay in a reaction and also depends how much of the food/ingredient I eat so when it builds up, it hits me full blown. I can be fine for 3, 5 days, odd time longer and i start to think I'm cured then it hits me again. I find sometimes I can eat things and have no issues and other times I do but no matter how much I check back food diaries, I really struggle to pin point what it was, so recently I've been looking at all the ingredients within the meals I've ate.
The low chemical diet looks good. I had never heard of it before but have been reading up on it and I'm going to give this a go. I think it will help me more than the FODMAP. Thanks for sharing this with me. I'll also ask to be referred back to a dietitan for help with it.
Hope you continue to get better and less sleepless nights too!
graham9772 ElleJ22
Posted
It all gets confusing so I hope you find a dietician who can understand the problem better.
The FODMAP diet was developed for IBS so it should be your best chance. What country are you in?
I have found it very easy to slip something into my diet without even thinking about it. The last week has been bad for me and I realised this morning that I started to use some margarine on my gluten free bread. I think i've used margarine before but this particular brand is actually 60% dairy product. Its not really margarine and its not allowed to be labelled butter. So again I learn to read the fine print for everything that goes into my mouth. I can live without margarine! I have cut this from my food and so I hope that in two days everything will be under control again.
Good Luck
Graham
ElleJ22 graham9772
Posted
Thanks Graham, I've made an appointment with my doctor and going to speak to them about a dietitan. I like in Scotland, UK.
It's hard at first checking the ingredients on everything but worth it in the long run. Then you'll know what you can and can't have eventually!
graham9772 ElleJ22
Posted
Its hard at first but you soon get a mental list of what's allowed and what's not. The tricky bit is if your usual brand is not available so you just buy something that sounds the same. Its definately worth it if it helps you sleep. I hope you are one of the lucky ones. How's your ferritin?
ElleJ22 graham9772
Posted