Allergy testing questions-is skin or blood test better? Will testing definitely tell what

[HappyGrace]

I'm allergic to so I can then eliminate it? I'm having severe issues that may be tied to allergy, so I want to get rid of anything I may be allergic to. Hoping that testing will help that. OR what if I don't test allergic to something that I am *sensitive* to-could something like that happen, even with allergy testing? Or does all that stuff show up in the testing?

[Mommyof4ks]

The new blood allergy tests are almost as accurate as the scratch tests according to our pedi. It will tell you what you are allergic too, but if you are just sensitive to it, then it will not tell you that. My son is not allergic to milk, but he is sensitive to it to the point that it makes his head 'fuzzy' for a bit after he drinks it.

[HappyGrace]

Ok, so if you're sensitive to it, but not allergic, it's a lot more minor?

 

Also, do you get any scarring from the scratch tests?

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

I found the blood test to be accurate. I have had scratch tests as well and had no scarring.

[stripe]

The allergist has told me that the only real proof is reacting to something. Some people have a reaction on paper to a food, on a scratch or blood test, but don't have any problems when it's eaten. I have found it rather frustrating and confusing, personally.

[Plateau Mama]

Allergy tests only test for Ige allergies. These are considered true allergies. There is a test that will get for both IGE and IGG allergies. IGG is more of an intolerance. Most allergists do not do the test and you need to find a naturopath. Two of my children have had this test. The things they were allergic to or intolerant of we're shocking and I'd never have figured it out on my own.

 

This test is controversial. Lots of people think its not accurate. I will say for my daughter it was dead on. The 4 things she tested intolerant to 2 absolutely give her a reaction, one we haven't tested, on didn't affect her so we now allow it.

 

My son just got his results a few weeks ago and it was shocking. He showed several IGE allergies and even more IGG allergies. We are still on the elimination phase and haven't challenged any of the iGG allergies yet, but he accidentally ate something with soy and he had a horrible headache within hours. I will say that within 2 days of starting his diet his daily headaches and frequent vomiting have totally stopped, so something(s) we eliminated are definitely a trigger for him.

[Melissa in Australia]

My DH has Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. HE doe not have a histamine reaction so pin prick tests don't work. What he had was blind tests ( not correct words but I cannot remember what they were called). What they allergist did was put a drop of something under his tongue, then he would wait for a reaction. DH would not know what the test was for, sometimes the tests were just a placebo other times it was a chemical or a natural substance. The tests were done in series over a period of months.

the results were told to us, we acted on the results and completely changed/modified/ altered our house, lifestyle, work etc. and DH's health is markedly improved. from being a Zombie to being an active mostly able to function life.

[ErinE]

The allergist has told me that the only real proof is reacting to something. Some people have a reaction on paper to a food, on a scratch or blood test, but don't have any problems when it's eaten. I have found it rather frustrating and confusing, personally.

 

I've heard the same from several doctors from testing various family members. You can have indications from the blood or skin tests but never have a reaction. An elimination diet (under medical supervision) was recommended to find allergens.

[Melissa in Australia]

As for food allergies.

DH went on a extreme elimination diet after he was on the diet for about 6 weeks, he could introduce a now item each week. he had to eat a large amount of the new item. that was if there was a reaction it would be very noticeable. so when introducing bananas he had to eat 6 bananas all on the one day. if there was no reaction to the newly introduced food he could keep on eating it.

[Plateau Mama]

As for food allergies.

DH went on a extreme elimination diet after he was on the diet for about 6 weeks, he could introduce a now item each week. he had to eat a large amount of the new item. that was if there was a reaction it would be very noticeable. so when introducing bananas he had to eat 6 bananas all on the one day. if there was no reaction to the newly introduced food he could keep on eating it.

 

For our challenge we are supposed to eat the item for each meal. So if we were testing bananas they would eat some banana for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It doesnt have to be a full banana. Then they are to stop eating the food for two weeks as that is how long it takes for a reaction to show up.

[Mom in High Heels]

The blood test is certainly easier, but it doesn't catch sensitivities. The scratch test can be painful and miserable, but does (for me anyway) show sensitivities. I have to have tests done every time we move to check for things in each different location (native trees, grasses, pollens etc), and I hate it. I've had the scratch test done at least 10 times and I'm so allergic to pretty much everything that the itching is horrible. I have never had any scarring though.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

After I had an allergic reaction to something, the allergist did a series of skin tests. The first scratch testing was completely negative so he did intradermal testing which was also negative. Finally, the second level of intradermal was hugely positive and he started me on allergy shots.

 

Ds tested negative on scratch and blood with a known anaphylactic dairy allergy. After he outgrew the allergy, he started testing positive, but well below the negative predictive value.

 

Dd tested positive to an entire panel of scratch tests when she was about 5-6. We cut the highest positive foods and did see some symptom improvement that had never even registered as a possible allergy. Recently she tested high for dust mites on blood after a reaction, and it was confirmed by another reaction.

 

Testing is just a part of the picture. Keeping a food diary can help find problematic foods.

[Tess in the Burbs]

Our dr does both and good challenges when something seems to have gone away. DS gas had minimal allergic rxs to sunflower for 1 year now and finally gets his food challenge this summer,

 

Our previous dr in another state did the same thing. Scratch test, the blood. In time we did good challenges when blood tests were showing no allergy.

[walkermamaof4]

We did an IgG blood test for sensitivities. We used metametrix lab through a doctor. I have heard that metametrix tries to give no false positives, so anything they list should definitely be true. My friend's daughter is anaphylactic to many things. This test catches them and sensitivities. This friend has used both metametrix and great plains labs. If you google Great Plains Labs, they have a way to do their IgG cheaply without a doctor. She said the Great Plains one told them everything they already knew, nothing false, and the metametrix didn't catch everything. I think Great Plains missed something she hasn't eaten in a long time bc/ of severe anaphylactix to it.

 

I have to tell you that this was both eye opening and very hard for us as our son is sensitive to so many things. It does tell severity also, so we give him stuff he is mildly sensitive to sometimes. But his severe items we avoid and he does have physical reactions to the most severe.

 

For my daughter, she was having stomach aches every so often. We dropped gluten - no help. Dropped dairy - no help. Finally had her tested with an IgE since this was a true allergy and that was all that doctor would do anyway. It turns out she is allergic to sesame! I would have never figured this out, I do cook with it every so often though. The dumbest part is that her worst response ever was after eating chinese food. Duh! Still, we couldn't think through this well enough to guess that. She is also allergic to egg white. UGH. My son is allergic to egg too (she is biological and he is not so this is funny) and so we have really had to change our meals! One funny thing is that our son is allergic to everything the paleo AIP diet avoids anyway. So we sort of feed him that. I've considered just using the meal plan from that diet for a while.

 

HTH. Sorry you have to live this road. But we were thankful we tested our son. We found out he has leaky gut. I believe he would have gotten so much sicker if we had never pursued this. Things I read now link untreated leaky gut to some terrible diseases.

[HappyGrace]

Wow. I am stunned. I had no idea there was so much to the testing!

 

You all have been thru so much- HUGS all around to you all.

 

I guess I will get the scratch testing done, but then keep the IGG in mind to do too-I'm glad to know about Great Plains for that because it sounds like most regular docs won't do the IGG and naturopaths around here don't take insurance. I will have to read up on elimination diets too. My problems are sinus/ear related that set off other things (dizziness, etc.) and it's pretty nebulous to pin down so I'm not sure how to figure that out with elimination.

 

Please feel free to keep posting with experiences/thoughts-I am learning so much from it! Thanks!

[Plateau Mama]

 

For my daughter, she was having stomach aches every so often. We dropped gluten - no help. Dropped dairy - no help. Finally had her tested with an IgE since this was a true allergy and that was all that doctor would do anyway. It turns out she is allergic to sesame! I would have never figured this out, I do cook with it every so often though. The dumbest part is that her worst response ever was after eating chinese food. Duh! Still, we couldn't think through this well enough to guess that. She is also allergic to egg white. UGH. My son is allergic to egg too (she is biological and he is not so this is funny) and so we have really had to change our meals! One funny thing is that our son is allergic to everything the paleo AIP diet avoids anyway. So we sort of feed him that. I've considered just using the meal plan from that diet for a while.

 

 

I think Sesame is more common than thought. Probably because its not a common food. Both my kids tested positive to Sesame (and cranberries???), but I also have a friend who tested positive as well.

[sbgrace]

The best way to find intolerances is to keep a food diary while you rotate suspect foods in and out.

Some do an elimination diet. Those tests are controversial because blind testing just doesn't bear them out (ie the person tests differently ont he same test sent in with a different name type disturbing stuff if I recall). People come back with lots and lots of foods on the lists often. If it's as accurate as IGE (stardard allergy) testing, it would still have a 50% false positive rate. So I'm not a fan of the tests but I know some do love them.

 

The allergy tests are pretty good with ruling out actual allergic reactions (not intolerances) to most foods. In other words, negatives are usually accurate in terms of actual IGE mediated allergies. Positives, though, are 50% accurate. So you would use them to confirm a suspected allergen or you would follow up on positive results with a food challenge. If you can eat something without reaction, you're not allergic no matter what the test says. Environmental allergen testing has more accuracy to its positives in my understanding.

 

My son is anaphylactic to sesame. Unless things have changed that one has a high false negative rate (unusual in allergy testing). Meaning you can test negative when you still have a sesame allergy. It is a rising allergy. I believe Canada and the EU have it as a top allergen to be listed on labels.

[bluemongoose]

nicolepa- I am ana to cranberries! It is not very common for sure!

 

Happy Grace- We just did the scratch test after the blood test. When my DS was 2 we had the blood test done for peanuts and dairy, the two things he had reacted to with hives. The dairy was negative and the peanuts were positive, but a low value number. Our pedi (we did the test through his office) let him try cheese to make sure the dairy was really negative, and told us to steer clear of peanuts and tree nuts even though the test showed a lower number (just in case).

 

My son is now 4.5 and last week we did his first scratch test at an allergist after he had a serious reaction to who knows what. He tested moderatly allergic to cats and mold and severely allergic to peanuts and many of the tree nuts. The welts from the peanuts made many of the other allergen prick areas inconclusive because they were so huge that they ran over the top of the test sites. Since we knew that peanuts would be positive, we were only shocked at the severity. The other positives helped us to know because he has yet to have eaten them anyway, and now we can continue to keep him from them.

 

As for the test, he said "ow" while they pricked his back, but it was quick and he didnt even cry. The worst part was the waiting period after that. Fortunatly, they had a movie for him to watch, and I had to hold his hands so he didnt touch his back. He was begging to scratch!