I have no allergies at all

[Janeway]

 I have been suffering for years with allergies at least that’s what the doctor keeps telling me it is.  I’ve gone through so many different allergy medications and by earlier this summer I was feeling quite depressed over the whole thing.  I finally went to an actual allergist and spent the whole afternoon in allergy testing where they did little pricks in my back. I am allergic to nothing. Not one thing. The allergist, who has been around for many years and I already knew of and feel good about, told me to stop all allergy medications.  My eyes are all red and itchy today my skin is getting scaly my nose is running like crazy and I’m sneezing and wheezing a bunch. She even had me do a breathing treatment while I was in her office because I was so bad off. We are moving on to immune testing. I am a bit shocked. Anyone experience this?

[maize]

Allergy panels test for common allergens but there is no way you were tested for every possible allergen--the possibilities are endless.

[Janeway]

11 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

That was an environmental allergy test. It doesn’t rule out foods. 

Also, ime, the mold it tests for is the kind found outdoors following rainy weather. With your symptoms, I’d be having the inside of my home tested for mold. 

They tested for 72 allergens. Should I contact them back about the indoor stuff? Here is what the next testing is. ..Immunoglobulin ...4 different types, and a few other things plus a lung x-ray. I am thinking the Immuno testing will show also if there are some other allergies in there. I did ask about the food testing. My PCP did a blood test for food allergies years ago and only came up with one thing, something I actually do not eat.

[cjzimmer1]

I don't know how common this is but my DS had negative skin test to some things but then they were positive on the blood test.  I assume it's kind of like the rapid strep versus the throat culture strep.  Some things just don't show up right away.

[Teaching3bears]

I was having days of really bad nonstop sneezing. I tested negative to everything. The allergist said there are thousands of molds and they can't test for all of them and that I was probably allergic to some mold. Anyways, I think I had something going on with my immune system that made me sensitive. I don't have those episodes anymore. What helped: avoiding chemical hygiene and cleaning products, especially white soap for a while, eliminating sugar from my diet for a long time, eating whole foods, avoiding pollution from cars, drinking lots of water. Yoga can help too.

There were a couple of times when I stayed in places that had mildew and symptoms resurfaced.

Overall, I don't think it was one thing that was causing problems but not using white soap for a while really helped. Now I can use it again. With the symptoms you described I wonder if one of your products is bothering you.

[Guest]

I think looking into autoimmune disorder is a wise tactic. 

[catz]

41 minutes ago, Teaching3bears said:

I was having days of really bad nonstop sneezing. I tested negative to everything. The allergist said there are thousands of molds and they can't test for all of them and that I was probably allergic to some mold. Anyways, I think I had something going on with my immune system that made me sensitive. I don't have those episodes anymore. What helped: avoiding chemical hygiene and cleaning products, especially white soap for a while, eliminating sugar from my diet for a long time, eating whole foods, avoiding pollution from cars, drinking lots of water. Yoga can help too.

There were a couple of times when I stayed in places that had mildew and symptoms resurfaced.

Overall, I don't think it was one thing that was causing problems but not using white soap for a while really helped. Now I can use it again. With the symptoms you described I wonder if one of your products is bothering you.

I had a simiilar thing where I had lots of allergy symptoms but didn't test allergic to anything.  Cleaning up my diet, regular exercise, good stress management help. So does a quality multi vitamin and probiotics.  Regular use of elderberry has helped me.  I use a flax based fiber for IBS.  

It still will flare occasionally but much better than it was at one time. 

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I can't imagine this would *not* be the case but I will mention just in case:  any skin prick allergy test should also include pricking you with pure histamine to be sure your skin is reactive to skin allergy testing.  You should have gotten a positive for pure histamine- did you?  If not, the test was performed wrong or you are not a good subject for skin allergy testing.  

[vonfirmath]

10 hours ago, Janeway said:

 I have been suffering for years with allergies at least that’s what the doctor keeps telling me it is.  I’ve gone through so many different allergy medications and by earlier this summer I was feeling quite depressed over the whole thing.  I finally went to an actual allergist and spent the whole afternoon in allergy testing where they did little pricks in my back. I am allergic to nothing. Not one thing. The allergist, who has been around for many years and I already knew of and feel good about, told me to stop all allergy medications.  My eyes are all red and itchy today my skin is getting scaly my nose is running like crazy and I’m sneezing and wheezing a bunch. She even had me do a breathing treatment while I was in her office because I was so bad off. We are moving on to immune testing. I am a bit shocked. Anyone experience this?

 

I've always heard that symptoms outrule negative tests on allergy tests.

IE if your symptoms are showing you allergic it doesn't matter if the test comes back negative.

 

[PrincessMommy]

12 hours ago, Janeway said:

 I have been suffering for years with allergies at least that’s what the doctor keeps telling me it is.  I’ve gone through so many different allergy medications and by earlier this summer I was feeling quite depressed over the whole thing.  I finally went to an actual allergist and spent the whole afternoon in allergy testing where they did little pricks in my back. I am allergic to nothing. Not one thing. The allergist, who has been around for many years and I already knew of and feel good about, told me to stop all allergy medications.  My eyes are all red and itchy today my skin is getting scaly my nose is running like crazy and I’m sneezing and wheezing a bunch. She even had me do a breathing treatment while I was in her office because I was so bad off. We are moving on to immune testing. I am a bit shocked. Anyone experience this?

Yes!! My daughter had the same result as you.  She has no allergies.    She has terrible asthma - esp in spring and fall.  The weird thing about asthma as that when she was having an attack that required an ER visit, her oxygen levels were fine but she couldn't breath.   The nurses would sometimes accuse her of faking it.    She 's been dairy free for eczema for over a year and recently tried going off gluten, but it didn't help.  

She was officially diagnosed with EDS about a month ago (she's long suspected).  There seems to be a link to the symptoms we hadn't connected to EDS - esp. lung and skin issues.   The EDS specialist rec Zyrtec for the skin issues and it seems to be helping!  

[sweet2ndchance]

Did you stop taking any and all allergy medications before the allergy panel was done?

I couldn't do the allergy panel because I couldn't make it 3 days without allergy medicine much less the week they wanted me to have no allergy medicines at all before doing the allergy panel. If you have antihistamines in your system at all before an allergy panel, it will skew the results. Since I was nearly hospitalized with asthma symptoms just 3 days in to stopping antihistamines for the allergy panel, my allergist deemed it unsafe for me to do the allergy panel.

They had to do the blood tests for me instead which aren't always as accurate as an allergy panel. The blood test showed I was anaphylactically allergic to tomatoes, but not all nightshades. It showed I was not allergic to shellfish but my symptoms say otherwise (mouth and throat swelling). It also said I was allergic to peanuts but I've never had a reaction to peanuts so I'm allowed to eat them. While they didn't do a blood test for it, I am also allergic to molds and mildew, most pollens, dust mites, naproxen sodium (Aleve) and iodine based on shellfish allergy. These are all based on symptoms and not a test and what my allergist lists as my allergens.

Edited August 6, 2019 by sweet2ndchance

[mominco]

5 hours ago, Teaching3bears said:

especially white soap for a while, eliminating sugar from my diet for a long time, eating whole foods, avoiding pollution from cars, drinking lots of water. Yoga can help too.

Janeway  don't mean to hijack your thread but Teaching3bears what soap  did you use instead?My Ds is looking for options.Thanks

 

[mominco]

Janeway my son has allergies and many of them showed up on a blood test more than the skin test.With the skin test they found out he has a peanut allergy but he has never showed any symptoms.So there's that!

[prairiewindmomma]

This has happened to a few family members and friends.

1. In one instance, person was allergic to things not initially tested for (sodium laurel sulfates)

2. In another instance, person had an overall histamine (autoimmune issue) problem not tied to a specific trigger

3. In another instance, person (a friend) said it was a fungal issue triggering it all. 

I assume you had been off all allergy meds for 2-3 weeks previously and that you had a positive control test?

[kbutton]

I had a family member test as allergic to only two items, but he had tons of sinus problems that acted allergy-like. Twenty years later, they tested again, and he was allergic to EVERYTHING and got shots.

I think immune testing is a great idea.

Elimination diets are sort of slippery slope--they can make you feel better, but if there is no "why" behind what you find out, it's easy to get into really restricted eating. It leaves you in a gray area, and unless you have a really understanding allergist, it makes visits unpleasant. 

[Teaching3bears]

On 8/6/2019 at 1:44 PM, mominco said:

 

Sorry, I just saw this mominco.  I used either glycerine soaps or soap from the health food store that was not white.

[mamakelly]

Did the control spot red red and itchy? You should have had at least one spot that was red and itchy, the “control” spot. That’s how you know the test was run correctly. 

Also did you stay off all allergy meds for 2 weeks before the test? If you didn’t, that would definitely affect it. 

[Melissa in Australia]

my Dh - who has Multiple Chemical Sensitivities does not have a histamine reaction. pre diagnosis that was very tricky as he went to a normal allergest who gave him the typical histamine skin prick test - told him there was nothing wrong with him that he problems were because I was pregnant with our 3rd child and as DH was a third child he was having mental problems ??????

 we then managed to get a referral to an  specialist allergist who not only did skin prick tests for histamine reactions but ran other tests including blind drops under the tongue. These tests were able to identify that DH has a very strong reaction to Petrochemicals . these reactions include yawning, feeling chilled, nose and eyes running, extremely irritable, extreme fatigue and occasionally passing out. Basically he turns into a zombie.

for DH these are not histamine reactions - so will not cause anaphylactic  shock and can not be treated with antihistamines - rather they are sensitivities that can only be treated by avoidance. We have done huge lifestyle changes to make avoidance mostly possible. And now he can handle small amounts of exposure , not get as ill and only takes a day or so to recover

 

[1GirlTwinBoys]

On 8/5/2019 at 11:00 PM, Janeway said:

 I have been suffering for years with allergies at least that’s what the doctor keeps telling me it is.  I’ve gone through so many different allergy medications and by earlier this summer I was feeling quite depressed over the whole thing.  I finally went to an actual allergist and spent the whole afternoon in allergy testing where they did little pricks in my back. I am allergic to nothing. Not one thing. The allergist, who has been around for many years and I already knew of and feel good about, told me to stop all allergy medications.  My eyes are all red and itchy today my skin is getting scaly my nose is running like crazy and I’m sneezing and wheezing a bunch. She even had me do a breathing treatment while I was in her office because I was so bad off. We are moving on to immune testing. I am a bit shocked. Anyone experience this?

How can he do allergy testing if you're on allergy medication??  My DD had to be off all allergy meds for at least two weeks before they would test her. Even other OTC can interfere with the results.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

2 hours ago, mamakelly said:

Did the control spot red red and itchy? You should have had at least one spot that was red and itchy, the “control” spot. That’s how you know the test was run correctly. 

Also did you stay off all allergy meds for 2 weeks before the test? If you didn’t, that would definitely affect it. 

Exactly!

[Janeway]

11 hours ago, 1GirlTwinBoys said:

How can he do allergy testing if you're on allergy medication??  My DD had to be off all allergy meds for at least two weeks before they would test her. Even other OTC can interfere with the results.

I had to go off the medications for a week before the testing. BUT, I will say, the medications never made much difference. They put me on prednisone again and I am doing better. Still waiting for the results of the blood tests.

 

Also..I asked if maybe I had not been off long enough and they said they did a "control" test too...which would have told them if the test was not valid.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Janeway

[G5052]

Keep in mind that allergy doctors do have some limitations. It is not as exact as some fields of medicine are.

I had allergy shots for years where I came from, and when I moved, I went to an allergy doctor who tested me and said I had no allergies. I went off of all medications because he said that I wasn't allergic any more.

Then a few years down the road, I had to go back on asthma medication. And then I had one-by-one add medication again. I was getting so frustrated that I went to an allergy doc who specialized in asthma.

She was livid that my asthma wasn't at all under control and that I was allergic to so many things just in skin testing. So I'm back on shots and struggling to manage my asthma. I worked at a department store that had a horrible black mold problem, and it really messed me up. 

Keep at it though. I'm certainly better than I was despite a set-back because of work. Thankfully I don't work there any more.

[Sharon77]

I would check for intestinal parasites. And not using the traditional tests. Find a integrative medical doctor.

With the globalization of our food supply (i.e.bagged salad from Chile) parasites are much more common in the US than people realize. 

[mominco]

16 hours ago, Teaching3bears said:

Sorry, I just saw this mominco.  I used either glycerine soaps or soap from the health food store that was not white.

Not a problem,I did not think of glycerin soaps.Worth a try,Thank you!