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Multiple Food Allergies

bigapplekathleen

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bigapplekathleen Contributor
bigapplekathleen
Posted

Hi everyone,

I was diagnosed with celiac disease in August 2003 by blood test. At that time, I also reacted to 22 foods on the skin scratch tests. My reaction to the gluten-free diet was amazing - nearly everything medical problem I had cleared up. Then I started reacting to lots of things and developed stomach problems again (off and on). The PALEO diet was the only one that seemed to calm down my body. I have gone off and on this diet for the past year. IN Dec 2004, I was diagnosed with parasites and my stomach finally calmed down after taking the mebendazole. At that time, I also had a biopsy and it was perfectly fine (no sign of damage). Then a few weeks later, symptoms re-appeared with a vengeance. I saw my Celiac doctor again (one of the best ones) and he recommended more comprehensive food allergy testing and a gluten challenge. I just got the results of the food allergy tests and I am overwhelmed. I have strong allergies to EGG WHITE and BLACK PEPPER. I eat over a dozen egg whites per week (sometimes 2 dozen) and I eat pepper on everything. I also reacted to 40 other foods at a much more slight level. The biggest question I have is why I am reacting to foods I am eating on such a regular basis? This seems common of 'leaky gut' syndrome, from what I have read. I have been eating wheat again - little by little - but my first reaction was that I passed out from eating 2 pieces of pizza. Then I waited 2 more weeks and I have been consuming small amounts of wheat. I haven't reacted to any of the things in the past few days. I am shocked, stunned and not sure what to do with the test results. I kind of knew I might be allergic to egg, since I have had allergic reactions to vaccinations for the past 10 years or so. What do I do with all of this information? Should I really avoid the foods that were minor allergens? I don't know that I completely trust these RAST tests, but I know there's nothing better out there.

Sorry to vent...it's just so frustrating to keep dealing with allergy on top of allergy on top of allergy.

Kathleen

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gf4life Enthusiast
gf4life
Posted

Hi Kathleen,

What did the doctor tell you about avoiding the foods you tested mildly allergic to? I think I would probably try to cut out the eggs and pepper, but I think it is common to not necessarily totally cut out the other allergens, but to rotate them, so you are not eating them too often.

I've been wondering how you have been doing since you said the pizza made you pass out. E-mail me so we can talk more!

God bless,

Mariann

Carriefaith Enthusiast
Carriefaith
Posted

A lot of people with celiac disease have more than one problem. I react severely to gluten and lactose, and I just noticed lately that I am reacting to refined sugar.

I've also had those skin prick allergy tests and I think I tested postive to about 70% of the stuff they tested. Apparenty I'm allergic to every type of pollen they tested :o The skin prick test showed a postive reaction to wheat and yeast. I avoid wheat like crazy since I am celiac, however, I do eat things with yeast. I find that I don't really react to yeast.

My advice would be to stay gluten free since gluten actually causes physical damage and to try and avoid foods that seem to cause problems.

bigapplekathleen Contributor
bigapplekathleen
Posted
  • Author

Hi guys,

thanks for your replies. I am going to try avoiding the eggs and black pepper (though they are basically in EVERYTHING, aren't they?). I am back on wheat and will have another biopsy soon. Since I have been on wheat, I have had 2 infections. In fact, just came home from the walk-in clinic for an extremely sore throat. My immune system is not doing well...

I am planning to call my nutritionist and start a rotation diet. I have a great "allergy" cookbook with sample plans, but since my allergist wants me to avoid ALL (50+) of the foods I reacted to, I have to be really careful creating my plan. I will start to add the foods back in - one by one - after everything has settled down.

Thanks for your advice!

kathleen

Guest ajlauer
Guest ajlauer
Posted

When we found out about my daughter's food allergies, we kept saying "what CAN we feed her???" When we got the answer to that question, life became easier - meat, fruit, and veggies. Can you eat those things?? The first 5 days of her food challenge, she pretty much just ate fruit salad! I bought her some special (and expensive) cookies from www.glutenfreeforme.com so she could at least have 1 of her favorite "food groups".

Is your doctor saying you need to avoid those 50+ foods forever? Or just during a food challenge? Those tests surely aren't accurate enough to avoid it forever!

bigapplekathleen Contributor
bigapplekathleen
Posted
  • Author

HI,

Thanks for your reply. Your suggestion is a good one. I will go through my allergy-free cookbook (which has a great rotation diet) and highlight what I CAN eat and then go from there. I just emailed my nutritionist for help. HOpefully, she can give me an appt soon.

My allergist said I need to avoid all 50+ foods right now, but I will re-introduce them one at a time after everything calms down. I am in the midst of a gluten-challenge right now, so I am not sure this is a good time to deal with the other allergies. None of them are life-threatening, but it certainly is a quality of life issue. I am living off allergy pills right now as it is.

Thanks!

Kathleen

gluten-intolerant, allergic to 50+ foods, most medicines, latex

peripheral neuropathy, several other medical disorders loosely related to gluten intolerance

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    • Jason Hi
      Need Advice on Doctors

      By Jason Hi · Posted

      "Commit in a serious way to the gluten-free diet"....I've been Gluten-free since 2008. That's why I was so sick and had to take nausea and bloating medications during the gluten challenge week prior to the upper gastrointestinal endoscopy performed by the gastroenterologist. The "younger" doctor (the internal medicine who did the blood test), said the antibodies should remain in your system and you don't have to eat gluten (i.e., blood test last year). Hence my posting on finding a good doctor.
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      By trents · Posted

      Well, the next step would logically be to commit in a serious way to the gluten-free diet and see if you have significant improvement in your symptoms. You should see improvement very soon with regard to GI issues and within weeks if there are other symptoms if gluten is indeed the issue. If there is significant improvement after going gluten free, that would tell you that you must avoid gluten and given the test results you already have, the logical conclusion is NCGS. As I said, an NCGS diagnosis is arrived at by first ruling out celiac disease, which seems to have been done. Then you could go back to that doctor with the other evidence component (improvement of symptoms with gluten-free eating) and ask if he/she would now be willing to declare an official dx of NCGS and give you a note. Or, you could book an appointment with another doctor who could look at your test results online, together with symptom improvement after going gluten-free, who might be more cooperative. I would seek out a younger practitioner as they are more likely to not be operating on outdated info about gluten disorders. By the way, NCGS is about 10x more common than celiac disease. 
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    • trents
      Need Advice on Doctors

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome to the forum, @Jason Hi! First, we need to deal with some squishy terminology. There are two terms which are, unfortunately, used interchangeably and indiscriminately to refer to two different gluten-related disorders. The two terms are "gluten sensitive" and "gluten intolerant". Because these terms are used carelessly we are not certain what you mean when you say your doctor told you that your are likely "gluten sensitive". The actual medical terms for these two gluten disorders are: "celiac disease" and "Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity" or NCGS for short. The test you had run by the GI doc are intended to check for celiac disease. There is no test for NCGS. To arrive at a diagnosis of NCGS, celiac disease must first be ruled out.  Because these terms are used by many people interchangeably I'm not sure that your doctor, after running the tests, was intending for you to understand that he believes you have celiac disease or NCGS. So, to clear up the confusion, can you post the results of your blood test, not just the test scores but the reference ranges used by the lab analyzing the blood sample to determine negative/positive or normal/high? The difference between celiac disease and NCGS is that celiac disease damages the lining of the small bowel over time whereas NCGS does not. However, they may share many of the same gastro intestinal symptoms. Both need to be addressed with a gluten free diet but the tax breaks and work place accommodations you speak of would likely only accrue from an official celiac disease diagnosis. So, can you post the blood test results along with the reference ranges and also the endoscopy report. We can help you decipher whether or not the doc was suggesting you may have celiac disease or NCGS if you will do that.
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