Enterolab testing versus elimination diets
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Enterolab testing versus elimination diets
Hello everyone, I haven't been on the site lately, so I hope everyone is doing well. This question is directed to Tex, however, I would appreciate advice from anyone. I have been out of remission for about two months now and my symptoms are absolutely horrible, severe D with undigested small bits of food and it's watery, gritty, or foamy. I remember reading about Enterolab tests for food sensitivities and I have looked at their website. Does anyone recommend a specific test? It seems that Panel A & C tests for everything, should I get that one just to make sure. It tests for Gluten, Dairy, Meat, Nuts, Other Grains, etc. I think it's the most expensive, however, I am desperate to figure this out at this point. So, does anyone recommend paying for the test or just try elimination diets?
Hi,
Sorry to hear that you're dealing with a flare. If you can spare the money, Panel A + C is a good combination of tests, and it provides a lot of information for the money. My favorite is Panel B, (to include the gene test), and this covers most of the primary food-sensitivities, at a lower cost. Panel A does not include the gene test, so it provides the basic tests at a significantly lower cost.
You can't go too far wrong with either one, but of course, if you can afford the expense of Panel A + C, it definitely provides the most information. Compared with determining your food-sensitivities by elimination trials, those tests tend to save a lot of time and frustration, because they provide some solid evidence upon which to make your diet decisions.
Back when I was at the point where you are now, I wasn't even aware of Enterolab, and it took me a year and a half of trial and error testing, before I finally figured out all of my food-sensitivities.
Tex
Sorry to hear that you're dealing with a flare. If you can spare the money, Panel A + C is a good combination of tests, and it provides a lot of information for the money. My favorite is Panel B, (to include the gene test), and this covers most of the primary food-sensitivities, at a lower cost. Panel A does not include the gene test, so it provides the basic tests at a significantly lower cost.
You can't go too far wrong with either one, but of course, if you can afford the expense of Panel A + C, it definitely provides the most information. Compared with determining your food-sensitivities by elimination trials, those tests tend to save a lot of time and frustration, because they provide some solid evidence upon which to make your diet decisions.
Back when I was at the point where you are now, I wasn't even aware of Enterolab, and it took me a year and a half of trial and error testing, before I finally figured out all of my food-sensitivities.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Sorry to hear that you're having D.
I did basically panels A&C plus the genetic testing (they were organized a little differently back then). I believe the info in Panel C is helpful, but it is less critical than the gluten, dairy, eggs, and soy info - because those are most likely to be the offenders, and the sooner you know, the sooner you can get back on track. For me - and this may not be a general rule - my reaction to walnuts (for example) and the other items from panel C is far less drastic than my response to gluten and dairy.
Also, the Panel C results are meant to help you to organize and prioritize an elimination diet - you still have to test the foods, at some level, except perhaps for those to which you test as "most reactive" (which at your stage you might as well avoid rather than prolong your symptoms!). And of course, you can do an elimination diet on those foods on your own, but that test is only possible when you get the brakes on the runaway symptoms, and those are almost always gluten and dairy.
If you plan to test soon, you can cut out gluten and dairy now, and your test results will still be valid. If you will be waiting a while - you can still cut out gluten right now! Those antibodies stay around for a very long time. Depending how long you plan to wait, you might not want to cut out dairy right away. (But I can tell you that my dairy result was clearly positive, after 3 months without dairy or gluten in my diet, and my gluten result was through the roof!)
If you don't feel better in a day or two, you have little to lose from dropping gluten from your diet. It's not like there's much nutrition in there anyway!
The kind of D you're describing is debilitating, and the longer it goes on the longer it might take you to start feeling better, and the greater your risk of other possible consequences, such as dehydration, malabsorption, etc.
Wishing you health,
Sara
I did basically panels A&C plus the genetic testing (they were organized a little differently back then). I believe the info in Panel C is helpful, but it is less critical than the gluten, dairy, eggs, and soy info - because those are most likely to be the offenders, and the sooner you know, the sooner you can get back on track. For me - and this may not be a general rule - my reaction to walnuts (for example) and the other items from panel C is far less drastic than my response to gluten and dairy.
Also, the Panel C results are meant to help you to organize and prioritize an elimination diet - you still have to test the foods, at some level, except perhaps for those to which you test as "most reactive" (which at your stage you might as well avoid rather than prolong your symptoms!). And of course, you can do an elimination diet on those foods on your own, but that test is only possible when you get the brakes on the runaway symptoms, and those are almost always gluten and dairy.
If you plan to test soon, you can cut out gluten and dairy now, and your test results will still be valid. If you will be waiting a while - you can still cut out gluten right now! Those antibodies stay around for a very long time. Depending how long you plan to wait, you might not want to cut out dairy right away. (But I can tell you that my dairy result was clearly positive, after 3 months without dairy or gluten in my diet, and my gluten result was through the roof!)
If you don't feel better in a day or two, you have little to lose from dropping gluten from your diet. It's not like there's much nutrition in there anyway!
The kind of D you're describing is debilitating, and the longer it goes on the longer it might take you to start feeling better, and the greater your risk of other possible consequences, such as dehydration, malabsorption, etc.Wishing you health,
Sara
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draperygoddess
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I did the Panel B (big 4 plus the genetic test), after I had gone GF/DF and still wasn't feeling as well as I would have liked. I agree with Sara, though--regardless of what test you do, don't wait for the results to start eliminating at least gluten from your diet! It can take several weeks to get those results, and meanwhile you could be feeling much better by avoiding one or two food categories. My plan was to do the big 4 first, then see if I felt I needed to test for the panel C later (if I was still having unexplained symptoms and couldn't figure it out on my own).
Cynthia
"Can we fix it? YES WE CAN!" -Bob the Builder
"Can we fix it? YES WE CAN!" -Bob the Builder