Enterolab Results are in

[birdlover3]

Barb, I totally sympathize with how overwhelmed you must feel.

When I was DX, I was taking Celexa, which I had to stop, since SSRIs seem to aggravate MC, and have been taking Wellbutrin since then with good results, along with alprazolam as needed for anxiety.

I, too, felt extremely discouraged at the outset of my MC journey. But it has turned out to be a very manageable thing, thanks in large part to the folks on this board. To me, it is crucial to find ways to manage stress, which I have found aggravates my MC a lot. Exercise has done that for me.

I have found giving up gluten to be a relatively easy thing because of how good I felt fairly soon after I did it. I did Entocort/budesonide and it was immensely helpful toward relieving symptoms while I got diet under control.

I recommend a magazine called Living Without to help you get started with GF living. There is another magazine called Gluten Free Delight, but I like Living Without better.

You have found a great community here. No question will go unanswered, and everyone knows how you're feeling.

Wow...thank you so much for your kind words and experience. I'm sorry that your labs didn't tell the whole story for you, but glad that you seem to be finding your way.

If the Prozac decides to cause "D" I'll suggest the Wellbutrin to my Doctor since Tex also said that others had found that to be good. I'm hoping since it didn't cause a problem before that it won't again. I'll Look up the "Living Without" magazine. I think if I can get some good ideas on foods and feel more positively about it, I won't feel so overwhelmed.

Do you post on the recipes page?

Again, I appreciate your comments....Barb

[birdlover3]

Pat and I are in the same boat. Not IgA-deficient, but the labs don't show any sensitivity. However, as you can see from my profile, I am grain-free, legume-free, dairy-free, and egg-free because of my experience with them over the last couple of years. I don't "experiment", but on occasion, I accidentally discover that I am not as well as I think I am.

Marliss,
That is a real bummer. I guess I may find out more than I thought as things go along. Do you keep a food journal or just remember in your head when something you ate gave you problems? Barb

[birdlover3]

Barb,

Here's one place where you can find hundreds of good, tasty, gluten-free recipes:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7

And here is a list of foods and ingredients that may contain gluten, so we have to avoid them:

http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=733

Tex

Thank you Tex...this is very helpful! Barb

[jgivens]

I am wondering what the percentage is of people who get results from Enterolab that does not match up with what they experience after they have eaten an offending food. Tex, are there any stats on this?

[JeanIrene]

Jane, the only thing that surprised me on my Enterolab testing was beef. I seemed to do fine with it, had it a couple times a week, but it showed up as a food toward which I displayed the most immunological reactivity, right there with tuna, which I knew I couldn't tolerate. Also, I stayed away from oats but ate rice, and both grains showed up as displaying the most reactivity. But I did seem to feel better when I gave up all grains entirely.

[jgivens]

I certainly can understand positive results and thinking that you have no reaction. I would rather it err on the side of caution than tell me that I am not sensitive when my experience is the opposite. One starts to wonder how valid the testing is.

[birdlover3]

I certainly can understand positive results and thinking that you have no reaction. I would rather it err on the side of caution than tell me that I am not sensitive when my experience is the opposite. One starts to wonder how valid the testing is.

Well, this is certainly disappointing to hear these things after spending all this money....

[MBombardier]

Barb, I know just how you feel about spending all that money and having results that may or may not line up with experience. But I am sure that they will prove helpful anyway, in some form or another. The best money I spent was on the gene testing. I found out that I have two genes, and passed down one to each of my kids. My oldest has autoimmune hepatitis, which is liver damage caused by gluten, and she would not have had that diagnosis if she had not told the MD about my gene testing. My youngest, who struggled with severe ADD and acne, improved enormously in both areas when we took her off gluten because of my gene testing.

I kept a food journal for a while when I thought I was reacting to everything, but then I just went back to the standard chicken soup with carrots and applesauce because keeping a pooh diary is so time-consuming. I finally decided to focus on what I can eat, which is basically Paleo. Nowadays, when it sounds like WWIII in my gut I know I have eaten something I shouldn't, and it's usually quite easy to figure out the culprit.

My lifesaver has been Pinterest. There are some really talented cooks out there who are dealing with the same intolerances we are, and who blog. Sooner or later, their recipes are pinned, and I see them. My profile there is MBombardier if you are on there and want to look at my boards. I've pinned many more recipes than I have tried, of course.

It's coming up Spring, and last year I had a horrible time with my food when I was reacting to the usual allergy suspects. But I have high hopes that this year things will be better. We'll see...

I love your Cockatiel picture. We have a gorgeous lutino which doesn't have a bald spot. She can't be shown because she doesn't have a leg band, but I have considered breeding her. She is spoiled rotten.

[tex]

Jean,

I just noticed that you didn't list the numerical score for your test of those 11 additional foods (at least the number isn't included in the records we keep on them — maybe I just failed to copy it from your post). That score determines whether or not any of the relative rankings of those foods is important, or irrelevant. If the score is well below 10, then even the main ones are not likely to be much of a problem. But if the score is significantly above 10, then the top ranking foods are much more likely to cause problems.

Tex

[tex]

Jane,

I'm not aware of any statistics on how well EnteroLab test results meet expectations. Judging by the comments, the results typically come out pretty much as expected for the main tests.

Tests results for the 11 additional antigenic foods often don't correlate as well, because for one thing, most people seem to have a lot of trouble comprehending what those test results actually indicate. Most people seem to ignore the actual numerical score for the overall test, for example, and that oversight causes them to misinterpret the other results, because that numerical score trumps the other results, and determines whether they are actually important, or irrelevant.

With the exception of those who are IgA deficient, and unaware of it before they order the tests, as best I can determine, the better the tests are understood, the more satisfied users seem to be. IOW, those who don't understand the tests are more likely to disagree with, or be dissatisfied with the results.

And then there are some who think that all test results should be 100 % accurate. Any engineer can tell you that there is no such thing as a perfect test, and there never will be. Most medical tests seem to run in the 80–90 % reliable range, but some are much worse (such as the blood tests for celiac disease), and I'm sure that a few are probably a bit better.

Tex

[jgivens]

Thanks, Tex, that makes me feel better about doing the testing. I really believe that it is the only way to figure out my insensitivities. I would just hate for that horribly arrogant allergist I saw, who said, " People just like to get tested and be told they have a lot of intolerances--it makes them feel better to tell their friends about it," to be right!

I think that I am going to request that Enterolab send a hard copy of my test scores to my gastroenterologist as well as to me because I think it may be a good education for him.

Marliss-I would like to know more about your child with ADD and how going gluten free has helped her. My husband and both of our children are ADHD, though they all lack the real "H" part of it. Our son suffers from nearly debilitating depression that takes his life over from anywhere to 3-10 days out of a month. He is reluctant to take SSRIs because his gut reacts to foods much the same way mine does. That is a big reason why I am having the genetic testing done.

[tex]

We have at least one member of the board who tested negative for MC on biopsy, and who also tested negative to all food sensitivities (no-more-muffins). If that allergist is so smart, he or she can easily expose EnteroLab as a hoax, simply by setting up a little research project based on sending them stool samples from people known to have no food sensitivities (as proven by negative ELISA testing of colonic mucosal biopsy samples). If most of the results come back positive, then he or she has them dead to right. I can guarantee you that he or she would be wasting his or her time and money, though, because EnteroLab couldn't have hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers if they were not offering legitimate tests. They have accrued a lot more satisfied clients than he or she has, that's for sure. LOL.

Tex

[JeanIrene]

Tex, I didn't get a numerical ranking on the eleven other foods. It listed tuna, oat, beef and rice as "most immunologic reactivity", corn and white potato as intermediate. Under grains, most reactivity was oat, second rice, third corn. Under meats, tuna came in as most reactive and beef, "next most."

I figured it was best to avoid all foods for which there was reactivity, even if it was listed as "least". Am I right about this. I am trying to eat only those foods that came in with "no significant" reactivity, in my case, chicken, almond, cashew, pork and walnut.

Jean

[JFR]

Hi Jean,

My Enterolab results contained this line :

Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 38 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

Then it lists which foods are most to least reactive.

From looking at the other people's results it seems that everyone gets this kind of numerical average. Are you sure that you don't have the same info in your results?

Jean (the other one)

[JeanIrene]

Jean, thank you so much! I skipped right over that line and went directly to gliadin. Leave it to another Jean to enlighten me!

I have: Mean value 11 Antigenic Foods 11 units (normal range is less than 10)

Tex, I wonder with this number being fairly low, could this be the reason I did not get a reaction to beef even though it was listed as most reactive?

Jean