Will food sensitivities wane? Attention Polly & Tex

[ldubois7]

I was thinking about what I eat, today.

I was hoping to be able to eat out sporadically again...it's been almost 3 years!
I have reintroduced small salads....raw veggies! yay! So, that's something I can get out, but I eat only wild game meat for protein.....so, I didn't know if those of you who have been healing for a long time have ever tried something you reacted highly to on Enterolab.
I reacted #3 to chicken, beef, tuna & rice, oats, and #2 to pork, almonds.

Is there any reason to try the Enterolab test again to see if my body isn't making antibodies to any of these foods?

I know that Polly had a clean colonoscopy with no MC detected last year. Polly, do you eat out? If so, how do you choose the foods?

[tex]

Is there any reason to try the Enterolab test again to see if my body isn't making antibodies to any of these foods?

I would think that you would need to be eating the foods for the tests to be reliable, but you might call or email the Lab to verify that. I could be wrong.

Theoretically, the secondary sensitivities (other than gluten, dairy, soy, and eggs) should eventually fade, but it might take additional time.

Tex

[ldubois7]

Thanks, Tex.

I had wondered because when I tested #3 for beef, it was a surprise, because I never ate beef and #2 for pork because I never ate pork either.....but, I would be willing to do so now, because I could get it at my grocery store, or eat it out at restaurants, and it is easier to obtain then wild game meats.

[ldubois7]

Tex,

I got a reply from Enterolab as far as retesting. This might be helpful to others.

Response: Dear Linda, We normally recommended retesting about 2 years after elimination of the foods from the diet. This might be the first best step in deciding which foods to begin reintroducing to the diet so that you are not guessing. Please let us know if you have further questions. Sincerely, Phyllis Zermeno, RN, BSN Clinical Manager

[dfpowell]

Linda,

Where do you get your wild game meats?

Thanks,

[tex]

Linda,

That's extremely informative. Thanks for sharing that information.

Tex

[ldubois7]

Here is the additional question that I asked, and was answered today, that I forgot to ask until I reread Tex's comment above.....

MY ADDITIONAL QUESTION IS: Could you also tell me if I need to be eating the foods that I reacted to the first time I tested with Enterolab, for it to register as an antibody reaction to the protein two years later, on a subsequent test? THANKS!

Response: Linda, We would actually rather that you test on your current diet. The rationale for this is that there is no concrete rule of thumb that says you must eat a certain food for a certain length of time in order for the body to begin producing antibodies again. It may take months before you see an increase in the antibody count again after you have already decreased it significantly. Therefore, testing now would allow us to know if the existing antibodies have cycled out of your system and that your system has stopped producing new antibodies to those foods you have removed. Sincerely, Phyllis Zermeno, RN, BSN Clinical Manager

[ldubois7]

Donna,

I live in Pennsylvania, so venison is plentiful. We are a hunting area, so I also know people who hunt elk, too. I have not had moose yet, but I hear it is fantastic.

My animal proteins consist of organic turkey, venison, elk, and cod or haddock.

There are places online that sell wild game meat, too. I have looked into them in case I get low.

[Polly]

Hi Linda!

I was diagnosed way before Enterolab offered all of those food sensitivity tests. They offered only gluten and yeast when I sent them a stool sample. The rest I determined myself or with the help of MRT many years later (mediated release test). I have not been able to add back in any of the major offending proteins - gluten, dairy, soy. I have been able to add in some of the "yellow" foods on MRT like tomato (raw, not in sauce), carrot, cucumber, a rare white potato. I have not been able to add in "red" foods like yellow squash or sesame.

I do eat out but only at places I know I can trust. I usually get plain chicken or beef, a sweet potato, and a salad or well-cooked broccoli. I often take my own food (sweet potato, salad dressing, etc.) if I know there is little I can eat.

I did have a clean colonoscopy 10 years after diagnosis, but came down with a wicked flare shortly thereafter. So, unfortunately, a clean biopsy does not equal the end of MC. Sigh.

Thanks for the Enterolab info.

Polly

[Lilja]

Response: Linda, We would actually rather that you test on your current diet. The rationale for this is that there is no concrete rule of thumb that says you must eat a certain food for a certain length of time in order for the body to begin producing antibodies again. It may take months before you see an increase in the antibody count again after you have already decreased it significantly. Therefore, testing now would allow us to know if the existing antibodies have cycled out of your system and that your system has stopped producing new antibodies to those foods you have removed. Sincerely, Phyllis Zermeno, RN, BSN Clinical Manager
[/i]

Hi,
I understand your question to Enterolab, but I don't understand their reply, i.e. "We would actually rather that you test on your current diet".

If you are on a restricted diet, how can you test possible offenders by using your current diet?

Or, do they mean that you don't have to send samples to the laboratory, you just test on your own at home?

Maybe this is only a linguistic problem to me.

Lilia

[tex]

If you are on a restricted diet, how can you test possible offenders by using your current diet?

IMO, you are correct — one cannot test foods that one is not eating now, and expect the results to accurately reflect the risk of reactions in the distant future. One can only test them for current risk. IOW, I believe what Phyllis is saying is that if your antibody levels to those foods is now below the threshold at which a reaction would be triggered, then they can be safely reintroduced, and they may continue to be safe in the future. However, I doubt that future safety can be guaranteed. That may depend on the overall level of healing that has occurred, and other factors.

At least that's the way that I view this situation.

Tex

[dfpowell]

The confusing part of Phyllis' response, to me, is the following:

"Therefore, testing now would allow us to know if the existing antibodies have cycled out of your system and that your system has stopped producing new antibodies to those foods you have removed. Sincerely, Phyllis Zermeno, RN, BSN Clinical Manager"

I understand the part about existing antibodies cycling out of your system, but don't understand how you can test for antibodies if you don't eat the foods. How can your system be making new antibodies if you have not eaten eat that food in many months. I showed positive to foods I had not been eating in over a year?

Thanks,

[tex]

Donna,

Our immune system continues to produce antibodies long after a threat is gone. This is why vaccines are effective. If the immune system did not continue to produce those antibodies, then those vaccines would quickly cease to provide protection (because the immune system would have no way to identify that particular pathogen). IOW, an antibody has to attach to a pathogen in order to "flag" it as an enemy, or the rest of the "soldiers" in the immune system will just ignore it and it will probably escape detection.

Anyway, that's why the adaptive immune system continues to produce antibodies for a relatively long time after the threat is gone. And since everyone is different, there's no way to predict how long any particular individual will continue to produce a given type of antibody.

I hope I haven't just confused the issue.

Tex

[Sheila]

I retested Enterlab for soy and eggs about 3 years after the initial positive test. I tested positive again and at almost the same numbers. Being able to tolerate a little soy would have made life easier and I miss eggs so much. Sigh.

Sheila W

[tex]

Linda,

On a whim (or maybe inspired by your post) the last time I was at a decent-sized grocery store I picked up some macadamia nuts to try. Previously, I seemed to react to all nuts and nut butters (but I don't recall ever trying macadamia nuts before).

I tried a few the first day, a few more on the second day, etc., and after 4 or 5 days I seem to be able to handle them OK. I also picked up some cashews and almonds, and some almond butter at the same time (which I haven't been able to tolerate previously). I reckon I'll try one of them next.

I noticed that when I was having the antibiotic/magnesium deficiency reaction that fat in my diet caused worse-than-usual digestive problems (and sure enough, the inability to properly digest and absorb fats is listed as another symptom of magnesium deficiency). For years, I've had to limit my fat intake because of digestive problems, so presumably that's additional evidence that I've had a chronic problem with magnesium deficiency that dates back to my first surgery (over 9 years ago). But the problem has become worse over the years, even as I've increased my magnesium supplementation.

Anyway, my point is that if I can absorb enough magnesium, I may be able to eat nuts again. So far so good, but I still have a lot of experimenting to do. Today I also ate a snack consisting of a sizable serving of greasy (Lay's) potato chips, without any apparent GI distress so far, something that I haven't been able to do (get away with) for a few years.

I'll let you know how this plays out (or fizzles out, as the case may be).

Tex