Have my Enterolab results

[Cat Granny]

I sent my frozen poo to Texas on Tuesday, and got the results last night! Man they were quick!
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Fecal Anti-gliadin IgA 64 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-casein (cow’s milk) IgA 39 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-ovalbumin (chicken egg) IgA 29 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Fecal Anti-soy IgA 28 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)
Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods 40 Units (Normal Range is less than 10 Units)

While all of the foods tested can be immune-stimulating, the hierarchy of reactions detected were as follows:
Foods to which there was no significant immunological reactivity: None
Foods to which there was some immunological reactivity (+1): white potato
Foods to which there was moderate immunological reactivity (+2): Oat, Rice, Beef, Pork, Tuna, Almond, Walnut
Foods to which there was significant and/or the most immunological reactivity (+3): Corn, Chicken, Cashew

Grains:
Grain toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Corn
Grain toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Oat
Grain toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Rice

Meats:
Meat toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Chicken
Meat toward which you were next most immunologically reactive: Beef
Meat toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Pork
Meat toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Tuna

Nuts:
Nut toward which you displayed the most immunologic reactivity: Cashew
Nut toward which you displayed intermediate immunologic reactivity: Almond
Nut toward which you displayed the least immunologic reactivity: Walnut

Nightshades:
You displayed immunologic reactivity to white potato, the member of the nightshade family usually consumed most often and in greatest quantities. While this does not necessarily mean you would react to all other nightshade foods (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant), it is possible. In the realm of elimination diets for immunologic disorders, nightshades are usually eliminated as the entire food class (i.e., all four previously mentioned foods in this class). This is especially important to the clinical setting of arthritis.

I’m confused by this statement:
Interpretation of Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods: With respect to the mean value of the 11 foods tested, overall, there was only a modest amount of immunological reactivity detected to these antigenic foods in terms of fecal IgA production. My mean score was 40 - isn't that significant?

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I'm a diabetic. I have avoided rice, corn, etc. for many years. I am currently not on medication for diabetes and have managed to control it with my diet.

I am also currently in a flare. Started about the first of December. I've been eating bland food, like green beans, baked chicken and rice. We cook the rice, and then refrigerate it for several hours. Cooling the rice does seem to keep my glucose response lower. Now that my results are back, I am gonna have to rethink the chicken. My flare does seem to be less severe the last day or so. Fingers crossed.

My biggest concern right now is driving 9 hours to visit family over Christmas. Last week I reached out to my GI doctor. He said to avoid milk products, eat lots of fiber (!) and call him in a week. I will call him tomorrow. I would prefer he prescribe budesonide again so I will be "safer" for the trip and the four day visit. And no, I did not follow the fiber recommendation.

I have been reading lots of threads about Enterolab results. I would love some feedback and suggestions about my results. I just hate giving up cheese. Giving up gluten really doesn't bother me, it's the cheese. I would have never thought I would react to eggs, but there it is. I also had no idea soy was so prevalent in the foods we've been eating.

Nan

[tex]

I’m confused by this statement:
Interpretation of Mean Value 11 Antigenic Foods: With respect to the mean value of the 11 foods tested, overall, there was only a modest amount of immunological reactivity detected to these antigenic foods in terms of fecal IgA production. My mean score was 40 - isn't that significant?

40 is a very high score on that test. A high score on the 11 antigenic foods means that the individual results, and rankings of those foods are more likely to be especially important. While that may sound sort of strange, the importance of those respective foods and their test results diminishes as the overall result declines. If the overall score of those 11 antigenic foods turned out to be to be less than 10, for example, then for all practical purposes, the individual scores of all the foods in that category could be ignored, as those foods would likely have no significant effect as far as immune system reactions are concerned, implying that they could probably all be safely eaten without any risk of initiating a reaction.

That said, the results of this particular test (the 11 antigenic foods) are not chiseled in stone, and in some cases, certain foods might still cause reactions. In other words someone getting an overall score less than 10 on the 11 antigenic foods would still need to be aware of any possible reactions that might occur after eating any of the foods, and stop eating them if they do cause a reaction. With a score of 40, you can safely assume that virtually all of those foods will pose a reaction risk, if ingested.

If you need suggestions for alternative foods, you can find those in a newsletter published by the Microscopic Colitis Foundation a couple of years ago. You can read or download a copy at the following link:

https://www.microscopiccolitisfoundatio ... 479987.pdf

if I haven't adequately addressed your concerns, please let me know, and I'll try to explain in more detail.

Tex

[tex]

I forgot to mention, since you're sensitive to virtually all nuts (and rice), there aren't many alternative milk products left. You might be able to tolerate hemp milk, but the only real milk option would be milk from the cameloid family. Believe it or not, there are a number of camel dairies in various locations in the U.S.,and most of them sell their products online, so that even though camel milk is expensive, it can be ordered.

I hope this helps.

Tex

[Cat Granny]

Thank you for responding Tex. I think you are a treasure. Your knowledge and experience is so appreciated.

I admit I am feeling overwhelmed by all of this. I have a lot to think about.

[tex]

We all have to learn as we go. We sometimes make mistakes during our recovery, and have setbacks, but patience and perseverance gets us to remission.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

focus on removing the main triggers first. With time and when you are not travelling put more energy into adjusting your eating plan to limit intake of the middle level triggers.

Progress not perfection
make the changes at the pace you can handle.
We can not avoid every trigger 100%, every minute of the day.

a good long term 'liveable' MC Management plan is avoiding major triggers as much as possible, minimise contact with the others.
Dont overthink and get anxious about it.

[Cat Granny]

Thank you Gabes - that's exactly what I decided to do. I am avoiding the other triggers when I can.

My flare has calmed down considerably. This happened right as I received a new prescription for Budesonide from my GI. So I decided to wait and not take the medication. We went on four day trip to visit our kids. It's a 9 hour drive. And I did fine. I did take imodium to give myself extra confidence for the two driving days, and took half an imodium for a day trip the kids took us on. I'm back home now and feel okay. I am still not taking the Budesonide but just knowing I have it makes me feel better.

BTW, I'm so glad this site is back up again. I was worried I'd lost all my new friends!

Happy New Year to all of us!

[tex]

Somebody decided to celebrate Christmas by hacking this website, and getting it cleaned up and running again took more time than expected during the holidays.

Tex