Elimination diet vs GI overload of allergens. Feedback?

[Camie]

Think out of the box for a minute and think with me. Imagine this scenario. I suspect I might have a gluten allergy. For one day or maybe even several days I eat every high gluten food I can find and nothing else. If I were allergic I would have an immediate reponsne. Same with soy or any other food. If you flood your system with food you suspect are allergens you should have an immediate allergic response. Seems quicker than gradually adding suspect foods to your diet. It is much like allergy testing. Expose yourself to the allergen and see what happens. Just a thought.

I think I am going to try it. If i were a highschool kid it would be an interesting project for a science fair! :)

[wmonique2]

Camie,

Today I received my results from enterolab where I tested for gluten and other allergens......I am highly allergic to gluten, rated very high on the chart. Shocking to me.

Until recently I ate EVERYTHING all my life. Bread, pasta, pastries everyday. I NEVER had a reaction to any of it for my entire life.

So your scenario, from my point of view, wouldn't work. You may not react to anything but the damage you do to your intestines is real.

I was SO surprised to see my tests results today. I didn't think I was gluten sensitive and never had any reason to believe so.

Regards,

Monique

[Camie]

Good point. I never thought about that. Your right. It is just the musings of a mind that is really tired of being sick. I am sure you understand. Got to keep looking for a solution. Thanks for your input. Damn I am tired. Waiting for a kid to come home before i can sleep. Thanks for your support..........and for all on this forum. It validates me. I am not crazy!!!!! I am not lazy.!!!!!

[mbeezie]

Camie.

I like thinking out of the box too and oh how I wish that were true as we would so easily be able to discern our trouble foods. Gluten sensitivity is not a true allergy and by allergy I mean an IgE response that potentially can lead to anaphylaxis in susceptible individuals, and can happen within a few minutes of ingestion of an offending food. There is such a thing as wheat allergy though. Gluten sensitivity is a delayed response. In fact, most of the food we are sensitive to are delayed responses. Delayed response reactions can happen within a few hours and up to a few days. When my son ingests corn he gets explosive diarrhea 24 hours later, not imemdiately. We couldn't figure this out until we had him tested with MRT. Gluten sensitivity also has a very long list of symptoms associated with it, like achy joints, headaches, itching, neurological disturbances etc. Immediate diarrhea is not the only symptom on can experience. If you want to do a true test of gluten sensitivity I suggest getting off it very strictly and monitoring all symptoms. In some cases people can also have "silent" celiac disease, meaning they are experiencing intestinal damage but no outward symptoms.

Have you thought about doing some testing (Enterolab or MRT)? Many here have found that helpful. It really is the quickest way to help narrow down the foods that make us feel so bad.

Mary Beth

[tex]

with Mary Beth.

Camie

If you want to see physical evidence that you are sensitive to a food, do as Mary Beth suggests, and cut it out of your diet (100%) for at least a month or more (with any foods other than gluten, avoiding the food for at least 5 or 6 days is necessary, but gluten requires more time). Then, if you want to see if you react, eat a normal serving of the suspect food. You will see your answer within a day or so.

This works because the immune system normally functions with only a few antibodies associated with each known antigen in circulation, and in that mode, it is highly sensitive to an "invasion" of one of those antigens — it's job description in that mode is basically to "standby, but remain at high alert". By contrast, when the immune system is flooded with antibodies 24x7, it is locked into a pattern of relatively steady-state reactions that dominates its operation. Essentially, it is saturated, and it has no remaining capacity to respond to additional antigens (or the lack of antigens). It's overwhelmed, and similar to the way that we respond when we are overwhelmed, it doesn't know what to do next, and it performs very poorly, in general

If you avoid a food long enough to allow the antibody level to subside to a much lower level, this resets the immune system into it's normal mode of operation, with only a few antibodies in circulation. In this mode, the immune system is much more sensitive to "intruders" and it will respond much more aggressively. The thing to remember is that anti-gliadin antibodies (gluten antibodies) have a half-life of 120 days, whereas the antibodies to other food sensitivities have a half-life of only 5 or 6 days, so you have to avoid gluten for a relatively long period of time before the immune system can function normally.

Tex