Hello! My name is Susan and I am new to this site but not MC.
My first colonoscopy was in 1998 and finally diagnosed in 2009! I have moved on to my 4the Dr because of the mass amount of steroids the last one put me on. This one told me to eliminate lactose and I would find relief, wrong. Major flare up. I found your site and am convinced after reading numerous chats I have at least gluten and lactose intolerance.
Going on your elimination diet is starting to help a little.
My question is: has anyone used a skin prick test to determine food allergy?
Allergy testing
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Hi Susan,
Welcome to the group. Congratulations! Believe it or not, you now know more about actually treating this disease (rather than just treating the symptoms) than all of your doctors. Over the years, a lot of members have tried to determine their food sensitivities by various skin prick and blood tests offered by various labs. None of them were successful. Those types of tests sometimes correctly identify one or two food sensitivities. But when they do so, they also invariably list numerous false positive results. And the really bad part is that they usually list numerous false negatives. In other words, they often/usually fail to list the main offenders, such as gluten, soy, and/or casein. They are pretty much a waste of good money unless you're looking for the causes of skin allergies. Those tests are useful for detecting skin allergies.
When you're looking for food sensitivities associated with the digestive system (as with MC and other IBDs), those antibodies are not present in significant quantities in the skin or the blood — they're concentrated in the intestines. Consequently, there are only two accurate and reliable ways to detect them:
1. Checking colon biopsy samples for food antibodies
2. The EnteroLab stool tests
Those of us who have used EnteroLabs' services consider the cost of the tests to be the best money we ever spent on our recovery from MC, because the results allow us to select a recovery diet without having to guess at which foods to avoid and without having to worry about missing any of the main problem foods.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
Tex
Welcome to the group. Congratulations! Believe it or not, you now know more about actually treating this disease (rather than just treating the symptoms) than all of your doctors. Over the years, a lot of members have tried to determine their food sensitivities by various skin prick and blood tests offered by various labs. None of them were successful. Those types of tests sometimes correctly identify one or two food sensitivities. But when they do so, they also invariably list numerous false positive results. And the really bad part is that they usually list numerous false negatives. In other words, they often/usually fail to list the main offenders, such as gluten, soy, and/or casein. They are pretty much a waste of good money unless you're looking for the causes of skin allergies. Those tests are useful for detecting skin allergies.
When you're looking for food sensitivities associated with the digestive system (as with MC and other IBDs), those antibodies are not present in significant quantities in the skin or the blood — they're concentrated in the intestines. Consequently, there are only two accurate and reliable ways to detect them:
1. Checking colon biopsy samples for food antibodies
2. The EnteroLab stool tests
Those of us who have used EnteroLabs' services consider the cost of the tests to be the best money we ever spent on our recovery from MC, because the results allow us to select a recovery diet without having to guess at which foods to avoid and without having to worry about missing any of the main problem foods.
Again, welcome aboard, and please feel free to ask anything.
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.
Welcome Susan,
So glad you found this site! You will definitely find your answers here
I probably had a couple tests that didn't really mean a darn thing when I was first trying to understand MC/LC, but now I have a better look at how it all works and all the blood tests for food allergies are only 50% correct, I had a lot of weeding to do when it came to those tests. The Enterolab is what was concrete for me and now that my gut has healed for 3 years I am finding all the blood results aren't as accurate as they seemed to be at the time, a few are but not all of them.
So glad you found this site! You will definitely find your answers here
I probably had a couple tests that didn't really mean a darn thing when I was first trying to understand MC/LC, but now I have a better look at how it all works and all the blood tests for food allergies are only 50% correct, I had a lot of weeding to do when it came to those tests. The Enterolab is what was concrete for me and now that my gut has healed for 3 years I am finding all the blood results aren't as accurate as they seemed to be at the time, a few are but not all of them.
To Succeed you have to Believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a Reality - Anita Roddick
Dx LC April 2012 had symptoms since Aug 2007
Dx LC April 2012 had symptoms since Aug 2007
Hi Susan,
Welcome to our internet family, but sorry you had to find us. This disease is simply no fun.
You have already gotten the best information regarding testing, as I agree wholeheartedly with Tex and Erica.
I noticed that you mention lactose. It is entirely possible that you react to it, but most of us here react to the casein in the milk, which is the protein rather than the sugar, so you may want to drop dairy products altogether for a while to see if it helps.
Best of luck to you as you start your healing journey. If you stick with it, you will get your life back.
Love,
Kari
Welcome to our internet family, but sorry you had to find us. This disease is simply no fun.
You have already gotten the best information regarding testing, as I agree wholeheartedly with Tex and Erica.
I noticed that you mention lactose. It is entirely possible that you react to it, but most of us here react to the casein in the milk, which is the protein rather than the sugar, so you may want to drop dairy products altogether for a while to see if it helps.
Best of luck to you as you start your healing journey. If you stick with it, you will get your life back.
Love,
Kari
"My mouth waters whenever I pass a bakery shop and sniff the aroma of fresh bread, but I am also grateful simply to be alive and sniffing." Dr. Bernstein
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