Wondered if any one here has had testing through www.alcat.com ? Couldn't find it on a site search.
Wanted to test my daughter through Enterolab, but they do not work with NY addresses. We can arrange to have an out-of-state friend forward us the kit, but it would be tricky to go out-of-state to mail it back in time! At least a 3 hour drive to nearest state border. Any good ideas?
Hitting a tough spot. She has been GF for over a year with great results-up until 6 weeks ago. We can't figure out what could have changed-she even maintained beautifully spending 4 months in England. This all started 3 weeks after she arrived home. I am very careful to avoid CC.
(Biopsy was "suggestive" of microscopic colitis-LC and CC-no CD diagnosis)
Recently cut out dairy-now trying soy, corn, and maybe even rice. Feel like we have hit the wall-been to GI and allergist. Neither of them seemed to think GF diet would have helped...we tried on our own. What's left?
She heads back to college very soon-want her to stay well nourished!
Suggestions are very welcome!
Sue
ALCAT testing?
Moderators: Rosie, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Hi Sue,
I'm sorry to hear that your daughter's symptoms have returned, and that you haven't been able to track down the cause. Has she started taking any new medications of any type, especially NSAIDs, SSRIs or proton pump inhibitors?
She has already cut out the most likely food triggers, (gluten, dairy, soy, and corn). One other possibility is eggs, and a few people are sensitive to dietary yeast. If general, if she's trying to stop a flare, she may need to cut out all raw vegetables, (and most cooked veggies), especially all legumes, (including all beans), at least until her gut has time to heal. Lettuce is probably the worst offender in the vegetable line, but any source of significant fiber can be a big problem until the gut can properly heal. Many/most fruits can be troublesome during a flare, also, due to the fiber and sorbitol content, and sometimes fructose can be a problem. Any artificial sweeteners should be avoided, also, and even natural sugars can cause problems during a flare, due to the leaky gut syndrome.
I too was unaware of that shipping restriction, but it's probably due to state restrictions on the shipment of certain items that are classified as bio-hazards, possibly due to the fallout resulting from the 911 incident. I wonder what the hospitals in New York State do?
I know virtually nothing about the ALCAT test, but I do know that it's a simple blood test, and to be honest, I personally do not have much faith in blood tests, as predictors of food intolerances. Even the classic celiac blood tests are so unreliable at detecting antibodies in the blood, that they have an unacceptably high rate of false negatives. Most of our members here are very sensitive to gluten, and yet virtually none of us would test positive with a classic celiac blood test. That's why most doctors don't believe that it's possible to be gluten sensitive, if a patient does not test positive to the celiac diagnostic tests. That's what they learned in medical school, and most of them refuse to even consider evidence to the contrary.
If she can't get her symptoms under control with a diet adjustment, she may want to consider asking her doc for a prescription for Entocort, to help soothe the inflammation until she can get to a point in the healing process where the diet will control her symptoms again. If she would rather avoid medications, there is a lot of information about "the diet" in this forum:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=6
The problem with trying to get medical help with this disease, is that food intolerances play a large part in it, and doctors are trained to write prescriptions for drugs, rather than to recommend diets. Allergists are often of little benefit, because they are used to dealing with histamine-based reactions, and the type of food intolerances that we are faced with, are not normally histamine-based reactions.
I hope you can track down the problem soon. Please feel free to ask anything
Tex
I'm sorry to hear that your daughter's symptoms have returned, and that you haven't been able to track down the cause. Has she started taking any new medications of any type, especially NSAIDs, SSRIs or proton pump inhibitors?
She has already cut out the most likely food triggers, (gluten, dairy, soy, and corn). One other possibility is eggs, and a few people are sensitive to dietary yeast. If general, if she's trying to stop a flare, she may need to cut out all raw vegetables, (and most cooked veggies), especially all legumes, (including all beans), at least until her gut has time to heal. Lettuce is probably the worst offender in the vegetable line, but any source of significant fiber can be a big problem until the gut can properly heal. Many/most fruits can be troublesome during a flare, also, due to the fiber and sorbitol content, and sometimes fructose can be a problem. Any artificial sweeteners should be avoided, also, and even natural sugars can cause problems during a flare, due to the leaky gut syndrome.
I too was unaware of that shipping restriction, but it's probably due to state restrictions on the shipment of certain items that are classified as bio-hazards, possibly due to the fallout resulting from the 911 incident. I wonder what the hospitals in New York State do?
I know virtually nothing about the ALCAT test, but I do know that it's a simple blood test, and to be honest, I personally do not have much faith in blood tests, as predictors of food intolerances. Even the classic celiac blood tests are so unreliable at detecting antibodies in the blood, that they have an unacceptably high rate of false negatives. Most of our members here are very sensitive to gluten, and yet virtually none of us would test positive with a classic celiac blood test. That's why most doctors don't believe that it's possible to be gluten sensitive, if a patient does not test positive to the celiac diagnostic tests. That's what they learned in medical school, and most of them refuse to even consider evidence to the contrary.
If she can't get her symptoms under control with a diet adjustment, she may want to consider asking her doc for a prescription for Entocort, to help soothe the inflammation until she can get to a point in the healing process where the diet will control her symptoms again. If she would rather avoid medications, there is a lot of information about "the diet" in this forum:
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=6
The problem with trying to get medical help with this disease, is that food intolerances play a large part in it, and doctors are trained to write prescriptions for drugs, rather than to recommend diets. Allergists are often of little benefit, because they are used to dealing with histamine-based reactions, and the type of food intolerances that we are faced with, are not normally histamine-based reactions.
I hope you can track down the problem soon. 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.
Hi again and thanks for your feedback, Tex!
Yup-NYS requires a special, expensive license...had actually ordered the Enterolab tests thinking I had it figured out.
She hasn't started anything new-meds or food-wise. Doesn't make sense that she did well before & after her trip abroad unless she has developed a new sensitivity, or could this just be the wickedness of an MC condition?
She is on such a restrictive diet right now that the thought of cutting fruits & veggies doesn't leave anything but meat or fish! She cut the dairy out about 2 weeks ago, and has seen no improvement-so maybe it's not that one. As of this week she is basically living on rice (now stopped that) apples & applesauce, bananas, chicken , pork, and fish, and cooked veggies.
She (& I ) are very, very reluctant to go back to the GI for any drugs. We thought eliminating some of these common triggers would serve the same purpose since it worked so well to go GF.
She takes probiotics & vitamins-thinking I will get her some digestive enzymes as well. I know these & her other meds (levothyroxine & BC pills) are GF-but maybe they have corn in them. I'll have to check.
Did call the ALCAT lab. No one in this area of NY uses their services regularly. We will have to run this by her disinterested PCP, and go from there. Not sure I want to go that route unless I get more info on them.
Will let you know how it goes if we use them.
Sue
Yup-NYS requires a special, expensive license...had actually ordered the Enterolab tests thinking I had it figured out.
She hasn't started anything new-meds or food-wise. Doesn't make sense that she did well before & after her trip abroad unless she has developed a new sensitivity, or could this just be the wickedness of an MC condition?
She is on such a restrictive diet right now that the thought of cutting fruits & veggies doesn't leave anything but meat or fish! She cut the dairy out about 2 weeks ago, and has seen no improvement-so maybe it's not that one. As of this week she is basically living on rice (now stopped that) apples & applesauce, bananas, chicken , pork, and fish, and cooked veggies.
She (& I ) are very, very reluctant to go back to the GI for any drugs. We thought eliminating some of these common triggers would serve the same purpose since it worked so well to go GF.
She takes probiotics & vitamins-thinking I will get her some digestive enzymes as well. I know these & her other meds (levothyroxine & BC pills) are GF-but maybe they have corn in them. I'll have to check.
Did call the ALCAT lab. No one in this area of NY uses their services regularly. We will have to run this by her disinterested PCP, and go from there. Not sure I want to go that route unless I get more info on them.
Will let you know how it goes if we use them.
Sue
Three weeks after returning home is indeed an unusual time frame for MC to break remission, if nothing was changed. If she had picked up some sort of parasite, that should have shown up sooner, and she shouldn't catch something like tropical sprue, while visiting in England. (Tropical sprue has the same symptoms as celiac sprue, but it can be cured with antibiotics). C. diff is a possibility, I suppose, but it's usually pretty rough on a patient, and the symptoms should be worse than when she originally developed MC. If she's passing any blood, though, I'd definitely recommend asking her doctor for a culture test for C. diff, and if the result is negative, repeat it, since C. diff tests are notorious for false negatives, sometimes requiring three or four repetitions before getting a positive result.
When I mentioned cutting out vegetables, I guess I should have mentioned that being intolerant to irish potatoes, (even though they are a nightshade), is very, very, rare, even among members of this board with multiple sensitivities. Also, sweet potatoes are usually a very safe food. Well cooked squash, broccoli, and green beans work safely for most of us, though a couple of members are intolerant of green beans in any form. Rice intolerance is also quite rare. Several of us have suspected it, but I'm not sure that anyone has ever proved conclusively that they were actually intolerant to it, though some of the people on the paleo diet claim that they "feel better" if they cut out all grains, including rice.
I tried digestive enzymes one time, and it made me so sick that I've been afraid to touch them ever since. LOL. I thought I was going to vomit my guts up for about a day and a half after taking one pill. Some people claim that they have been helped by enzyme supplements, though. The fact that she is hypothyroid at such a young age, may hold some sort of clue, but offhand, outside of the fact that many of us have thyroid issues, (and other autoimmune problems), I don't see why being hypothyroid should affect GI symptoms, especially if she is being properly treated.
Probiotics are an interesting issue. They are recommended for people with GI issues, (even Dr. Fine recommends taking a good, (safe), probiotic to help control the symptoms of MC), but unfortunately, no one seems to be able to recommend a specific probiotic that is actually beneficial. Many of our members have tried many different types of probiotics over the years, but if anyone here has actually found one that they felt was very beneficial for them, I can't recall that actually being reported. Dr. Fine himself cannot, (or will not), recommend a probiotic either, since at last report, he has never been able to find one that worked well for him, personally, (he has MC himself). The problem may be connected with the fact that most of the better ones, are lactose-based, but even the ones that are claimed to get around that problem, just don't seem to provide benefits, and sometimes cause adverse reactions. Because of the lack of proven benefits, I have never tried them myself, (other than a period of time when I tried yogurt for a few months).
Back when I was healing, for a couple of years, I lived on meat, (mostly pork and chicken), potatoes, rice, and occasionally well-cooked squash, green beans, and broccoli. I had to cut out all sugar, (except for some occasional maple sugar), and while applesauce seemed to be OK, apples were not, and bananas were a problem, also. Most chicken and some pork is "injected with broth" these days, so be sure to check the label, because some of that "broth" contains gluten, and a few other possibly risky ingredients.
My GI doc never gave me anything but bad advice, so I agree with you, most GI doc's offices are not a good place to go for MC treatment advice - the diet is always safer than drugs. If your daughter should ever decide to try a med, though, some members have been able to get their GPs to prescribe Entocort, or one of the 5-ASA meds, such as Lialda or Asacol, but it depends on the doctor - some aren't willing to do that.
Tex
When I mentioned cutting out vegetables, I guess I should have mentioned that being intolerant to irish potatoes, (even though they are a nightshade), is very, very, rare, even among members of this board with multiple sensitivities. Also, sweet potatoes are usually a very safe food. Well cooked squash, broccoli, and green beans work safely for most of us, though a couple of members are intolerant of green beans in any form. Rice intolerance is also quite rare. Several of us have suspected it, but I'm not sure that anyone has ever proved conclusively that they were actually intolerant to it, though some of the people on the paleo diet claim that they "feel better" if they cut out all grains, including rice.
I tried digestive enzymes one time, and it made me so sick that I've been afraid to touch them ever since. LOL. I thought I was going to vomit my guts up for about a day and a half after taking one pill. Some people claim that they have been helped by enzyme supplements, though. The fact that she is hypothyroid at such a young age, may hold some sort of clue, but offhand, outside of the fact that many of us have thyroid issues, (and other autoimmune problems), I don't see why being hypothyroid should affect GI symptoms, especially if she is being properly treated.
Probiotics are an interesting issue. They are recommended for people with GI issues, (even Dr. Fine recommends taking a good, (safe), probiotic to help control the symptoms of MC), but unfortunately, no one seems to be able to recommend a specific probiotic that is actually beneficial. Many of our members have tried many different types of probiotics over the years, but if anyone here has actually found one that they felt was very beneficial for them, I can't recall that actually being reported. Dr. Fine himself cannot, (or will not), recommend a probiotic either, since at last report, he has never been able to find one that worked well for him, personally, (he has MC himself). The problem may be connected with the fact that most of the better ones, are lactose-based, but even the ones that are claimed to get around that problem, just don't seem to provide benefits, and sometimes cause adverse reactions. Because of the lack of proven benefits, I have never tried them myself, (other than a period of time when I tried yogurt for a few months).
Back when I was healing, for a couple of years, I lived on meat, (mostly pork and chicken), potatoes, rice, and occasionally well-cooked squash, green beans, and broccoli. I had to cut out all sugar, (except for some occasional maple sugar), and while applesauce seemed to be OK, apples were not, and bananas were a problem, also. Most chicken and some pork is "injected with broth" these days, so be sure to check the label, because some of that "broth" contains gluten, and a few other possibly risky ingredients.
My GI doc never gave me anything but bad advice, so I agree with you, most GI doc's offices are not a good place to go for MC treatment advice - the diet is always safer than drugs. If your daughter should ever decide to try a med, though, some members have been able to get their GPs to prescribe Entocort, or one of the 5-ASA meds, such as Lialda or Asacol, but it depends on the doctor - some aren't willing to do that.
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.
I found this post in a search for something else and wanted to add in regard to testing for food sensitivities.
I know nothing of alcat, but I do have some experience with the IgG delayed food allergy testing. Food allergies don't always manifest with typical allergy symptoms. My daughter was diagnosed with Cyclic vomiting syndrome, where she would start vomiting about 2 am and continue for several hours. This would occur about once every 2wks. When they drew her labwork for all the testing they did on her, I had them order this IgG test. Turns out she was highly allergic to tomatoes and bananas. After we eliminated those the vomiting stopped. She hasn't had another episode since. We also stopped letting her eat after a certain time, but I think the allergy testing is what did it. I plan to do it myself. It's a blood test.
I know nothing of alcat, but I do have some experience with the IgG delayed food allergy testing. Food allergies don't always manifest with typical allergy symptoms. My daughter was diagnosed with Cyclic vomiting syndrome, where she would start vomiting about 2 am and continue for several hours. This would occur about once every 2wks. When they drew her labwork for all the testing they did on her, I had them order this IgG test. Turns out she was highly allergic to tomatoes and bananas. After we eliminated those the vomiting stopped. She hasn't had another episode since. We also stopped letting her eat after a certain time, but I think the allergy testing is what did it. I plan to do it myself. It's a blood test.
ALCAT revisited
Tom O'Bryan of Gluten Summit sent an email today which said: "Remember when Dave Asprey emphasized the potential toxic effect of molds on the body? Well, this is my test of choice for identifying environmental allergens. It includes:
200 Food Panel
20 Food Additives/Colorings
10 Environmental Chemicals
21 Molds"
Any new experience with it? Is it like MRT?
200 Food Panel
20 Food Additives/Colorings
10 Environmental Chemicals
21 Molds"
Any new experience with it? Is it like MRT?
DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and don't play one on TV.
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan
LDN July 18, 2014
Joan