Topic: Allergy tests without needing a doctor's prescription?
James1979
Unregistered
posted
Are there any ways to get good allergy tests done without requiring a doctor's prescription?
I'm quite tired of doctors, and asking for their prescription usually involves me teaching them things they've never learned before. It gets pretty stressful after a while.
I'm so thankful I got to do the Enterolab test without a doctor's "intervention", but I only tested for 4 allergens. I'm wondering if I should do the fecal test there for 11 other common food allergens, but it's very expensive. I'm wondering if there is a better way to test for common food allergens, which doesn't require a doctor's script.
posted
Did you have a specific test in mind that you wanted to do?
Some DCs muscle test and some don't. It's not something they teach in school. You'd just have to call around and find someone who does it. You could also look for a ND who does it and once in awhile an MD or DO.
It's not really weird to see more than one DC if they treat differently. Since I got sick, I've seen 4 different ones because they each offer something different.
And yes, with muscle testing, they would probably have you hold the food and then test. If they muscle test a lot, they probably have a lot of samples to test with, but you could bring along some of your own foods, things you eat a lot of or are suspicious of.
Posts: 707 | From Colorado | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
I guess enterolab was what you wanted to do. Missed that the first time I read.
Posts: 707 | From Colorado | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
Call around and find a chiro or ND who does it. I found it to be very convincing since I reacted strongly to foods I knew or suspected I was sensitive to. ( and when he tested me, I did not know which food he was testing )
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96223 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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James1979
Unregistered
posted
Thanks for the replies, guys.
Is muscle testing really that much better than any kinds of blood tests? Are there big problems with the blood tests?
I think there's some kind of a "skin prick" test, too, but I haven't looked up that one yet.
If my chiro suggests that I do some kind of blood or skin testing, would that be decent? Or would you still recommend that I find a new chiro that does energy testing?
jlp - no, I didn't have a specific test in mind. That's really what I'm trying to learn. I'm wondering if it's worth it for me to pay $400 to do an Enterolab test for 11 common allergens, instead of doing some other kind of test. I'm guessing that the other tests would cover more allergens for the same price, but I wonder how reliable the tests are. I just feel like I don't have the correct information, and I feel overwhelmed to try to learn this stuff doing google searches, because there's so much contradicting data.
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James1979
Unregistered
posted
The big thing for me now is that I'm afraid of eating, because I don't know what I'm allergic to. The Enterolab test showed I was allergic to gluten and eggs, and most-likely allergic to dairy and soy as well. I'm gonna most likely eliminate all of the other common allergens from my diet, at least until I get some testing done.
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posted
What about doing an elimination diet? It's a lot more work but it's free. You basically eliminate everything you could possibly be allergic to for a few weeks and then add foods back in one at a time and watch your reaction. It would take a lot of commitment and journaling. I'll ask hubby and see if he has any thoughts on where to do that type of testing. He hasn't done this type of work in a long time though so I don't know if he'll have any input or not. I don't really like the skin prick tests.
Posts: 707 | From Colorado | Registered: Jul 2010
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James1979
Unregistered
posted
My problem with elimination diets is that I don't have any noticeable signs of allergic reactions, either acute or delayed! It's crazy. So basically there'd be no way for me to know when I'm eating harmful foods.
I do have some kidney problems which are most likely due to gluten intolerance, and possibly due to other allergies. There is a high correlation between the kidney problem and gluten intolerance, but there's no way for me to monitor it except for certain tests I do about once a year.
When I was younger I used to get eczema whenever I ate an allergen, and at that time it was very easy and beneficial for me to do an elimination diet. Now it seems I only have internal problems.
Thanks a lot for asking your hubby about the allergy stuff! Don't forget to remind him to do his kegals!
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posted
James go to Direct labs and look under specialty labs..they have some of the best labs there for allergy tests without a scrip...they have the Alcat and the Elisa/ Act...both are very good.
Posts: 871 | From orange county, ca. | Registered: Jan 2006
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James1979
Unregistered
posted
sk8ter - thanks a lot for pointing that out to me. I'm checking it out now. I have to study the difference between the alcat and the elisa/act.
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Some links in this other current thread may be of help: --------------
Topic: Allergy testing for antibiotics? -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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WPinVA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 33581
posted
James, there are three mainstream types of allergy testing that I'm aware of, all of which are tested by allergists: 1) blood tests 2) skin prick tests 3) patch testing
The problem is that none of them are completely reliable so the "gold standard" in allergy diagnosis is whether the food causes a reaction. And that's obviously difficult to gauge because not everyone reacts immediately and obviously to food allergens. If you already know of some positive responses from the tests you've done, you can start by avoiding those foods and see if your symptoms improve. Keeping a food log can help a lot particularly if you pay attention to subtle symptoms.
If that doesn't do it, you might want to find an allergist who does patch testing. Most don't, so you'll have to ask around to find one. But it can be very insightful since it's the only test of the three that tests for delayed reactions. Basically, they tape a small amount of the food to your back and leave it there for a while, then you remove it and keep checking after certain time periods for reactions. It can be very illuminating.
Another option if you don't want to test is to remove the top 8 food allergens from your diet to see if things improve. Then you can try adding them back in one by one, to see if you can figure out which ones cause your symptoms. The problem here is that this is difficult and like shooting in the dark.
Posts: 1737 | From Virginia | Registered: Aug 2011
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