<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

My 15 mo old daughter has had many ear infections since birth, despite
breastfeeding (still).   I've never resorted to abx, we just go to the
ped, he confirms the ear infection, if she's really unhappy, I give her
the analgesic drops, depending on symptoms we may use various herbs or
homeopathy, then we go back in a couple of days for a recheck and it's
clear or on it's way.

She's also had eczema for a long time, but it's been exceptionally bad
since spring.

I'd talked to the pediatrician about testing for allergens but he was
more interested in doing Protopic and cortisone first to see if it would
help.  Well, duh, most likely it will help, but it still doesn't tell me
what she's allergic too.    We already do gluten free....and for the
most part, dairy free.   We also do EFA's - lots of Omega 3's - Flax
oil,  DHA and EPA.

I was interested in doing some objective testing.  I was convinced that
dairy was a problem but had no idea what else it could be.  I just had
no idea.  Also knew that environmental/inhalanat allergies could be at
work with regards to both the eczema and the ear infections.

I knew that going the allergist route would get us IgE skin testing for
her....which is fine if you're having immediate, severe reactions like
lip/mouth/throat swelling, breathing difficulties, hives etc.  But the
skin tests have alot of false negatives.   The allergists I've dealt
wtih have been reluctant to do blood test b/c of false positivies, but
in reading, I've learned that the false pos rate is only the same as the
false neg rate on the skin tests....about 10% chance.

Out of curiosity, I started researching IgG antibodies.   All of us on
this list probably had our levels of IgG antigliadin antibodies checked,
but never really knew what it meant, other than that it *didn't* mean we
had celiac just b/c it was high.   It piqued my interest.  I began
reading.  Turns out that there *alot* of information out there on IgG
antibodies....they seem to be the antibodies that mediate delayed
responses to foods.  The kind that come up as "I'm allergic to x,y and z
but it doesn't show up on allergy tests" or "I know there are other
foods I don't tolerate but I can't figure out what tests would clarify
that".

Well, IgG blood testing will do just that.  There are lots of places to
read about it.  I just went to google.com and different searches
entering terms like; IgG antibodies, delayed food allergies, food
intolerances.

Via that route, I found www.yorkallergyusa.com  I decided to pursue
testing through them b/c their 113 IgG food assay required only a finger
stick instead of a blood draw.

I talked with my insurance company to figure out if they'd cover it or
not and what exactly would need to happen for them to cover it.  I then
ordered the test on my credit card, brought the test to my docs office
to have the nurse do it.  It was really easy, Lila flinched but didn't
cry *at all*, I took the test kit and mailed it off.  The docs office
gave me two ins receipts.  One that they filed for me for the office
visit (benefits assigned to them), then one that I mailed off myself,
showing a lab charge of $349 wtih the correct ins coding - benefits
comign to me....ie not 'assigning' to them.

Fwiw, the test is so easy that you can definitely do it yourself at
home, but for my ins to cover it, we had to do it in the docs office.

I got the results yesterday.

Without bogging down into any more details, I found out that she is
reactive to oats, egg white, lamb, pork, duck, cod, haddock, lentils,
asparagus, avocado, kidny beans, lettuce, onion, soy beans, almonds (the
strongest reaction), hazelnuts, bananas, plums, garlic, chicken, gluten,
wheat cucumber, peas, cashew, oranges.

It was interesting to me that she was reacting to half of the "Lily"
family:  asaparagus, garlic, onion (they didn't test for chive, shallot,
leek)
also a significant portion of the family: lentils, peas, soy, kidney
(but not reactive to carob, peanuts and navy beans which are also in
that family.....of course there are many others in that family that
weren't tested)
also significant reaction to stone fruits:   almonds, plums (but no
reactions to peaches, cherries or apricots)

No IgG reaction to many many foods...corn rice, COW MILK  (no way!!!!),
buckwheat, millet, egg yolk, beef, turkey crustaceans, mollusks,
salmon/trout, tuna, sole, eggplant, carrot, celery, navy beans,
mushroom, broccoli/cauliflower/brussels sprouts/cabbage, msuhroom,
peppers, spinach, potato, string beans, brazil nuts, peanuts, coconuts,
walnuts, apples, apricots, blackberries, blackcurrants, cherry,
cranberry, grape, grapfruit, kiwi, and more.

Of  course, this only covers IgG reactions.  there may be different or
more or less foods on an IgE panel if we did one.  Also, even though
she's not IgG reactive to cow milk, we're definitely keeping her off
diary.  The behavioral changes are to significant when she ingests
dairy.  But that's another post;)

Anyway, if anyone is curious and has thought about pursuing additional
food intolerance testing, there is some info for you.  Also, if you know
anyone who 'only' has an elevated IgG antibody result from a celiac
screen, they *still* need to go gluten free.  While IgG antibodies to
gluten does not = celiac disease, it does mean that the body is reactive
to it and needs to go off of gluten.

the nice thing about this whole little IgG issue is that many times,
many of the foods can be reintroduced with no reaction after they've
been *strictly* avoided for 6-9 months.

:)
katherine in atl

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