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On May 2,  5:22am, John Dennis wrote:

} ...I am scheduled to have a blood sample taken on Wednesday
} (May 3) by a local allergist for testing.  Should I ask for the entire food
} allergy test (which costs $375) or just tests for reactions to particular
} grains (about $15 each)?   My GP's technician checked with Roche Biomedical
} Laboratories and was told that the endomysial antibody test cost $75 and the
} reticulin antibody test cost $68.  Roche sends this work out to some other
} lab but even so I'm a bit surprised that the local allergist can get them
} done for so much less.  Can they be talking about the same tests?

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the
antibody tests have any connection with food allergy tests.  Celiac
disease is not a food allergy; the antibody tests will not indicate
food allergies and conversely, the allergies tests will not indicate
celiac disease. I sincerely doubt that your allergist is talking about
the same tests.

Incidentally,  I believe there's some controversy about the efficacy of
blood tests for allergies, particularly food allergies.  This isn't
really the group to discuss that, but you might want to investigate
before spending the money.  Unless new advances have been made, skin
testing seems to be the approved method for allergies and even it is
not always conclusive.

Wendy Betts, [log in to unmask]