I have had a few of you ask me what kind of allergy testing we do.  I thought I would share the specifics so you can ask for it as well.  It is a FoodStats Antibody Assessment by US BioTek Laboratories.  The test looks for IgE and IgG antibody types.  The finger poke tests only for IgG antibodies while a full blood draw is required to test for the IgE antibodies.  You can go to their website for more detailed information about what those antibodies are and what they do. 

You can also go to Dr. Bizzy’s website for more information about naturopathic care.  I recommend her to all my friends that are looking for a fantastic practitioner in the greater Seattle area.  It is refreshing to have a practitioner that takes time to know you and your family.  I am also a huge proponate of learning how to heal our bodies naturally not just mask the symptoms we may be having.  Naturopathic care is covered by most insurances and can set you on a course to a much healthier life. 

Food antibody testing is a great example of this.  With Logan’s symptoms (you can read about her reactions here), most western medicine practitioners would have suggested seeing an ENT.  This would have led to possible removal of tonsils and adnoids and probable placement of ear tubes.  We would have been just masking the real issue and continuing the damage to her gut. 

I just spoke with a friend that fought with stomach pain for years and was told it was just Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS.  She refused to accept that diagnosis and after much research and years of pain she was tested for food intolerances.  Guess what she found.  She had problems with many of the same foods that Logan does plus a few more.  If she keeps those foods out of her diet, she is pain free.  Yet a traditional doctor never thought to check for this and just wanted to mask her symptoms with medication. 

Now before you jump on me, I know there are many good MD’s out there and we have gone to a few that we love.  They just have a difference in training and philosophy.  Was I glad there was an MD available when I needed an emergency surgery 6 years ago or when Than ruptured his achilles tendon two year age?  Absolutely.  I am extremely grateful for western medicine.  I just feel that we should start be learning how to heal ourselves naturally before adding or doing anything synthetic or invasive.   

All of that to say if you are having any sort of reaccuring health issues, they could be food related.  We have seen reactions that range from the usual stomach upset, to mucus issues and even anxiety and behavioral issues change dramatically with changes in diet.  It is just a simple blood test that could change the way you feel and/or act.  While I am definitely not a doctor, I think it would be worth it for everyone.   Who knows what you might learn!?!

And remember no matter what the results, you have support here from myself and others that read this blog.  Ask your questions or express your frustrations as you change your diet.  We want to listen and help in anyway we can.

After a two weeks of waiting, we have gotten the allergy test results for the kids.  There was some really good news and some okay news.  Let’s start with the really good news. 

While Logan still reacted to dairy, eggs, and gluten, her reactions were only about half as severe.  They went from extremely severe to moderate.  Her gut has done some healing over the last year and a half!!!  In her first test she reacted to like 85 of the 96 items that they tested for.  This time it was only about 20 things.  Along with the big three which account for about 15 individual items, she also reacted to peanuts, soy, sugar cane and grapes (weird).  Those were moderate reactions though just as they were before.  Yay!!!!

Here is the okay stuff.  Logan still reacted to gluten even though she wasn’t eating it at the time of the test.  That means she is reacting to the slight amounts that she is getting through cross-contamination.  I will be sending in the testing for celiac disease this week and will let you know what I find out. 

Teagan’s test looked very similar to Logan’s test but with only a little reaction to just a couple of the gluten grains.  That is a bummer but because the results were all moderate, it is doable.  He didn’t react to grapes but he did react to beef (again weird).  It seems that his gut has some healing to do as well but I kind of suspected as much.

Rowan reacted only to eggs.  The crazy thing is that all three of the oldest kids reacted to eggs.  Maybe a genetic thing?  Other then that, Rowan had just a slight reaction to soy.  The little dry spot on her arm must be from the dry winter weather or it could be a reaction to something that didn’t show.  The tests are only 85% accurate so we still have to watch for symptoms with food even if they don’t show up on the results.

Declan reacted only very little to dairy.  It was slight enough that unless we see symptoms from dairy then we don’t need to even think about it with him at this point.  Woo-Hoo.  I have one child with a normally functioning gut. 

I wish I could just scan in the result pages for you.  If you do want to see them though, let me know and I’ll keep them on me. 

So next, you  might be wondering how we are going to handle this news.  That will have to be another post as we are still weighing our options.  I’ll let you know what we decide in a couple days.  I think it is great to have a dialogue with others as we go through this process so leave me a comment if you have any questions or thoughts about the new results.

We have been working so hard to keep gluten, dairy, and eggs out of our girls diet and they have done tremendously.  It has been 1-1/2 years since we made the change to an allergen free diet.  Last winter we had very few illnesses and have seen such amazing progress in Logan’s health in particular.  Praise the Lord!!!

It has been a long ride and at times can be hard.  Being 19 weeks pregnant, I have found that keeping up on the girls bread and muffins has been more difficult.  We felt like it was time to retest Logan and test the other kids at the same time.  We also noticed that Rowan has a little bit of eczema under one of her arms.  Could this be a food intolerance that we don’t know about?  This all presented a few issues.  In order for the test to for an intolerance, the patient needs to be eating that food for at least two weeks.  There was a choice to make.  Is it worth it to reintroduce the food in order to get a new test?  Would we be compromising their health to do so? 

After months of praying, we decided to add all foods back for Rowan since she has never been tested and doesn’t have much of a reaction.  The boys have never been tested either but both have little signs that there could be intolerances so we are going to have them tested as well.  Since they already eat everything, no issues with reintroduction. 

Logan on the other hand is the one I am most hesitant in adding foods to as she is the one we tested.  Her first test was so daunting and came with a “leaky gut” diagnosis.  In the end for her we decided to add back dairy and eggs but not gluten.  She has such an extreme reaction to gluten that we couldn’t bear adding it back.  In leui of that, we have decided to have her tested for celiac disease.  This can be done with a blood test without having the food reintroduced (I think…I better confirm that or we may be adding it back after all).  If the celiac test comes back positive, we have a whole new challenge to tackle.  I’m not sure if I am ready but I know that I will do whatever it takes to help my kids be as healthy  as possible.

It has been a week now and the girls seem to be doing well.  They are eating more dairy than imaginable.  I have to keep reminding them that when their tests come back that may change.  We will test in a little over a week.  I’ll let you know what I find out.  Will the announcement come with joy or tears?  This is a big one.  Please keep my babies in your prayers.