Posted by: CMdeux
« on: February 07, 2016, 11:27:05 PM »First, I am SO sorry that life has been so incredibly difficult lately for you. It's good that you're trying to get to the bottom of why you feel so rotten!
Secondly-- how well controlled is your anxiety? If you have panic attacks, (and it sounds as though you have) please know that even for a person who has experienced severe anaphylaxis to a known allergenic trigger can EASILY mistake one for the other; it is not at all easy to tell the two things apart.
Thirdly-- if you were eating THAT much of something that you were truly allergic to, you would very likely not have been even remotely functional-- I would have expected you to have far more (and far more severe) allergy symptoms-- not just minor GI symptoms and a few nonspecific allergic ones. JMO, but it seems WAY more likely that you're eliminating a lot of processed food due to the corn and soy, and maybe you feel somewhat better because of a placebo (nocebo, actually) effect, and maybe partly because you're more aware of what you're eating, and you're making better (higher quality) food choices most of the time.
It's really hard to say. If you TRULY want to know whether or not you have allergies to those things that you've skin tested positive to, you'll have to undergo a food challenge to know for certain. Skin prick testing is only about 50-50 in terms of reliably predicting a food allergy from a positive test, though-- do know that. BLOOD testing (RAST IgE) is more reliable in that higher numbers definitely mean more likelihood of a real allergy.
One other thing that might explain a few things--- do you have environmental allergies (pet allergy in particular)? Does "home-home" have a pet? This is a WAY common pattern among college students-- they may have tolerated a family pet that they've lived with for many years, but then they go away to college, and when they come home for Thanksgiving/Christmas break the first year, they realize that they are horrifically allergic to the family pet, and wonder what on earth changed.
Along those lines, ask what is at home that might have triggered the symptoms initially.
All of this assumes that it isn't a manifestation of your anxiety. Please don't be angry at this suggestion, or think that I'm minimizing your distress-- but have you been thoroughly evaluated for disordered eating? It often pairs with anxiety disorders, and some of what you describe DOES sound like it could be possible.
I truly hope that something I've said here is helpful or gives you a new direction to approach the problem with the help of your doctor(s)-- if you don't have a good one working with you, it's time to find one ASAP. Good luck!
Secondly-- how well controlled is your anxiety? If you have panic attacks, (and it sounds as though you have) please know that even for a person who has experienced severe anaphylaxis to a known allergenic trigger can EASILY mistake one for the other; it is not at all easy to tell the two things apart.
Thirdly-- if you were eating THAT much of something that you were truly allergic to, you would very likely not have been even remotely functional-- I would have expected you to have far more (and far more severe) allergy symptoms-- not just minor GI symptoms and a few nonspecific allergic ones. JMO, but it seems WAY more likely that you're eliminating a lot of processed food due to the corn and soy, and maybe you feel somewhat better because of a placebo (nocebo, actually) effect, and maybe partly because you're more aware of what you're eating, and you're making better (higher quality) food choices most of the time.
It's really hard to say. If you TRULY want to know whether or not you have allergies to those things that you've skin tested positive to, you'll have to undergo a food challenge to know for certain. Skin prick testing is only about 50-50 in terms of reliably predicting a food allergy from a positive test, though-- do know that. BLOOD testing (RAST IgE) is more reliable in that higher numbers definitely mean more likelihood of a real allergy.
One other thing that might explain a few things--- do you have environmental allergies (pet allergy in particular)? Does "home-home" have a pet? This is a WAY common pattern among college students-- they may have tolerated a family pet that they've lived with for many years, but then they go away to college, and when they come home for Thanksgiving/Christmas break the first year, they realize that they are horrifically allergic to the family pet, and wonder what on earth changed.
Along those lines, ask what is at home that might have triggered the symptoms initially.
All of this assumes that it isn't a manifestation of your anxiety. Please don't be angry at this suggestion, or think that I'm minimizing your distress-- but have you been thoroughly evaluated for disordered eating? It often pairs with anxiety disorders, and some of what you describe DOES sound like it could be possible.
I truly hope that something I've said here is helpful or gives you a new direction to approach the problem with the help of your doctor(s)-- if you don't have a good one working with you, it's time to find one ASAP. Good luck!