Posted by: lakeswimr
« on: January 25, 2014, 09:50:45 PM »I do not think that you can desensitize yourself to food sensitivities. Desensitization for food allergies is currently still in trial stages and not something to try on one's own outside a medical facility with the help of an experienced allergist.
Allergist do not think that food allergies come from eating too much of a food but naturopaths and other alternative practitioners often say that.
Cyclic food allergies do not exist in my opinion and in the opinion of allergist. Naturopaths will often claim they do. I do not believe in them.
What foods cause you reactions? What type of reactions do you have? How soon after eating do you have the reactions? What type of doctors have you seen for these reactions?
Eating foods to which one is allergic (meaning the epi pen type of allergy) is generally very dangerous and not recommended with some complicated to explain exceptions. Avoidance may make a food allergy (IgE allergy) worse, but it is the only way to prevent a reaction.
I do not believe in food rotation diets. I do not think they prevent allergies. I think they are wasted effort and something I see only recommended by naturopaths and other alternative practitioners, not by mainstream doctors.
If you have an IgE food allergy your symptoms would start within minutes to up to 2 hours of ingestion almost always as in 99.99999 percent of the time. Close to 99% of the time they would start within 30 or 45 min of ingestion. You would have things like hives, difficulty breathing, GI problems, tightness of throat, swelling, itchiness, etc. It wouldn't generally be something so mild that you wouldn't know you had it. Do you get those types of symptoms?
There are many other food related conditions, some that are equally serious (some that are also life threatening such as FPIES) for which you generally see a GI doctor. Most are not life threatening but every bit as real as an IgE food allergy. They are not cured by exposure to the foods.
Depending on what reactions the person has, 30 min would not be considered delayed for IgE food allergies.
Honestly, if you are not seeing consistent reactions to a given food and you sometimes eat it without reaction then you do not sound like you have an IgE food allergy. It could actually be partly psychological.
The likelihood you developed an IgE food allergy as an adult is certainly possible. The likelihood of a person being allergic to nearly all foods is about zero.
If you have been avoiding almost all common foods for more than a few months you probably have some serious nutritional deficiencies unless you have been working very closely with a very good registered dietitian (and even then it would be very difficult to avoid being nutritionally deficient) which could be causing your symptoms. Have you had a blood test to test your levels of things like vit d, ec?
ENTs generally do not know food allergies well. Not all allergists are well versed in food allergies and it doesn't sound like the doctors you are working with are good.
The symptoms you describe could be from lots of other things.
A lot of people here avoid more than just one or two foods. My child avoids a lot more than that but a heck of a lot less than you avoid. There are people with IgE food allergies who are on formula only.
If you are truly allergic to all those foods you could survive on hypoallergenic formula but you would not get that except from a very good GI doctor. I suspect that you are dealing with something else, though.
A lot of people who think they have 'food sensitivities' actually have other things that are not getting diagnosed because of the false diagnosis (such as celiac, lactose intolerance, IBS, EOS, other GI conditions, reflux, etc, etc.)
Allergist do not think that food allergies come from eating too much of a food but naturopaths and other alternative practitioners often say that.
Cyclic food allergies do not exist in my opinion and in the opinion of allergist. Naturopaths will often claim they do. I do not believe in them.
What foods cause you reactions? What type of reactions do you have? How soon after eating do you have the reactions? What type of doctors have you seen for these reactions?
Eating foods to which one is allergic (meaning the epi pen type of allergy) is generally very dangerous and not recommended with some complicated to explain exceptions. Avoidance may make a food allergy (IgE allergy) worse, but it is the only way to prevent a reaction.
I do not believe in food rotation diets. I do not think they prevent allergies. I think they are wasted effort and something I see only recommended by naturopaths and other alternative practitioners, not by mainstream doctors.
If you have an IgE food allergy your symptoms would start within minutes to up to 2 hours of ingestion almost always as in 99.99999 percent of the time. Close to 99% of the time they would start within 30 or 45 min of ingestion. You would have things like hives, difficulty breathing, GI problems, tightness of throat, swelling, itchiness, etc. It wouldn't generally be something so mild that you wouldn't know you had it. Do you get those types of symptoms?
There are many other food related conditions, some that are equally serious (some that are also life threatening such as FPIES) for which you generally see a GI doctor. Most are not life threatening but every bit as real as an IgE food allergy. They are not cured by exposure to the foods.
Depending on what reactions the person has, 30 min would not be considered delayed for IgE food allergies.
Honestly, if you are not seeing consistent reactions to a given food and you sometimes eat it without reaction then you do not sound like you have an IgE food allergy. It could actually be partly psychological.
The likelihood you developed an IgE food allergy as an adult is certainly possible. The likelihood of a person being allergic to nearly all foods is about zero.
If you have been avoiding almost all common foods for more than a few months you probably have some serious nutritional deficiencies unless you have been working very closely with a very good registered dietitian (and even then it would be very difficult to avoid being nutritionally deficient) which could be causing your symptoms. Have you had a blood test to test your levels of things like vit d, ec?
ENTs generally do not know food allergies well. Not all allergists are well versed in food allergies and it doesn't sound like the doctors you are working with are good.
The symptoms you describe could be from lots of other things.
A lot of people here avoid more than just one or two foods. My child avoids a lot more than that but a heck of a lot less than you avoid. There are people with IgE food allergies who are on formula only.
If you are truly allergic to all those foods you could survive on hypoallergenic formula but you would not get that except from a very good GI doctor. I suspect that you are dealing with something else, though.
A lot of people who think they have 'food sensitivities' actually have other things that are not getting diagnosed because of the false diagnosis (such as celiac, lactose intolerance, IBS, EOS, other GI conditions, reflux, etc, etc.)