Immunocap testing - accuracy/levels of significance? - Allergies Message Board

namelessme · 02-12-2009, 12:59 PM

Hello all,

I recently had some Immunocap testing done, and it basically already told me lots of things I already knew... and some I didn't.

I tested class 5 for cats and ragweed, 2s and 3s for grasses and lots of trees and a total IGE of about 770. Oddly enough, I am not allergic at all to dust mites and cockroaches.

But what I didn't expect was some minor food allergies. What I'd like to know is if Class 1 and 2 food allergies are of any clinical significance?

For corn I tested .65 (class 1), soy .4 (class 1), and wheat 1.13 (class 2). My doctor said they probably were not significant enough to cause issues. But I've has some eczema and digestive issues lately, and am wondering if they possibly be food allergy related now.

Are there any follow-up blood tests I should get to verify the accuracy of the above, or see if I am truly allergic to them? A diet trial would make the most sense, especially for wheat, which I am considering doing, but would like to first check about extra testing... if I remove the above foods from my diet, then do new tests, the tests would be useless.

Titchou · 02-12-2009, 07:52 PM

Generally speaking, scratch tests are better for environmental allergies and the blood test for food ones. So, you;ve done all you can do for the food ones. Eczema is a symptom of food allergies so I definitely would give the diet a try. And just because you remove the allergen from your diet or environment, it will not make a difference on tests. If you are allergic, you are allergic no matter where you are or what you've been exposed to. That's why people show up allergic to things they are never around.
You probably don't have much ragweed in NY - it's almost the state flower in every southern state! I'm allergic to some things I'm never around. So that's pretty irrelevant.

Since the environmental allergies are not all that bad, you might try an antihistamine for them - Zyrtec would be a good one to start with - and see if that controls them. If not, you might consider injections.

namelessme · 02-12-2009, 08:09 PM

Thanks for the reply.

There seems to be enough ragweed here to bother my nose. I'm not in NYC, so we do have plants and stuff here. I'd probably be better off in NYC, seeing as I'm not allergic to cockroaches... Environmental allergies seems bad enough for me, as soon as Spring rolls around, my nose clogs up.

I've visited down South, and it's much, much worse though. I also have asthma, and I think I'd die if I was down there during spring/summer/fall months for any long period of time.

I've been using NasalCrom plus Allegra for environmental, and it seems to help. I did the allergy shot thing as a kid, for several years.. It may have helped some, I guess. Oh, and I did do the scratch testing for environmental too... my arm was full of big red welts...

As for food allergies, I was mixing up gluten testing and food allergy testing, as with gluten testing you can't stop eating gluten before the test. I've been tested for Celiac though, and it came back negative. Are they are more tests (or accurate tests) I should get to test for a wheat allergy? And is it possible to be allergic to gluten, yet not Celiac? I haven't researched food allergies so much, so am not sure exactly what the best tests are. And would a 1 week, wheat elimination diet, be a long enough time to figure out if it's causing a problem or not?