Hi there - I was recently diagosed with a wheat allergy. Barley also showed up (I wasn't tested for oats or rye) but not as strong. (Other positives showed up; everything was very cut and dry - either I was obviously having a reaction or I wasn't.)

I was diagnosed with IBS w/ constipation about a year ago and haven't had much improvement regardless of diet changes, adding fiber supplements, etc. My allergist seemed to be concerned about the wheat allergy positive and wants me to go on an elimination diet for one week. She believes that I may find that to be the issue instead of IBS.

I honestly don't think that I've ever gone a day without having some form of wheat in my diet (I'm a carbaholic). I suppose it's possible that I've become used to dealing with symptoms to the point where it's "normal." This happened when I started listening to my body when dealing with IBS.

How accurate is a skin test for this?
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Is it possible that my "IBS" is actually signs of my wheat allergy?

I am happy for you that you were able to find out what you were allergic to. Since you are allergic to wheat, did they check you for celiac disease? Many people who have celiac show signs of digestive problems. Make sure that you do so because celiac disease can be quite serious if you don't get rid of all gluten from your diet.

Let me tell you from personal experience that I also have (more like had) IBS as well. When I found this out, I saw a naturapathic doctor and started a strict diet without gluten, dairy, corn, soy, sugar, etc. I don't even have celiac disease, but stopping gluten has helped me tremendously. That was over 2 months ago that I started this diet and the IBS is gone and it started working right away. It really is possible to get rid of this, especially if you work on preparing your own meals and using as much organic food as possible. I hope that stopping wheat really helps you. Instead, I now eat brown rice and quinoa. It takes a while to get used to, but it is much healthier than the alternatives! Good luck to you and I hope you start to feel better!

portrgirl, I have recently found out that I have some food allergies too and I felt that I was pre IBS. I think that a lot of IBS might be food allergies. My daughter had a wheat allergy (among other food allergies too) and wheat was different for her than the other allergies. We let her eat wheat until she started having symptoms and then we would take the wheat away for a few months and then she could eat it again. Substitutes for wheat are corn and oat flour, corn tortillas (heat them in a skillet for a minute or two, flipping them), rice flour, and their are many more grain flours that you can find at any health food store and many regular grocery stores. You can make pancakes and muffins with these flours. Celiac websites have many good non-wheat recipes. There are also potato, corn, and rice pastas.

Care_berry: I wasn't tested for celiac but I think I may want to be just to rule that out.

Sannah: Did your symptoms disappear when you eliminated your allergic foods?

I was on an elimination diet for 2 weeks. No wheat, I check labels for even the smallest amount. I didn't notice anything change for me.

Yesterday I decided to make this week my "challenge week." I had pizza for lunch (probably a bad choice since I've also been avoiding dairy but I'm not allergic or intolerant to it) and fajitas for dinner (actually nearly wheat-free). Last night I was congested and really exhausted feeling (but I had a late night out Friday night and more activity on Saturday).

This morning I woke up with a stuffy head and a very sore throat (from drainage I imagine). Mid-morning today I had a small home-made muffin. I've been feeling "off" and somewhat queazy. I also had a headache coming on.

I'm eating the fajita leftovers for lunch right now and am feeling better except for feeling like I have a head cold coming on. I have no idea if this is due to me eating wheat or if I was just getting sick anyway (a cold has been going around my office). I'm so frustrated. I just want to know what's wrong with my body and fix it.

Hey Portrgirl, my story is a strange one. I found out that I had food allergies by accident. I went to my daughter's alternative doctor because I am allergic to all toiletries (contact allergy which includes plants outside touching my skin and giving me a "contact" rash). He injected the allergens into my upper arm and I was positive for foods, plants, and some chemicals. I look at the food allergies as being contact too because I do not have any systemic reactions that others normally do. I just have local contact reactions of local inflammation. Anyway, to finally answer your question, I did not eliminate the foods because my stomach problems were not bad and I just had the LDA (Low Dose Allergen) shot 3 days ago which is going to get rid of my allergies.

Maybe you have other food allergies than the few that were tested? My daughter had Leaky Gut Syndrome and she was allergic to almost all food. She was a mess. Her gut problems were unbelievable. An allergist was absolutely no help to her because they did not believe or understand any of what my daughter was suffering from. My daughter is in perfect health now and eating everything thanks to our wonderful alternative doctor. Let me know if you want any more info.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I think I am just getting a cold that's due to the blizzard we just had, suddenly freezing temperatures and everyone in my office being sick.

However, I did find out that most of the way I was feeling was probably due to me stopping coffee. I'm feeling much better today.

I've also been eating wheat products again. I had speghetti for dinner and no problems. In fact, my digestion is actually feeling better (again, probably due to the no coffee). I think the reason that I would cramp up after eating wheat is because my diet consisted of lots of whole grain bread, bagels, etc., which is hard to digest, especially for IBS patients.

Has anyone else experienced this?