Honest Mum

Intolerance Tests Transformed This Family’s Health

Honest Mum

I paid for intolerance tests for the family over three months ago and whilst they’ve proved divisive within the medical community with many taking the stance that more research into their validity is needed, they have undoubtedly helped mine and my family’s health so I wanted to share our experience.

I’m not a doctor so do please seek professional advice before embarking on any kind of test if you’re concerned about your health, but my children and I have found huge benefits in eliminating trigger foods that were highlights in the tests we took with York Test.

In the interest of balance though, I want to start by sharing registered Dietitian, Laura Clark of LEC Nutrition‘s professional opinion on intolerance tests,

‘Food intolerance tests tend to look at IGg antibodies. These are released by the body in response to exposure to a food so do not necessarily indicate an intolerance. It’s important to consider the whole picture and not alter the diet based only on results from these tests. The best way to know for sure is to exclude a food for a short period of time and then reintroduce. Seek advice from a dietitian to ensure the diet is not nutritionally compromised’.

As I stated earlier, myself and my kids have had super results after eliminating foods which showed a reaction in our tests 3 months ago, so I wanted to share our personal experience.

I opted for tests via York Test as my mum had used them many years ago with positive results (they’ve been around for 35 years) and I’d reached a point where I was exasperated when it came to my health with symptoms of bloating and aggressive red and itchy urticaria rashes which were appearing daily.

I wanted to investigate if the food I was eating might be causing these issues.

I knew there would no doubt be several trigger foods listed in my own results so I bypassed the York Test’s first step test where you post a blood sample to decipher whether or not you react to foods in the first place. I went straight to the second step where a long list of foods are tested against your sample.

York Test would have refunded me the cost of the more expensive second step test if I hadn’t reacted to anything (bar an admin fee) but I was certain that trigger foods were bound to show up as I was already aware that soya disagreed with me, as ditto, brazil nuts. Despite not being allergic to nuts according to my GP’s tests, brazil nuts make me immediately vomit and other nuts cause itchiness.

My father has a severe nut allergy to peanuts, hazelnuts and brazils so I stay clear of nuts generally.

I once had an anaphylactic reaction to an unusual Indian dessert whilst at uni in my twenties which was incredibly scary and frustratingly I wasn’t able to pin down exactly what was in it which triggered it.

…Back to the test.

The kids and I sent off pin prick blood samples via a testing kit from York Test and these are taken painlessly from either your finger or foot. You then pop them into an SAE and into the letterbox. We received our results by email as well as by post within a week of testing.

The reason I tested the kids too was because Oliver, 7, had been complaining of feeling oddly sick most days, and Xander had relentless ENT issues, mostly with his ears.

Oliver’s results came back with an egg intolerance and Xander, cows’ milk. They both instantly felt better after cutting out these foods. As in, within a day.

Xander, who was on antibiotics frequently prior to the tests, has not yet suffered an infection in three months since we’ve switched to dairy-free foods.

I don’t believe it’s a coincidence as prior to the elimination diet, he was on back-to-back antibiotics for throat and ear infections that baffled doctors.

Oliver has equally felt better, only complaining of feeling sick when he ate a Yorkshire pudding that we forgot had egg in it!

My own list of trigger foods was lengthy. You are sent a list with a traffic light system -the red being the worst triggers, the amber a 50% reaction with most feeling OK when they eat from that list every so often, and the green list showing no reaction.

My number one culprit was egg (which my husband Peter had predicted long ago but I’d hoped wasn’t the case) along with wheat, gluten, soya, yeast and cashew nuts as ingredients I need to avoid.

The amber list saw cow’s milk, garlic and lentils, which I now eat in moderation.

A nutritionist phoned me to discuss all of the family’s results and advised us about the elimination process offering alternatives, along with email support and booklets in the post.

I was encouraged to cut out both red and amber listed foods to start, with a view to eliminating the red list foods for 3 months before slowly reintroducing each one and testing how I felt.

I’ll be honest, the first week was hard-going and some of my symptoms felt worse before they improved (I was reassured this was normal) but by week two I felt better than ever, both emotionally as well as physically. It was like a fog had lifted mentally.

2 months in, I reintroduced some cow’s milk products, and as I’m originally Greek, a little garlic ( I can’t not) but I’ve yet to eat any red trigger foods in three months and I feel a million times better for it.

In fact I (unknowingly) ate a salad on holiday which had mayo in the dressing and I instantly felt dizzy. That’s how much egg affects me.

I’m not ready to reintroduce the red foods yet one by one as I feel so good without them and having experienced reactions to egg and soya unknowingly consumed, I know my body isn’t ready yet.

The hardest food to bin has been chocolate (with soya). I’ve found some brands without it and Kallo dark chocolate rice cakes forgo it too.

Prior to the test results, whilst I was aware soya beans and tofu didn’t agree with me, I still scoffed chocolate and soya sauce but since becoming stricter, my blotchy red rashes have reduced, I’ve lost weight without dieting (I love my food and can’t cope with tiny portions) and I have greater energy than before.

I have upped my exercise regime too so must mention that but I’m certain eliminating foods which cause inflammation has helped hugely.

I’m now a small UK size 10 and whilst I’ll never lose my Mumtum two c-sections later, I feel much happier in my skin (and in my Topshop dresses!)

Honest Mum wears a Topshop dress

I must also note that don’t believe the way I feel is psychosomatic, my kids don’t have that kind of mind-over-matter ability anyway-and I’ve not had a migraine since stopping foods that were noted as reactive.

My migraines were infrequent but severe when they occurred and usually arose around menstruation with even partial blindness and flashing lights which once prompted me to head to A &E. Scary stuff. I feel more in control of my body since discovering the foods that trigger reactions in me.

Importantly, my kids are healthier and happier too.

I just wish we’d taken our tests sooner.

Next, I’ll be getting my husband Peter tested but as he doesn’t have any symptoms, we’ll be opting for the initial test to check if he reacts to any foods in the first place.

There are lots of companies out there that you can have suspected intolerances checked with of course. This isn’t a sponsored review, I just wanted to share how full of beans we all are since taking intolerance tests.

My results also encouraged my own GP to take blood tests for allergies as well as IBS and Coeliac Disease (both negative).

These are pricey tests but in my opinion they’ve been completely worth it.

We would often run to A and E and out of hours doctors at crazy o’clock with my 4 year old’s incessant infections and to have had a break from him being in pain as well as all the disruption the infections cause, has been a welcome relief.

Of course, if my kids become ill, we always follow our doctor’s advice and would take antibiotics and any medicine required to ease infections and illness, but to have seemingly helped the cause of Xander’s problem, over treating the symptoms so far, feels awesome.

As well as following a healthy, balanced diet and exercise, I personally take B6, B12, folic acid and vitamin D daily to support my mental wellbeing and health and the kids take an age-appropriate multi-vit too.

As a sidenote, I loved watching Marie Forleo’s video with Dr Kelly Brogan on how healing your gut can help with depression, she advocates removing inflammatory foods and you can read the post in full HERE.

Have you had intolerance tests before?

I’d love to read your thoughts.

 

 

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Intolerance Tests Transformed This Family's Health

 

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