The Food Allergy Journey Begins: Skin Testing Results

Barley, Beef, Chicken, Garlic Day

I thought of many titles for this post -

"If you were planning to invite me over for dinner, too late!"
"Potlucks are not my friend"
"I'm going to crawl into a hole and starve"
"Why didn't I eat an entire pizza when I had the chance?"

During the month of December, I had 4 rounds of skin testing done (2 for inhalants and 2 for skin) and a blood test for seafood/fish and nuts.

The first two weeks showed that I have quite strong nasal allergies to many many things. Getting dust mite covers for my bedding has already helped that headache stuffed up feeling I woke up with every morning. It was no surprise to me that I had a very strong reaction to Timothy hay and strong reactions to all grasses, most trees, etc. This issue I knew about. I almost couldn't get through this last summer... itchy eyes, headaches, sneezing, etc. Hence, the reason I asked for allergy testing.

Given that I also suffer from hives and almost always felt rather bad after I ate, the doctor also had me go through food allergy testing. The results were rather surprising and when I had my post-testing appointment, he opened my folder and said "Wow....."

I am officially allergic to Barley, Beef, Chicken, Garlic, Shrimp, Pork, Wheat, Soy and Dairy. 

I have known about half that list for a couple weeks and the other half for one week. My emotions and coping abilities have fluctuated during that time. The meat allergies are rather straight forward to avoid. Barley and/or wheat are in all mainstream breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, etc including standard flours used in baking at home. Garlic is in anything that tastes good. Dairy is the love of my life. And soy is just plain everywhere.

There are foods left. I tested fine for eggs, corn, potatoes, rice... air. Oh wait - I didn't!!! (LOL. Ok, that wasn't even planned. Jokes on me!) Seriously, there really are plenty of foods left - vegetables, fruit, quinoa, salmon, nuts. But it was a bit of a shock to cut out so many things at once. Yes, just a bit.

After we got the bad news, Ralph said but you haven't had any symptoms... but I had been experiencing LOTS of symptoms, I just never tied them to food allergies. I think because I was allergic to so many things, there never was a pattern for me to catch onto - unless every meal is a pattern. I would try going without dairy, but still feel bad... I would try cutting out nuts, but still feel bad. Get the idea?

During the skin test, you experience the same symptoms you would if you had ingested the food - for me: itching/hives, chest tightness, fatigue. Since I have been avoiding everything on that list for 1 week, I already feel A LOT better. My bloating is vastly improved. My mood and energy level is really stable through the day. I have had fewer hives. My stomach has felt better. I used to get a lot of chest tightness or pressure, that I thought was anxiety related - nope! It was a mild anaphylactic reaction to food! So glad I didn't spend lots of money seeing a shrink... I don't think s/he could have helped me with that!

Remember the blood sugar experimenting I did earlier this year? I did all of that because of the fatigue I would feel 1 1/2 to 2 hours after most meals... and at home testing did show higher than expected blood sugar numbers. GET THIS! It wasn't prediabetes. Fatigue is a food allergy symptom. I did have a glucose challenge test at my doctor's office this summer which came back normal. I didn't know what to make of that because my numbers from the lab were much lower than my numbers at home. SO GET THIS! While having an anaphylactic response, your body dumps sugar into your system to help you. So my numbers during the test were fine because I am not allergic to sugar.... So I now have this to say: HEY LOCAL PA - Remember this summer when I said, something is WRONG WITH ME and I don't feel good after I EAT and I have been testing my numbers at home and they are HIGH - And you grudgingly agreed to give me a glucose challenge test WHILE NOT AT ALL SUBTLY implying that you thought I was just anorexic and should eat more - F*$& YOU. When I am able to say a more professional version of that to her directly, I will. Not ready yet obviously!

Deep breath.

So, I am supposed to avoid all these foods for at least 6 months. At that point the doctor is going to tell me to cautiously reintroduce garlic and at some point maybe the others. But he said that the rest of what I am allergic to - the meats, dairy, soy, wheat, barley - don't tend to reintroduce very well.

So I am wrapping my head around being a soy-free, wheat-free vegan who eats an egg at breakfast and turkey or salmon as needed for energy or family harmony... Wish me luck!