Allergy testing

[cjsmith]

I went in today to be tested for allergies to 1) serotonin and 2) lots of common foods.

I'm apparently allergic to every substance they tested. This includes about 80% of what's legal for me to eat, on this diet that's already so restrictive I can barely have a social life.

The woman who did the testing tried to tell me to eliminate these foods for six weeks, or at least make the portions of them smaller. I told her I was already down nine pounds and I wasn't going to eliminate a damn thing.

She said maybe I could substitute. I pointed to where the substitutions sheet suggested other things I was either allergic to or couldn't have on the current diet. She suggested things I hadn't been tested for. I said looking at the sample set, it's reasonable to infer that I'm allergic to many of those too, and since we don't know which ones, it's kind of pointless.

I told her I felt fine other than the joint pain. She said chronic food allergy can cause inflammation that could explain the joint pain. I said my pain had never responded to anti-inflams of any kind, including some pretty strong ones, so it was reasonable to conclude my pain is not inflammatory in nature.

So I'm ignoring it.

There's nothing else to do really.

I want my $625 back.

I am seriously considering never going to another doctor again. All they've done for me is take my money, make my life miserable with "noninvasive" approaches, and fail to get results. I HAVE HAD IT.

Comments

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

I have chosen not to go see them, because I'm not interested in the answer I'm fairly certain that I'll get. My sense is that they have a very simplistic answer to all of the world's ills (or at least every woman's ills). It just doesn't happen to be the one the REST of the medicos in our country are pushing.

I'm not interested in being strong-armed into Orthorexia. If I wanted that, all I'd have to do is listen to my mother. And of course recovering would be easy, too--just get down on my knees and pray.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*eyeroll* about the praying. That's another side of good old "you haven't been thinking positively enough." People like that need to see some real problems that saying la la la won't make go away, like maybe a federal seizure of property or multiple sclerosis or death threats from a crazy junkie or something.

I gotta hand it to Harmony, though, that Dr. Metzger is Lyme-literate. I don't know where I'd have found another one of those.

O'course, that's presuming I even have Lyme. I tested positive on one band. ONE BAND. Nobody in the universe except IGeneX would call that a positive result. Most other labs need FIVE. I'm not disputing I've been exposed to the bacterium at some point in my life; antibodies don't just randomly grow. But beyond that one fact there's nothing conclusive here.

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Sounds... iffy at best. Did you do confirmatory tests? One band,once, just doesn't sound like enough.

And yes, *eyeroll* on the praying thing. See, I wouldn't have any allergies to dust anymore if I'd just "stand against the Devil," dontchaknow.

[This is my "reaching" icon, since I think there's a lot of reaching going on in this diagnosis, by my mom, etc.!]

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I don't have any belief right now that I know what the answer is, but I have a really strong gut feeling about what it isn't. My gut says it isn't prayer and it isn't me being allergic to every molecule known to man. Lyme, it may or may not be. I have little data.

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Is this the place in Menlo Park? If it is, they seem quite fond of Lyme and allergies as the cause of everything.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Los Altos. They used to be somewhere else under a slightly different name, but I don't remember where.

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

I'll bet it's the same group. Lyme and allergies...I've heard that before.

BTW, I have a flame thrower (archaic weed burner type), but it's in storage. If you really feel the need, let me know :^)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I bet you're right. For all I know, this particular physician had a major breakthrough when her own allergies and Lyme were diagnosed, and once you've struggled with something for a really long time and had a breakthrough, you look for it in everyone else.

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

I would have helped you find another Lyme-literate physician if you needed one. I don't see Dr. Metzger. I see Dr. Stricker in San Francisco. He deals only with the testing, immunology, and infectious disease treatment from a scientifically proven point of view, with some discussion of experimental treatment (that has had limited scientific testing, but some).

I go elsewhere for alternative adjunct treatment when I can... or try to research it and take care of it myself. I am my own lab rat.

I was positive on more than one band on Igenex. I was positive on 4 or 5 (my original test is in storage) bands and I had 2 of the vaccine bands light up.

It IS possible you don't have Lyme, FWIW, but maybe you do... that's the bitch of this disease. One test isn't enough though... if it's serologically progressive, you should see a change in those bands as you're treated. ALSO... did you get your CD57 test and other immune system markers tested? That should be a confirmation test for presence of infection and antibody response. Check this page out: http://www.anapsid.org/lyme/strickerpanel.html

CD57 isn't about the presence of Lyme -- it's more about how you are responding to treatment in the presence of infection. All it can give you is additional data, but that's better than not enough data.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I would have helped you find another Lyme-literate physician if you needed one.

Well, 'cept I didn't know I needed one until I found one and got sent for a test. ;-) I think you're right that there's a chance I don't really have Lyme any more. I'm guessing that the only way I'm going to be sure is to watch and see if I respond in any way to treatment. I already have some somewhat-supporting but not conclusive information: my total lack of a Herx reaction.

No, I didn't get CD57 or other immune system markers. It sounds like that would be done after I'm in treatment for a bit...