Food Allergies VS Food Intolerances
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Justygirl77
Posts: 385 Member
What's the difference?
Does anyone have practical experience with this?
I was tested for food allergies, and they were all negative.
Soon I will add back dairy, fruit, grains and sugar into my diet, having excluded them from my diet for months. I will observe my body's reaction to each one. Is it possible to have no allergies, and yet be intolerant to a food...and is that a permanent condition?
Does anyone have practical experience with this?
I was tested for food allergies, and they were all negative.
Soon I will add back dairy, fruit, grains and sugar into my diet, having excluded them from my diet for months. I will observe my body's reaction to each one. Is it possible to have no allergies, and yet be intolerant to a food...and is that a permanent condition?
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Replies
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An allergen is something that causes your body to release histamine. It's a pretty specific category, though some people throw it around more casually than it is actually defined. You can have a non-allergen sensitivity. There are autoimmune disorders that go along with some of them (Celiac the most well known). For some people it's due to having an organ removed, or insulin resistance.0
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I suspect a lot of self declared food intolerance is really just hypochondria.0
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An allergen is something that causes your body to release histamine. It's a pretty specific category, though some people throw it around more casually than it is actually defined. You can have a non-allergen sensitivity. There are autoimmune disorders that go along with some of them (Celiac the most well known). For some people it's due to having an organ removed, or insulin resistance.
THIS!!! And you can actually be tested for food intolerances. After having my daughter, I appeared to have an issue with gluten. I had no idea what was going on, so I took dairy out of my diet for a period and found no difference. I figured gluten was another common one, so I cut it out of my diet and found it helped tremendously. I still had some issues, but that alone gave me a tremendous amount of relief. I ate this way for a long time but finally opted to be tested to see if it was indeed gluten or just specifically wheat. It turns out it was all the gluten containing grains, soy, yeast, msg (these 4 were the worst offenders), some others and a whole load of additive/preservatives. All fruits and veggies were clear, dairy (except those with the additives/preservatives that I don't tolerate well), nuts, and meat. A few fish and seafood was on the bad list but most were okay. So I changed my diet.
Fast forward to now!! I rarely ever have stomach problems now. And if I do, it is normally because someone else cooked for me and wasn't careful about cross contamination. Or my hubby gives me a big ol' kiss after eating a bagel... oops!0 -
So how do you test for a food intolerance?An allergen is something that causes your body to release histamine. It's a pretty specific category, though some people throw it around more casually than it is actually defined. You can have a non-allergen sensitivity. There are autoimmune disorders that go along with some of them (Celiac the most well known). For some people it's due to having an organ removed, or insulin resistance.
THIS!!! And you can actually be tested for food intolerances. After having my daughter, I appeared to have an issue with gluten. I had no idea what was going on, so I took dairy out of my diet for a period and found no difference. I figured gluten was another common one, so I cut it out of my diet and found it helped tremendously. I still had some issues, but that alone gave me a tremendous amount of relief. I ate this way for a long time but finally opted to be tested to see if it was indeed gluten or just specifically wheat. It turns out it was all the gluten containing grains, soy, yeast, msg (these 4 were the worst offenders), some others and a whole load of additive/preservatives. All fruits and veggies were clear, dairy (except those with the additives/preservatives that I don't tolerate well), nuts, and meat. A few fish and seafood was on the bad list but most were okay. So I changed my diet.
Fast forward to now!! I rarely ever have stomach problems now. And if I do, it is normally because someone else cooked for me and wasn't careful about cross contamination. Or my hubby gives me a big ol' kiss after eating a bagel... oops!
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I have a simple rule - if it makes me feel ill and gives me problems, I stop eating it. Eggs, for example. I am lactose intolerant as well. But eggs make me feel deathly ill so I stop eating them. I've never heard of a test for food intolerances though. I have always been told by my doctor, eliminate one food group, see what happens. When you eliminate the offending group, you'll feel better and know.0
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Although I don't have any food allergies I was allergic to grass pollen and a few other things.. Lucky for me I was married to a triple board certified allergist, immunologist,internal medicine doc so I did shots for five years and don't have any issues.
The one thing I would caution you on is seeing a Board certified allergist and NOT a ENT or other allergy practicing doctor. Docs get board certified in certain fields for a reason.. I see a lot of ENT docs (Trained in surgery) doing allergy because the money is great not because they know WTF their doing.. Sure they willl say they took some classes or got more training but the truth is there are better docs out there that earned the job.. My 2 cents0 -
Justygirl77 wrote: »So how do you test for a food intolerance?An allergen is something that causes your body to release histamine. It's a pretty specific category, though some people throw it around more casually than it is actually defined. You can have a non-allergen sensitivity. There are autoimmune disorders that go along with some of them (Celiac the most well known). For some people it's due to having an organ removed, or insulin resistance.
THIS!!! And you can actually be tested for food intolerances. After having my daughter, I appeared to have an issue with gluten. I had no idea what was going on, so I took dairy out of my diet for a period and found no difference. I figured gluten was another common one, so I cut it out of my diet and found it helped tremendously. I still had some issues, but that alone gave me a tremendous amount of relief. I ate this way for a long time but finally opted to be tested to see if it was indeed gluten or just specifically wheat. It turns out it was all the gluten containing grains, soy, yeast, msg (these 4 were the worst offenders), some others and a whole load of additive/preservatives. All fruits and veggies were clear, dairy (except those with the additives/preservatives that I don't tolerate well), nuts, and meat. A few fish and seafood was on the bad list but most were okay. So I changed my diet.
Fast forward to now!! I rarely ever have stomach problems now. And if I do, it is normally because someone else cooked for me and wasn't careful about cross contamination. Or my hubby gives me a big ol' kiss after eating a bagel... oops!
I had it done at a naturopathic clinic, but you can have it done at a blood lab with a doctor requisition.0 -
I have severe environmental allergies to things like dust, mold, pollen. Consequently, I also suffer from concomitant allergic reactions to things like wheat and dairy. The molecular structure of the actual allergen (dust/mold/pollen) is quite similar to that of the concomitant food (wheat/dairy). It took me a long time to figure this out, lots of allergy tests, many ENTs and allergists, as I had no other problems consuming dairy or wheat. Except that I kept getting recurrent sinus infections that wouldn't clear. I was tested by my allergist to see if I was in fact allergic to wheat, dairy and soy, and according to the test I was not. And yet I do see a reaction. YMMV.0
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The testing I did for food allergies was a blood test.
How are food intolerances tested?0 -
I've had allergy tests too, but not intolerance tests.0
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I am lactose intolerant. It is not hypochondria. A large portion of the world's population is lactose intolerant. It's very common.
The symptoms for dairy allergies are different from those for LI. The first will give you rashes and worse. LI usually causes digestive issues.0 -
From what I've learned, an allergy will have an allergic reaction like hives, throat swelling, anaphylaxis, etc. And an intolerance is mostly felt on the gi system, like gas, diarrhea, etc.
There are also some rare mast cell disorders that will care allergic type reactions yet test negative for allergies0 -
HappyCampr1 wrote: »auntstephie321 wrote: »From what I've learned, an allergy will have an allergic reaction like hives, throat swelling, anaphylaxis, etc. And an intolerance is mostly felt on the gi system, like gas, diarrhea, etc.
This is what I understand too. I had allergy testing with the grid on my back and arms, and I'm allergic to almonds and cantaloupe, among other things. I can eat almonds and don't notice anything because my other allergies (to dust, molds, and mildews) are already causing reactions in my body. I do try to avoid them when possible though. Milk, on the other hand, used to make me throw up, even as a child. I'm assuming I was lactose intolerant. I seem to have outgrown that (if that's possible) because I can have processed dairy (yogurt, cheese, ice cream) and half&half in my coffee with no issues.Michael190lbs wrote: »Although I don't have any food allergies I was allergic to grass pollen and a few other things.. Lucky for me I was married to a triple board certified allergist, immunologist,internal medicine doc so I did shots for five years and don't have any issues.
The one thing I would caution you on is seeing a Board certified allergist and NOT a ENT or other allergy practicing doctor. Docs get board certified in certain fields for a reason.. I see a lot of ENT docs (Trained in surgery) doing allergy because the money is great not because they know WTF their doing.. Sure they willl say they took some classes or got more training but the truth is there are better docs out there that earned the job.. My 2 cents
I had allergy shots for 2 1/2 years (I moved to another state and never bothered to start up again). I still have allergy issues, but I'm no longer taking Zyrtec, Claritin, Mucinex and Flonase for prevention of symptoms. Usually one Zyrtec a day will do. If it gets bad, I start adding other medicines. I can't imagine how bad it would have been without the shots. I second the advise for certified allergists.
many people can not process lactose properly which causes the problems with milk. Most though can handle it in limited quantities, and the items you listed that don't bother you generally have less lactose than a glass of milk would, which is probably why they don't affect you.0 -
HappyCampr1 wrote: »auntstephie321 wrote: »From what I've learned, an allergy will have an allergic reaction like hives, throat swelling, anaphylaxis, etc. And an intolerance is mostly felt on the gi system, like gas, diarrhea, etc.
This is what I understand too. I had allergy testing with the grid on my back and arms, and I'm allergic to almonds and cantaloupe, among other things. I can eat almonds and don't notice anything because my other allergies (to dust, molds, and mildews) are already causing reactions in my body. I do try to avoid them when possible though. Milk, on the other hand, used to make me throw up, even as a child. I'm assuming I was lactose intolerant. I seem to have outgrown that (if that's possible) because I can have processed dairy (yogurt, cheese, ice cream) and half&half in my coffee with no issues.Michael190lbs wrote: »Although I don't have any food allergies I was allergic to grass pollen and a few other things.. Lucky for me I was married to a triple board certified allergist, immunologist,internal medicine doc so I did shots for five years and don't have any issues.
The one thing I would caution you on is seeing a Board certified allergist and NOT a ENT or other allergy practicing doctor. Docs get board certified in certain fields for a reason.. I see a lot of ENT docs (Trained in surgery) doing allergy because the money is great not because they know WTF their doing.. Sure they willl say they took some classes or got more training but the truth is there are better docs out there that earned the job.. My 2 cents
I had allergy shots for 2 1/2 years (I moved to another state and never bothered to start up again). I still have allergy issues, but I'm no longer taking Zyrtec, Claritin, Mucinex and Flonase for prevention of symptoms. Usually one Zyrtec a day will do. If it gets bad, I start adding other medicines. I can't imagine how bad it would have been without the shots. I second the advise for certified allergists.
Are you using the terms "intolerance" and "allergic" interchangeably?
I'm curious how is testing done for a food intolerance (as opposed to food allergy)....is this done in a lab, doctor's office, or...?
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Justygirl77 wrote: »So how do you test for a food intolerance?
I had it done at a naturopathic clinic, but you can have it done at a blood lab with a doctor requisition.
So you have had a food intolerance (not food allergy) tested at a clinic...what did they do?
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I'm really appreciating all the input!! I know it's an issue that needs lots of clarification, so thanks for whatever you can offer!
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I would think an intolerance would be tested with an elimination type diet, adding back in one thing at a time and noting the feelings afterwards0
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