Wheat Allergy

Hi .. I believe that I could be having food allergies. But I honestly do not know which. After each meal, I would feel bloated and very uncomfortable. Could this be an allergic reactions to the foods. I ate almost all type of food, with staple food being rice and bread. From my various digging around, it seems to be wheat allergy. How do I know for sure without subjecting myself to all the pricks in testing.

Pls advise ...

[Soonerman]

The only way to be for sure is to have blood tests for Celiacs Disease and/or antibodies blood test for intollerance to wheat/gluten.  If you want to test if it is an allergy to gluten then you can always go on a gluten free diet for about a couple months.  You should see dramatic change within a few days or a week, but you will know by eliminating gluten (completely eliminate, no cheating), and then if you want reintroduce it to see if the symptoms reappear (that should be proof enough without the tests).  There is also a biopsy testing that can be completed, but if the blood tests show it then i don't see the need to get scoped.  Otherwise you could just get a basic allergy ***** test that will show allergies to a bunch of different foods, like milk, eggs, nuts, wheat...not sure how accurate it is though.

[PlateletGal]

One thing you can do is try taking your pulse before and after each meal. If your pulse increases by 8 beats or more (after a meal), you may be allergic to one of the foods in that particular meal. What you can do then is try taking the test with each one of the ingredients in the meal.  I would then recommend eliminating that food from your diet and seeing if that eliminates your symptoms. You may also want to take Soonerman's advice and get tested for Celiac disease. Although my physician did teach me that not everyone with an intolerance to gluten has Celiac disease.

More information on the pulse test:

http://www.1healthyworld.com/eZine/vol1no8.cfm

Good luck !

[BhumikaMD]

Hi,

'People with celiac disease carry higher than normal levels of certain antibodies (anti-gliadin, anti-endomysium and anti-tissue transglutaminase).

Antibodies are specialized proteins that are part of your immune system and work to eliminate foreign substances in your body.

In people with celiac disease, their immune systems may be recognizing gluten as a foreign substance and producing elevated levels of antibodies to get rid of it.

A blood test can detect high levels of these antibodies and is used to initially detect people who are most likely to have the disease and who may need further testing.'

You could read more about the condition at the following links -

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/celiac-disease/DS00319

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeliac_disease

Let us know if you need any other information.

Regards.