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Allergy and intolerance tests... are they worth it?

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Donna3939
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Hi all,

Just a quick question... I've seen a therapist on another site advertising allergy and intolerance testing and was wondering what you thought about this.

The lady uses a hair sample and tests approx 300 food and household items to see if there's any reaction to these.

Why am I considering the test? For the last 6 months or so I've felt really sluggish/lethargic/tired. I can have a good nights sleep and still fall asleep on an afternoon for an hour! I've got no energy to do anything, which is no good when I've got a 2 year old daughter who wants to play all the time.

A guy I work with had this test done a few years ago (by blood sample) cos his wife suffers from a few illnesses (can't remember what) and they decided to see if there was anything diet-wise that could help them. Anyway, they found they were intolerant to a whole range of foods, cut them out of their diet completely and haven't looked back. He says his wife's quality of lfe has increased dramatically so I'm intrigued to see if any external factor (food) could be the cause of my tiredness.

Have any of you had these tests? They are not NHS tests, it costs £55 for the one I'm considering.

Donna. x

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atlanticpearl
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Hair analysis tests I would be a bit skeptical about, but perhaps anyone who has had it done maybe they can give some advice.

A friend did have the York allergy testing done where you take a sample of your own blood and that come back with some intollerances.

Other testings for allergy include VEGA and Kingsology (sp) but I guess for some people they produce results and for others they don't...but how reliable they are I don't know. I have had kingsology and was told i was intollerant to wheat, so I cut that out of my diet almost 95%...for example when i am out its not always possible to find out if the product as wheat flour in....i did lose some weight by cutting out the foods that it brought up I was intollerant too. my testing was done 4 years ago.

Could you have the start of the symptons of ME/CFS?

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Donna3939
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Could you have the start of the symptons of ME/CFS?

I hope not 🙁

I've had blood tests done for unrelated reasons and they've come back normal today. Would ME/CFS cause abnormalities in the blood?

Btw - the lady who does the tests said its similar to Kinesiology (sp?). She said she took over from her MIL who ran the tests for 35 years and from the sounds of it, she has personally being testing for about 5 years. x

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Mysticangel
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Hi Donna

I've had this done, only 2 weeks ago so cant really comment on the results as yet. I was looking for a Kinesiologist but couldnt find anyone local, so went for the VEGA machine option.

The number of things that showed up were amazing, unfortunately chocolate was one of them, wheat (bread, pasta etc), milk, butter, cheese plus loads of others.

I went for food intolerances, airbourne, and vitamins/minerals option and it cost £50. It also identified that I had a high level of candida, when I've read up on the symptoms,it explains alot of my problems.

I'm cutting out sugar, plus all the items above slowly out of my diet, I'm hoping I see an improvement in my health soon but it is really difficult as I'm a bit of fussy eater and finding alternatives to the above that I actually like is proving a little difficult but hopefully worth it in the end if I feel better in myself.

xx

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Donna3939
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Mysticangel could you please pm me the details of who did your test? I live in Washington so not that far from you!

x

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Mysticangel
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Mysticangel could you please pm me the details of who did your test? I live in Washington so not that far from you!

x

I've sent you a pm.

xx

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Donna3939
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Thanks, I'm gonna look into it. Its a bit cheaper than the lady I was looking at (and local to me too!) x

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pinkangel
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I attended a local therapists support group this week and we had a kinesiologist demonstrating various techniques. One of which was allergy/intolerance testing. It was absolutely fascinating and highlighted how amazing our body intelligence truly is.

The kinesiologist teaches nationwide and lives in county durham. I can pass on her details if anyone wants :DJust pm me.

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 kaif
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Donna
I've heard of hair analysis being done to test for the level of minerals in the body, not too sure about it being done to test for intolerances.
There are many other allergy/intolerance tests available these days such as the York test, Vega testing etc.
Many of them are useful in a general sort of way as long as you also take the advice of a nutritional therapist in order to make sure that a changed diet which will exclude foods that you have eaten so far, will also give you a broad range of required nutrients for optimum health.
Kaif

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gorseflower
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I've used the same testing as mysticangel, and I too have had some good results from taking it all on board. The best thing was that it identified my sensitivity to Cow's produce, including the meat, and now my life has completely changed for the better in terms of food and health.
I'm still a bit naughty with the sweet stuff, but it was well worth the £50 to even get a waymarker for the journey I was about to undertake in terms of my health.

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 ava
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Hi Donna

I wish I could say something positive about my experiences with food intolerance testing, but I've not had any joy with it at all. By contrast fellow students on my programme, and therapists whom I respect very much swear by food intolerance testing.

I was particularly unimpressed with the York Test which came back with an exact copy of the list I'd sent them of my suspected foods, with one new addition. Rubbish. I've done lots of other ones including Vega, kinesiology, and recently a home test kit (which you can order online). Different tests have wildly differing results with some saying X food is safe and another that it is to be avoided.

I'd personally stay away from the Vega tests since they seem to be done in a corner of a health food shop - I think testers' competence could vary significantly. The York Test is supposed to be excellent, and I've not heard a bad word against it (other than my own bad experience!). However your blood sample is sent via the post, which means that delivery time is open-ended (delays mean the sample could arrive at the lab degraded). My personal recommendation would be to go for the £50 [url]Food Detective[/url] kit, which you can do at home and get results in a couple of hours.

I've also had hair mineral analysis - but as Kaif says that is for identifying mineral deficiencies. I think it's pretty good - but it's a snapshot of what's been happening weeks to months ago rather than now. Liquid mineral taste tests can be conducted by your nutritionist (as someone mentioned in another thread) and the results given immediately. Are the latter as accurate? Maybe not, because there is subjectivity involved.

Ava x

p.s. Have you seen ZenJen's [url]excellent topical joke[/url] she posted in the Jokes forum? Ha!

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 Maya
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Hi, I haven't read all the responses. However, my view of getting these tests done is that it will ultimately make your life smaller as it will ultimately find things for you to avoid for the rest of your life. Better would be to find a therapist to help your system to overcome its issues in order to keep it strong and won't be effected by intolerances/allergies etc.

Why not see a health kinesiologist or a homeopath instead? A health kinesiologist will be able to help you find your intolerances (if there are any) but will ultimately strengthen your system holistically and so will deal with whatever the problems are on all levels.

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Energylz
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Hi, I haven't read all the responses. However, my view of getting these tests done is that it will ultimately make your life smaller as it will ultimately find things for you to avoid for the rest of your life.

And that's one of the problems. Too many people think that intolerances and allergies are some permanent thing, so once you've found you've got it, you've got it for life. NOT TRUE!

Fair enough, in some cases an allergy can be with a person for life, but in a lot of cases, especially with intolerances, these can come and go, so somebody may be intolerance to a substance one minute, but after spending time avoiding the substance may be able to reintroduce it into their life again. A lot of intolerances are believed to come about through over-exposure to certain things, i.e. a lack of balance by not being exposed to a good variety of things. In a lot of cases people who avoid a substance for a period of time can reintroduce it again later on providing they do so sensibly and maintain a balance in their intake of it and other things.

Allergies and intolerances do not have to be a lifelong sentance. In most cases, you weren't born with these things so, if you can develop them, you can also get rid of them. 😉

All Love and Reiki Hugs

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