Help! How can I tell if my husband is allergic to wheat, gluten or something else?

Question

I'm at a loss on what my husbands allergic to. At first I was thinking it was wheat, or yeast or gluten but now i'm lost again. He can eat tortilla shells and grapenut cereal, but can't eat 100% whole wheat bread. He seemed fine with white bread last time he ate it, but yet he's allergic to baked ritz crackers.
I'm so confused and I've looked many things up and checked labels trying to find the one ingredient that he's allergic to just to find it on the list of ingredients in something he can eat which brings me back to square one....again.

We have gone to an allergist but he was of no help with my husbands food allergies. He refused to do a food allergy test. And yes we've done the writing down what he eats for a week and checking ingredients. I'm lost, i'm frustrated and I'm rather angry because i'm not getting anwhere on figuring any of this out. I've checked out many web sites but still haven't been able to find much. Please help. Serious answers only. Thank you.

His tounge swells up and his throat and mouth starts itching. It's not uncommon for his toungue to swell up for no reason (probably due to outside allergies) so when he eats stuff we tend to go by weather his mouth starts itching or not. Once we know he has a reaction to a certain food we exclude it from his diet. His list of acceptable food to eat is slim. He also can't eat a lot of dairy because of sinus problems, and diabeties run in his family and he tends to show symptoms of that so we also try and keep sugar and other unhealthy foods out of his diet.
He's also allergic to carrots, beets, fruit jucies, the list goes on...and all with the same symptoms.
His symptoms from degergents and perfumes are more the itchy water eyes, sneezing, hives and big red blotches.

Answer 1

I like the yeast answer. You might also look into "oral allergy syndrome" where the reaction to fresh fruits or vegetables is related to air-borne pollens.

Your allergist won't do a food allergy test? What are you paying him for again? I learned a lot from my test and I feel so much better lately.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Why did the allergist refuse to do a food allergy test?

When you are looking at the stuff he eats, consider the concentration of the ingredients. As with many things, some allergies are dependent on the amount of stuff. So maybe ritz crackers are more concentrated than white bread. And same for 100% wheat vs. cereals and tortillas.

Also, what are the symptoms of the allergy? It might be just an intolerance....

Answer 3

I no longer eat wheat or gluten. My reaction was slow really. Not until I was in my late twentites did I realise that that was the problem. I used to get a lot of tightness and pain on the tight side, to the point sometimes I thought I had a burst appendix, the dr used to just say it was IBS (which I still have). I had to have a biospy done, and bllod tests that confirmed the allergy. Another side effect I had was blisters on my face, elbows, knees they would jst appear like a water blister sometimes they where quite big, they would burst and scab. Since I have stopped eating wheat and gluten I have not had a problem. I am used to the changes in my diet but it is difficult at first, I miss bread and pies and pasta. You can buy alternatives, but they are a small subsitute for the real thing. But it is worth it not to have the pain and blisters.

Answer 4

The absolute only way is to have him get the allergin testing done. If not, youre only second guessing and that can actually be fatal. Sometimes, an allergic reaction can cause anaphylaxis which constricts the airway and prevents breathing. You arent saying what makes you think its an allergy...what symptoms does he exhibit upon eating these certain foods? Does he break into hives, itch, what? You must explain the importance of getting the tests...why doesnt he want to have them done...they are virtually painless..tiny little needles no bigger than the ones used for TB testing. Convince him he needs to go before he eats something thats gonna cause much bigger problems than being stuck a few times.

Answer 5

We live in Arizona and have good luck with licensed naturopaths rather than conventional doctors.

My daughter has multiple food allergies and some severe. To me the first thing your husband needs to do is start carrying an epi-pen or twin-jet and benadryl which is the combo you take in the event of an emergency. Adults, teens and children have died from food allergy reactions. Your husband's tongue has swelled....it is time to get serious and aggressive.
We did not have good results with the skin prick test for allergies. She was tested for foods that tested okay - then one bite of that food would lead her into all over hives. Blood tests worked better for us and you get tested for tons of different things. We were told that there were only 3 different companies in the US that did the extensive blood testing method and I'm sorry that I don't remember ours. We had the test done here but i think it was sent to a lab in Colorado so of course I want to say it was called Rocky Mountain something or other. The Southwest Naturopath school on Hayden and Mcdowell, in Scottsdale AZ is where we went for the blood draw. You are looking for the test that test Igg and Ige I think anitbodies. There are immediate food reactions like hives and there are slower reactions such as headaches, vomiting, or whatever that can show up days later.
The food diary you did was not long enough - everybite for about 3 weeks is what I remember. When having a reaction, write down the time, symptoms, weather conditions, etc.

We had to change our way of life for our daughter and now we too are healthier because of it - we basically cook a lot at home and use little processed foods. If it is not that celiec disease thing (and there is a test for that) then see if you have better luck with the unfamiliar grains such as quinoa (pronounced Keen-wa)(low allergen, high in protein), millet, and barley are now our favorites. We cook soups, stews, casseroles, stirfrys, etc in big batches, spent a small fortune in tupperware and freeze things so that we aren't spending all of our time in the kitchen. Cut back on the processed junk and keep going/researching-
Check out FAAN on the internet
Check out doctor richard schrader (spelling) in New Mexico
we got our best jump start from him with a variation of Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization (EPD). he specializes in severe allergy and environmental junk.
keep going & hopefully your husband is involved in this too - you can't do it all for him especially if he doesn't mind that much the problems -
Always carry emergency meds please!

Answer 6

WOW, all of this is the same as what I went through.

My throat would constrict with a bite of bread. So I stopped all bread. It happened with raw mushrooms also.

THINK ABOUT IT . What is similar in bread and raw mushrooms? FUNGUS. Yeast is a fungus, bread is raised with yeast. and the mushrooms are a fungus. I could eat bisquits and muffins (they are not raised with yeast). Tortillas have no yeasts either just corn meal. I can eat grapenuts also, love them on yogurt. Subway bread was especially frightening. My throat closed completely. It took about a minute or two to open..

I just remembered, HAVE HIS THYROID CHECKED. The THYROID is butterfly shaped and wraps around the esophogus. If it becomes enlarged it can cause problems.

I stopped these two and got enormously better. Through some lead I began researching Yeast infection in our bodies.
Vaginally and it invades the digestive system. It can make you sick with many of the things we are talking about.

I did a thorough purge of my system and now take ACIDOPHILES pills, and eat yogurt every day. These put the healthy bacteria back in our systems.

Does he have Acid reflux? That is a serious symptom that the acid balance is reduced in the stomach and allows the yeast to take over your digestive tract. Drink about 3 tablespoons of lemon juice once or twice a day in water to correct the acid balance in your system. Amazingly enough it gets rid of the burning throat and stomach.

By taking the acidophiles pills, eating yeast and drinking the lemon juice daily, most all of my problems seem solved. Plus I eat so much less. My stomach has shrunken by about half.

I hope some of my suggestions help. Good Luck.

Answer 7

Your doctor sounds too proud... Go to a general practice doctor. I went to a new one, and she did a full workup of allergies in the form of a blood test. I found out I'm allergic to shrimp (and all its relatives). Good thing I stopped eating it as a kid!

This may sound totally nuts... but have you checked for hypoglycemia (or something related)?? I used to wheeze really bad EVERY time I ate wheat, dairy, fruit, sugar anything. I have to exclude all sugar ingredients (i.e. sugar, dextrose, maltodextrin, honey, etc). My doctor had me do a food diary of all my food and reactions. I was literally having a reaction to EVERYTHING I ate. She looked at it... told me I was having trouble digesting gluten and milk sugars. Now, I've been on a perfect hypoglycemic diet, gluten-intolerant diet, and lactose-free diet. My symptoms are pretty much gone... I do still wheeze when I eat too much starch at once.

Everyone's reactions to their blood sugar messing up are different. I've heard of people sneezing (like I wheeze) when their blood sugar changes... some just get really sleepy. Everyone's bodies different.

I've got two books I think would be really helpful. They've helped improve my life drastically:

"Hypoglycemia: The Classic Healthcare Handbook" by Saunders & Ross (dr reccomended this book)

"Never Be Sick Again" by Raymond Francis (amazing book! every health topic in one book)

If diabetes runs in your husbands family... hypoglycemia might not be too far off. It means you are going to develop diabetes. Its basically your bodies way of flashing a neon warning sign. I was born with mine (hypoglycemia, gluten-intolerance, lactose-intolerance). My mother ate wayyyy too much sugar when she was pregnant with me.

I hope this helped! Message me if you have any more questions. = )

Answer 8

My brother is allergic to eggs, milk, and soy. Its awful. Hes young tho so he is growing out of them. My mom couldnt get anyone to test him at first either. They said the best thing to do is to eat it and see what happens. But she didnt think this was the best idea so she found an allergist that tests him. Look around, im sure there is a doctor for him.

Answer 9

maybe he has celiac disease....

most ppl are allergic to wheat gluten and don't even know it...they can eat some products with it and and be fine...I would take him to another allergist Dr and have him run a test and find out...did he have problems as a child? or is this rarely new? are u sure its food? it could be soap, new perfums colognes different laundry soap? lotion?