I am wanting to get a food allergy test for my son to see what foods might affect his behavior. I live in Fort worth but am willing to drive to the Dallas area if need be. I got one name of a place who does it, but you have to file with your insurance on your own. I was hoping for a place that accepts insurance and will do the filing for me. Also, how exactly are these test done and is it a long process?
I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Bob Lanier. He has a website but I can't remember the web address right now. He did my boys' testing and was awesome!
I have to second Dr. Bob Lanier. He is great. His website is www.askdrbob.com Hope that helps. Have a great day.
Unfortunately, most conventional allergy doctors are only testing for immediate (Ige antibody) reactions to foods and other substances. Whereas, the behavior issues are often due to delayed (IgG antibodies) reactions. I learned this the hard way after spending $800 (that was after my deductible and co-insurance) with insurance coverage to have a top allergy doctor tell me that my son had no allergies and if he were allergic to dairy or wheat he would have overt reactions. It turns out my son is allergic to dairy and has celiac disease, which is an intolerance to wheat gluten - this doctor didn't have a clue about that yet, it can be a root cause of multiple food allergies due to damage to the intestine that allows the proteins that shouldn't be in the blood to be there and cause the reactions. So, most allergy doctors that do these "scratch" tests where they use the back to inject a small amount of the substance and look for a reaction are only looking for allergies that are immediate.
You would do best by first reading a book by Braly (Hidden Food Allergies - I found it at my library) that explains the various types of food allergies. There is a company that you can use to do the tests at home for the delayed reactions: www.yorkallergyusa.com . It was extremely helpful for myself and younger son as you can have these reactions to odd things. I was allergic to bananas, egg whites, soy and raspberrries and it showed that I was still had antibodies to dairy and gluten even though I had been on a GF/CF diet for 9 months. I would have had a hard time figuring those things out on my own.
Another option would be to use the tests available at www.enterolab.com, which tests for the gluten intolerance and also for egg, yeast, dairy and soy allergies, which are some of the most common. I've used that test several times myself - that's how I originally found my egg and yeast allergies (and gluten intolerance), but used the york test later when I knew something else was still bothering me.
The best doctor to see in this area for behavior related food reactions is Dr. M. Ann Block: www.blockcenter.com They test one item at a time, so it is very time consuming, but they understand that the food reactions can cause behavior problems.
Our Pediatric allergist is Dr. Tremblay at Cook's Children's in Ft. Worth. The first time my son had it done he was 1 (in Maryland) but the guy was a FOOD ALLERGIST... that was his specialty. Usually you hear, "oh they are too young, etc"
For my son here, they kept saying he was too young... he was 3.5 and will have to be re-tested next year. But Dr. Tremblay did what I asked and tested him.
It was panels of tests pressed into his back.
GOOD LUCK!
