Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3...Part 1: Allergy Tests

The first thing a health care provider will want to know about your health issues are your symptoms, but after symptoms they need proof. This is where testing for MCS is problematic because so many of our symptoms do not provide quantifiable, scientific evidence. Doctors love evidence because it keeps them from screwing up too badly and, therefore, keeps them from getting sued. And it's fun for them. Doctors are just grown-up science geeks getting to play with the big toys. Testing helps in diagnosing your condition, and subsequently, helps you to make educated decisions about your health care. A diagnosis may also lead to identifying a legal disability which may assist you with disability claims or accommodation requests. Testing may be expensive or inexpensive, valuable or useless, accurate or inaccurate.

I'm going to discuss several types of tests I've experienced and are specific to MCS patients. My experience is limited, however, so I hope others who have different histories or more information will contribute to the comments.

Let's start with allergy tests...

For the chemical sensitive patient, basic allergy testing will almost always be suggested. Although many of you have already heard perfume and other chemicals are not allergies, testing for the basics: food allergens, pollens, animal dander, dust mites, mold and dust, will be done so they may eliminate what you aren't allergic to. Yes, you have to pay money so doctors can figure out what you already know although some of the findings may surprise you. Here are some methods for allergy testing:

Prick tests, also called scratch or intradermal allergy tests This testing method involves using tiny needles to scratch allergens into your skin on either your forearm or your back and then you wait from ten to twenty minutes for a response. If you are allergic, you get a welt or hive at the location of the scratch. The size of the welt determines how severe your allergy is. It's rather painless, although can be uncomfortable with the accompanied itching and the results are immediate. I was tested for about twenty different allergens all up and down my arms and lived to tell about it. However, because of the multiple allergens tested at once this type of testing isn't always accurate compared to other allergy testing methods.

I was tested for "grass". The welt was three times the size of any other. It went away. A few days later I went to a concert and although my seat was on the perimeter of the auditorium near an open door, the air was thick with perfume. My whole wrist turned bright red and swelled up. Later I was told grass and perfume are related. I was never really clear on how they are related, but it was interesting to know.

With these prick tests, I had no reaction to mold or dust although the doctor was convinced this must be the issue. I couldn't possibly be allergic to perfume! They then switched to the injection allergy test, injecting both mold and dust into my arm, and told me my arm would become very uncomfortable. I thought, "Hmmm...they are very sure of themselves."  They came back twenty minutes later hoping to find me in misery which would confirm their assumptions, and instead, I sat reading a magazine forgetting I was supposed to be uncomfortable. I wanted very badly to say "I told you it's not mold or dust, IT'S PERFUME!"

Injection  allergy tests, or Provocative Neutralization testing  This testing method involves using a tiny needle and injecting a bit of allergen or toxin into your arm - the "provoking" part. You write down all side effects as they happen. Relying on the patient to be an objective secretary has never seemed very scientific to me, but so many of our symptoms are invisible and therefore, difficult to observe. I guess this is better than nothing. Then they shoot you up with an "antidote" or neutralization of the provocation. The needles are so tiny it doesn't hurt much. I was having the test done with a five year old who was dealing quite well. Allergens tested can be typical: food, pollen, animal dander, or atypical, any number of chemicals. Conventional doctors will tell you perfume is not an allergy so there are no tests for it. Walk out the door and go to an environmental medicine specialist - they have tests for everything.

In addition to mold and dust at another office, I also had injection testing done for perfume and plastics. I still can't believe a doctor bullied me into it although I do understand he wanted evidence, as did I. This method is not advisable to anyone who might have a life threatening  response or even an uncomfortable one. I was promised it was safe. There was an antidote after all. For some reason, whatever they shot into me didn't come with an antidote that worked. I had a bad reaction which I discuss in the post titled "The Weirdness Awards."  This method, however, seems to be very popular with environmental medicine specialists so they can subsequently prescribe immunotherapy allergy treatments. (I'll discuss treatments in a future post.) The upside of injection allergy testing is the results are immediate.

The downside, besides being invasive, is they are very expensive. When the doctor talked me into getting this done he said I could just have two tests done out of 350 or so. I asked the office receptionist the cost of two tests.  $12.00 for each test. So, $24.00? I can do that! She misquoted. She should have said $12.00 per injection including the antidote injections. It came to about $150.00. I should have asked for my money back on the antidote injections!

Blood labs  They take the blood OUT of you, mix in some toxins, and see what happens. Very safe, non-invasive, and most accurate. I've found adding things to my body whether oral or injected always causes problems. Taking body fluids out of me rarely causes reactions. This method is also preferred if you are taking any prescriptions that might interfere with allergy results, have skin problems, might have severe reactions, or babies and children who don't tolerate being poked at much. BUT it can be very expensive. I've heard a full panel of allergens is around $500.00 or more.

With any testing involving needles, there is a risk a person might be sensitive to nickel which is the metal used for making needles. If this is the case, the injection will cause an enormous amount of lingering pain.

Bioenergy tests  I have one word for this - FUN. A computer has every allergen/toxin in biofeedback measurements. Little pads are placed on your fingers or toes and then with wires you are hooked up to the computer. It can test you for nearly anything! I received about 30 pages of documentation from every kind of food known to woman-kind to twenty different kinds of molds to jet fuel number six. When jet fuel number six appeared as an issue, the technician asked if I had every worked around airplanes. Yeah! At an airport! It was uncanny how the readouts revealed my exposure history and at times the technician would formulate theories on how my sensitivities developed based on this history. The readout will also have numbers associated with every tested item so you know how severe the response and if it's safe, you should rotate it, or eliminate it from your life. You can also take in bottles of supplements, hair shampoo, etc. and have these things tested to see if these items are compatible with your bioenergy. Amazing. Fun! It is a little time consuming and it can get very expensive depending on how extensive you want to get. Also, it might not always be accurate depending on how experienced the technician is and does not hold up as verifiable scientific evidence with conventional doctors. Maybe not considered as valid as other testing methods, but highly entertaining.

Pulse tests  This testing is primarily for food allergies and can be done in the privacy of your home. The method involves determining your normal resting pulse in advance taken over a few days. Then eat the food to be tested and take your pulse at fifteen minutes and thirty minutes. If your pulse goes up during that time from the baseline resting pulse count, you have an allergy. Depending on how much it goes up determines how serious the allergy is. This is not advised with any foods that may cause severe reactions. You shouldn't be smoking or caffeinating for a few days prior to the test and don't eat the food you plan to test until the time of the test.

WARNING: Any kind of invasive testing in which the toxin is being put in your body should be done under the supervision of a professional who has the ability to save your life should you have a bad reaction. Still, even if you have a bad reaction they may not care and will let you walk out the door! The blood tests, bioenergy tests, and pulse tests are relatively harmless, although even they may be problematic to some.

These tests may only tell you to what allergen or toxin you might be reacting. They won't tell you WHY you are reacting to it, WHY at this time in your life or from WHERE the exposure is coming. And it's the WHYs and WHEREs that are often as important in eradicating the problem.

What allergy testing experiences have you had? Please share your experiences, especially if they are not included on my list.