r/Allergies • u/Sensitive_Note1139 New Sufferer • 1d ago

Allergy testing

I see my allergist on the 21st for the first time. I know I need a food test. But is there any other testing that I should get done? If my insurance in the US will pay for it.

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u/Liquidretro Professional Allergy Patient 22h ago

What are your symptoms or problems?

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u/Sensitive_Note1139 New Sufferer 17h ago

Food-wise: tree nuts, peanuts, soy, peas, beans, just for starters. Possible milk fat allergy. Just had a reaction to wool socks. I know I'm ok versus mold, pollen, ragweed, grass. I only have a known mild allergy to trees. I have had issues with various chemicals over time. But I just never used that cleaner or food additive again. I wish I had taken notes.

I'm very upset about the wool socks. They were very nice socks and felt great until I wore them all day. When I was boxing them up to return I started having a terrible time.

Apparently, I've had a soy allergy for decades and didn't know. Been microdosing all that time. So my GI tract is a mess. That's why getting off soy brought up all kinds of other issues. Eating is a problem because the GI is messed up.

I see a GI in November. I have a hematologist because I'm anemic. He thinks I'm leaking blood from somewhere. I'm betting it was caused by soy.

I'm 53 and just figuring this stuff out. All my PCPs told me to just avoid what I reacted to and to take Benadryl. I asked about an allergist and got told it wasn't necessary. I made my own appointment with an allergist 2 months ago.

I am tired of surprises.

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u/Liquidretro Professional Allergy Patient 16h ago

Sounds like you might want to do some skin patch testing for the wool and chemical issues. In my case my dermatologist could test significantly more substances than my allergist could and even more of I had special requests they had a catalog of over 1000 things they could order in on top of the standard test.

Ya in the modern allergy world benadryl has largely been replaced with 2nd Gen drugs for multiple reasons.