Anyone had food intolerance testing done...was it worth it?

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I'm thinking about having this done and just wondered what it involves and whether you found it useful. Also, how much did it cost and how many appointments?

TIA

My cousin had it done, but that was because she had a particular problem that my aunt was trying to sort out.
I think it was just the one consultation, but am not sure how much it cost.
It was a life-saver tbh, and my cousins medical issues are sorted.

There's one that is called the York Test which was developed by the University of York and it's endorsed by AllergyUK. They test your blood for antibodies (so that mean that you should have been in contact with the ofending substance at some point in the last 6 weeks, otherwise the antibodies disapear and you get a false negative). They send you a kit to get a blood sample (tiny sample) and you send it back. 3 weeks later they send the results to you/your doctor and arrange for a consultation with a nutriologist (whose cost is already covered in the cost of the test).

www.yorktest.co.uk

BTW they test either 42 or 113 foods with one sample.

I had this done when I was 17 as I'd been having seriously uncomfortable skin reactions (urtecaria). And my asthma worsened. I waited 9mths for an appointment at the hospital!

The food intolerance test is just a blood test. They test for the presence of certain antibodies. They test for all the usual suspects such as: Dairy, Peanuts and Eggs. They also asked me if there were any specific foods I ate almost daily. The answer to that was tomatoes and onions.

I also had a patch test done to rule out another reason for the rash. The patch test involved having little metal disks containing certain chemicals (eg lanolin, nickel) taped against the skin on my back. There were about 20 of them! I had to leave them on for 3 days... they were very itchy!! They turned up nothing, but the blood test showed I had an allergy to tomatoes and an intolerance to almonds!

So now I know, but I don't avoid them. I tend to just keep taking my antihistamines.

Thanks everyone - I was going to see someone locally, but I like the York testing system - I can pay just £20 to identify whether I have intolerances and then pay for a full test if I want to go ahead - thanks Chandra .