As you are cleansing your body, you will notice many things changing. This is a great time to consider additional diagnostic testing. Some of these tests are administered by Naturopathic Doctors, and traditional doctors may or may not see the value in them. I have included resources for helping you get the tests run, but you will still need help interpreting the results. Some of the tests can be done at home by yourself, others require laboratory equipment.
IgG
Immunoreactivity Blood Test topIf you are having noticeable symptoms, this is a great time to consider taking an IgG4 food immunoreactivity blood test. This test goes way beyond the standard measurement of IgG in the blood, and actually looks at how your immune system reacts to various foods. The test will be meaningless if you are symptom free, because your immune system is too suppressed to react. The test results will include many false negatives, and probably some false positives, but it is a good place to start.
A sample of your blood is tested against many different common foods. Since this test is measuring IgG reactivity, as opposed to IgE, it is much more meaningful. People Living With Pemphigus and other auto-immune disease are having IgG mediated reactions (that means that the IgG components of your immune system is malfunctioning), as opposed to people with common allergies, which are IgE mediated.
Other available tests for food allergy include the skin prick, cutaneous injection, kinesiology, and Elector-Acupuncture. Each of these tests has advantages and disadvantages, and often they will produce conflicting results.
Elimination Diet
topBasically, an Elimination Diet is a diet where you eat one single food for a meal, and then observe reactions to that food.
A single food might be a head of broccoli, lettuce, several carrots, bread made from wheat and water, etc. A twinkie is not a single food, as it is made from many different ingredients.
A reaction is any of the following:
Some advocates of elimination diets suggest fasting before starting. While this may be a good idea for a healthy individual, I urge you not to fast unless you have either fasted before and are very experienced with fasting, or have 24 hour medical supervision available. Fasting when you are immune-compromised, taking medications or of weak constitution can make you seriously ill or in some circumstances, be fatal.
The results you obtain without fasting may not be 100% accurate, but since you are probably still on drugs, the results will not be 100% accurate anyway. In addition, some foods may produce a delayed reaction. That is, you may not notice the reaction for up to 2-3 days after ingesting the food. This is why keeping a food log is so important. Over the weeks and months of your testing, you may notice that the day after you eat a particular food, a noticeable reaction occurs.
In no way should you let an elimination diet interfere with getting sufficient nutrient into your body.
Heavy Metals Test
topThe presence of heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, arsenic and aluminum have been implicated as the causes of many illness. Testing for these metals, done either by hair analysis or 24 hour urine test, can determine if you have levels of them in your body.
If you are concerned about dental fillings or root canals, the presence of mercury vapor in your mouth can be tested for.
A metals hair test will also measure the relative amounts of essential minerals, such as calcium and zinc in your body. This can be a useful diagnostic tool, as it reflects the state of your body over an extended period of time.
Dark Field Microscopy
topA small drop of your blood is examined under a special microscope. Various things are examined and compared, such as "clumping" (which is a phenomenon wherein red blood cells travel in groups, and is common in people living with auto-immune and chronic illness) and undigested food particles (which are a symptom of "leaky gut" syndrome, and a possible trigger for auto-immune illnesses).
Based on the findings, the need for supplements may be guessed
NOTE: This ties in with Blood Type information.
Phenolic Sensitivity
topAccomplished either by Elimination Diet, EAV or kinesiology, knowing which phenolics you are sensitive to may enable you to either desensitize to them or avoid them.
See the section on phenolics for more information.
Adrenal Stress Test
To determine the state of health of your adrenal glandsThyroid Test
topAt home, monitor your basal body temperature to help determine if you are hyper or hypo thyroid, or possibly both. Autoimmune illnesses frequently involve one or more glands.
Liver Detoxification Test
topThe liver is the main detoxification sight and producer of digestive enzymes in the body. It is necessary to not only help clean the body of day to day toxins, but the metabolites of the drugs you may be taking for your illness. Knowing how well your liver is doing and learning how to assist it can be crucial to healing.