Dear Kerri_P, With regards to skin rashes it is usually best to get these looked at by a specialist in dermatology as it is difficult to tell just by description. The skin rashes usually associated with allergy are urticaria or hives with acute allergic reactions or eczema which is usually not just ...

Dear wentworth, It is actually very hard to find lupin in this country as the Anaphylaxis Campaign helped to prevent it being used as a bakery flour due to it's know allergenicity. Mushroom can be skin prick tested to but you would need to bring the mushroom so they can use this directly to skin pri...

Dear Kate99, There are a few caveats when testing for coeliac disease; you must have been eating good amount of gluten at the time of the test, your total IgA antibody levels need to be normal and they should include testing for IgA antibodies against tissue transglutaminase. I would check these fac...

Dear Aly&Immy,

The hypothalamus does regulate body temperature, hunger, thirst, stress and sleep. However I am not aware of any evidence linking the hypothalamus with allergy per se. There is a link between increased stress levels and worse asthma control.

Kind regards,

Dear Kerri_P, I am sorry you have had difficulty getting referred to a dietician. In your first posting you mentioned that you have been told that you have the following nutritional deficiencies: anaemia, b12 deficiency, iron deficiency and vit D deficiency. I would recommend that these are retested...

Dear John, Vomiting 1-4 hours after eating certain foods may be a delayed form of allergy however it may also be due to food poisoning. I presume it has happened enough times to be confident this is not just food poisoning though. In delayed allergies skin prick tests are often negative. In children...

Dear Tallulah1, Eczema is more likely to be related to food allergy is if started early and has been severe. If the eczema is related to food allergy it is usually related to cow's milk and egg. Other clues in the history are family history of allergies and any gastrointestinal features (severe coli...

Dear Maidmarian, Removing wheat from the diet has been shown to improve IBS symptoms, so your experience of improved gut symptoms off wheat may be related just to IBS. However you should be screened for coeliac disease if you have not already had this screened for. You will need must be back on whea...

Dear Mark,

Many thanks for sending across this reference

Kind regards,

Dear Mark, Specific IgE tests are not good at testing for delayed allergies as these are not usually IgE mediated. They are usually T cell mediated. The same goes for skin[ prick tests. There are some tests for delayed allergies including patch testing for food (although there is conflicting evidenc...