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Functional Medicine · Irvine, CA

Food Sensitivities Treatment in Irvine, CA

A food sensitivity panel that looks at IgG or IgA is not an allergy test. Allergy, the IgE kind, is a different medical issue, with different risks. This page explains how those antibodies are discussed, and why an elimination trial is a time-limited experiment you help design, not a lifelong ban from one printout. For patients coming from Irvine, the office is about 12 miles away, 20–35 minutes, by I-5 south, or the 133 to the 73, toward Mission Viejo.

IgG and IgA are not an IgE allergy

IgE allergy can involve hives, swelling, wheezing, or anaphylaxis. That is a medical emergency pattern and belongs with a physician or allergist. IgG and IgA panels ask a quieter question about immune reactivity on a blood test. FRI will not call a high IgG result an allergy.

You might feel bloated, foggy, or achy hours after a meal, with no dramatic swelling. That history can justify a conversation. It does not prove a food is unsafe. Dr. Sani Kohen, D.C. and Dr. Tara Kohen, D.C. start with what you actually eat, not with a ban list.

A panel beside the food you already eat

Food sensitivity testing reports IgG or IgA reactivity to specific foods. A high bar next to a food you never eat is easy to overread. A high bar next to a food you eat daily, followed by symptoms you can time, is more interesting. The panel is a prompt, not a verdict.

Celiac disease, true food allergy, and eosinophilic disease are physician diagnoses. Functional Medicine does not replace that workup. If wheat makes you acutely ill, you need medical evaluation before anyone talks about a sensitivity chart. Bring those records if they exist.

Elimination trials are experiments, not life sentences

If a food is removed, the trial has a start, a length, and a planned return. You track symptoms you named in advance, such as bloating or a rash, rather than every mood of the day. One test does not create a permanent forbidden list.

The gut health page explains when a stool test or a breath test should come before another food list. Pulling foods out while an overgrowth or an inflammatory bowel diagnosis goes unaddressed can make you smaller-plated and no clearer. GI-MAP stool testing is one of those earlier questions when the history fits.

How nutrition follows the experiment

Nutrition and supplementation replaces what you removed so the trial does not become a low-protein, low-fiber accident. There is no brand protocol and no supplement dose here. Foods come back unless a physician has told you they cannot.

Functional medicine at FRI does not replace a primary physician, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, or mental health clinician. Chiropractic Sports Medicine and Neuromuscular Rehabilitation stay available if joint pain, not food, is the reason you came in. A food panel will not be used to explain that pain by default.

What to expect when you are seen for Food Sensitivities

A complimentary 20-minute consultation can decide whether a panel is even useful. FRI is out of network, offers a superbill, and accepts HSA and FSA funds. The schedule is Monday–Thursday, 9–6.

If you test, you review the chart next to a food log. Any elimination is short and planned with a reintroduction. You should not expect a lifelong menu from a single draw.

Insurance and coordination

Many Irvine employers offer HSA or FSA accounts. Those cards work here. We are still out of network and we still give a superbill rather than billing your plan directly. Lab work is quoted before it is ordered. We will not tell you to stop a medication from your Irvine physician.

Drs. Sani and Tara Kohen lead the clinic. Training details are on the about page. If you want to see the rehab gym before you drive the 5, use the office page.

Business parks, village trails, and a city built for sitting

Irvine's villages do not share a body. Woodbridge and University Park are older loops and pools. Turtle Rock and Quail Hill have more grade. The Spectrum and the Great Park are newer and more spread out. The job, for a lot of patients, is a campus along Jamboree, Barranca, or the Irvine Business Complex: long meetings, a badge, and a walk that is only from the garage. Neck, upper back, and headache complaints often start there. Knee and hip complaints often start on the village trails people use to undo the job.

We do not treat Irvine as a single activity level. A cyclist on the San Diego Creek trail and a software lead who has not exercised since a move from Woodbridge need different exams. Neck pain and headaches are common desk presentations. Hip and SI pain shows up when someone adds mileage fast. Say which village and which campus.

South on the 5 or the 73 from Irvine

From central and north Irvine, I-5 south toward Mission Viejo is the simple drive. From the south villages and from many business parks, the 133 to the 73 toll road is often cleaner. About 12 miles. Twenty minutes is realistic off peak. Thirty-five is realistic when the 5 is slow through Lake Forest. The office is 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo, CA 92691. Building parking. Monday through Thursday, 9 to 6.

Irvine patients are used to efficient clinics. This one is deliberately less efficient. An exam takes time. If you need to be back on Jamboree for a meeting, book a morning visit and leave a buffer. Phone (949) 312-1754. The 20-minute consultation is the right first step if you are shopping for a style of care rather than ready for testing.

Desk symptoms and training symptoms, handled separately

Corrective exercise and DNS are how we retrain sitting and breathing patterns after the exam shows they matter. Chiropractic adjustments are used when a joint is not moving, not as a subscription. Carpal tunnel symptoms get a neck screen and a nerve exam, because a keyboard is not automatically the wrist.

The same city asks functional medicine questions: thyroid, burnout-style fatigue people want explained, and gut symptoms after years of desk lunches. Those are history-first visits. The hub page is the Irvine chiropractor page.

Questions patients ask

Is a high IgG result a food allergy?

No. IgE allergy is a different medical issue and can be dangerous. IgG and IgA results are not that diagnosis, and FRI will not treat them as one. Hives, swelling, or trouble breathing need urgent medical care, not a sensitivity panel. Bring any allergist records so the two conversations stay separate.

Do I have to avoid every food that flags?

No. A long ban list from one panel is not the plan. FRI looks at what you eat, which symptoms you can time, and which results are noise. An elimination trial, if you choose one, is discussed with you and has an end. Foods are reintroduced unless your physician has a medical reason to keep one out.

Should I do a stool test first?

Sometimes. If bloating, diarrhea, or constipation dominates, a GI-MAP or a breath test may answer a clearer question than another food list. The gut health page lays out that choice. A sensitivity panel is not the default first kit. You should hear why this test was picked over the others.

Can food sensitivity testing explain joint pain?

Maybe as a hypothesis, not as a conclusion. Joint pain has mechanical causes that Chiropractic Sports Medicine and Neuromuscular Rehabilitation are built to examine. A food panel does not replace that exam, and it does not replace rheumatology if you have an autoimmune diagnosis. Functional medicine at FRI does not replace those clinicians.

Related care for Irvine

Food Sensitivities is handled at the Mission Viejo clinic, not in a satellite office in Irvine. The related pages below stay on that same visit and add the methods or neighboring problems that usually come up in the history.

  • Irvine chiropractor

    How people from Irvine reach 26400 La Alameda and what the three pillars cover.

  • Food Sensitivities clinical overview

    The non-geographic condition page, if you want the clinic-wide explanation without the drive.

  • Functional Medicine

    The pillar this problem sits in at Functional Restoration Institute.

  • Gut Health in this city

    Digestion problems rarely arrive as one tidy symptom. Bloating, stool changes, and food reactions can travel together or take turns. This page.

  • Leaky Gut in this city

    People say leaky gut when they mean the gut barrier might be letting more through than it should. The plainer name is.

  • SIBO in this city

    Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth means microbes are fermenting food higher up than they should, which can bring bloating, gas, and stool changes..

  • Chronic Inflammation in this city

    Inflammation is a process your body uses, not a personality and not a mood. It can be useful while you heal and.

  • Food Sensitivity Testing

    Food sensitivity testing at Functional Restoration Institute looks at IgG and IgA antibodies to foods. It is not an allergy test, and.

Talk with the doctors before you commit to care

The complimentary 20-minute consultation is at 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo. Call (949) 312-1754.

Functional Restoration Institute serves patients across Orange County from our Mission Viejo clinic, including Irvine and surrounding Orange County communities.