I am allergic to penicillin, and have severe food intolerance reactions to artificial sweetener, turkey, and blue cheese, and a mild food intolerance to cantelope, and honeydew melon.
In addition, when I eat I often get these hivey-blotchy spots on my chest. They don't itch, they don't travel, they are just there for a while and then they go away.
So I finally decide to go see an allergist today to see what he can tell me. I want to know what else maybe I am allergic to in food that is causing this reaction and what (if anything) I can do about it.
This guy was quirky and weird and a little on the odd side, but he was thorough and had to explain everything in detail. By the time I walked out of there I felt like an expert!
So... penicillin is made from: mold.
Blue cheese is made from: mold.
Red wine and beer give me headaches.... and the hops or something in beer and wine can sometimes contain: mold
Seeing a common factor here? Right! I'm allergic to MOLD!
Come to find out, there are a lot of people who have cross-reactions from allergins like mold, ragweed, and pollen - to food. What? Yep.
People (like me) who are allergic to mold may also have food sensitivity to the following foods:
Foreign cheese of all kinds (I'm a cheese fanatic)
Sour cream (eh, I can take it or leave it... mostly leave it)
Buttermilk (leave it)
Beer and wine (who knew!?!?)
Vinegar and vinegar-containing foods like mayo, salad dressing, ketchup, pickles, pickled beets, green olives (I almost ALWAYS use balsamic vinegarette on my salad)
Sauerkraut (leave it)
Mushrooms (eew, leave it)
All dried fruits such as apricots, dates, prunes, figs and raisins.
Canned tomatoes
Cider
Soy sauce (I LOVE sushi and soy has to go on sushi)
Melons especially cantelope (!!!)
Some breads made with vinegar
No wonder I break out in hives all the time. Much of this list is stuff I eat on the regular.
Still interested?
If you are allergic to Birch pollen, you may also have a food reaction to: peach, apple, plum, cherry, apricot, strawberry, pear, almond, hazelnut, potato, carrot and celery.
If you are allergic to Grass pollen, you may also have a food reaction to: tomato, melon and watermelon.
If you are allergic to Mugwort (weeds), you may also have a food reaction to: apple, celery, carrot, peanut and kiwi.
If you are allergic to Ragweed (one of the worst for seasonal allergies), you may also have a food reaction to: banana, melon, honey, cucumber, zucchini, watermelon and chamomile.
When my brother eats bananas his mouth and throat itches. The same thing happens to me when I eat cantelope or honeydew melon, but not watermelon.
So... I still don't know why Turkey and diet soda gives me the runs, or why sugar-free gum gives me migranes, or really why I break out in hives so often.. but I have a better idea.
I'm going to start watching my food labels a little closer.. and he is going to do the skin allergy test in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes. Does anyone in blog-world have food or other allergies?
5 years ago
14 comments:
Ohhhhh.
When you said oral allergy I thought you were talking about something else.
Good to know.
That banana thing, I thought just used to be me. Thank the Lord, I'm not alone any more. I'm no longer weird. Well...I'm not alone any more.
Use honey for topical infections and stomach ailments. honey has awesome antibiotic/antibacterial properties.
I am sorry you are allergic to so many good things...
: (
ClnMike: The word "oral" gets me excited too. lol, dirrty.
Curious: You crack me up :) if you are weird then I am too, cause I like ya!
GirlCas: I tried to go grocery shopping today and keep the "mold" items off my list... lol It's so restricting! My dad added another one.. black pepper.
Yep. I'm allergic to birch trees, so I have mild allergies to birch-pollinated foods. Nothing too serious. Just throat itching and maybe swelling of the lips.
Does lactose intolerant count?
wow you can't eat any of the good stuff... lol I don't think I'm allergic to anything.
Wow, this was informative. I have a friend who always claimed she was allergic to fruit, something I'd never heard of. Now I see she just might be allergic to Birch pollen.
All I can say is, you poor thing. I'd hate to have to eliminate all of those items from my diet or put up with suffering with the consequences.
I can't drink beer or wine any more with out sneezing,eyes runny andd red(right side only) and stuffy nose. This has been going on since I was 40ish ..I'm 43 now. Prior to this I could drink with the best of them but now I'm afraid to take a drink unless I sedate myself with Zyrtec or Claritin...... Anyone else????
diet soda or sugar free stuff tend to have artificial sweetner, aspartime etc, these do not agree with poeple with intolerance, especially ADHD and hyperactivity type conditions
You should also look into salicylate/histamine/amine intolerance. These can cause similar reactions (especially the histamine) but I do know that sugar-free items can be caused by aspartame that has something to do with amines...sugar-free soda/gum gives me a bad headache, too.
Isn't it true that you can block the histamine reaction from food the same as you can seasonal allergies? Have you tried taking an allergy pill and then eating something that usually creates a small reaction?
Anon from Feb 4 2011:
Yes - most likely. I saw a different physician a few weeks ago for something unrelated and she noticed the redness on my chest. She suggested a daily low-dose allergy pill. I may try it and see what happens.
I definitely miss cheese!
I know what you're going through!! I developed Oral Allergy Syndrome over 5 ears ago. There were a few fruits I couldn't eat back then, but my diet was pretty much unaffected......
Fast forward to present day and I can no longer eat any fruit, not even tinned or cooked, very few veg, no nuts, no seeds, honey, or wheat!! I have just reached the maintenance phase of desensitisation immunotherapy, in three years my hayfever should be much more manageable, but they cannot comment as to what will happen to my food allergies. I get tingling tongue and lips, itchy throat, swollen tongue and lips on occasion, bunged up, blisters inside my mouth, a persistent feeling of mucus stuck in my throat where I feel the need to constantly 'clear' it (really irrtating for those around me), and on two occasions abdominal cramping and diahorrea.
:(
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