What could be causing allergies at my age?

[nik0008]

i am a 46 ,male and have reactions like; after i eat dinner 1.5 hours aprox after i start to get itchy feelnig ,then slightly raised redished ,appearing around my belly,then under arm pit,down the back of bum and legs ,then i feeling like my chin getting rashy and lips start to swell and my airways block.My face and lips swell and throat. I have been to the emergency department many times. after taking phenergan rash has gone by the morning, however the swelling takes a couple of days to go down.

[DavidEFA EFA]

From my work at EFA, I can suggest an initial first step to getting to the bottom of your food allergy is to keep a diary of the meals you're eating so you can pinpoint exactly what the source of the problem could be. If you are experiencing this problem only after certain types of meals, you can start to see a trend and then look at the potential ingrediants which do not seem to cause problems in your other meals.

[nik0008]

Thank you David for the advice.

[Hidden]

I'd also ask your doc for allergy tests, either skin or blood, ideally skin first to see roughly then blood for a more accurate picture.

I think for some things, doing a food diary might not work - in the case of multiple allergies for example, something in loads of stuff or something elusive. If I were you I'd simply get tested.

koala

[nik0008 in reply to Hidden]

thank you for the advice Koala, I have seen a specialist who had no interest in my food diary and did minimal skin tests, but put me on this 'elimination diet" but I still have had some reactions following the diet. I am going to see the GP in the morning to have some more blood tests performed. .

[Hidden in reply to nik0008]

Yeah, a food diary sounds like something from the 19th century to me LOL.

Minimal skin tests, oh, pity. I had them done again recently and there were roughly 40 things done on my poor arm. I reacted to more or less the whole lot to varying degrees.

There are groups of allergies so if you react to one thing in that group you're likely to react to them all, then there is cross allergy where of you are allergic to certain tree pollen you can't eat certain fruit etc That would mean they don't have to test every single thing in the universe to know haha.

If I were you I'd ask for more thorough testing, it's the only proper way of finding out. Blood tests will also tell you which class allergy ranging from none class 0 up to dangerously severe class 6. Mine are mostly class 2, 3 or 4. That is bad enough! Class 6 would be like those people who die after eating a minuscule piece of a peanut or something.

If you don't get anywhere, try going on holiday to Germany and getting tested there, they are brilliant about allergies.

koala x

[DavidEFA EFA in reply to Hidden]

Even if a food diary sounds old fashioned there are still allergy specialists recommending this technique because for certain individuals it can help. If someone's condition is very complicated, of course it won't do the trick on its own. I proposed this not because I'm a specialist but because there was no indication it was tried yet.

In any case, I would certainly follow what koala suggests with blood testing as it is a true way to help pinpoint the cause of some of these problems.

[Ukbusybee]

Hi Nik. Does this happen regularly? If it happens a lot then it's most likely to be something that is common and in the top 10 allergens, like eggs, milk, wheat/gluten (I'm allergic to those three and have reactions within a couple of hours). Keeping a food diary with details of what you've eaten and what ingredients they contain will be a big help in pin-pointing the issue. I'll admit that I found out what my multiple allergies were the unconventional way, by having an IGg blood test first, then using the results to do elimination and reintroduction tests. It's taken a long time to confirm that the test results were pretty accurate...I'm allergic to eggs, milk, wheat/gluten, coffee and possibly crustaceans (still testing that one!). It takes patience but good luck.