Hi I have had an anaphylaxis reaction to all nuts since i can remember and avoid them accordingly. I also am allergic to some medications. I have become sensitive towards foods and have developed IBS. Yesterday I had a severe allergic reaction to a tin of thai soup which contained no nuts but did contain coconut. I did not think i was allergic to coconut as I have drank malibu in the past and cannot find any other ingredient in the soup which could have caused my reaction. The reaction was quite severe and affected my respiritory tract, I take 3 loratadine and 5 puffs on a blue inhaler immediately when I get a reaction which calms it down, but it took a very long time for the reaction to calm yesterday and I was debating hospital and was scared. After taking the meds, my head felt like it was going to explode and i felt stupidly thirsty, ( a side effect of the loratadine i presume). When i got home from work later, i went straight to bed and slept and i woke up this morning feeling like i had been hit by a bus and had to take the day off work.
I have noticed when I used to get reactions as a child to nuts, my mouth would tingle immediately as soon as the allergen was in my mouth, however these days it is not until I have eaten the allergen that I get a reaction. I also do not get hives or urticaria these days, just my airway is affected unless i eat a peanut then i get a blood red rash too. I have noticed i get random rashes over my body on occasion recently and after exercise.
I am beginning to feel very unsure and scared about what to eat now, I do not think an allergy test would be a good idea due to my anaphylactic nature but I am very keen on this elimination diet idea as im sure i am becoming intolerant to some foods and it may help my IBS but i do not have a clue on what to eat or who to ask for help can my doctor refer me to a nutritionist for this?
Many thanks.
Written by
hayley_b1990
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I know what you mean about it being scary, but the unknown part is the scary part. Once you know what you're dealing with it isn't as scary.
I also have different types of reactions to the various things I'm allergic to. Like you, I also have problems with certain nuts eg a tiny fraction of a walnut will make my throat and oesophagus swell extremely painfully for hours. Then cashews are ok in small amounts. I had blood tests done and they reflected these variations, with allegies between class 1 and 4 for nuts. Your reaction sounds more severe, possibly class 5 or 6.
Peanuts are legumes, so maybe you are also allergic to kidney beans, chickpeas etc? I am and avoid them completely.
I was advised by several allergy docs to avoid all the things I'm allergic to, as allergies can worsen with exposure. They added that after about a decade avoiding the "thing" it's possible that the allergy will lessen. My allergies haven't changed though.
Oh and allergy tests don't put you at risk of anaphylactic shock - if you do RAST or other modern tests, they simply take some blood from your arm. Skin tests can indeed be very unpleasant, but they are not necessary and are not as accurate as other tests anyway.
Do you eat gluten and wheat? Might be an idea to avoid them for a while and see if it helps.
Are you on probiotics at all? I found them very helpful. My clinical nutritionist did a stool test and discovered severe deficiencies in three types of bacteria so she put me on high levels of probiotics.
I think that probiotics are connected to the immune system and allergies, gut health is an important area that is often overlooked.
For now, I'd avoid food with "complicated" ingredients like the Thai soup you had. Stick to pure stuff where you know the ingredients. Avoid legumes (peanut allergy) and cook your veg.
Good luck, if I were you I'd ask for allergy tests.
Would recommend the book Diet and Arthritis by Gail Darlington - ISBN - 9780091816599.
A great book giving step by step instructions on how to do a proper Elimination Diet plus lots of information on substitute foods, general nutrition, critique on other diets plus general advice. A good starting point for you I think.
She also talks about the '20%' role in processed foods whereby they don't have to list the food if it take ups less than 20% of the total -something like that so really, avoid processed foods and prepare all your food yourself perhaps. Plus she mentions that the canning process can cause people to have a reaction so maybe avoid tinned foods.
If you are doing an elimination diet, this is the one to follow. It's looks tough initially but I found it easier that I would have thought and feel much, much better - no swollen stomachs for me, pains, stiff joints nor as much fatigue.
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