We recently found out that my 19 month old has a sesame allergy. I’m so nervous about cross contamination. One of the shampoos we use does not have sesame but the brand does carry a couple other products that do have sesame (hair oil mixed with sesame oil and serum that has sesame oil). We only use shampoo from that brand but should we not incase of cross contamination?

My son still puts everything in his mouth and has bit my hair before. Unsure of how far to go with cross contamination concerns.

just like in the title. a person close to me suddenly developed an allergy to eggs, avocado, blue cheese and button mushrooms 3 years ago when they ate it normally before. they get massive stomach aches, making them incapable of doing anything for most of the day. what could it be? i looked into the histamine intolerance and the latex allergy thingy, but they eat bananas and other histamine foods normally. what could it be?

Hello, my 9 month old has eczema, very high total nonspecific IgE levels, and anaphylactic food allergies. Blood testing to try and determine his allergens has now shown high specific IgE to many many foods. Our allergist told us that based upon his high total IgE levels the blood testing can be largely inaccurate for him and we need to do food challenges to determine his true allergies. We’ve blood tested for different nuts, seeds, beans, egg, and dairy after anaphylactic reactions to eggs, peanut, and one incidence after eating a wheat bread that also had various seeds in it. He also has had a few lesser but questionable reactions to things like bean and dairy. Today he forcefully vomited after eating chicken and potato (previously safe foods). I’m worried this was possibly an allergic reaction too, but it could have been a bug. Determining what he is reacting to seems impossible.

His specific IgE levels are at least 5-80KU/L for everything tested, so very very high. These are (mostly) for foods he’s eaten at least once. So far he failed one food challenge (IgE 25 hazelnut), but passed pine nut and almond with IgE numbers in the 20s. Curious for others with high total IgE, what is the highest specific IgE you have had for various foods you tolerated and had no clinical allergy to? We have a food challenge soon for a food with IgE in the 50s.

Hi, 29 yo French person here. I have ME/CFS and MCAS, but my MCAS has never been very severe when it comes to food reactions. Only had headache after eating certain food, brain fog or bloated belly but nothing serious... Until today. 😭

This morning, I started eating melon for the first time in a while, and suddenly after the first bite, my throat started tingling. It then became VERY tight (I could genuinely feel it “closing” ), and after wheezing, I had a severe, uncontrollable coughing fit while gasping for air as if someone was strangling me 😵‍💫

I honestly thought I was going to pass out. My mom grabbed her phone to call an ambulance.

But about five minutes later, I could breathe better (although the tight throat sensation remained), and the coughing stopped. I was able to speak without struggling. The episode seemed to be over.

What the hell happened ?! I have no known food allergies ! But this was SO intense and frightening. Are these symptoms a sign of a anaphylaxis episode, or could it be something else?

I do have asthma, but I haven’t had an attack in years. My asthma was mainly triggered by exercise and a very specific tree pollen.

These were my exact symptoms after eating melon :

1) Tingling sensation at the back of my throat (which turned into an almost burning sensation)

2) Feeling like my throat was closing up and swelling from the inside

3 ) Wheezing

4) Sudden, uncontrollable coughing fit with gasping for air, without understanding what was happening

5) Heavy feeling in my chest ( I’m not completely sure about this one )

6) Difficulty swallowing

7) Feeling like I was going to faint

Symptoms I did NOT have :

- No tongue or lip swelling

- No nausea or vomiting

- No rash, hives, or skin symptoms

About 1.5 hours after the episode, a doctor examined me and found :

- Normal oxygen saturation

- No visible swelling in my throat

- Nothing abnormal heard in my lungs

She advised me not to eat melon again for now and to see an allergist, but I’m still wondering, could this have been anaphylaxis, or does the fact that it resolved quickly make it less likely?

This was one of the scariest things I’ve ever experienced. It was extremely intense, but it didn’t last for hours and I never progressed to a more severe episode so maybe I'm over reacring ?

Thanks in advance for your help!

This happened the other day, and he’s now fine. I’m wondering what I should do next:

My 6 year old eats tree nuts regularly but we avoid cashews and pistachios in our house because his little brother is allergic.

He’s had cashew before, the last time was 6-8 months ago in a cookie and he’s also had the whole nut before. He doesn’t like the taste so he doesn’t eat much at once.

The other night, he had a cashew based vegan ravioli at his aunts house. After the 5th one he said “I burped really loud and the ravioli got stuck in my throat”. He stopped eating and complained for ~2 hours that his throat hurt and the ravioli was stuck before eventually throwing it all up. After he threw it up in 3 pukes (all back to back), he said he felt all better and didn’t have any other symptom after that.

He went to bed (we checked on him throughout the night) and woke up totally fine. No other symptoms. The next day, he relayed the same message that he felt the raviolis stuck in his throat.

I’m thinking it could be a possible allergic reaction or may have just been bad digestion of the food which happened to contain cashew? If it weren’t cashew, I wouldn’t think twice about an allergy. But because my youngest son was born allergic, I’m always wary. I also get worried if we go get tested, a skin test and blood sample can come back as a false positive and then we live in this constant state of worry that he’s allergic to something he might not actually be allergic to. For example, both skin and blood tests say my youngest is allergic to almonds, but he can and does eat them safely.

My younger son had a much bigger reaction when he first consumed cashew, but I know every persons reaction varies.

I guess in a different country I'd qualify for disability and its claims, but in India, not so much. I have 'allergies' (as per the allergy test) for at least 57 different foods, and other substances such as cotton, dust, and cockroaches. Because of that sheer number of triggers + overlap, I am just constantly tired and sometimes sick for 4 days a week. I cannot keep going on like this if I wish to have a career and survive. None of the OTC allergy meds work, and only painkillers work at times. I just stay groggy and low energy and unenthusiastic and irritable ALL DAY. idk if this is because of cPTSD or some other disorder like MCAS or just allergies.

IgE is 411 IU/ml.

IDK if they are allergies per se because, different foods give me different reactions, or rather, some have drastic reactions and some do not. e.g., Cow milk and its products give me muscle cramps and intense muscular pain at times, and joint pain. Clarified cow butter can make me instantly dizzy and sleepy and fully feverish. Peanuts and some other nuts give me almost-asphyxiation (my throat tightens), my head spins, and I feel sleepy and dizzy. Other foods that I am allergic to do not give me muscle pain but fatigue me that I'd rather sleep. Note that this is not as drastic as feeling instant-sleep by cow butter. I rarely get any skin reactions.

tldr for backstory: grew up under extreme abuse, have anxiety, slept in dusty, moldy sheets, ate rotting food, drank dirty water; deficient in few vitamins now, and idk to what I pinpoint my conditions to, and how to heal from these.

I'll edit this if I remember some important detail. please ask me anything that might help identifying the issues.

Below is some backstory in case it helps with the hypotheses:

I am 28M, 174cm and 95kgs. I grew up in an extremely abusive household (getting beaten and shouted at for hours) and faced extreme abuse in school as well (the word 'bullying' does not cut it; I'd be groped all over and shoved and twisted again for hours back to back between class breaks).

My maternal grandparents were with me until I was 13 who gave me nutritious food. They left, and my mom would just cook the most random stuff that would qualify for prison food, and sometimes even cook veggies that has kind of been rotting. No proper nutrition since then.

I had high energy (probably due to high adrenaline due to abuse) until I was 18. I would walk for miles and miles without tiring, and work/study for 13-15 hours a day. Two weeks or prior to my 20th b'day, we stopped getting purified water since we did not have enough money, and started drinking a little bit dirty water without any boiling and processing. A week after my 18th b'day, I felt extremely dizzy and rushed walking home, and could not get up for hours. My mom did not attend to me, and my friend came home after many hours to give me meds. This same sudden dizziness happened another time as well. This same month once my entire leg was too numb that I was not able to walk for 5 minutes. From this point onward, my tiredness and fatigue has just been increasing year by year.

To note, my mom has already been feeding me improperly since I was 13. Please do not ask why I did not cook for myself; I was not allowed, and I was constantly abused.

Since it was just me and my mom, I tried to keep the house as clean as I could. But even then, rooms were extremely dusty, and since I was tired all the time, sometimes I'd not change sheets for months, and I guess I was sleeping on dusty, moldy sheets for a few years.

At this point, we were eating both improperly and very less as well due to no money. I started looking for a job, and tried OTC supplements with no avail. Then I thought that maybe I am iron deficient, and started Iron syrup, and that seemed to give me a little bit energy. This is also when I tried eating more peanuts to get iron and other nutrients from some street vendors.

From age 20-23, my energy would ebb and flow. If I ate something I was extremely allergic to like peanuts, I would just be so drowsy as if I were on some drugs, and even two cups of coffee would sometimes not be enough to keep me awake. I could not sleep in office, and how many sick days could I even take. Because of this, just battling drowsiness the whole day, I'd be backlogged, and then I'd panic-work to meet deadlines on weekends. My anxiety which was already high increased even more.

age 20-21 my feet would go numb if i wore something too tight, and i continued iron syrup intermittently.

age 21-23 was also when it was lockdown, and I was with my mom who by then had gone fully schizophrenic, and if she weren't shouting at me, she would be shouting at her voices. Still no proper food. I am somehow trying to keep up by eating protein and fruits from outside.

age 23 marked the peak of my fitness wherein i was clocking close to 17 miles of walking every day. This was happening, and also me feeling fatigued while working. Actually, the only time I'd not feel fatigued was when I'd walk. Mainly I had a lot of anxiety and anger and that was enough to make me walk, but I also wanted to burn fat and I kept pushing myself. But it did not feel like anything since my feet would not hurt.

This went further downhill when one fine day I had an intense, out-of-the-body panic attack at age 23. After that panic attack, I felt even more tired than usual. My psych suggested that I move out, and I did. In the midst of figuring out moving, I stopped walking for miles, and now it has been 4 years since I have walked for miles. I can barely walk one mile without heaving these days.

Ever since the panic attack, I have become super-sensitive to caffeine (or maybe I have connected with my body and can identify when I am jittery and anxious and I do not suppress my emotions lesser now, idk?)

Now, age 23-28: I am low contact with my mom. I cook for myself and I am trying to keep my house as clean as possible. But unlike age 20-23 wherein I felt fatigue for only 4-7 hours a day and could make up for lost time by working during the rest of the day, now, I feel drained for almost 8-10 hours a day. My main deficiency as per recent reports is Vitamin D. I am yet to do a thorough mineral panel. I have lost a bit of muscle, I have gained fat, I cannot walk for even a mile, and as I said, I am just constantly groggy and low energy and unenthusiastic and irritable ALL DAY.

Please help me out.

I'll edit this if I remember some important detail. please ask me anything that might help identifying the issues.

Recent test revealed I dont have an IgE allergy, probably just an intolerance. However, I noticed that every time my reaction is more severe than just urticaria, I had alos at least 1/2 glass of alcohol.

Studies do show alcohol can make allergic reactions worse, but can it take it all the way to anaphylaxis when your usual reactions are more mild?

i had a probiotic soda today and one of the main ingredients was chicory root, i’ve had it before and it caused gas and bloating but today i felt so sick, boiling hot, itchy and came out in hives. it went away after i went to the toilet.

is this normal??? the only other foods in allergic to are strawberry, kiwi and avocados- does it make sense that i would have a chicory root allergy alongside these? everything i ate today was exactly the same as yesterday EXCEPT the soda! i just wanna know what caused it because i absolutely do not want to experience that again lol

Does anyone with sesame or nut allergies have any issues eating movie theater popcorn? I’m going to the movies for the first time in years on Friday and I’m like - is it safe? I emailed the movie theater and they said the popcorn is Orville and the seasoning is FLAVACOL, which doesn’t share lines with my allergens but has them in the factory. Do I eat the popcorn? I have anxiety and just going to the theater is a big deal, it’s been like 7 years since I’ve been. Any thoughts team?

I recently thought my allergy i had since childhood got worse, from urticaria (and one instance of throwing up violently) to anaphylaxis.

However, tests with my doctor revealed that I dont have an IgE allergy so I’m wondering if my reactions have just been intense pressure drops, accompanied by urticaria from the stress of thinking I was having an allergic reaction.

I can tell VS anxiety attacks bc i have a ‘weird feeling’ that doesn’t happen from stress alone, but I wonder if it’s really just pressure dropping after eating that makes me dizzy

Hey there! My 21 month old has a severe cashew allergy, had random hives last year we couldn’t explain and now seems to have developed an allergy to watermelon? She eats all the foods you aren’t supposed to eat with watermelon on literally a daily basis and has had no problems. She ate watermelon last year and didn’t have a problem. This year it started with one small hive and now the second time she had two huge hives on her back.

Has anyone had any experience with this? The random hives she had were after her initial exposure to cashews (they started a couple weeks after and would be sporadic and then stopped in January and we haven’t had a problem since then).

She has also had minor reactions (redness around the mouth) with Ramon noodles & gyro meat and got hives from hibachi so I was thinking she may have an MSG allergy but our allergist told us that effect mood and like headaches not really hives.

Trigger warning: near death of a child, medical intervention description

15 years ago my child went into anaphylaxis from just licking a fork that had a tiny bit of pumpkin pie on it. My kiddo was 1.5 years old at the time. Within seconds their lips, tongue, and airway had completely swelled. We were close to a hospital (5 minute drive if obeying laws). As soon as the swelling happened my mom and I fled to the car and headed to the hospital. My mom was driving and I was in the back seat with my little one. My mom disregarded all traffic laws and we made it to the ER in 2 minutes max. In those 2 minutes I saw my baby stop breathing, eyes roll back, and watched them turn blue. I was "pounding" on their chest to try and...I don't know...keep their heart going?

As soon as I ran in that ER with my limp, and blue baby they rushed us back into a room and within seconds there were SO MANY people there to help. So much was happening. I remember them giving my kiddo injections (I think it was epi), and watched them unsuccessfully try to get a line/IV. The epi shot did nothing and my baby was still blue and not breathing. This is when a doctor or nurse drilled into my child and placed a port into the bone marrow at the top of the shin bone to provide an intraosseous infusion. Quite quickly my child began breathing, woke up, and proceeded to throw up all over me . We were then airlifted to a hospital that had a pediatric ward as the one we started at did not have one.

All of this is to explain, there is A LOT of trauma surrounding pumpkin. Recently my kiddo decided they wanted to test to see if an oral food challenge was an option for them with pumpkin. Blood tests came back that it is in a range that their allergist feels very confident/safe doing the food challenge. We have done 4 other of these for foods that have caused them less severe anaphylaxis, and 3 of the 4 we found out were now safe foods. That being said, this one is hitting differently for me. I just had to mix up a vanilla and pumpkin pudding concoction for their challenge ( scheduled for the day after tomorrow). Just the smell of the pumpkin puree had be nauseous and "flashing back" to the horrible prior experience.

I'm trying my best to not let my kid see the terror I feel, but also not to downplay any concern they are feeling.

This is just sort of a rant but also an ask of "how do you do it?" How do you get past yourself so you can be the most supportive parent in your child's quest to gain back as many safe food options as possible?

so i have a very interesting relationship with eggs and it only recently occurred to me that an egg intolerance could be a thing. ive looked it up and lo and behold there it is, even with the explanation that theyre ok in baked goods because the protein gets broken down yadda yadda. what makes me unsure is i have always been fine with, for example, a fried egg or two as part of a fry up, but this morning i had a hot honey fried egg thing i saw on instagram and ive spent the rest of the day on the toilet feeling sorry for myself and i just dont get it ?? omelettes as well have always made me feel sick but never to the point of actually throwing up. then on the other side when i was younger scrambled eggs were the go to food when i was sick and never had any bad side effects then ??? it just seems like its an egg intolerance but only sometimes and im a bit confused, any guidance??

So my 7yo had anafylactic cows milk allergy for her whole life until just recently when she passed the oral challenge. Now she has been able to eat cows milk products but the problem is that she is still very scared of the new tastes and textures and sometimes even has anxiety that could she still have a reaction and just overall dislike of everything new.

Anyone experienced something similar with themselves or their child after a resolved food allergy?

Hello! I have been experiencing a very strange reaction to cashews over the last 5ish years. I don’t react right away, but about 24-48 hours after eating cashews the roof of my mouth swells up and I get a relatively mild rash on my lips. I haven’t gone to an allergist about it yet, but was curious if anyone else experienced something like this? As far as I can tell there is no other reaction besides the inflammation on the roof of my mouth and the lip rash.

I’m pretty much stuck eating fast food every time I travel somewhere because I’m worried about the allergens in the local food I’m eating. I think I solely ate McDonalds on a recent holiday to Bali haha.

Anyone have any recommendations or tips?

Hi,

I'm sensitive to so much, mainly the following: tomato, soy, apple, egg white, milk, crab, shrimp, meat, wheat, rice, and almond.

There's more I'm just mildly intolerant of, so I'm just trying to avoid the main ones above right now!

I'm so sick of fish and vegetable, and porridge. Almost all vegetarian/vegan meals have rice flour, or are tomato based. So much stuff has milk in.

I found coconut yoghurt which isn't too bad. Even Violife has Beta Carotene in it, which is a mild trigger!

Barley seems to be the only grain i can eat - i can make my own bread, if I can be bothered

I eat grapes and raisins.

Would anyone like to share combinations for breakfasts, lunches, dinners- coz I've run out of ideas.

Thanks

I'm taking my daughter to NYC this week and she is allergic to dairy, peanut, treenuts, and sesame. Do you think we will be okay without doing much research? Any known spots that are good and in what part of the city? Is there an app or something I can use since we will be out and all over?

I have a kind of lactose intolerance where if I eat dairy I will projectile vomit anywhere from 10-30 minutes after eating it. If I eat a little bit of dairy I throw up a little bit.

This is not a firmed allergy but I’ve been dealing with it for nine years.

For the past year I’ve been eating Naya bowls and at certain times stopped eating the hummus because I thought there might be a hint of dairy because of some sickness I was feeling. 2 weeks ago I was looking at their allergen chart and there’s BUTTER(and ghee) in the RICE??

I feel like this must be some kind of white misunderstanding. Butter and Ghee are not the same thing (obviously).

Does anyone work at Naya or have an intimate relationship with the brand to be able to speak to this? 😭😭

TLDR; I want to eat a Vermicelli rice/chicken shwarma bowl from Naya but I projectile vomit any dairy I consume. Is this okay to eat or is there butter in the rice???

About 6 months ago I became allergic to cocoa. Before that, chocolate was my go-to treat. I didn’t drink soda, eat chips, or eat candy. It was chocolate or nothing for me. Now I can’t eat it and I’m still struggling a lot with it, even 6 months later. I get that chocolate is a bit different because of the psychological addiction, but I thought it would have a least diminished by now, but no.

For more context, I actually developed several allergies and I’m not struggling with any of the other ones the same way as I am chocolate. I miss those foods sometimes but it’s fleeting and doesn’t ruin my day.

Will the intense cravings ever for chocolate ever go away? Will I just have to live from now on knowing I won’t ever be able to have the one thing I really want? I’m starting to lose interest in food because all I want is chocolate, it’s bad.

A few years ago, I went to a relative’s house for Christmas dinner. They were serving shrimp, and at the time I had no idea I was allergic to shellfish, so I decided to try it.

Within minutes my throat started closing, my face and eyes became swollen, and I was struggling to breathe. I ended up being rushed to the hospital where I was treated with IV steroids because I was having an anaphylactic reaction.

Afterward, I was referred to an allergist. They confirmed that I’m severely allergic to shellfish, including crustaceans and mollusks, and explained that my reactions are anaphylactic. I was told to completely avoid all shellfish until future testing and was warned that even cross-contamination could be dangerous.

My biological father and stepmother took it seriously right away. They stopped bringing shellfish into their home because they didn’t want to risk cross-contamination.

Unfortunately, things have been the complete opposite at my mom’s house.

My mom’s husband doesn’t seem to believe how serious it is. He’s taken me to Asian supermarkets where shellfish is everywhere and we’ve eaten there together. One time we realized there was shrimp in my meal, and because I didn’t immediately go into anaphylaxis, he said, “Oh, so you must not be allergic anymore.”

Ever since then, he periodically cooks shellfish, leaves it sitting out on the counter, stores it in the fridge right beside or on top of food that I eat, and when I bring up concerns about cross-contamination, I get yelled at or treated like I’m overreacting.

I honestly don’t know if it’s because he grew up on Canada’s East Coast and shellfish is a big part of his culture, but that doesn’t change the fact that I have a medically diagnosed anaphylactic allergy.

The mildly infuriating part isn’t just the shellfish itself—it’s feeling like the only people who actually understand how serious this allergy is are my biological father and stepmother. Everyone else seems to think it’s something they can debate, despite an allergist and a hospital already settling that question.