i didn't come from having a bad collogen injections, i just ate a carrot
September 11, 2008 7:18 AM Subscribe
Food allergies: too much of a good thing?
In the last few years, I've suddenly developed mild food allergies to produce. They happen when I've been eating a lot of a particular kind of fruit or vegetable. The things I've noticed I have these allergic reactions t include apples (i think all kinds), nectarines, carrots, cucumbers. However, I don't know if it's these specific things that are the culprits, but just that I don't eat enough of other fruits/vegetables on a consistent or daily basis so as to induce a reaction.
Here's the pattern I noticed.
1) OMG it's nectarine season! YUM! I'm going to have one at breakfast today, then another in the evening during our break in class.
2) I bring a nectarine every day to break time in class, and have one a day on the weekends.
3) After about 8 days or so, my lips become slightly inflamed about a minute after biting into the nectarine. They feel warm, they're blotchy in the area around my skin, and it feels uncomfortable. My throat itches very slightly, but my lips are where the reaction is most.
4) A mild anti-histamine helps/prevents this, so I'll take one, or stop eating the fruit/vegetable altogether for a while (say, 10-14 days).
5) I wonder if it's safe to eat a fruit/veg again unaided by meds. I take a bite in a nectarine, and I experience nothing, except my love for it's tart, sweet, tangy, juicy flavor.
6) I eat a nectarine a day for a while, and the cycle repeats.
The same goes for apples, or carrots/cucumbers as staples in most salads.
I haven't gone to a doctor about this, mostly because it's not serious, and i've figured out a pattern. You're not my doctor, but do you have any idea what's going on? What is my body thinking? Is it literally just rejecting 'too much of a good thing' and asking for more diversity in the types of fruits/vegetables I eat? (I do eat others, just not specific produce types on a daily basis)
I don't think it's pesticides. I've been apple picking at no/low spray farms, and still react to the apples. I should however, note that I think this only occurs when I eat produce raw. But I'm not totally sure.
In the last few years, I've suddenly developed mild food allergies to produce. They happen when I've been eating a lot of a particular kind of fruit or vegetable. The things I've noticed I have these allergic reactions t include apples (i think all kinds), nectarines, carrots, cucumbers. However, I don't know if it's these specific things that are the culprits, but just that I don't eat enough of other fruits/vegetables on a consistent or daily basis so as to induce a reaction.
Here's the pattern I noticed.
1) OMG it's nectarine season! YUM! I'm going to have one at breakfast today, then another in the evening during our break in class.
2) I bring a nectarine every day to break time in class, and have one a day on the weekends.
3) After about 8 days or so, my lips become slightly inflamed about a minute after biting into the nectarine. They feel warm, they're blotchy in the area around my skin, and it feels uncomfortable. My throat itches very slightly, but my lips are where the reaction is most.
4) A mild anti-histamine helps/prevents this, so I'll take one, or stop eating the fruit/vegetable altogether for a while (say, 10-14 days).
5) I wonder if it's safe to eat a fruit/veg again unaided by meds. I take a bite in a nectarine, and I experience nothing, except my love for it's tart, sweet, tangy, juicy flavor.
6) I eat a nectarine a day for a while, and the cycle repeats.
The same goes for apples, or carrots/cucumbers as staples in most salads.
I haven't gone to a doctor about this, mostly because it's not serious, and i've figured out a pattern. You're not my doctor, but do you have any idea what's going on? What is my body thinking? Is it literally just rejecting 'too much of a good thing' and asking for more diversity in the types of fruits/vegetables I eat? (I do eat others, just not specific produce types on a daily basis)
I don't think it's pesticides. I've been apple picking at no/low spray farms, and still react to the apples. I should however, note that I think this only occurs when I eat produce raw. But I'm not totally sure.
Raztaj, I have this. It is, I believe, a variation of Oral Allergy Syndrome, which is closely related to pollen allergies. Do you find that it is worse during hay fever seasons?
Here is the Wikipedia page; you could also go to a doctor and confirm.
To note: it is most likely the peels of fruits and vegetables that are causing you problems. If you peel your food, or cook it (I find that heat denatures whatever allergen is present), you will not react in the same way.
Foods to avoid besides nectarines: apples, as you noted, cucumbers (which bring on the most severe side effects for me personally), peaches, plums, strawberries, eggplant, cherries, etc.
Sorry that you have this! I still eat these kinds of fruit but I either make sure to have an antihistimine on hand or am somewhere that sneezing and crying aren't a big deal. For me, the reaction happens almost instantaneously. That's kind of bizarre that yours comes more than a week later.
posted by amicamentis at 7:30 AM on September 11, 2008 [1 favorite]
Here is the Wikipedia page; you could also go to a doctor and confirm.
To note: it is most likely the peels of fruits and vegetables that are causing you problems. If you peel your food, or cook it (I find that heat denatures whatever allergen is present), you will not react in the same way.
Foods to avoid besides nectarines: apples, as you noted, cucumbers (which bring on the most severe side effects for me personally), peaches, plums, strawberries, eggplant, cherries, etc.
Sorry that you have this! I still eat these kinds of fruit but I either make sure to have an antihistimine on hand or am somewhere that sneezing and crying aren't a big deal. For me, the reaction happens almost instantaneously. That's kind of bizarre that yours comes more than a week later.
posted by amicamentis at 7:30 AM on September 11, 2008 [1 favorite]
On preview: yay generic Wikipedia links!
posted by amicamentis at 7:31 AM on September 11, 2008
posted by amicamentis at 7:31 AM on September 11, 2008
Response by poster: Thanks for the info, guys! -It does indeed sound like a variation of Oral Allergy Syndrome. How weird. But I do experience hay fever, and the culprits are included in the list.
I'm wondering also about the timing of my reactions - in that it doesn't happen every time I eat a fruit/veg, but only when I've been eating a lot of them. And only after about a week to 10 days of eating lots of something, I begin experiencing reactions. (--> amicamentis: i think my wording is poor - i don't experience a reaction a week after eating something, but that the reactions begin to occur almost immediately after eating something, after about a week of eating a particular fruit/veg on a daily basis)
posted by raztaj at 7:51 AM on September 11, 2008
I'm wondering also about the timing of my reactions - in that it doesn't happen every time I eat a fruit/veg, but only when I've been eating a lot of them. And only after about a week to 10 days of eating lots of something, I begin experiencing reactions. (--> amicamentis: i think my wording is poor - i don't experience a reaction a week after eating something, but that the reactions begin to occur almost immediately after eating something, after about a week of eating a particular fruit/veg on a daily basis)
posted by raztaj at 7:51 AM on September 11, 2008
Another vote for oral allergy syndrome. When I went through a spate of allergy tests a few years ago I was given lists of things to beware of with my results. I suffer from several pollen allergies and was not happy to see many fruits and vegetables on this list. Sometimes I can eat apples, sometimes I can't. It depends a lot on the season, where the apples are from etc... When I start having a reaction I stop eating the culprit for a while. I've never had a bad enough reaction to cut out certain fruits and veg entirely, I just know that I might have a reaction every once in a while and try to moderate my intake.
posted by Constant Reader at 7:55 AM on September 11, 2008
posted by Constant Reader at 7:55 AM on September 11, 2008
Don't eat the same food(s) every single day, especially seasonal fruits.
posted by Carol Anne at 9:39 AM on September 11, 2008
posted by Carol Anne at 9:39 AM on September 11, 2008
i was going to suggest OAS as well, but it is weird that you don't have it happen every time you eat something. my suggestion is that perhaps the piece of fruit that triggers you had a bit of extra pesticide or whatever on it and that's causing the reaction.
i have OAS and EVERY time i eat a banana i have a reaction, not to just some bananas. however, some bananas give me a worse reaction than others, and i just assume it's because there are different varieties and some have more histamines than others. perhaps this could also be a cause.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:14 AM on September 11, 2008
i have OAS and EVERY time i eat a banana i have a reaction, not to just some bananas. however, some bananas give me a worse reaction than others, and i just assume it's because there are different varieties and some have more histamines than others. perhaps this could also be a cause.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:14 AM on September 11, 2008
Just a note: Not everybody's immune system is always on at a heightened state, even allergy sufferers. IgE levels do wane, as can the numbers of allergen-reactive T cells. It can take some time for re-exposure to the allergen to bring their numbers back up to a level that is capable of inducing a noticeable reaction.
posted by kisch mokusch at 3:12 PM on September 11, 2008
posted by kisch mokusch at 3:12 PM on September 11, 2008
I had something like this happen to me recently. It seems to be caused by citrus. I've never had such a reaction in my life, but now if I eat lemons or oranges my lips go puffy, numb and weird. Sad, because I desperately love grapefruit!
Thakns Amicamentis for the wiki link, that answered some questions for me!
posted by tomble at 8:54 PM on September 11, 2008
Thakns Amicamentis for the wiki link, that answered some questions for me!
posted by tomble at 8:54 PM on September 11, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by grateful at 7:25 AM on September 11, 2008