Sudden Allergies

Google Oral Allergy Syndrome and you will find that people often do develop allergies to certain foods usually in the raw or uncooked form only. Cooking the foods seems to do something to the plant enzymes so they don't cause any reactions. There is a cross connection between certain foods and certain pollens, so if you suffer from seasonal outdoor allergies, it is likely this syndrome. I thought my children were making it up to get out of eating certain fruits and vegetables! They complained of the same thing happening with raw carrots, bananas and watermelon. They both suffer with spring outdoor allergies, one since she was 3 and the other developed them about 3 years ago. They are 10 and 12 now and ate those foods without problems before the outdoor allergies kicked in.

I would recommend a trip to an allergist who can do the scratch tests to see how highly allergic you are to the items. Try eating them cooked and see if you get a reaction. Hope this helps!
J.

I don't know if this will be helpful other than to let you know that you're not alone. A woman I work with has always had seasonal allergies but just recently developed an allergy to peanuts at 44 years old. The first few times the reaction wasn't too bad and she took some Benadryl thinking it was her normal allergies flaring up. The 3rd time it got real bad - hives & swelling on a Sunday that landed her in the ER and she now has an epipen (sp.?). Maybe if you could get to your doctor before things get to that point, he/she will give you an epipen or something as a precaution. I'm not sure that they discovered a reason for the sudden allergies in my co-worker other than "it can happen". Scary! Good luck to you!

I have had the same allergic reaction(itchy/tingly throat) to some fruits and vegetables for several years.....foods that I enjoyed as a child then "all of a sudden" became allergic to. I never got tested(although I'm sure it would be a good idea). I just chalked it up to "your body changes every 7 years" (maybe that's an old wives tale...I don't know.). ANYWAY.....a few weeks ago I was cutting up a watermelon for the rest of my family(been allergic to all melons) and with Benedryl in hand, I had a piece because it just looked and smelled so good and I have missed eating it for so many years I was ready to suffer. To my surprise, no reaction what so ever!! Then bought and ate cantaloupe....no reaction! So I believe it is totally possible that allergies can come and go. Good luck and I hope you will be able to eat your favorites again some day!!!

That's weird. Do you think you could be reacting to a chemical that has been put on the fruit or veggie? I suppose with the carrot thing that wouldn't apply since it was from the same bag, but I don't know!? Good luck!

Yes I developed an allergy to Cherries. Just cherries. They make me ill and break out in hives. I also developed a mild allergy to bee stings. They never bothered me till I got to be an adult. But you have so many and that seems odd to me. Maybe you can do some research, has the FDA made changes to what chemicals are sprayed on produce? If so then maybe that is what you are reacting to. You might call your doctor and schedule an appointment, maybe something else is going on.

I would check in with an allergist and a gi doc. Things to be checked for would be autoimmune disorders, celiac, diabetes, west nile virus and lyne disease to start with. I would tie these 2 together with family medicine and start there.
Take foods down to the most basic for now and cook what you eat. Look for non gmo organic foods, no preservatives. I know this will sound odd but of you currently spray your lawn with chemicals and have exterminators spray for bugs that you really don't see have this stopped. Most grasses these days can survive without it and most of us keep clean enough houses to do only occasional treatments when something is noticed. If you use deet based spray for mosquitoes and a lot of sunscreen I'd lower use of these too as all hit your immune system quickly and have cause effects to the whole body.
Good luck.

Updated

The same thing has been happening to me and my family as well, just not as severe...we have gotten the mouth tingling....my daughter has had the severe reaction like you to cherries which never bothered her before...I don't know...the only thing we can figure is with all the new pesticides and such the fruits and veggies are now a bother??? Good luck finding out what it is...in the meantime just wash wash wash the items and or cut the skin off..

Maybe it's the chemicals & pesticides that linger on the veggies and fruit. Make sure you are thoroughly scrubbing them before eating them. Buy as much organic produce as possible (still needs to be scrubbed). Good Luck, I hope you find the cause of these reactions!

It's scary when your suddenly fine and then you become allergic to food. My cousin was allergic to certain foods and did not know until her body went into shock and after they flushed her body with an iv. They tested her to find what she is allergic to and now can't eat any of the foods she used to like. Her body could never break down the foods so it just kept building till she was 22 and finally couldn't take anymore.

As far as me I became allergic to chemicals after 29 years. Allergic to shampoo, allergic to any cleaning product with chemicals in it. So now I have changed everything I can in my house to chemical free products. Its hard to make a change after being what you consider normal for most of your life. I'm just glad that if you search on the internet like I did you can find answers and other products to use or even foods that are healthier. ____@____.com

Unfortunately, allergies can sometimes seem to develop "out of nowhere."

Make an appointment with your family doctor ASAP, and request (or demand if you have to) a referral to a good allergist ASAP. This is not something to fool around with. You need to get allergy tested and you do need to get an Epi-pen (available by prescription, but your regular doc can prescribe it, and it's easy to use).

Sometimes, other allergies, like to certain trees and plant pollen (where you normally get stuffy/itchy or runny nose from it), can cause allergies to certain foods to worsen. That might be making your situation worse.

The mouth swelling, throat itch and the problems breathing are really serious signs and need to be taken deadly seriously and you need to get treatment and have a plan of attack for this.

Yes!! It happened to me with seafood. I have ate shrimp all my life ...a lot in fact. I started having what I thought was acid reflux....it got worse and worse. I ate king crab legs for my birthday when I was 32 and I broke out head to toe in itchy hives, began getting very anxious feelings like I was about to die, and my throat swelled.....After a scratch allergy test (followed by a simple blood test), I found out that all that acid reflux was my throat swelling from the seafood. I can't even eat french fries from a restaurant if they cook them in the same oil as the shrimp without getting a reaction. Please get checked out by an allergist and you will probably find that you can no longer eat those foods. They will problem give you an epipen to keep with you just in case you accidentally ingest the food and have a severe reaction. Allergies are serious...be careful and good luck.

some people are allergic to the pesticides on the fruits and veggies. go to your farmers market and buy some organic types first and see if that helps.

I know I'm a little tardy in responding, but I got major food allergies after getting a stomach virus almost 25 years ago. Milk, wheat, cane & beet sugars, bananas, oranges, beef, pork, apples, corn, soy, and the list went on. For the life of me and my mother (since I was a child and it took 2 years of being really sick to finally get a diagnosis!!), we couldn't figure out what caused the allergies to come out of absolutely nowhere. But alas, there wasn't as much research on food allergies back then! Seriously, I could eat beef the day before and I couldn't the day after. It was that sudden!

As I got older, I tried to find out as much as I could about how allergies happen and I realized that allergies are an immune system response. So, when I got that virus years earlier, it screwed up my immune system to the point that it started attacking food proteins as "invaders."

Here's the craziest thing. We all know that pregnancy messes with your body in SO many ways, right? Well, it also effects your immune system...and actually REVERSED my food allergies 8 years ago!! Now, this obviously won't happen for everyone, or even anyone else.

I would suggest definitely getting tested and also try to figure out if you've recently been exposed to a virus or illness that may have short-circuited your immune system into attacking normally benign foods.

I completely understand. I had an allergic reaction to almonds last Fall and got to ride to the ER in a nice noisy ambulance. A few months later I was eating some Kix and my mouth and tongue started swelling. Now I am afraid to eat cereal. I think our bodies can do this at any time. They just get enough and are done. Now I hardly eat anything without worrying what I am going to do if I am at home alone with the kids and eat food and die or something.

I think it can happen for sure. I've never had any allergies and now if I get anywhere near a cottonwood tree my heads nearly explodes! Amoxicillan nearly sent me into shock at the age of 22 and I had taken it all my life before. Just steer clear and make a appt with your doc.