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 As you all know Ross is very allergic to peanuts and walnuts. If he would eat them, you would hardly recognize him!
Within minutes his face becomes red, he starts coughing, he can hardly swallow and sometimes he gets literally sick… so, he avoids them at all cost!
What are the symptoms?
People who are allergic to food can develop all kind of complaints in almost every organ of their body.
And most of the time they develop more rapidly than the time it took to cook the meal!!
Oral allergy
This means that you have symptoms in your mouth.
These symptoms can be:
- itching in the mouth
- metal taste
- swelling of lips, sometimes tongue
Symptoms of the skin
- hives
- redness
- itching
- swelling (also called angioedema) of the eye lids, hands, feet, sometimes even genitalia
for pictures of hives and swelling, click here
Symptoms of stomach and bowels
- nausea
- vomiting
- pain in the stomach
- diarrhea
- involuntary loss of urine or stool
Symptoms of the nose and lung
- coughing
- itching of the throat
- “something in your throat”
- difficulty in swallowing
- hoarseness
- sneezing
- runny nose
- stuffy nose
- wheezing
- shortness of breath
Symptoms of heart and blood vessels
- palpitations
- low blood pressure
- cardiac arrest
Symptoms of the nervous system
- dizzy
- fainting
- loss of consciousness
How quick can symptoms come?
Very quick! People who are really allergic literally develop symptoms when the food is still in their mouth! Others develop symptoms within minutes up to one hour.
 Is food allergy always dangerous?
When you have symptoms of the mouth (oral allergy), the skin or the stomach and bowels, it is annoying but not dangerous. Symptoms of the lungs, the heart and the nervous system can be life threatening.
Sounds easy, would you think?
Well, there is a bit of a problem: some people have oral allergy at first, but get asthma when they eat the product the 10th or 20th time. And there is no way to predict whether you will always keep the more innocent, annoying symptoms or that you eventually will get serious symptoms.
So two bits of advice:
- if you think you have a food allergy - go to the doctor!!
- even if you have only oral allergy – avoid that particular kind of food!!
The doctor said I had anaphylaxis…What is that?
An allergic reaction to food is also called an anaphylactic reaction or anaphylaxis. It is just a way to describe someone that has severe allergic symptoms after encountering an allergen. That can be food such as eating peanuts but also an insect sting (such as a yellow jacket or a bee) or medication such as aspirin or penicillin.
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