What unusual allergies have you heard of?

[Soubriquet]

I mean most people know about things like peanut allergies but what else do you know is an allergen?

Someone I know (on here btw so hi if she sees this) her ds is allergic to tomatoes

I’ve never heard of a tomato allergy before so that was interesting

I’m allergic to water

I have a skin condition where my skin itches terribly, all over my body, after contact with water. Took me until I was almost 30 to get a diagnosis and an effective treatment.

Just reading this thread is making me itchy!

My dads never struggled with any allergies until around 10 years ago he randomly had an anaphylactic reaction to penicillin. Dread to think what would have happened had he taken it before bed/home alone it happened that fast. I never take the first tablet of a new course of meds at night anymore just incase

I won't start new meds or give my kids new meds before bed either just in case. I had a reaction to penicillin too.

My dad has the mozzi bite allergy. One hol his leg swelled so bad he had to use a wheelchair for days.

I can't be around any aerosols being sprayed. Deodorants, air fresheners etc.

Flavoured water and flavouring additives. (Mostly orange)

[quote TTCat39]@BaggoMcoys Do you ever find that your oral allergy syndrome comes and goes with raw fruits in particular? Last summer I had reactions to all sorts of fruits (washed) mostly stone fruits, but the worst was fig. And, as you've also mentioned, it was just raw fruits, cooked were fine. I went as far as having a blood test to try and get to the bottom of it, but the GP couldn't find the right code to communicate with the lab (or so he said! Sounds odd to me) and they ended up testing for cereals instead, which I know I am not allergic to! Anyway, things went a bit haywire with family crises, and I didn't pursue it further, just avoiding the fruits that caused a reaction.
Fast forward to perhaps January this year, and I absentmindedly ate some nectarine in a fruit salad, and was fine. So I've tried some of e other fruits that caused a reaction, and I seem to now have no reaction at all. Baffled. [/quote]
@TTCat39 I avoid the majority of raw fruit like apples, pears, peaches, nectarines etc (I think it's stone fruit too actually - do apples count as a stone fruit?) as I get a bad reaction even when I touch it or cut it up for dd. I do eat raw tomatoes, celery and other salad bits occasionally though and don't always react to them, but will react at other times. I think it's linked to other allergies - this is just my guess anyway, but I think if I've been around a bunch of things I'm allergic to around the same time, or it's hayfever season for example, I think I'd have a stronger reaction than if I'd been around zero other allergens besides the one bit of tomato, or whatever it may be.

I saw an allergy doctor a few years ago and they told me they couldn't test for OAS other than the kind of test where you eat bits of things in a controlled environment. Actually I'm sure the allergy doctor told me that most of the fruits/veg I react to are linked to different types of tree pollen or something, the ones that give me hayfever I think (which is all of them for me!)... It was quite a few years ago and I can't remember. But my allergies in general definitely have ups and downs, like I've been ok-ish with feathers one time, the next have ended up in hospital because of them, so it does seem to vary.

I've just found this link which explains things a bit better than my rambling half guesses www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/allergy-library/outdoor-food-allergies-relate

I have penicilin, latex and banana allergies. I also get migraines brought on by pork of any kind.

@BaggoMcoys Thank you for your reply, it's really interesting to hear about your experiences with it. I also get hay fever, it's around May to July time for me, and is always worse in the evenings for some reason. I'll have a good read of that link. Thanks again and good luck with your allergies, I hope they aren't dangerous for you and you're able to manage it.

I’m allergic to cats coughing, sneezing, and I come out in itchy bumps if their saliva gets on me.
I also have hay fever which is worse when it rains. Although I now have a new antihistamine which seems to be keeping it under control.

My dd1 is allergic to midge bites, they all swell up and go itchy.

Dd2 is allergic to midge bites and any other bug bites too. She also comes out in a rash if she sits on the grass.

My mum was allergic to penicillin and my dad is allergic to vanilla. If he eats something with vanilla in it he sneezes for ages afterwards. Ironically his favourite ice cream is vanilla 🤷🏼‍♀️

I have recently developed an allergy to wasp stings, confirmed by skin and blood tests. I was stung last October and had a an anaphylactic reaction where we needed to call the ambulance. I'm 56 for goodness sake! I have a phone appointment with the allergy consultant on Friday and think I'm going to be offered immunotherapy. Never been allergic to anything on my life up until now.

I'm finally getting immunotherapy for my appalling grass allergy. I've had "really bad hayfever" all my life but it's now at the point where I come up in hives if I touch ANY grass, and certain ones mean my face starts to swell and I head into anaphylaxis. It's great fun...

This is an interesting thread! I house shared with a young woman who kept ending up in hospital with an unknown allergy that turned out to be an exercise induced allergy, last I spoke to her they hadn't worked out what it was just that the exercise was triggering the reaction?!

I don't think that it's allergies but both of my daughters have horrific bowel movements after oranges and tomatoes, more than one mini orange/easy peeler and a handful of tomatoes and their bums get burnt if a poo goes unnoticed. I can't eat raw tomatoes but that's a sensory/taste thing, just can't do it.

Deep heat burns me, not sure whether it's an allergic reaction or not but within minutes of being on any heating muscle type cream feels like it's on fire and I end up blistered if I don't wash it off immediately. Discovered that in my early 20s and mentioned it to my mother who said "oh yes I thought you remembered that from when you were small!" thanks mother!

@KatharinaRosalie

Not an allergy, but I have dermographism. Found this out when I was having allergy testing as they were suspecting anaphylactic allergy to shellfish. Every single skin prick test swelled up - the nurse looked quite alarmed before she noticed that also the negative control had come up.

Oh also if you've ever had an allergic reaction out of the blue to fish or shellfish, look up scombroid fish poisoning. That's what I had. Not allergy.

@KatharinaRosalie I also have demographia. It's unusual to come across a fellow sufferer. I think mine was triggered by a bad sinus infection/subsequent antibiotics 3 years ago. Apparently it can disappear as quickly as it arrives. I live in hope!

@Torvi I have dermographism too

I developed mine a few years ago due to thyroid issues I believe. It's relatively mild, I don't react to simple pressure, but any scratches or anything rubbing and I get big welts.

My son is allergic to peas I didn't even know that was a thing 😂. My mother was allergic to anything anti inflammatory including natural products like aloe Vera it used to have the opposite effect and make her swell up.

@the80sweregreat agree with you that actual real allergies are terrifying. The first time ds1 had an anaphylactic reaction it was really horrible. He was only 18 months old so obviously couldn't tell me how it felt: his face swelled up and he started scratting at his throat and couldn't breathe. I honestly thought he was going to die. And actually that wasn't an overreaction because he could have done without an ambulance turning up. The call handler gave me advice on what to do until the ambulance got there. Then for a couple of years until I figured out just what his food allergies were this happened several times. Like, he'd be eating his dinner, then he'd get hives really suddenly then he'd start scratting and panting. It was fucking awful for him! Bless him, all he was doing was eating his tea and then suddenly blue light.

Mine is awful. I hate people asking how I've scratched my face etc. Brushing my hair and the car seatbelt are major triggers.

*Torvi"

It can! I had it from teenage years until my mid 20s then one day it just didn't happen! And hasn't in the 10ish years since.

Kiwi is a weird allergy... according to my son’s allergist, some people who get severe hayfever, are allergic to the skin. Some of that inevitably ends up with the fruit somehow, and they have a super-bad reaction to that. If they are reacting to the little seeds, however, it’s a Latex allergy, and they will also probably have issues with avocados (who knew?) and possibly even bananas - although bananas are something that most people can get away with eating because the seeds are so tiny and the fruit is so slimy that even in a blender, hardly any Latex is released.
I woke up after my last c-section - haemorrage (general anaesthetic), itchy AF, having panic attacks, saying that I couldn’t breathe. They told me to just relax, it’s just me metabolizing the morphine, etc, and they would give me something in my IV to help with the itchies and the panics. They gave me phenergan. Turns out I’m allergic to Morphine AND phenergan. That was a fun day for everyone....

One DD is allergic to sunlight/heat and the other cold- as in hives-,welts-swollen tongue and cheeks if she has a glass of cold water xx she developed it after a virus and takes two different antihistamines as soon as weather changes or she stays indoors-I feel so sorry for her as it limits what she can do-go has never heard of it- she went into show him with a frozen bottle of water and stuck it on her arm-which promptly was covered in hives and bumps.

I'm allergic to aniseed. I've never met anyone else who is so I think it's fairly unusual

I’m allergic to so many things I couldn’t list them all
Trees moulds grass many drug groups wasps ants nuts anything perfumed most flowers I could go on

The only group I don’t react to is fur thank god, love my fur babies

It happened because I am a missed coeliac, the specialist felt that because my immune system was left to react for over 40 years it started to attack every thing and so I developed multiple allergies

Ironically people think that gluten is an allergen but it’s not, however it’s just as bad

Probably my most odd allergy is wash powder, the scent causes immediate asthma attacks so I use soap nuts instead

Dd has oral allergy syndrome linked to tree allergy and DS has a severe shellfish allergy

Tomatoes isn't an uncommon allergy. I know a few ppl allergic to them.
I'm allergic to white fish

I'm allergic to Lynx. If I am in the kitchen and DS1 sprays it in his bedrooms, my asthma flares up immediately. If teens spray it on themselves on the train after sports matches (which they do way more often than you'd expect) I have to move carriage. It's quite scary if I don't have an inhaler.

I am allergic to Zinc in vitamin supplements. I can eat food high in Zinc though - very weird.

@Mrsjayy

So what happens when an allergic person is allergic to antihistamine I

They can go into a coma or be excessively drowsy.

Coconut here. It’s not horrendous, more of an intolerance I suppose as it won’t kill me.
On my skin I get hives, if I eat enough I am sick.
It’s ok though because I loathe it! Although it’s in a shed load of things now it’s fashionable.