Reactions to soya sauce. Could this be an allergy, intolerance or something else?

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Teen DD sometimes wakes up with swollen eyelids so her whole eye area and especially upper lid is puffy. A few times we've had a lot of soya sauce or a product with soya sauce in it the night before.

Reading about soya allergy, this doesn't seem like a typical symptom. Would it simply be chalked up as an intolerance and something to try to avoid?

She's always suffered with 'swelling' like mild water retention all over her body but it's not been bad enough for gps to be concerned. They've ruled out kidney issues and thyroid with blood tests. Could it be soya? Or could it be the extra salt found in soya sauce?

I know no-one can answer the question precisely. Just looking for any similar experiences!

Sounds like it’s too much salt/sodium to be honest.

Too much salt - water retention

I actually started making soy eggs for a while. One time, I really enjoyed them but woke up with a very puffy swollen face.

several months later I ended up with kidney stones, and i believe this directly contributed to it.

Doesn’t soy sauce have shellfish in it? Maybe a reaction to that?

It could be an intolerance. Any hives or gut discomfort?

Or it easily could be too much salt.

Soy sauce doesn't have seafood in it, it's usually soy, salt and water.

I am intolerant of soy; it gives me diarrhea.

Eyelids swelling would be a surfeit of sodium, but check with the doctor.

I just googled as it’s not something I eat/use in cooking and it lists lots of brands that contain shellfish.
I have a couple of food allergies , luckily only been mild reactions so far, but lip swelling has been one sign.

There is also gluten in soy sauce.

Sounds like a soya allergy. Dairy, Soya and Egg allergies are fairly common.

Soy sauce often contains gluten, but if she doesn't react to gluten in other foods that would be weird. Is she eating a huge amount of it or just a tiny splash?

When we've made the connection in the past it's been when we cooked a meal and made a sauce heavy on the soya sauce. Other times, with a small amount , she's ok. This time round shed eaten some Japanese rice crackers the night before and I checked the ingredients and the second ingredient is soya sauce.

Out of interest, does soya sauce contain a lot of gluten?

Tamari is gluten free version of soya sauce should you decide to test again.

Sorry I keep writing soya sauce when I mean Soy sauce. Brain fog!

Isn’t soy sauce high in histamine? Any other histamine issues?

Soy is an allergen in its own right. She's probably allergic to Soy.

If she has water retention issues generally, I'd say she's got a case of what I call "sushi face" aka it's a sodium thing

Is there anything she can do to counteract this?

The only way I've managed in the last 20 years is just to avoid sodium.

I am notorious for saying at restaurants, "please don't salt my steak" and checking the nutrition labels on everything

I don't know if age or hormones or what is a factor, but I never had this issue as a kid. I'd say I started noticing "heavy legs" at 17 or so. As I've aged, I can even wake up and just FEEL IT (the water) in my wrists and hands, ankles, calves

Oh, and this a probably a bit much for a child, but I took up high intensity sports with the sole aim of just sweating. Even did a stint of Bikram yoga for a few years. It helps me keep on top of the retention