Is it possible to develop an allergy to fruit in adulthood?

[mangojuice]

I'm not allergic to anything else, but since the birth of my second child I seem to have problems with fruit! If I eat fresh fruit my lips tingle and my throat itches and feels as though it's swelling up a bit. Today I ate some strawberries and as well as my lips tingling a tiny blister developed on the inside of my lip.

The worst culprits are peach, strawberry and pear, as well as orange juice. These are all things I've eaten lots of in the past so it seems a bit strange.

At first I thought I was imagining things, but it seems to be getting worse over time. Does this sound like an allergy to you?

Its really fascinating. Hopefully 'someone' is putting all the info together and will manage to find a way of dealing with it.
I've always been an allergic type anyway, but all this is so new. I bf my dd for nearly 18months in an attempt to help her avoid all this. Time will tell...
There's obviously more of us than I realised tho'

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You shoudl immediately go to your GP - not to scaremonger.

My DS developed an allergy to fruit - pears, peaches, strawberries etc. she ignored it and ended up intensive care after eating a 'natural' fruit and cereal bar. she now has to carry round one of those 'pen' things in case it happens again.

Please go and visit your GP and ask for the full allergy tests to be done. It really can be quite serious.

here's some stuff on oral allergy syndrome

you know, I never knew it had a name - how amazing. I think I hardly get it at all - sorry for all of you suffering so.

My dad developed an allergic reaction to fruit (apples I think), similar to what the OP describes, when he was an adult. I think he cut down and the allergy sort of disappeared again.

I think the theory was that he had "overdosed" on fruit at the time (we had a large garden and grew lots ourselves) - I seem to remember hearing somewhere that you can be ok eating particular fruit in isolation but if you eat two different ones close together it can trigger a reaction?

Could well depend on the time of year etc, as the apple/pear/peach etc one is related to the protein thingy found in silver birch trees and they blossom and have catkins I think it can depend on how flared up your allergies are at that time????

Sometimes I'm okay with fruit and sometimes react.

Sorry to see that there are more of us with this out there- makes me feel less of an oddity though!

It's interesting that the allergy bod said it was linked to hormones onlyjoking. that would tie in with those of us who developed it whilst pg/ bf I suppose. Not sure about the menfolk though!

Jammer- awful about your sister. Hope that she is ok now.

HCBunny, what is the next stage for you then. How do you feel about the diagnosis?

I did after having ds1.
the following fruits now make my tongue burn to varying degrees:
tomatoes, bananas, kiwis, oranges, pineapple, strawberries, any of the 'berries' actually
it is salictites......

Right, no idea whether this will work or not but here goes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome

Salictites?
Mangojuice - I don't really know how I feel. A bit disappointed that this seems to be something I just have to live with. Having worked really hard at having a dd who eats nearly anything, I hate hearing her saying 'does this have nuts and sesame in mummy?' I never mention it in her hearing if I can help it, but others aren't so subtle... I don't want her to see me avoiding food
TBH as long as it only affects me I can cope with it. But going to mums to eat is so hard. She doesn't 'get'it at all and constantly tries to serve stuff I can't have, and is then all crestfallen when I explain I'll just eat some toast...

AVOID KIWI if you get hayfever in April and May.

another kiwi allergic here - it's related to birch pollen I am sure.

It must be tough. Is there nothing they can suggest to alleviate things?

Thanks mangojuice.

They seem to think its just something you have to learn to live with. TBH I haven't had a chance to look online and do some research. It may be that someone somewhere has a possible way of dealing with it.
I know some weeks I seem more allergic than others, so I still wonder if hormones play a part. Think I'll kieep a diary of symptoms for a few months and see if theres a pattern...
Also might investigate acupuncture etc?

Definitely worth investigating isn't it. It really must be awful for you to have so many things to avoid. It's amazing how having children changes your life in more ways than you would think, isn't it?!