Hives on Broadway

[Fakingit36]

I took my son to a Broadway musical in NYC last weekend when we were there (we live elsewhere in USA). 10 minutes after taking our seats, and just as the curtain was rising, I felt my face growing hot and itchy. I ducked out to the lobby where I could see I was coming out in hives, mostly on face but a few on my body too. I was actually really scared because in one isolated but spectacular incident 3 years ago I had an allergic reaction in a gym in Florida (also away from home) and had to be rushed to hospital - was quite severe. After that I carried an epi pen for a couple of years but it never repeated. Of course , didn’t have it on me this time in NY. So I ducked out, found antihistamine, took max dose and to my great relief it subsided this time - no breathing issues. Those of you who know allergies: is it more likely that it was a) lunch food or b) environment at the theater? Lunch had been 45 mins - 1 hour previous. Had pasta, shrimp, burrata, bread, some of my son’s gelato. I know shrimp sounds like it can be the culprit but I eat it all the time and never an issue. Environment wise we’d then walked through the busy streets and had just sat down a few mins before. This was a packed theater (with everyone masked but also honestly not risk free Covid wise but that’s another story!). Any thoughts appreciated.