Nut allergy
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 1:34 pm
I was diagnosed with a nut allergy in 2001.
No tests were done but my mouth and throat got horribly itchy after eating hazelnuts in chocolate that come in a purple wrapper!
My GP told me I have a nut allergy and gave me an epipen. I’ve been carrying one since.
During the last 18 years I have often felt ‘tingles’ and got an itchy mouth/throat if I’ve eaten foods that ‘may contain nuts.’ I’ve always avoided nuts otherwise which was difficult as I used to eat a lot of shelled nuts. Going from eating every kind to eating none overnight was torture.
I’ve switched to seeds as an alternative at times - sunflower/pumpkin etc, and found I get the same effect if I eat sesame seeds and now pumpkin seeds. Sometimes if people are eating nuts around me the smell is so strong I might get a tingle in my mouth the dry scratchy throat appears and I have to move away.
But how can I find out properly if I have a nut/seed allergy and if I do whether I’m allergic to EVERY nut out there. Things are difficult as I don’t eat much meat fish eggs or dairy and I’m struggling to get enough protein into my body. If I could find out once and for all it may help.
Plus, I’m so fed up of being looked down upon by fellow travellers when I have to tell the airline I have a nut allergy and they announce no nuts can be sold on the flight. I’ve had so much hassle about it. One woman was furious she couldn’t eat nuts sitting next to me on a 2 hour flight and really wasn’t bothered when I said nuts could be fatal to me. I’m hoping for the day they ban nuts as they banned smoking on flights so I wouldn’t have to disclose my allergy and be called out by a whole plane full of passengers!
Any ideas gratefully received. I’ve asked my gp many times for proper testing only to be told I don’t need it.
No tests were done but my mouth and throat got horribly itchy after eating hazelnuts in chocolate that come in a purple wrapper!
My GP told me I have a nut allergy and gave me an epipen. I’ve been carrying one since.
During the last 18 years I have often felt ‘tingles’ and got an itchy mouth/throat if I’ve eaten foods that ‘may contain nuts.’ I’ve always avoided nuts otherwise which was difficult as I used to eat a lot of shelled nuts. Going from eating every kind to eating none overnight was torture.
I’ve switched to seeds as an alternative at times - sunflower/pumpkin etc, and found I get the same effect if I eat sesame seeds and now pumpkin seeds. Sometimes if people are eating nuts around me the smell is so strong I might get a tingle in my mouth the dry scratchy throat appears and I have to move away.
But how can I find out properly if I have a nut/seed allergy and if I do whether I’m allergic to EVERY nut out there. Things are difficult as I don’t eat much meat fish eggs or dairy and I’m struggling to get enough protein into my body. If I could find out once and for all it may help.
Plus, I’m so fed up of being looked down upon by fellow travellers when I have to tell the airline I have a nut allergy and they announce no nuts can be sold on the flight. I’ve had so much hassle about it. One woman was furious she couldn’t eat nuts sitting next to me on a 2 hour flight and really wasn’t bothered when I said nuts could be fatal to me. I’m hoping for the day they ban nuts as they banned smoking on flights so I wouldn’t have to disclose my allergy and be called out by a whole plane full of passengers!
Any ideas gratefully received. I’ve asked my gp many times for proper testing only to be told I don’t need it.