allergies

[cosmo105]

so i went to an allergist/immunologist today for the first time and got the whole million-needle skin prick test on my back. it was 20 excruciating minutes of lying there not being able to scratch my extremely itchy back, but i figured that was just the spots with the grasses/trees since i already know i have terrible seasonal allergies. I went in thinking, nah, this'll be quick, I'm not one of those hypochondriacs who swears they're allergic to everything because they read about it in a Zooey Deschanel interview, :rolleyes::rolleyes:

NOPE. turns out i'm super allergic to just about everything they tested for, with trees being exceptionally high. The doctor and nurse that administrated it were both really surprised by it (they both kept saying things like "oh wow" and "that's...quite an assortment"), and the doc said it was one of the "biggest reactions to the most things" that he'd seen in 10 years of practice. Hooray? :(

the worst part for me was that i was also tested for the four of the 8 major food allergens that i actually eat - wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, and soy - and i tested positive for ALL FOUR. i was shocked to find that out. granted, they're mild allergies and not life-threatening or else i'd have been dead long ago, but the fact that all four were inflamed was really mind-blowing to me. and TERRIBLE! i'm vegan! that's what i EAT, man!

on one hand i feel somewhat vindicated because i have had weird symptoms like itchy skin all over and digestive issues for a long time, and the doctor was very excited that this may hold the key. on the other hand WHAT THE HELL MY DIET IS ALREADY SO LIMITED COME ON :( also I'm a vegan food scientist and a recipe developer! I work with wheat, soy, and tree nuts ALL THE TIME. If I can't eat that stuff, what does that mean for my career? Gahhh. I'm on an elimination diet for a couple of weeks to see just how bad my reactions are to all four of them. Then it looks like mega antihistamines forever.

Anyway, I just wanted to complain. Anyone else here got mondo grass/tree/food allergies? It doesn't look like any of mine are epi-pen worthy (although the last 5 days off my usual Zyrtec to prepare for the appointment have been extremely miserable, full of headaches, sneezes, itchy puffy eyes, and basically the worst I've felt in a long time), so that's a relief. It was really disheartening going to the store and picking out things that I normally get and thought were at least gluten-free and finding, nope, soy and nuts in there. I could make do with losing one, or maybe even two of them, but FOR GLOB'S SAKE LEAVE ME THE CASHEWS :(

[Bob]

there is...one solution... (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/23/parasitic-hookworm-jasper-lawrence-tim-adams)

[cosmo105]

*signs up*

[Bob]

i heard about it on radiolab so it must be true.

[Bob]

i do wonder what the trade-off is though. like, you have some worms in your guts, but you don't have any allergies anymore, and if nothing else happens, it seems like a pretty clear-cut deal to me.

i mean yeah worms are nasty but anybody who thinks that their guts aren't already nasty is just not thinking about it hard enough, so if they just live there and nothing else ever happens i don't see what the problem is. there must be some nasty thing that they do that's a problem

[cosmo105]

look at what they did for Fry! he was way better with worms.

[silence7]

As someone who went through years of allergy shots, I feel your pain. Although, not so much anymore. :)

[Waus]

Man, I really do feel bad for you.

I read when you posted about that and considered the implications for a professional vegan.

I mean, I guess you can take antihistamines and still taste the food you want to recommend people, right? You don't have to actually ingest it to know it tastes alright - and you can objectively verify the nutritional benefits.

Still, though - to have a limited diet be placed under even more limited restrictions ... that would be tough.

[Lyman Zerga]

i do wonder what the trade-off is though. like, you have some worms in your guts, but you don't have any allergies anymore, and if nothing else happens, it seems like a pretty clear-cut deal to me.

i mean yeah worms are nasty but anybody who thinks that their guts aren't already nasty is just not thinking about it hard enough, so if they just live there and nothing else ever happens i don't see what the problem is. there must be some nasty thing that they do that's a problem

i heard people with allergies usually have parasites anyway

[Dorothy Wood]

Going off gluten cleared up nearly all of my respiritory allergies. Sure I blow my nose and sneeze now and then, but I never get debilitated and miserable like I used to.

I should get a full allergy test sometime, I just keep putting it off.

[Freebasser]

Hayfever is really getting me down at the moment. I got to the age of 18 without ever having any hayfever symptoms but it all suddenly started going downhill when I left my teenage years. Summer #1, I had an itchy nose; Summer #2, I sneezed a wee bit too but by Summer #3 I was already having whole days where I just couldn't function without a box of tissues as big as the Pentagon in my back pocket.

Fast forward to 2013 and specifically today as an example; I went for a 10 minute walk after work to get some blood pumping around my legs (too much sitting down recently) and walked through 20 metres of uncut grass in order to go and say hi to the local cows. One grassy field later and my eyes were bright red, my nose was completely blocked, I was wheezing heavily and my chest felt like it was clamped in a vice - all this because my body is retarded enough to think I'm going in to a seizure or something the minute I so much as get near a flower. I'm sitting here now with mucus dripping on to my keyboard and wondering if I'll actually manage to get comfortable enough to get to bed tonight :/

[TurdBerglar]

did people have all these food allergies 20 years ago?

I don't ever remember having a kid in school that was deathly allergic to peanuts. now there's so many of these kids, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are banned in a lot of schools. and all this gluten free shit. what did all these gluten intolerant people do a 100 years ago? gluten is in fucking everything! people probably ate more gluten back then than they do now. did these people just die? are these conditions becoming more prevalent or are people's symptoms just being understood and diagnosed better?

[Dorothy Wood]

did people have all these food allergies 20 years ago?

I don't ever remember having a kid in school that was deathly allergic to peanuts. now there's so many of these kids, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are banned in a lot of schools. and all this gluten free shit. what did all these gluten intolerant people do a 100 years ago? gluten is in fucking everything! people probably ate more gluten back then than they do now. did these people just die? are these conditions becoming more prevalent or are people's symptoms just being understood and diagnosed better?

I think it's the latter. The more I think about all the commercials for indigestion products, the more I think humans basically weren't cut out to eat processed foods in such bulk. And it's just natures way of insisting that we all diversify our crops or something. I mean, companies have coerced the public into consuming garbage on purpose even when they know it's garbage, but they pay a lot of money to kind of sweep it under the rug so the public doesn't know so they'll keep consuming. Then people seek outside products to soothe the pain that the other products cause. It's a vicious profit cycle.

Anyway, nobody needs to do anything different if they don't want to, but I would recommend not accepting disgestive discomfort. I have been super successful in turning around 99% of my common ailments (stuff you can buy over the counter meds for). And all it took was avoiding gluten. I can still have all kinds of delicious foods and my life is seriously less stressful. Not saying that everyone is the same, but if you suspect you have an issue with gluten, get rid of it, it's a big adjustment, but it's worth it.

[Dorothy Wood]

Hayfever is really getting me down at the moment. I got to the age of 18 without ever having any hayfever symptoms but it all suddenly started going downhill when I left my teenage years. Summer #1, I had an itchy nose; Summer #2, I sneezed a wee bit too but by Summer #3 I was already having whole days where I just couldn't function without a box of tissues as big as the Pentagon in my back pocket.

Fast forward to 2013 and specifically today as an example; I went for a 10 minute walk after work to get some blood pumping around my legs (too much sitting down recently) and walked through 20 metres of uncut grass in order to go and say hi to the local cows. One grassy field later and my eyes were bright red, my nose was completely blocked, I was wheezing heavily and my chest felt like it was clamped in a vice - all this because my body is retarded enough to think I'm going in to a seizure or something the minute I so much as get near a flower. I'm sitting here now with mucus dripping on to my keyboard and wondering if I'll actually manage to get comfortable enough to get to bed tonight :/

Oh that's terrible. I wonder what tree it is. When I was in England for a bit 15 years ago, I had hayfever every day I was there. Miserable.

Have you tried a neti pot? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8sDIbRAXlg

It does a pretty good job of clearing out the pipes. It's scary the first few times though.

[TurdBerglar]

I have an iron gut. I can eat whatever I want. I don't think I've ever been constipated. the first thing I do when I wake up is take a giant fucking shit.

the only time I get an upset stomach is if I eat just a bunch of weird shit throughout the day. like a whole jar of green olives, yogurt, mozzarella sticks, ramen, and a chicken salad wrap. then in the middle of the night my stomach just fills up with bile and it's the size of a beach ball and I wake up with the puke sweats.

[Helvete]

I get hay fever, but that's usually kept in check with a daily tablet. I can't imagine what it would be like to be allergic to almost everything.

Must really suck when you don't eat a lot if things as a vegan! What can you eat now tofu is bad for you?

[cosmo105]

In case anyone was wondering how this turned out, I'm off soy and wheat pretty much for good now. It sucks big ones. Luckily tree nuts and peanuts are still ok, but my diet has changed really radically.

I can't even do gluten-free beer, or even wine. Something about them makes me itchy and foggy. Pretty much the only alcohol I can still handle is vodka, and it's got to be corn-based at that. Dark rum is pushing it, but usually it's ok.

It's hard describing what my symptoms are like, too - my throat doesn't close up or anything, it's just extremely annoying. With soy my skin gets really red and itchy and inflamed, anywhere from my arms to my throat/chest to my face/ears, and usually within a matter of 3-5 hours. With wheat it's usually the next day, and my ears, nose, and throat will be itchy and painful, and my skin will feel numb. I literally can't feel my face. It's like I just came from the dentist - I can scratch my skin and all I feel is dull pressure. I can always tell if I've accidentally had some. It's SO WEIRD. When I was a kid my pediatrician was one of those doctors that prescribed antibiotics for every sniffle, and I've been on them a LOT in my adult life for a recurring issue so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

It's made things a lot more difficult in that it's even harder for me to figure out what I'm going to eat. I'm determined to stay vegan because this has been something I've really been dedicated to for almost 10 years now and I just can't picture myself ever going back on it, but it is definitely extremely challenging. All of my favorite restaurants were super soy- and/or wheat-laden. I figure on my 30th birthday next year I'll go nuts with a binge on all my favorite foods and just be miserable for a couple days. I've lost about ten pounds in the six months since this happened, which has really shown a lot since I was already pretty small. I had been trying to lose some weight but now I'm struggling to maintain and stop losing, which is a weird feeling. At one point it was a pound every week or so, and sometimes now I have to force myself to eat more calories because I get lightheaded during workouts. Turns out going through some gut-wrenching grief (http://bbs.beastieboys.com/showthread.php?t=99432) coupled with being allergic to beer and bread is a great weight loss plan. :\

On the bright side though, all of my weird symptoms have completely cleared up. It's a shitty tradeoff, but I was going insane with these incredibly annoying unexplained maladies for a solid year, waking up in the middle of the night itching all over, so it's a huge relief to not have to deal with that anymore. I just hate being that person that has to ask if something has soy or wheat, and I miss my old wardrobe and being able to drink a lager out of a sourdough bread bowl (n)

[cosmo105]

Oh, and as far as work and product development, it's been challenging but I've gotten better at the taste-and-spit (which really most developers do anyway) technique. It's just harder with some things - you can't really spit out something oily. I have to scrape off my tongue with a paper towel and gargle. It's embarrassing. And even then I still get an itchy throat. I worked on a cookie-based product in class this semester and got used to just having to deal with being itchy after development days.

[Dorothy Wood]

Kudos to you for making it work. Especially with the soy, it's in so many things! You can have tacos though right? I pretty much exist on tacos.

I think the worst part of gluten free eating is everyone worrying about what you can and can't eat, and also accidentally eating wheat when you don't personally have control over the food. I'm really careful, and I know some people aren't and will just binge on pasta and make themselves sick every now and again. I've been away from it long enough now that I'm almost afraid to touch bread. Not almost...I admit it, I'm afraid to touch bread.

All the trouble is worth the health improvements though.

[russhie]

Good on you for sticking to being vegan :-)

My future sister in law is "celiac". She claims the doctors discovered this after she had her son, and was hospitalised for a kidney infection afterwards. She has an interesting history of exaggeration (couldn't have babies, has managed two in very quick succession) so I remain suspicious of this but I can't exactly stuff her full of gluten to find out.

I don't mind food allergies/diet requirements as I'm vegetarian myself, but listening to her prattle on about gluten free stuff is annoying. Great, you can't have Macdonalds anymore. Yes, being vegetarian is so much easier than being gluten intolerant. Wow, gluten free is so expensive, that must suck. When we see her for dinner at the in-law's she's more allergic than the last time - so much so that she can't use the sandwich press after her husband because if so much as a crumb of white bread touches her, disaster! I've seen her eat white bread, drink beer plenty before her diagnosis and was always fine afterwards. Anyway.

My only ongoing health issue is suspected pernicious anaemia, which is easily remedied by having regular B12 shots. People are quick to blast my low B12 levels as a result of being vegetarian but I'm under the understanding that even if you eat meat, low B12 levels can still be caused by pernicious anaemia. I'm also really fascinated by the connection between gut health and anxiety and depression - it's all pretty amazing and I'm trying to tidy up my diet as a result.

[Yetra Flam]

I was having a discussion with someone today about all of the problems people have been getting with soy, particularly in the United States. People are not having any of these issues in Japan, where they have a lot of soy in their diets.
We also found out that soy is in ALL baby formula in the United States.

I feel like its the quality of the food products, how its grown, modified and produced. And not just with soy and wheat, but a lot of mass produced foods. When I've thought about this in detail, it's terrifying. Companies that produce food are going to take shortcuts to save money and produce more. What CAN we eat without being made sick?

I've been very fortunate in that I've never had any kind of food allergy. HOWEVER, about 10 years ago I was having some kind of digestive problem, and the doctor gave me a test. They told me that I was DEFINITELY gluten intolerant. At the time, I figured it was too much work to give up wheat, so I just kind of ignored it and kept eating it. The problem just seemed to go away eventually. I eat wheat all the time now and don't have any problem at all.
So maybe the doctor was wrong, or is it possible to grow out of an allergy?

[Documad]

I seem to have developed a reaction to wine. I sneeze like crazy after a couple of sips and then it's like I suddenly got a bad cold. This started a couple months ago out of nowhere. I seem to be okay with other alcohol so far. It seems funny this came out of nowhere at my age.

I've never been a big drinker but it's sad. I like splitting a bottle of wine with friends when we eat at a nice place but I can't be sneezing and blowing my nose at a meal with friends.