Hi! For the first time in my life I have health insurance and was able to go to an allergist. I have been dealing with food problems for many years but have been dealing with it on my own. The allergist told me that I have a "sensitivity", not a true food allergy. I would like an opinion if that is a possibility or not.
The allergist did a skin prick test, which did not show anything. Right after the skin prick, before the lab even drew any blood, the allergist had already made her decision that I was not allergic to anything. Then I was told the blood test was negative too.
So a food trial is going to be scheduled soon. I'm supposed to bring in a piece of tofu about the size of my palm. I have never eaten any pure form of soy before. All if the stuff that seems to be the cause if my problem is either cross contamination or soy in other forms. You know, processed. The allergist told me the entire test should take about 2 hours. Does this seem right? How big of a piece should I start with?
She also told me that if I use vanicream and moisturizer then all of my problems should go away?? I find that hard to believe though. I feel she is not listening to my reaction history.
One of my first reactions I would get many years ago when this first started would be my fingers swelling up. She told me the vanicream will make this stop? It happened both from eating certain foods or from simply touching foods. Like some years ago I touched some cheese crackers and my fingers swelled up. Got fat like sausages and they crack and I cannot bend or use them. The swelling then starts to go down in about 4 or 5 days. The cracks are usually healed by day 7.
I also got it from sticky handles on shopping carts in supermarkets a few times. I think it was from young children eating candy. I have been free if the swollen fingers for a year or more now as I'm very careful what I touch.
I had to give up lots of foods to stop reactions. I'm basically eating paleo with added whole milk. Fruit, veggies, meat not soaked in any solutions, milk...a very simple diet.
So here are some other reactions I've had:
Catsup: very fast diarrhea - 5 or 10 minutes after eating. It included soybean oil and natural flavors.
Toothpaste: sore throat after 3 uses. It included soybean based glycerine. Otherwise it was a natural toothpaste.
All purpose flour: lots of itching! Before I could make stuff from it but then it started to make me itch like crazy. I found online some documents that said flour can contain soybeans.
Peanuts in the shells: before I could eat peanuts. But then they star to make me itch too! So I emailed the Fisher company and asked about soybeans. They replied that soybeans are mixed in with the peanuts when they arrive at the company and they shake them out. Then they sent me a coupon for peanuts!
Cherry pie: I got a tight throat once from a cherry pie. It went away by itself. I think this was anaphylaxis but I'm not 100 percent sure. At the time this had happened, many years ago, I had been on with flour and cherries are not a problem..so I think it was the "natural flavors". My allergist does not seem to believe it can go away by itself.
Ice cream cone: lip tingling. That was in may. First time I had lip tingling. I verified later the cone had a soy ingredient, which it never did before.
If I use the wrong bar if soap, my skin peeks off in layers. The allergist told me this is eczema. But two of my friends who have eczema told me I don't have eczema, as they do have it and knows what it looks like.
I think the finger swelling thing is called angioedema?? Can a "sensitivity" cause it??
I've had numerous other reactions over the years, like headaches, racing heart, post nasal drip, joint swelling...
Last Sunday I had a big hive on my face from something...
I am also allergic to bees and wood smoke. Sulfur gives me a racing heart.
I've never had an epi pen so I avoid, avoid, avoid! Maybe the allergist is confused as I never was to the ER?? But I avoid so much stuff.
I only know that when I avoid soy I also avoid reactions. Boxes printed with soy ink makes me itchy too. And I've had coughing spells before from soy ink newspaper pages being flipped.
So do i have an allergy?
Oh, I've also been getting an itchy face inside certain buildings, in lunch rooms or cafes. I don't know what causes it. A few times I have gotten it from boiling corn. One time I got the itchy face after the corn had already been eaten,
before I got there so I didn't even know corn had been cooked! So I don't think its in my head. I don't think I'm allergic to corn although I haven't eaten any in years.
I've only cut food out when it started to cause problems, like the bad itching. The itching is bad enough that I start bleeding from scratching.
My battery is running low. Posting with my phone.
So is this a food allergy?! Is it something else?? Because I don't understand why the tests came back negative? Or is all if this in my head?! But then why do my fingers swelled? Why does soap peel skin off my fingers? Why the intense itching?? I've had other reactions too, including one where I felt like puking and got dizzy. That was from homemade pancakes fried in soybean oil. That was the incident that made me realize I had a soy allergy, esp after I realized everything in my pantry contained various forms of soy.
I have anxiety / concern over the food trial. As I said I never ate any pure soy. All has been in other forms in preprocessed food... glycerine, soy oil, natural flavors, etc.
Thanks!