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Author Topic: Someone please help me  (Read 3090 times)

Description: allergy egg/milk/cod/wheat/peanuts/soya

Offline aprilulliott

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Someone please help me
« on: July 05, 2013, 03:09:53 PM »
Right basically over the past year I developed a phobia towards allergic reactions with food. When I first started with this phobia I wasn't too bad the only thing I wouldn't touch was nuts. I seriously have no idea what even set this phobia off. But the past 4 months have been a living hell for me. Back in match I ate a ham and cheese panini at my college, which have me swollen lips a sore throat and some wheezing/breathing problems. Over the following weeks my phobia obviously escalated and I started to cut things out of my diet one by one (through all this I thought I was loosing the plot) I literally stopped eating anything nice at all. Everyday I ate:- my breakfast was toast/a bowl of rice crispies and 2 cups of tea then for my dinner I had plain pasta potatoes broccoli cauliflower and two Yorkshire puddings (I tried to eat a lot because at the first few weeks I felt really ill as it was a shock to my body) for my tea I'd either eat 2 slices of toast, a bowl of rice crispies, beans on toast or scrambled egg and I'd snack on rich tea biscuits through the day if I got hungry. I saw my doctor and he told me there may be an explanation to why I'm thinking I'm allergic to things. (i thought i was going mad!) he referred me to the allergy hospital and told me to carry on eating the things that ive been eating so i did. This got less and less untill I was at the point where is only eat two slices of toast for my breakfast, mashed potatoes and broccoli for my dinner and two slices of toast for my tea because I started to feel ill. When I first went to the doctors back in march I went because I thought I had an eating disorder and the doctor I saw made it clear there was nothing wrong with me, that my BMI was 17.2 and I was fine and that I should try and eat everything despite my fear. Anyway I had my bloods took for my allergy test because the hospital was "too full" to skin test me. Today my tests results have come back and I'm allergic to egg white, milk, cod, wheat, peanuts and soya. I'm really lost at this moment in time I feel like a prisoner in my own body! I haven't been weighed since match and you can literally see all my bones. I'm that frightened now I daren't eat anything! I think that because I've ate broccoli cauliflower and potatoes for that long that my body is going to reject and give me a reaction. I sound stupid I know it's really hard to explain but all I can say is that I'm terrified of food now. I have to wait while Monday to see my doctor, he called me earlier to tell me my test results, no appointment no nothing. What the hell? What am I supposed to do? Bread was possibly the only thing I enjoyed to eat! And no I can't have chocolate or anything. I'm so scared of food it's unreal and now I'm anorexic. My life is over  :(  please someone help me I really don't know what to do anymore and I feel like they aren't taking me seriously. I'm 21 years old and I feel like a prisoner in my own body :-[ :-/
💗🍀so much love an support for my fellow allergy sufferers🍀💗

Offline GoingNuts

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Re: Someone please help me
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2013, 07:11:27 PM »
Oh my goodness, I can certainly see why you feel overwhelmed.

Please know that blood tests like you had alone are never the final word on allergies.  To have a definitive answer you have to also look at history of reactions and skin tests. 

I'd say continue eating what you had been doing well with, and insist on being skin tested when you speak with your doctor on Monday. 

If you feel like they aren't  taking you seriously, can you get a parent or friend to help advocate for you?

I'm glad you found us; I'm sure others will have some good advice.

Good luck!
"Speak out against the madness" - David Crosby
N.E. US

Offline CMdeux

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Re: Someone please help me
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2013, 09:37:27 PM »
INSIST on getting a referral to help you manage your anxiety.  Truly.  Whether or not you have food allergies is a matter for your allergist.

Whether or not you have an eating disorder or other mental health problem, though-- THAT is not a matter for your GP or your allergist.  That's a matter for a mental health professional to offer a well-considered opinion upon, after meeting with you and considering your other medical history.

Something to hang onto until your appointment:

binging on a food doesn't bring on allergy.  If it did, then the vast majority of Americans would be allergic as all get out to corn and potatoes.  We're not.

 :heart:
Resistance isn't futile.  It's voltage divided by current. 

Western U.S.

Offline aprilulliott

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Re: Someone please help me
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2013, 12:52:37 PM »
Thank you both so much, you've both eased me. and now I can eat my potatoes broccoli and cauliflower in peace :) I'm still weary though! Nightmare allergies. But yes I will ask for more testing. I've ate bread all my life, toast was literally my favourite food and I really don't see how I'm allergic to anything. No one in my family is :S it's confusing as hell. Would they have tested me for apples and bananas too? I'm terrified of going into  Apoplectic shock. They said my allergies tested as grade 5? I don't really understand what is going on and I'm glad I found you too! H :heart:
💗🍀so much love an support for my fellow allergy sufferers🍀💗

Offline lakeswimr

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Re: Someone please help me
« Reply #4 on: July 09, 2013, 08:41:02 PM »
The grade doesn't tell you much.  People can be grade 5 and not actually allergic and can test very low and be highly allergic.  Test results need to be used in conjunction with past reactions to make a diagnosis.  So, the fact that you tested positive to these foods doesn't mean that you are allergic to all of them. If there are some on this list that you have been eating with no reaction then they are false positives.  Studies have found positive test results are wrong quite a lot of the time.  In some studies 86% of the time positive results were wrong!  It would be good to figure out what caused the reaction you described.  Do you have epi pens and a written emergency plan?  I would feel anxious if I didn't know what caused that reaction, too!  But once you know what to avoid and have epi pens and a written emergency plan of when to use them you should feel more relaxed. 

It sounds like you have been eating wheat all the time so I would assume that one is a false positive.  I would guess that your bread (toast) has soy or egg or both in it.  Does Yorkshire pudding have egg in it?  If so that sounds like a false positive, too.  And false positives are a GOOD thing for you--less to avoid.  Even avoiding one food is difficult and a pain.  You don't want to have to avoid more than that. 

I recommend you put your anxiety level and getting it under control as a top priority as others suggested.  Of course you felt anxious.  That makes sense.  But now you are taking active steps to deal with things and I hope this will help you and your anxiety. 

Also, you don't sound like you are eating a very healthy diet at this point.  You might want to see a registered dietitian to go over what you can eat safely in order to make sure you are getting enough protein (that seems pretty absent from what you are eating), fat, etc. 

I would not ask for *more* testing.  It is possible to develop an allergy at any age.  the chance of suddenly developing tons of allergies is statistically close to zero, though.  Testing is only supposed to be used on foods that one has reason to suspect are allergens.  If you go on a fishing expedition chances are you are going to get a bunch of false positives and end up avoiding a lot of foods needlessly.  Apples and bananas are very rare allergens.  Is there are reason you asked about testing them? 


Offline chett39

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Re: Someone please help me
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2013, 08:58:19 AM »
i too created myself a "false" sense of allergy to peanuts at some point in my life! i would eat peanut butter daily along with cashews and other items, then one day i read about a kid with peanut allergies and for no reason at all i started to believe i may be allergic to them, it started as a "what if i am" and ballooned into believing i was. I could never control this fake allergy thought and avoided so many foods and places because of it. Been ten years now, and i had an allergy test last week that said i have moderate allergy to a certain tree or grass that said just avoid peanuts, so now after never being allergic and talking myself into that i was, i wonder if i trained my body to think i am. Weird, the mind and body is a powerful thing!! good luck!!