Seafood Allergy Roll Call
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Posted: Feb 24th, 2008 at 08:08 pm
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Feb 24th, 2008 at 07:27 pm, CookieChris wrote:
...I went to an allergist and my skin test and blood test both came back negative. The allergist said that sometimes happens with people who strictly have GI reactions, but that I should consider myself allergic to shellfish and to avoid fish...
True, but my Allegist says that sometimes also happens if you stringently avoid. [i]With me, it seems to be a whim.  [i] Crab has been a pretty stable RAST positive for the last couple of years, though, so I usually get them to add this in as a positive control if I have a RAST done for some other food.
Feb 24th, 2008 at 07:27 pm, CookieChris wrote:
He did not prescribe an epi-pen because he said that it would not help with a GI reaction.
Acck! pthouey, pthouey! Please do not tell me this was a board-certified Immunologist/Allergist?
You definitely need an Epi-pen. If he won't give you one, tell him you will consider him liable if you have a reaction. An Epi should be your first line of defense. And Benadryl will help, but it's no substitute.
Somewhere, McCobbre has a thread about using the Epi for a GI reaction... GI seems to be quite common in our adult members.
HTH,
Daisy
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Self: seafood, egg, nuts, sulfites, yellow dye, IV contrast
GA - USA
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Posted: Feb 24th, 2008 at 08:40 pm
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Actually, I did go to a board-certified allergist with a good reputation in my area. Perhaps I need to research this further, but he told me that I do not have the "life-threatening" type of shellfish allergy. He said that he would have prescribed an epi-pen if my test results had come back positive. He emphatically said that an epi-pen would not help me. I recently met a man at a wedding who had the exact same experience. He had severe GI reactions and his test results came back negative. His allergist (in another state) also said that an epi-pen would not help.
I didn't realize that some allergists prescribed epi-pens for GI reactions. Thank you so much for that information. I appreciate your response. |
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Posted: Feb 24th, 2008 at 08:50 pm
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GI anaphylaxis is called hypovolemic shock. Your BP is lowered from the extreme loss of fluid in a short period of time. Histamine is still released in GI reactions. Epinephrine stops the reaction, and Benadryl zaps the histamine already in your system.
Also, my GI allergies were stable as GI-only for years. It was not until the past couple of years that they began to involve cardiac & respiratory symptoms.
Not to scare you, but the young woman that died in Australia recently was also described by her boyfriend as "just getting a little sick" (or some such minor complaint) when she would eat something w/ shellfish. (see the In Memory thread)
And the Anaphylaxis Symptoms & Grading Chart.
Take care,
Daisy
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Self: seafood, egg, nuts, sulfites, yellow dye, IV contrast
GA - USA
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Posted: Feb 25th, 2008 at 06:02 am
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Yikes! You did scare me, but I'm glad you did. I am going to do some more reading about this. It sounds like I may need to try a new allergist.
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Posted: Feb 25th, 2008 at 04:06 pm
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Feb 24th, 2008 at 07:27 pm, CookieChris wrote:
He did not prescribe an epi-pen because he said that it would not help with a GI reaction.
That is a load of crock. Or something else.
I have GI (cramping and diarrhea) symptoms when I ingest shellfish. I have had to use the Epi, and believe me, it did wonders. My allergist encourages me to use the Epi for GI anaphylactic reactions.
I do have a postive rast and SPT to crustaceans. I have a positive SPT and negative rast test to some treenuts and peanuts, but I have had had diarrhea reactions.
With regard to my anaphylactic GI reaction from shrimp cross contamination, benedryl made it better but didn't take care of the symptom totally. My shellfish symptoms come on about two hours after ingestion. I had D, and the benadryl stopped that and would make me feel better, but the bad feeling would come back, as well as the stomach cramps. I used the Epi once I developed chest pains. After using the Epi--like 18 hours after--I developed uterine cramping/contractions. All my other crustacean reactions have just been GI. I have one exception--with all my reactions (for all my allergens pretty much) I get this spaciness beforehand that seems to signal a drop in blood pressure. So I guess I don't only get GI symptoms. But that's my main symptom.
And it can become anaphylactic.
And an Epi makes all the difference.
WElcome to the board--and I hope you make an appointment with a different allergist.
I'll reraise some threads in Main for you--there's one that's pretty current about GI reactions.
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"Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic. They are potent forms of enchantment, rich with the power to hurt or heal."~Albus Dumbledore
Me: shellfish, chamomile, sesame and a few odds & ends
DS: peanuts
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Posted: Feb 25th, 2008 at 05:29 pm
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"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." -Robert Louis Stevenson
USA
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Posted: Feb 25th, 2008 at 05:39 pm
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Thank you very much for your response, McCobbre, and I appreciate the welcome, too. I have done so much research about peanut allergies and am extremely cautious with my daughter (pn/tn allergy). Of course, she has an epi-pen, and it goes everywhere with her. I guess I have been so focused on her allergies that I have not done enough reading about my own allergy. I had never even come to this section of the board, although I had been reading the sections related to peanut/tree nut allergies for quite some time. I certainly am glad that I decided to take a peek!
For a while, my reactions would be just vomiting (violent and awful), but the last couple of times, it included diarrhea and some strange cramping. It is very disturbing to me to know that I have been walking around without an epi-pen when I could have needed one. My allergist seems so thorough and on top of things, so I am surprised that he was so misinformed about this.
Thanks again for sharing your experiences.
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Posted: Feb 25th, 2008 at 05:51 pm
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CM, that was funny! I think what I will do is talk to this allergist again about prescribing an epi-pen and if he refuses, I will talk to my GP about it. I am almost positive that she would give me a prescription. I am due for a physical anyway. That was a good suggestion.
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 Posted: Feb 25th, 2008 at 08:18 pm
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You know, my DS was diagnosed with PA like 9 years ago I think. He was 1 and he's just about to turn 10. I'll have to do the math later. Anyway, I of course carried an Epi with me for years and years.
Well, when he was five or so I had an anaphylactic reaction to chamomile. I had no idea what it was that caused the reaction at the time (and did't know I was allergic to chamomile), and I used DS' liquid benadryl--but not his Epi, Jr. I ended up okay, but in retrospect, considering my symptoms I should have used my son's Epi(faucent nose, swollen hands, swollen tongue and lips--and this was from putting on lotion with chamomile).
Then my doctor prescribed an Epi for me to take on trips when he thought I might not be carrying DS' Epi, Jr. Well, when I had my first shellfish reaction, I was carrying Epis (DS was using a regular Epi by that point--we had the same allergist, and he didn't see a need for me to carry separate Epis for DS and me). But I didn't use it. Even dealing with DS' reaction, I didn't use it. I did take big doses of benadryl, under my doctor's advice.
When I had a SF reaction that was w/o a doubt anaphylactic, I used the Epi, but GI reactions are so incredibly tricky to understand. It's hard ot know when it becomes anaphylactic.
One member--who is out of town right now--also gets GI reactions. Her D. has been so severe that her doctor said she was losing blood pressure. So--there are times where I think it's more clear cut with a GI reaction. Otherwise it's hard to know what to do sometimes. Keep liquid benadryl on hand (in a Nalgene or other leak proof bottle). It hits the spot faster than the melty strips.
If you eat out at all, avoid grilled foods and fried foods especially. I tend to stick with things that are baked, but I have still had some problems--even from restaurants where I'd been eating safely every week.
(((Hugs))). At least you know all the basic FA stuff, and it really doesn't change much with shellfish, but I find eating out far more restricted by a shellfish allergy than peanut. Could just be me, though.
« Last Edited by
McCobbre
Feb 25th, 2008 at 08:19 pm »
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"Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic. They are potent forms of enchantment, rich with the power to hurt or heal."~Albus Dumbledore
Me: shellfish, chamomile, sesame and a few odds & ends
DS: peanuts
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Posted: Feb 26th, 2008 at 06:56 am
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It's funny that I said above that I've been "walking around without an epi-pen". That is not entirely true. I do carry 2 epi-pens and liquid Benadryl in my purse for my daughter. I just never thought about needing them for myself! The doctor just switched her over to the regular epi-pen, too. I certainly want my own prescription, but in the meantime, I do have my daughter's epi-pens in an emergency. If I drop my daughter off at my parents' house for babysitting, I leave the medicine bag there, so at those times I do not have the epi-pen or Benadryl with me. On those occasions, I can grab an extra epi-pen from home and put that in my purse just in case. Thinking this through makes me realize that I don't need to get my own prescription immediately. I had forgotten that my daughter no longer has the epi-pen, jr. I just picked up the new regular epi-pens at the pharmacy last week.
We rarely go out to eat and fortunately I do not normally eat grilled or fried foods, anyway. I am a vegetarian and usually order some kind of pasta at restaurants. I never wanted to get veggie burgers or grilled vegetables at restaurants because I figured that they were grilling it with the meat and I didn't want my food to taste like meat. That is the least of my problems, now!
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Posted: Mar 22nd, 2008 at 08:48 pm
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Okay, I've considered myself allergic to shrimp for a few years now because I got hives on my fingers after touching it once. I've had stomach aches, vomiting etc, hours after eating a non-seafood dish in a Red Lobster or similar restaurant.
So yesterday I was at my mom's for dinner, Good Friday, so no meat....she served shrimp, salmon and rice. All I could have was salad and some lemon wedges, which was fine, but the whole time I was sitting in the kitchen my eyes were stinging and my nose was a little runny. This morning I woke up and the area above my lip was puffy (and I now have a lovely patch of blisters just in time for Easter). I've also been trying to shake a head/ear ache all day.
Could all that be from just being around shrimp without eating it? I don't know if I'm actually allergic so last night I assumed my eyes and nose were irritated from cutting up some green onion, but coupled with today I wonder if it might be something more than the onion. What do the experts think?
Also, on a side note, I've eaten salmon occasionally but not recently (both from a can and as a 'steak')...I can't remember if I ever connected it to stomach issues (so can't say for sure it isn't but can't say it is either), BUT after my last peanut reaction I opened a can of salmon and vomited just from smelling it. That could mean nothing independently because I was pretty nauseaus that week already.
Editing to add that cooking shrimp and cooking rice both smell TERRIBLE to me, but salmon smells yucky (like fishy) but not the same kind of awful.
« Last Edited by
Ciel
Mar 22nd, 2008 at 08:52 pm »
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Posted: Mar 24th, 2008 at 11:25 am
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I have the same issue with shrimp. But only since becoming allergic to it. It used to smell great-- briny and just, well....'seafood-ey.'
Fish still smells that way to me.... just 'fishy.' Which I understand not everyone enjoys... I grew up in a coastal state where ocean fish was a common diet staple, so I like it. But shrimp smells (now) like ten-day-old rotting garbage to me.  Or worse.
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"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." -Robert Louis Stevenson
USA
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Posted: Mar 24th, 2008 at 09:51 pm
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Jake just tested(at age 7...after testing negative beforehand) to a crustacian mix(not even sure what's in that). But I was afraid to have him try fish. I asked if they could again try tuna and the curstacian mix, both came back positive. He's never reacted because I've been to afraid to give it to him. He has had fish sticks though(what is that again??) with no problems(well, prior to removing all foods).
I was just always afraid to let him try it(shell fish or tuna), I am glad now that I didn't! |
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Posted: Mar 25th, 2008 at 05:15 pm
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"Words are our most inexhaustible source of magic. They are potent forms of enchantment, rich with the power to hurt or heal."~Albus Dumbledore
Me: shellfish, chamomile, sesame and a few odds & ends
DS: peanuts
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Posted: Jun 13th, 2008 at 08:51 am
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My son is allergic to both seafood and fish (with the exception of tuna). We avoid both and have to be extra careful when eating out because of xc. We are down to about 3 local restaurants he can eat at....very frustrating. I am surprised after reading the replies to this post at how many tuna allergies there are out there. Our allergist told us tuna should be fine for Garrett, and it has been, because very few people are allergic to it. Maybe it is just uncommon in his practice.
I am also concerned that several people commented that they have inhaled reactions. That is frightening to learn. I didn't realize that fish/seafood could be inhaled allergens like the peanuts. Sigh...seems like I never hear GOOD news about food allergies.
Out of all of Garrett's allergies, the fish and seafood have been the hardest for us to give up. We used to eat it once or twice a week. It really has been hard on our daughter who is no longer allowed to eat most of her favorite foods at our house. 
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Charity- mom to:
Lauren 11 seasonal/environmental, penicillin
Garrett 7 peanuts, tree nuts, fish, seafood, seasonal/environmental, eczema, and asthma
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