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Author Topic: Reaction to eggs being cooked? Can't tell if it's psychosomatic or real.  (Read 4463 times)

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Offline Joshjosh

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So I just backed out of a friends birthday party because I knew they cooked food there. And the food they cook has eggs in them. It started one day when my dad cooked some eggs for breakfast. I was all the way upstairs in my room with the door closed but it got me. Can the proteins even travel that far like that?

Starts out with chest pain. Then gets concested and heavy feeling. I've tried an asthma inhaler once and it actually made it worse. So its not asthma. If I take benadryl it always seems to pass. The longer I'm in the smell the worse the breathing.

My dad still tries to cook eggs secretly and it pisses me off. All of a sudden I can't breathe and come downstairs and he cooked eggs again... If its just anxiety I don't want to burden everyone by having them not cook eggs. I'd also like to hang out with friends and go to public places again.

Offline PurpleCat

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You are not imagining it!

Before we knew my DD was allergic to eggs, we found it funny how on Sunday mornings she never, EVER, ever wanted to be in the kitchen...cried and carried on until we moved her.  As soon as she could walk, she would independently go up to her bedroom and close the door on Sunday mornings.

I never made the connection until her allergy testing and our journey began.

Yes, protein does get in the air when eggs are cooked.  My little bugger knew she was in danger but was too young to tell us.  She to this day can not sit in a restaurant that cooks egg meals.  fortunately for us, before she started school, there was a boy 3 years older who had severe reactions to the protein in the air and eggs were removed from the school district menus.  They still are not cooked in our schools.  Our schools do cook with egg as an ingredient in food but that is not the same as frying an egg and releasing the protein into the air.

Sometime around Middle School, she passed a baked egg food challenge and so I started baking with eggs and putting them in meatloaf, etc... and she was fine. 

6 months later, she passed an open egg challenge.  3 months after that, she had an egg reaction and was allergic again.  (I don't think she ever was truly not allergic)

Fast forward to now, and she is 16.  She eats and tolerates baked egg and me cooking with eggs.  We do not cook actual eggs unless she is not home and then I air the house out no matter what the temp is outside.  When she comes home she is fine.

She is the same about peanuts.  She can not be in the grocery store near the aisle where a peanut crushing machine that makes peanut butter is.  Airborne peanut protein.

As for restaurants, we avoid restaurants that serve breakfast.  DD does just fine in any other restaurants...

with one non-egg exception we learned once in NYC.  A real Italian restaurant will send her outside in a matter of minutes with difficultly breathing and chest pain.  Fresh air and her inhaler help her recover.  And about a year later we found out why.  She is allergic to garlic.

I hope this helps and I hope you can find a way to teach your Dad about the reality of your limitations.

Can you tolerate being in the house if someone bakes a cake or brownies?  There is a chemical reaction when the egg protein mixes with wheat protein and the egg protein is altered, which is why my DD can eat baked egg now.

I hope this makes sense, I am on my phone and the screen is small for this.

If you don't know, perhaps your Dad will help you find out by making something with eggs as an ingredient.