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If you aren't taking special care to avoid orange, you're probably ingesting small amounts all the time without even realizing it. Cross-contamination is a HUGE problem with any kind of juice or prepared fruit, truly. Restaurants often flavor water with citrus, and it's EVERYWHERE in bars. It's also present in things like marinades, sauces, salad dressings, baked goods, etc.
Honestly, it is possible that the symptoms were allergic in nature....
it seems just as probable (if not more-so, given how long this lasted) that you had some kind of virus that was giving you those symptoms.
The symptoms seem MORE likely to be illness-related than allergic-- they are pretty non-specific. Your stomach hurt, you were nasally congested and you had a headache, which improved with rest.
Lots of viruses with those exact symptoms running around this time of year, KWIM? The fact that the symptoms improved and came back on their own and with rest strikes me as more 'illness' than allergy. I know when I've got something allergic happening precisely because those things DO NOT help. ONLY antihistamines or other allergy-specific meds do.
If you aren't taking special care to avoid orange, you're probably ingesting small amounts all the time without even realizing it. Cross-contamination is a HUGE problem with any kind of juice or prepared fruit, truly. Restaurants often flavor water with citrus, and it's EVERYWHERE in bars. It's also present in things like marinades, sauces, salad dressings, baked goods, etc.
How certain are you that you are NOT allergic to mango? That one is actually slightly more common as allergens go.
If your doctor feels that you "might" be allergic, then s/he needs to clarify whether or not it is okay for you to eat this food. If there is some question about whether or not it is okay for you to eat the food, then s/he needs to arrange for you to have an in office food challenge to find out the answer.
Were you diagnosed by an allergist?
If you aren't taking special care to avoid orange, you're probably ingesting small amounts all the time without even realizing it. Cross-contamination is a HUGE problem with any kind of juice or prepared fruit, truly. Restaurants often flavor water with citrus, and it's EVERYWHERE in bars. It's also present in things like marinades, sauces, salad dressings, baked goods, etc.
Agreed - I was avoiding orange for a while, and it was very difficult - it is in tons of places that you wouldn't expect, like CM said, so you're probably eating more orange than you think.
I would lean towards a virus, or maybe acid reflux? I know that when my reflux acts up, I can end up getting really congested and mucousy as well.
It was really surprising. When I had the skin test I tested positive for oranges. I never remembered getting hives or anything from oranges before. The nurse told me that if I had't had any reactions I could still eat them even if the test showed positive.
I was diagnosed with several allergies by an allergist. My allergist didn't say that I might have an allergy to oranges. She said that I am allergic to them. The skin test that she gave me was positive for an allergy to oranges as well as a few other foods and some environmental allergies.
Keep in mind that I'm not saying that you are not allergic, because: 1) I'm not a medical professional, just another person with a lot of experience with allergies and atopic conditions in general, and b) if you do really have an allergy, then what you did (knowingly eating something cross-contaminated) was potentially pretty DANGEROUS...QuoteIt was really surprising. When I had the skin test I tested positive for oranges. I never remembered getting hives or anything from oranges before. The nurse told me that if I had't had any reactions I could still eat them even if the test showed positive.
This is not the same thing as being diagnosed with a food allergy. If this is the kind of guidance you got from your allergist and/or his/her staffers, this is NOT good care with respect to food allergy. The reason is that it isn't clear whether or not you had history to support being skin tested in the first place-- er, or maybe it is, actually, since you said that the result was astonishing. That indicates that this is probably something that shouldn't have been tested to begin with. The reason? Skin testing is NOTORIOUS for producing false positive results. At least 50% of positive SPTs for foods are false positives, in the absense of reaction history to support a diagnosis.QuoteI was diagnosed with several allergies by an allergist. My allergist didn't say that I might have an allergy to oranges. She said that I am allergic to them. The skin test that she gave me was positive for an allergy to oranges as well as a few other foods and some environmental allergies.
Sn+Sn, I promise I'm not picking on YOU-- though I might be picking on your doc a bit...
This really doesn't sound valid as a means of diagnosing you with food allergies. Had you-- ever-- had more specific food allergy symptoms prior to testing? Is your allergist someone who specializes in environmental allergies, by any chance? Lots of those people will make diagnoses of food allergy on the basis of positive test results alone, most never realizing that they aren't following best practices for food allergy in particular.
Orange is an odd food allergy, also. Not very many people are truly allergic to oranges. I am and have been since I was about five years old. I can count on one hand the other people I've known with orange allergy, and that's after over a decade being a FA advocate for my duaghter with MLTFA.
Might be time to ask some questions of your doc. Living with a food allergy you DO have is hard enough-- living with one you do NOT have is just unecessary and cruel of your medical practitioners. "Avoidance" is a very different ballgame when you do it because of suspected intolerance or aversion than when you do it because a trace of the food might kill you.
I'm glad you are feeling better!
I know it seems like she is attacking you, she is not though. I want to work through a few of my thoughts and I hope it doesn't come in a attacking sense - we really do want to help.
Add my son to the list of people falsely diagnosed based on testing alone - SPT and RAST. If it was up to two previous allergists we would still be avoiding corn, rice, oats, milk, soy, peanuts and tree nuts. All foods he was eating with no issues. The reality is that his only allergies are to wheat, rye, barley and egg. It took nearly 5 years for us to finally found an allergist who understood food allergies and the importance of in office food challenges.
Keep in mind that all allergists are not created equally. Yes your allergist deals with asthma and that is awesome. But are they specialized in asthma because they see it in patients who have environmental allergies? The understanding of food allergies in the last ten years has changed dramatically, even the testing protocol has changed. Allergists should not be doing blanket testing without strong clues to indicate specific foods. So many environmental allergists are parading as allergists who have a clue about food allergies without proper knowledge. Blanket testing is easy for allergists to do but hard on the person has to avoid all of those foods, especially if they are false positives.
So you are wondering if orange could cause the symptoms you experienced. One of the things you may need to do is to have an in office food challenge to see if oranges are truly an allergen for you. I am making the assumption that smoothie was made commercially? Do you get those on occassion? The reason I ask is because the likelihood of cross contamination is likely. Was it in the mall where perfumes are in higher concentration? Headaches lean more toward environmental and not food reactions. Runny noses can go either way.
Believe me when I say that I know how hard it is to figure out mystery reactions. I am going through that right now with my other son whose lips swelled while eating a dinner we normally have to fight to get him to eat, post steroids (where he was having odd reactions such as all over body itching with no hives and purple patches on his face) and while on Amox. Not sure we will ever have a clear answer because there is also a chance it could have been viral.
I'm sorry you're feeling attacked. :-[ I know CM is trying to help answer your question while also keeping in mind the many other people (especially those who are new to food allergies) who read and take advice here without ever posting. It's important that we (as a board and the allergic community) emphasize current best practices in food allergy diagnosis/treatment/management, the accuracy (or not) of testing, and which types of reactions are likely to NOT be IgE mediated immune responses.
Now, as to your question - does your reaction sound typical of reactions experienced by those with orange allergy? Probably not. There aren't allergic reaction symptoms specific to a certain food. You can't say people who are allergic to milk tend to get hives and vomit or people allergic to peanuts tend to wheeze and get swollen lips. Any food allergy can cause any number or combination of symptoms. The symptoms are not food specific or even the same each time a person reacts.
Could you be having an adverse reaction to the orange? Maybe. But your symptoms, if caused by the orange, would more likely be due to some type of intolerance rather than a true allergy. For one, your symptoms aren't typical for those of an IgE mediated allergic response. Also, if others experience the same symptoms to the food, that would tend to be more typical of an intolerance (ie lactose intolerance causes gas and bloating).
Regardless of intolerance or true allergy, I'd think your reaction was more likely to be caused by the orange if the stomach burning hadn't lasted so long. I would think that once it was out of your system that symptom would have gone away.
I hope your stomach is feeling better soon!
Another thought, you mention you're allergic to pistachio. Since mango is closely related to pistachio (and cashew), often people are allergic to both. It may be that you can usually tolerate mango, but if you have other stuff going on with your immune system you might not tolerate it then. I wonder if that could have been a contributing factor to your reaction? Also, have you considered that the stuffiness and stomach pain could be unrelated? Stuffiness from a reaction to the smoothie and stomach something else - virus, indigestion, gall bladder, etc. Maybe whatever was causing the stomach pain left you vulnerable to a reaction to the mango that you normally would not have?
Just a thought. Any non-organic, pasterized orange juice puts my body in distress every time, but since I started buying organic oranges and squeezing them myself, no issues whas so ever... Have you tried this? Also, in many smoothies they put yogurts. I can't have any dairy, even in your form. I know the real ingredients for an Orange Julius includes processed orange juice, whole milk powder and egg whites, none of which are organic.
Ten years ago I started having problems with allergies I'd never had before. Environmental and food allergies. It was really surprising. When I had the skin test I tested positive for oranges. I never remembered getting hives or anything from oranges before. The nurse told me that if I had't had any reactions I could still eat them even if the test showed positive. I didn't do that. I stayed away from oranges. Period.
About a week ago I was out and got a mango smoothie. It had an orange slice on the cup and it had a straw. I figured no big deal I just wouldn't eat the orange. As I drank the smoothie I became aware that the whipped cream on top tasted very much like a dreamsicle with orange and cream. I drank 80% of the smoothie. My stomach started to burn. I was uncomfortable and had to stop drinking it. Within I'd say an hour or two my nose became very congested. I didn't make any connections. I got a splitting headache and I noticed much of it was sinus.
I went to bed with the headache and when I woke up it was 80% gone. As the day wore on it started to hurt more again. I noticed that the burning sensation in my stomach kept bothering me off and on for days. Today my stomach has been burning again. I started thinking when did my stomach first start burning anyway? And then I remembered. I thought about the orange slice and taste in my drink a week ago. I got curious about the reactions for an allergy to oranges so, I looked up the symptoms. The first site I found listed stomach pain, congestion and headache. Among other things like hives as well. I don't have any hives. So, it would appear that for the past week I've been having an allergic reaction to oranges? My question is this.. does anyone else have this allergy and if so, how long does the reaction usually last? Any input would be appreciated :).