I have a pork intolerance meaning I'll get stomach aches, headaches and will feel like throwing up and be sick for days but I won't get any rashes or an actual allergic reaction. I do say I have an allergy, sorry if that upsets people but it's the only way I'm actually taken even the slightest bit seriously. I'll tell you though it never actually works.

The problem is I tell people over and over that I can't eat pork, it makes me sick, they then ask me if I can eat bacon/ham or use a different word for pig meat. I'll be out for events where we get served breakfast, they'll be cooking up bacon and ask me if I want some. I'll tell them 'no, I'm allergic' (sorry again people who actually are) and they'll say 'what about ham?' and the only thing I can think is 'ARE YOU ACTUALLY STUPID!?'

It frustrates me so much cause stuff like this has happened on multiple occasions. I switched to saying that I'm allergic to and can't eat pig and people still say 'what about pork?' it is incredibly infuriating.

I can't imagine how frustrating it is for people with actual allergies that put you in much worse situations to me especially those that have life threatening allergies. It's not even comprehensible that I cannot have one animal in anyway type of way, it must be terrible for those who have broader allergies like shellfish, tree nuts, dairy and gluten.

Hi everyone,

Curious about your thoughts on TIP vs OIT.

My almost 3 year old son is allergic to wheat but he can tolerate amounts up to a certain amount for items like bread and pancakes. We have been giving him either of these daily for the last year and his tolerance seems to have increased since then. So I’m curious on whether I should continue this process or look into TIP or OIT.

TIP seems to market themselves on full food freedom and that is an attractive point. But it does look like it’d take at least 2.5 years, lots of labs/bloodwork and some appts. I’m not sure how the dosing works but I’m curious if daily medicines are required. If they’re giving you proteins from other foods to condition your body rather than your actual allergen in the beginning, then wouldn’t that decrease your risk and need for medicines?

OIT - once you reach the maintenance dose, what do you do next for full food freedom? Has anyone achieved food freedom from this and how long did it take? I’m wondering how OIT compares from an appt standpoint since it seems like OIT would require more appts (every 2 weeks from when I talked to an allergist). Is the risk higher than TIP since you start off with the actual allergen?

And if anyone has advice on how they got their toddler through either of these I’m also really open to it! Mine has boundless energy and will probably throw a tantrum within 5 min of arriving at whatever place we choose. I’m nervous about the bloodwork process and keeping him occupied for monitoring 😅

I think my hives are probably idiopathic, so I'm working with my doc to figure it out but want to be sure. I do eat a lot of the same things each day, but I'm assuming even so, a food allergy rash would come on pretty quickly and go down before the next morning? But correct me if I'm wrong. Thank!

Husband bought me some Annie's quick man-n-cheese. Did not list soy as an ingredient. I had a reaction. Didn't need my epi-pen but it wasn't pleasant.

Poor guy, this time he went through the entire aisle of mac-n-cheese to see what I can have and what caused the problem. Pea protein. Annie's has pea protein. Just to warn those who have issues with pea protein. I don't know if it's listed as pea protein on the box or not. He didn't buy them since I can't eat them.

I can handle Kraft basic mac-n-cheese ok. I have dairy issues, but let's face it, Kraft doesn't use much real milk in their basic mac-n-cheese anyway. I just don't eat much.

Allergies are terrible things.

I often see people describing their throat pain as closing up, throat tightness, itchiness, soreness, aching, etc .. but what I experience is sharp stabbing throat pain, like a raw nagging consistent sharp stabbing pain that lasts for 5 or 6 hours after eating

foods they react to.

My symptom timeline generally goes as follows...

5 to 30 minutes after eating offending item... Hives, swollen lips, throat partially closes and feels tight, itchiness, dull pain..., hoarseness of breath, eyes swollen and blurred unfocused vision.

30 minutes to 2 hours after eating offending item... Joint pain, extreme tiredness, excessive hunger, keep getting blood sugar drops and dizziness, urinary symptoms (bladder urgency, bladder swelling and stabbing pain, and whenever I try to go, inability to urinate).

2 hours after eating offending item...after other symptoms have worn off, I'm left with sharp stabbing pains in throat (alongside bloating, gas, GI symptoms).

I guess what I'm wondering is... is the sharp stabbing pain in throat common? Are the urinary issues common also? Does anyone else experience this?

(Please note I have also posted this in histamine reddit also. My health is complex and I have multiple confusing conflicting conditions, I can never be sure which symptoms are tied to which 🙄).

I've talked to someone who told me he was lethargic most of his life. One day he decided to test for food allergies and eggs came back positive. Since he ditched his morning omelette, he has a lot more energy and feels 10x better. Thing is, that dude didn't have physical symptoms besides lethargy 😐

I get so frustrated with how people seem to not take allergies seriously.
I strongly prefer to prepare my own food as I have a severe tree nut allergy. Unless it is something I am very comfortable eating, I do not eat food made by anyone except a select few people who I know take it seriously and check labels. I think this is quite reasonably seeing as how I can die from a simple cooking mistake.
I’m at a cookout and had this exchange. Mind you she put me on the spot in front of several other guests.
“I made some pasta salad, would you like some?”
“No thank you, I have food allergies.”
“Oh! What kind of allergies?”
“Tree nuts”
“Well there are no nuts in this! Have some”
“No thank you”
“Seriously there are no nuts! Why would there be nuts in a pasta salad?”
“I am not hungry- maybe later! Thanks!”

Oh by the way, it’s a vegan pasta salad so the cheese in it is VEGAN! Aka, made with cashews! Great! No one bothered to check the label.
This isn’t the first time I have been pestered to try something and made out to be dramatic because “why would there be nuts in that dish?”
I know my allergies best obviously and I am very aware of the types of food where tree nuts are hidden. Please just stop pushing it! If I say no, drop it.
Anyway, figured yall could relate. Rant over

My 5 year old is anaphylactic to peanuts and tree nuts. We’ve had to use his Epi-pen once ourselves, and had it administered in the ER two times. Needless to say, it makes me terrified if he reacts with even an itch or says his throat hurts after he eats something.

We’ve had a couple of close calls that I believe was due to cross contamination caused him to have hives or an itchy throat, but it went away with an antihistamine.

Every time I suspect there might be a reaction, I’m very hyper vigilant and probably what my husband perceives as panicky. And I don’t want that to scare my child. I tell him he is safe and we are monitoring him and have medicine that can help him — but I’m pretty sure I have a panicked look on my face. It just makes me so sad because he has had a panicked look at a birthday party once after biting a cake and saying he thinks it has nuts (it didn’t). I’m glad he’s aware of asking but I also want don’t know want him to be unnecessarily worried.

Any support or advice for me to support my child, in what can be a very scary situation for all of us? Wondering if there is any sort of therapy for me as a parent. Thanks in advance.

Hello all! I have recently discovered, that MOD Pizza, is super willing to accommodate allergies! They switched everything , gloves, cutters, workbench, containers, everything! To make sure there was no cross contamination. I highly recommend!!

I hate how movies and TV shows use allergies as joke. No one that has allergies will voluntarily eat something that will kill them. But recently I've seen it on 1 movie and 1 show. It's nit funny. It's scary and serious. This completely undermines the the serious life threatening problem many people have.

Hi, I'm diagnosed with a barley allergy that I never took seriously because the reactions would always be so minor, but over the last year there's been a huge change in that, to the point I feel nervous that I don't have a backup plan when I'm out.

It used to only be an itchy mouth and face.

Now it's migrated down my throat and chest; I get nauseous and lightheaded too, with coughing. I'm affected by trace amounts, such as the (HEAVILY ANNOYING) malted barley added to all baked goods to man.

I got this allergy diagnosis in high school, and I'm in college now. I would appreciate some education, life tips, or hacks.

Hello! I'm hoping to get some advice (or just some encouragement). We're due to travel to Greece and Italy from Australia with our 3 year old and 1 year old. Our 1 year old has confirmed IgE mediated allergies to cashew (and therefore has to exclude pistachio), dairy and sesame. He also has FPIES to egg. We're flying on Etihad and they can't confirm meals won't be cross contaminated so I'm going to have to pack (a lot) of food! He's breastfed so I'm not worried about snacks (I'll bf him) or the flight out really because I've made some food which I have frozen and will slowly defrost on the billion hour flight out to Greece. What I'm worried about is the flight back home - we'll be in a hotel in Italy so I won't be able to make food for him to take on the plane in the same way. Has anyone else done this? Any tips to share? I've made allergy cards in various languages and prewarned the hotels so they know. Thank you!!!!

Bit of a rant post but I’m honestly just done, I have a nut allergy. Cashews and Pistachios, and only those can be lethal to me, so it should be easy to manage right? Nope, due to social media crazes it’s practically impossible to avoid them now and I just found out that last safe place to even eat a simple beef burger isn’t safe anymore.

Here in Australia we only have three common places that I’m aware of. McDonald’s I can’t eat at due to their new website disclaimers saying that cashews and pistachio traces are present in stores, there’s a few Five Guys scattered around and that’s pretty self explanatory considering I have a less severe but still present peanut allergy, and then hungry jacks, which as of this week has added a pistachio desert to their menu. Eating out at proper restaurants isn’t an option anymore either as I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t just blanket say they have traces of tree nuts on everything. I’m sure there’s some small locations scattered around which are safe but I wouldn’t even know how to find them.

So yeah, due to a nut allergy, I’ve lost my ability to simply just eat a cheap and easy burger without putting my life at risk, allergen awareness and care in general is honestly so pathetic in this country and it’s just incredibly depressing that such a simple allergy to avoid is becoming more and more of an impossibility by the day…

I bought bread today. Not a fun time. I’ll spare you the details. Has anyone found safe bread options? No sesame seeds, nuts or any other seeds cross contaminated. I really do love bread but the reaction is not worth a slice of toast.

U.S.A. based question.

My 2.5 year old is doing a hazelnut challenge this week. The peanut challenge went awful, she wouldnt eat the peanut butter. Im nervous she’s also not going to eat the hazelnut flour. They said to bring something to mix it with so i think we’re going to try yogurt. Does anyone have any recommendations for getting a child to eat the food during a food challenge? TIA

What kind of treats are you sending your school age kiddo with? Trying to find something for those days someone get’s birthday treats and my child needs something on hand she can eat. The teacher wants to also have somethings on hand in case she doesn’t get a 24 hour notice. Any advice?

Hello, I've had severe peanut and treenut allergies my whole life and have gone into anaphylactic shock (1st time I ate something with nuts in it, and the 2nd was cross-contamination at a Dairy Queen). Since the 2nd occurrence, my anxiety has been through the roof, and it is very difficult to find things to eat...

It feels like every company now has a peanut butter or other nut flavoring for a product I love, which then feels like the whole product line is contaminated. I have never reacted to these foods before, but since my deep dive into the products and manufacturing for a company, nothing feels safe to eat. For example, I have always loved Hersheys milk chocolate and m&ms. I have never reacted to them, but now I am hyper-aware (mostly just older and smarter than before) of the risks with their manufacturing.

How do you all manage this? Is it possible to eat products only from brands that are completely nut-free? And then what about what the employees do/transportation/all other places where cross-contamination COULD occur? Part of me feels like this is not how I want to live my life in fear of small chances of cross-contamination. Would it be smart to live more freely when in proximity to medical services and only fully restrict myself when I would be far away from help? Because I haven't had a reaction to any packaged/processed foods, could I still eat them? I was eating whatever definitely didn't contain my allergens before, but now I feel scared to eat any of those things because of cross-contamination and "may contain" labels.

what the title says. somebody asked this last year to no avail but i bought them for my persistent nausea and wanted to see if i could get an answer. i’m very wary of all “made in a facility” tags and this one is made in a facility that processes peanuts. as far as i know my allergy isn’t incredibly serious, but i’ve only had a reaction once, and i cannot remember it. just wanted to see if i could get a response before i tried them out, thanks :,)

Has anyone experienced increased food allergy reactions after starting Dupixent for eczema? My son had anaphylactic reactions to his OIT maintenance dose after beginning Dupixent. All severe reactions occurred 4-6 days after the Dupixent injection. He was in maintenance for dairy OIT and tolerating a significant amount. We had to stop the OIT. Both the doctor and everything I’ve read suggest that Dupixent should improve overall desensitization, so we are quite confused.

A while ago my husband had to drop Coke Zero because he realized he was reacting to it poorly (and had been for years, but his allergy isn't life-threatening so he didn't realize).

We've come to find out that Stevia is NOT labeled on their cherry version, so we're wondering if anybody has had a reaction to Stevia despite it not being on the label? Thanks.

Hello! My fiancé was recently diagnosed with not only type 1 diabetes, but also Pollen Food Allergy Syndrome (PFAS), which means that he is allergic to certain pollens that are in uncooked fruits and vegetables. Because of this, all of his fruits and vegetables have to be cooked, unless they are more acidic than a tomato. To top it all off, he also has a sever peanut allergy. With all of these allergies, it is hard to find meals that he can eat, and we cannot afford a dietitian right now. So I reach out to all of you for help. If you have any, please share some recipes that fit these guidelines, thanks!!! (PS: I hope I used the right flair!)

I’m allergic to all nuts but I’m wondering if I’d be able to have coffee syrups if they do not use actual nuts. I’m not sure if I’d be able to have it if it used extract though. Idk what are your experiences?

Hi everyone! So my husband and I got married back in June and were talking about planning a honeymoon around our anniversary. I have a lot of travel anxiety and a big part of that is related to my dairy allergy. Especially lately, I’ll go out to eat and let the staff know about my allergy (and I always make sure to say that includes butter and milk because for some reason people don’t fully get it until I explain it) and still I end up having an allergic reaction. The thought of being sick away from home is terrifying. It took me 4 days to recover from my last allergic reaction. We’re open to anywhere in the United States, Canada or Europe. Did anyone feel like they had a particularly good experience on a big vacation when it came to their allergies? I’d love to do a road trip down the pacific coast highway, visit Iceland or Portugal. I’m just hesitant to start planning more seriously because I’m anxious about my allergy. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!