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Hi
I spent most of Sunday at the Allergy and Free From show and picked up some tips that I found interesting so I thought I'd share.

There have been huge improvements in the understanding of allergies over the last few years, which is just as well as there's been a huge increase in the number of people with allergies over the same period. Sadly it doesn't mean that doctors are any better at diagnosing them.

It's important to understand whether your symptoms are an allergy or an intolerance as the guidance is different. If you have an allergy you shouldn't necessarily cut the item out completely as that could lead to much more severe symptoms if you do encounter the allergen accidentally. Your allergy consultant should help you identify a safe level of exposure.

Allergies are almost always to a protein, even in the case of, say, a nickel allergy, the symptoms are caused by the nickel reacting with chemicals in the body to form a protein.

Proteins change their form with heat, think about how meat changes when cooked. This is why you can have different symptoms if the allergen has been cooked. This is particularly common with eggs, where sufferers often get symptoms from a lightly cooked egg, such as boiled or fried but not to cakes etc where the eggs have been cooked for a lot longer.

If you think you might have an allergy or an intolerance there are some great charities such as Allergy UK, Coeliac UK, The Anaphylaxis Campaign who can help with diagnosis and obtaining treatment.

I do hope this helps someone.

Thanks
Zoe

Thomzo wrote:If you have an allergy you shouldn't necessarily cut the item out completely as that could lead to much more severe symptoms if you do encounter the allergen accidentally. Your allergy consultant should help you identify a safe level of exposure.

Definitely check with a Dr before practicing this. Allergies can (at their most extreme) cause anaphylaxis and possible death. Also some mild allergies can get progressively worse with regular exposure.

My middle and youngest daughter's suffer terribly with allergies mostly sneezing but middle has skin reactions too, found she was allergic to a particular moisturiser the hard way bless her, trip to a and e steroids and 4 days of anaphylaxis swelling to deal with on her face, she was ok but please be very careful with allergies xx

Thanks Zoe, this is really interesting. I am in a fat loss group (all clean eating and that guff) and one of the aspects of the diet is cutting out cows milk dairy. More than a few people have reported after cutting it out for six months, that if they accidently drink a cup of tea or something, they feel terrible for a day. I guess this is because they have not been exposed to it for so long.

On a separate note, my friend has just gone back to work after a week off because she was allergic to her false eyelashes. She couldn't see for 3 days. Ouch!!

bonniethomas06 wrote:Thanks Zoe, this is really interesting. I am in a fat loss group (all clean eating and that guff) and one of the aspects of the diet is cutting out cows milk dairy. More than a few people have reported after cutting it out for six months, that if they accidently drink a cup of tea or something, they feel terrible for a day. I guess this is because they have not been exposed to it for so long.

I've more or less avoided drinking milk in anything for 3 or 4 years (stopped buying it at uni, now coffee tastes horribly sweet with it in) but I have no ill effects from having it in. But then we are all different