Food Allergy?

[Denise Nicole]

Made a Nut Pizza this eve and didn't like it much myself although tolerable. The kids didn't either. My main concern is my toungue began to swell up and hurt after the second bite! I served the pizza with a side of sliced mangos which was a variety I hadn't tried before. I have never had a food allergy before but have to assume there was a problem.

Now the question is which ingredient!!!! Being as tenatious as I can be, after the swelling got a little better I ate more of the pizza, not the mango, and my toungue swelled again and my gums began to hurt. Sooo...I think it was one of those. Not life threatening (although I didn't eat the whole slice) but very uncomfortable and it still hurts now.

I'm thinking food allergy but I have had all the ingredients before at one time or another. I am thinking maybe the Tahini which is used in the "cheese". I have had tahini in the form of a dressing or sauce but not as much at one time. Could that be it?

[rawfigure]

some nuts will do this too me ..walnuts and pecans to a lesser degree..which recipe did you use ?

[Denise Nicole]

Storm & Jinjees
The nuts were almonds plus olive oil for the crust and tahini, garlic, lemons, limes, and sea salt for the "cheese". I topped it with portabella, red onions, green peppers, tomatoes, & brocolli.

I have eaten raw almonds before without a problem. This is really strange to me. Maybe it was the mango? I could always try to eat more to see, but then why would it re-occur when I tried to eat the pizza again. hmmmmm.... :confused:

[Rawmominaz]

Food allergies can sometimes strike harder with each consumption of the offending food. A swollen tongue is a pretty strong reaction. I would wait a few days before trying the suspicious food again to get it out of your system - it wouldn't hurt to have some benedryl on hand :)

[juliebove]

I had this problem when taking the herb Pau D'Arco. The first time, the reaction was very mild. After that, it got worse each time I took it. And I was foolish enough to take it several more times.

A food allergy can just come out of nowhere. And as another poster said, it can get worse with time. Also, if it is a food that you eat on a regular basis, you might not even notice the reaction until you totally stop the food. And the reaction may not be immediate. In my case, I have allergies to dairy, eggs and almonds.

I had figured out a problem with the eggs myself. I'd get a violent reaction about 16 hours after eating them. Then I'd feel better. Then if I ate an egg again the next day, I'd be violently ill 30 minutes later. So here I am at age 46 and just now noticing this reaction. Why didn't I notice it before? Could be because I was consuming eggs in some form on a regular basis. Eggs are in a lot of things you might not think about. Like bread and pasta.

Last June, my daughter was diagnosed with food allergies and more recently, my mom was diagnosed. So I began to bring only those foods into the house that I knew were safe for my daughter. I even went so far as to throw out or give away those things she couldn't eat. But as time went on, I learned to organize the kitchen and segregate her food. I still don't bring much in that she can't have, but my husband was wanting eggs. I bought some egg salad. That's what caused my first reaction. I had probably not had eggs in any form for several months. So they all got out of my system and then *wham* I got a huge dose of them in eating 1/2 of an egg salad sandwich!

Another thing that should have tipped me off but didn't was that the two times when I got a flu shot, I got very ill. I would have rather had the flu than go through what I went through. My Drs. couldn't figure out why I got so ill. Well, now I know!

Another problem I'd had since I having my daughter was a hugely bloated out stomach. I felt very fat, but it was all stomach. Arms and legs are normal size. My chest is slightly larger than average but that runs in the family. The stomach though was very much a bother. I had taken on a pregnant shape and it wouldn't go away. And it felt hard to the touch. I thought I had just gotten fat, even though I weighed the same as I did before I was pregnant.

So after my mom was diagnosed with food allergies, I decided to have myself tested. I had the RAST test. This is a blood test and for a person like myself with multiple food allergies, I think a far better test than the elimination diet. Plus the results are much quicker. Turns out I am severely allergic to eggs, and also have an allergy to dairy and almonds.

I gave up all dairy and also almonds and have lost 15 pounds in about 2 months. My stomach no longer looks and feels bloated. And I've really noticed a difference in my bathroom habits. Used to be I had to dash into the bathroom almost every time I ate. I just thought this was normal for me. Apparently not! It was the dairy making me sick to my stomach.

I don't know what effect almonds were having on me. These are not something I was eating every day. I tend to eat more pecans and walnuts than I do almonds. Now oddly, I did not test as allergic to either of these nuts, but I do get a tongue reaction from them sometimes. Not really a swelling but more like canker sores. My brother has the same problem. It tends to be more common if we are eating freshly shelled nuts than from eating packaged nuts. Not sure why that is. I used to have the same reaction to potato chips as a child. For that reason, I gave them up.

I recently had bad canker sores after going to the dentist. They had to take some pictures in my mouth and they did some kind of damage when they put the camera in there. I was reading about canker sores online and it said to avoid rough foods when you had them, like potato chips. So perhaps my reaction is coming about when a canker sore is newly forming? Perhaps I am not aware that the sore is there and the eating of a rough food like a nut or chip is making me notice the pain. Just a thought.

So in your case, it could be an allergy, or perhaps your tongue is being irritated by a rough food? Hard to say. But I would advise getting an allergy test done just to make sure. You never know. There might be other foods you are allergic to that you aren't noticing a reaction to. My daughter had a severe allergy to bananas. They used to be a favorite food and she ate them almost every day. She used to have all sorts of medical problems that we didn't know were caused by food allergies. Now she says she feels so good since she is no longer eating the allergens.

[dreamrawalwz]

That is an anaphalaxic reaction (not shock), but it could get worse each time. If you don't want toget the test like the RAST test I suggest you eliminate nuts and seeds [tahini] (top allergens that are on that pizza) for a few days and then add just a few nuts one day. Let your system clean out and then try the seeds. I don't have food allergies, but MANY many sensativities, but do have anaphalaxic reactions to nuts and seeds. Be careful by doing this though!

[juliebove]

Another thing I just thought of is cross contamination. In the case of nuts or tahini, they could be processed in a plant that processes other nuts or even other foods such as milk or wheat. If you have a severe allergy, all it takes is one tiny speck of the offending food. I always check labels on any processed foods I buy. Yesterday, my daughter was begging for a raw brownie she found at the health food store. There was nothing listed in the ingredients that she was allergic to, but the label said the bar is processed in a plant that also processes wheat, eggs, dairy, and assorted nuts. All things she is allergic to. So no bar for her. I've seen one website online that does nothing but cashews and they guarantee no cross contamination. But I haven't seen this for other nuts. Bulk foods can also be a problem. If a scoop is used, the scoop could be put in one kind of nuts, then another. Even if the nuts come down a chute, you have no way of knowing what was in the chute prior to what is there now and how well it was cleaned.