Talking Allergies

Well.........I don't know where to start. Last night I ate some crab (which I've never had an issue with before) and my throat and chest felt tight and I started coughing up blood. I got rushed to the ER where they treated me as an allergy and told me it was most likely to the shellfish and to follow up with an allergist.

I guess I'm just looking for advice? Experience? I'm kinda new to this whole thing

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Anaphylactic to all seafood

Seasonal allergies and allergies to perfume

Yikes!! That must have been extremely scary. Yes, it is possible to develop allergies later in life. It's called adult onset allergies.

Try to make a detailed list of all the foods you ate and anything you drank that evening. Your allergist will take a detailed history and try to determine the possible allergies. Shellfish is considered a priority allergen. That means that it is one of the most common allergens. This is probably why they suspect it.

If you want to read more about shellfish allergies:
http://allergicliving.com/index.php/cat ... allergy-2/
and
http://allergicliving.com/index.php/201 ... allergies/

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Hi CrazyChick,

Hope you're feeling more yourself. Sounds like an anaphylactic reaction with the breathing trouble and tightness, though the blood part's not that common. Glad they took swift care of you in ER. I'd definitely get an appt. with an allergist to review the symptoms.

One question though: did anyone else get sick from the crab? If yes, might have been food poisoning. If not, allergy does become pretty suspect.

I went through the same thing myself - adult onset shellfish allergy (in my case to shrimp, which I'd often eaten no problem).

You'll need to become aware of what foods "might contain" shellfish and, if it is allergy, to get an epinephrine auto-injector. They should have given you a prescription for one if the ER docs suspected food allergy.

It's a bit of an adjustment to suddenly get an allergy as an adult, so take it slow and don't try to learn everything about allergy right away. But this article in the section Susan mentions is a good one to get you started with "Managing Seafood Allergy": http://allergicliving.com/index.php/201 ... allergies/

Glad you found us, we're happy to try to help you along the way. Feel better!

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

Nobody else ate the crab that night but once they treated me as an allergy I started feeling like me again. They explained the blood as a broken blood vessel (thankfully minor) from the forced coughing and gasping.

Yes I will be following up with an allergist to see what happens. Glad I found this forum!

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Anaphylactic to all seafood

Seasonal allergies and allergies to perfume

We are too!

Ah, the blood vessel makes sense. Scary, though.

Here's to you feeling better.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

thank you so much!

I follow up with an allergist next week

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Anaphylactic to all seafood

Seasonal allergies and allergies to perfume