I recently made the acquaintance of someone with an allergy to tomatoes,
stawberries and plums (among others).

She doesn't have an internet connection so I am seeking advice and
information on her behalf. I have Googled but although hundreds of links
came up I couldn't find much specific advice. If anyone knows of helpful
websites I would be very grateful.

From my brief conversation with her she appears to avoid certain foods,
especially fruit, "just in case." So I am wondering whether it is possible
to undergo tests that would produce a definitive yes/no checklist of
specific foods.

She is based in the UK, where it would appear that diagnosis & treatment is
not as advanced as, for example, in the US.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Stuart Reed

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Stuart Reed wrote:
> I recently made the acquaintance of someone with an allergy to tomatoes,
> stawberries and plums (among others).
>
> She doesn't have an internet connection so I am seeking advice and
> information on her behalf. I have Googled but although hundreds of links
> came up I couldn't find much specific advice. If anyone knows of helpful
> websites I would be very grateful.
>
> From my brief conversation with her she appears to avoid certain foods,
> especially fruit, "just in case." So I am wondering whether it is possible
> to undergo tests that would produce a definitive yes/no checklist of
> specific foods.
>
> She is based in the UK, where it would appear that diagnosis & treatment i
s
> not as advanced as, for example, in the US.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
> Stuart Reed
>
>

When I reacted badly to those foods and others, it wasn't food allergy,
it was salicylate sensitivity; I got itchy, hot, red and irritable.  If
you google up lists of foods grouped by salicylate content and show it
to her, she may see a similar pattern.

I cut way back on these things for years, and my tolerance improved greatly.

Susan

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Stuart Reed wrote:
> I recently made the acquaintance of someone with an allergy to tomatoes,
> stawberries and plums (among others).

Hello,Stuart -

My daughter had a similar allergy when she was very young: tomatoes,
strawberries, watermelon, etc. What we finally figured out was, it
seemed to be food high in acid and/or vitamin C. Also oranges (and
parmesan cheese, for some reason). She seemed to outgrow the allergy
when she was about 6 or 7 years old, and now eats strawberries without
breaking out and can drink orange juice. Though she still doesn't like
tomatoes -- at least she can tolerate the sauce on pizza -- and she puts
grated cheddar cheese on pasta rather than parmesan. (She does
immunotherapy now, but she could begin to eat those foods several years
before the immunotherapy, so I don't know if that helped or not.)

Of course, I don't know if she outgrew it entirely since she still has
asthma and eczema and is hyper-reactive in general. And recently she had
some of those "natural vitamin C strawberry-lavored cough drops" that
she sucked serially throughout a play performance to keep from coughing,
but her skin was broken out and itchy by intermission. (She's 17 now).

I don't know if that helps, but at least you can assure your friend
he/she's not alone. And stay away from cough drops with "natural"
flavors. We used to think we were the only people reading labels to make
sure things were *artificially* flavored - it seemed so contrarian to
our principles!

Sue

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Susan <nevermind@nomail.com> writes:[vbcol=seagreen]
>Stuart Reed wrote: 
>
>When I reacted badly to those foods and others, it wasn't food allergy,
>it was salicylate sensitivity; I got itchy, hot, red and irritable.  If
>you google up lists of foods grouped by salicylate content and show it
>to her, she may see a similar pattern.
>
>I cut way back on these things for years, and my tolerance improved greatly.[/vbcol
]

So, what happens when you take asprin, Susan?
--
John Savage                   (my news address is not valid for email)

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John Savage wrote:

> So, what happens when you take asprin, Susan?

I don't take aspirin.  I used to be able to take very high doses when I
had arthritis (I'm no longer arthritic), but since sensitized, even a
tiny dose causes ear ringing, itchiness and redness.

Susan

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