Adult Food Allergies

[GoingNuts]

This is from Medscape.  You may need an account to read it; it's easy and free to sign up.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/773456?src=mp

[forvictoria]

Excellent interview, thank you!

[Macabre]

Oh--this is great to hear from Sicherer about adult food allergies.

This is helpful:

Sicherer: The "Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy in the United States," which was developed by the NAIAD-sponsored expert panel and came out in December 2010, defined food allergy as an adverse health effect arising from a specific immune response that occurs reproducibly on exposure to a given food.

Sicherer: When multiple areas of the body are affected in a potentially severe progressive manner, that is anaphylaxis, and of course that is the most serious type of reaction. A victim of anaphylaxis may develop cardiovascular symptoms due to shock. In addition to the skin, respiratory, and gastrointestinal symptoms that I mentioned previously, other symptoms can include confusion, loss of consciousness, and a feeling of impending doom. There are some additional symptoms that may also happen -- women may have some uterine cramping. There is not a single symptom that defines anaphylaxis; the diagnosis is made based upon a constellation of findings, which could be summed up as involving more than just a few hives or isolated mild gastrointestinal symptoms.

(bold mine)

Sicherer: We think that NSAIDs and alcohol are eliciting factors because they may increase permeability in the gut.

[CMdeux]

OOooooooooo--- interesting to learn about NSAIDS being potentially implicated there, too.

That is FASCINATING.  But I have to wonder if there isn't more happening there mechanistically-- because of the frequency with which NSAIDS are also implicated in "aspirin-sensitive asthma."  It's not precisely "allergic."  But it sure seems suspicious.

<thinking about that pathway...>

[jschwab]

That is SO interesting. I have had a ton of unexplained uterine cramping recently and lower back pain (like back labor). It all disappeared overnight when I discovered (via anaphylaxis) a new food allergen.