Tree nuts on trees?

[jschwab]

This is another dumb newbie question, but I have been nauseous (and fairly so) when I go outside and walk around my neighborhood. I thought it was a fluke or I was coming down with something but it's been a regular thing for about a week and a half that it's only outside. We walk a good deal (a mile here and a mile back, etc.) and I started to wonder if it wasn't illness at all since it only happens when I'm outside and not when I'm doing stuff indoors. And that, in my allergy paranoia, maybe it is a reaction to all the nut trees that are sending down fruits right now? Is that possible? My known nut allergen is almonds and that does not grow around here, but there are a ton of black walnut and acorn and other nutbearing trees around. Am I loony? I have been mildly freaked out about all the nuts I walk on everywhere so maybe it's psychosomatic? No other symptoms.

[hedgehog]

Personally, I get nauseous when I am stressed or nervous, so I would not rule it out.  In fact, i think it is very likely, but obviously a possible reaction is more serious, so you at least want to think about it. Had you had the same feeling while out walking before your diagnosis?  Have you had any contact with the nuts--have they fallen on you or are they smashed on the ground at your feet?  You say you are allergic to almonds, but you have walnuts in your area--have you been tested for walnuts, or have you eaten them without reaction, or is there a possibility you are also allergic to them? 

[CMdeux]

Mold allergy?

Just another possibility for you.

[jschwab]

I am totally allergic to mold so that was definitely in my mind.

It happened again today walking home from a school event but went to breathing from nausea. I just cannot believe this. It's this one stretch of road and then all is OK. Walnuts and acorns everywhere. It makes no sense.

[YouKnowWho]

Walnuts, acorns, leaves and wet = mold issues.

Fall sucks.

Between the faux scented candles and the cinnamon brooms, then to go outside for a breath of fresh air and boom, asthma.

[jschwab]

Walnuts, acorns, leaves and wet = mold issues.

Fall sucks.

Between the faux scented candles and the cinnamon brooms, then to go outside for a breath of fresh air and boom, asthma.

It's only this particular stretch, though, just three blocks or so in the middle of a long walk through lots of tree lined streets. Or maybe the mold is more prevalent in the rotting nut casings than the leaves (which are everywhere and usually don't bother me)? The reaction was all in my tongue and throat (constriction) and not in my chest or back like where I would expect asthma to be, but I know next to nothing about asthma. If I start to have asthma in addition to the allergies I will seriously freak because outdoors is my refuge. BTW, I love the cinnamon brooms (sorry!), but I think the scented chemical candles should be illegal.

[CMdeux]

Could be a different type of mold which is more amenable to the acorns and shells, too-- or could be a combination of mold + nut allergens.  Different molds are definitely different in allergenicity for different folks.

The reason why it's probably some combination effect rather than purely nut-allergen is that it generally takes mechanical disturbance to aerosolize the nut proteins sufficiently.  It's possible if they are being crushed-- say by hikers or passing vehicles?

But there again, the mold issue would be significantly enhanced under that same scenario.

Leaf mold in particular seems to really be VERY evil for some people. 

[jschwab]

Could be a different type of mold which is more amenable to the acorns and shells, too-- or could be a combination of mold + nut allergens.  Different molds are definitely different in allergenicity for different folks.

The reason why it's probably some combination effect rather than purely nut-allergen is that it generally takes mechanical disturbance to aerosolize the nut proteins sufficiently.  It's possible if they are being crushed-- say by hikers or passing vehicles?

But there again, the mold issue would be significantly enhanced under that same scenario.

Leaf mold in particular seems to really be VERY evil for some people.

I just saw this again. I do have mold allergy but I can usually smell mold when it's around. I am still perplexed by this because I spent the last weeks since that time in wet leaves, raking and hiking, with no problem. Even the problems with that stretch got better and then went away. I guess we'll have to see if it repeats next year. It was really wild with the gastro involvement and then the throat closing, so who knows? It's over and all is back to normal. Everything was being crushed underfoot. I was in the woods later crushing acorns all over the place and no issue at all. It will just stay a mystery, I guess. Maybe it was even something else, some other kind of tree or plant?