Allergic reaction to M&M salty sweet snack

[Cga948]

I am 71 years old with no history of any allergic reaction to any food.  After snacking on the above my lips started swelling up and I broke out in hives
There are so many ingredients in this snack I have no idea of the cause
Any suggestions.  I suppose the nuts would be first but I have eaten all kinds of nuts before with no reaction. Could it be some sort of additive in this
Any suggestions appreciated

[rebekahc]

Hi and welcome!  I'm glad you found us, but I'm sorry you needed to!!

Wow, that's surprising to have a first reaction at your age.  Allergy-wise, the top culprits would be any ingredients in the top-8 most allergenic foods - peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, fish, shellfish, eggs, dairy.  But, it seems if you were allergic to any of those, you'd have had a reaction before.  It is possible to develop a food allergy suddenly, though, so I'd start with thinking about any ingredient in the M&Ms that you haven't eaten recently and go from there in trying to narrow it down.

The reaction you had was a serious one and would be considered systemic since you had hives in places the candies didn't touch.  That warrants a call to your doctor or, preferably, a board certified allergist who treats food allergies not one who focuses just on environmental allergies.  They can help you figure out what caused the reaction and also give you the emergency medication (EpiPen or other auto-injector) and instructions on when to use it and how to best avoid your allergen.  An allergist will also be able to test you for allergies to the ingredients in the M&Ms to (hopefully) figure out what caused the reaction.

Some other things to consider...
Do you have environmental allergies?  If so, have they been particularly bad right now?  The reason I ask is that it's possible something you've been allergic to very mildly was too much for your body to handle on top of other allergy issues.  Same questions/reasoning with regard to any illness.  What about new medication? 

One last consideration.  There is a type of allergic reaction called exercise induced anaphylaxis.  They think some of those reactions may be triggered by a combination of food (often wheat) and exercise.  Were you snacking on the M&Ms just before, during, or just after being active?

I'm glad your reaction resolved on it's own and hope you're doing well now!