My allergist gave me a list of foods I should avoid. Not because I’m allergic to them, mind you, but because they can aggravate the allergies I have towards other things. Can’t remember them all off the top of my head, except I’m supposed to avoid shellfish due to my dust mite allergy.
My question is: Is this legit? I trust my ENT, but I haven’t had as much time with my allergist. Looking online, I can’t tell if this “concomitant foods” business is woo or real. And to what extent? I’m a big seafood fan, so I hope you guys tell me it’s baloney, or at least not as big a deal as the allergist made out.
I am willing to accept that the phenomenon is real, and a big deal, but I am interested in learning more. I’d like to go off of more info than a simplistic list of “if you have this allergy, avoid these foods”.
Medscape has an article that is admittedly a little beyond my level of understanding, but does seem to indicate that there is real science behind the advice that you were given.
Another problem I had googling is I’m not using the right terms apparently. “Concomitant” was definitely the word my allergist used, as well as the list she gave me. But when I Google “concomitant allergy” or “concomitant allergy food” I mostly get general allergy sites or “concomitant drug use” aka drug interaction material.
I don’t have a full, in-depth understanding of the science behind it, just a half century of dealing with allergies. There are some things that can, as you put it, aggravate allergies. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome]Oral allergy syndrome is one of the best known, and might account for Renee’s experience. There is a certain relationship between dust mites and things like shellfish that could also result in cross-reactions.
My problem with those lists of “if you have this, avoid that” is following them all faithfully would leave me with almost nothing to eat.
My admittedly limited experience is that I am more likely to develop a new allergy to something on one of those lists (I have what I call “creeping legume allergy” - as time goes by I’m reacting to more and more in that category although, thank Og, I still get along with soy), and I do sometimes have cross-reactivity. So, my take, is that if it is easy to eliminate what’s on the “watch list” I will do so. If it’s not easy I eat those things with caution, looking for any sign of reacting, and avoid them when I’m having a particularly bad flare up.
HOWEVER - I am NOT your doctor, I am NOT you, and allergies are very individual. If you can get ahold of a doctor trained in this area that is the best person to go to for advice.
