We were celebrating my niece’s 18th birthday at a Japanese restaurant and everything was perfectly normal. Suddenly, he nose started running like nothing I have ever seen before. It looked almost like she had used a Neti pot. Then, she threw up. When she got back from the bathroom, she said that she felt fine but while her nose was running, it felt like she couldn’t breathe. She doesn’t know if she was choking or not. She didn’t display signs of choking that one would normally expect.
What would cause such a sudden rush of drainage to come out one’s nose? Do we all have a bucket of fluid in our nasal cavities/sinuses just waiting for the dam to burst?
I’ve noticed that if I’m about to throw up, I will get a lot of both saliva and mucus. I may have read, or just conjectured that it is a protective reaction to reduce damage from stomach acids
There was no wasabi, just normal hibachi stuff. It could have been a reaction to something she ate but she’s been there many times before and didn’t order anything out of the ordinary.
Sounds like oral allergy syndrome, an IgE mediated allergic reaction to me. It’s generally in response to a food allergy of some sort. It’s often seen in people with allergies to pollen.
“Gustatory rhinitis is characterized by watery, uni- or bilateral rhinorrhea (runny nose, sudden onset) occurring after ingestion of solid or liquid foods, most often hot and spicy. It usually begins within a few minutes of ingestion of the implicated food, and is not associated with pruritus, sneezing, nasal congestion or facial pain. It is considered to be a non-immunological reaction. Immunohistological and pharmacological observations suggest that this disease is most likely caused by stimulation of trigeminal sensory nerve endings located at the upper aerodigestive track (sic).”
I was drinking at a brewery and had some sort of weird histamine thing happen (I assume). My nose was running like a fountain and I was sneezing. I stood in the men’s restroom for fifteen minutes, constantly blowing my nose.
I paid my tab and we headed home, where my head hurt like the most severe headache ever. I took two 50 mg diphenhydramine (from my dog medicine cabinet) and was fine in 20 minutes.
I texted the brewery. I was drinking a cask beer. After I left, another guy drinking the cask beer had the same sort of reaction. They pulled the beer.
Respectfully disagree. I see lots of oral allergy syndrome aka pollen food allergy syndrome (PFAS) and it never looks like that. The symptoms are generally, well, oral: e.g. itchy mouth. Also PFAS is a reaction to specific raw fruits and vegetables that cross react to pollens that individuals are allergic to. Cooking those fruits and vegetables prevents the reaction. For example eating a raw apple may do it but applesauce not.
@Jackmannii’s gustatory rhinitis suggestion seems most on point. “Hot” is not only spicy hot, it can be temperature hot as well; hot soup is a known trigger. Alcohol can do it too.
That’s an interesting theory. She was the only one at the table that had 2 bowls of soup. It was a little spicy and somewhat hot temperature-wise. Not “out of the ordinary” hot, but still hot soup.
^When my assumed histamine situation occurred (a month ago) I did some research and it was very interesting. When they discuss bacterial contamination with Lactobacillus spp, the “contamination” is often intentional. I love sour beers, which are often intentionally infected.
It was a shame. The cask was just tapped and I considered my timing perfect. Heh.
I have had similar happen when eating- nose starts running like a snot factory, clear and very watery unlike a cold/flu thick green stuff. Never had where I threw up or even felt the urge or difficulty breathing. Maybe once or twice a year it happens
Happened once a few days before my physical and mentioned it to my doctor. Of course he wanted to do all these tests but I refused as it wasn’t life threating or happened that often. He said probably some sort of allergic reaction. I was told to write down what I am eating and see if any common items the next time it happens. Never have found the “smoking gun”.
Food allergies can be weird, I was on a medication once that I was fine using until I ate some raw tomatoes. Broke out in hives. Medicine and not eating raw tomatoes fine. Raw tomatoes and not taking the medicine, fine. Medicine and raw tomatoes = hives. No one has an answer other than don’t eat raw tomatoes when taking this medicine.
I sometimes get a sneezing attack after dinner. Doesn’t seem to be related to any particular food, so it wouldn’t seem to be an allergy. It’s mildly annoying but only lasts a minute or two so I just reach for the kleenex and wait for it to subside.