Today for lunch I had a bowl of shrimp wonton soup. I’ve eaten shrimp all my life without any problem, including as recently as just a few weeks ago. Today, however, was different. About an hour after I ate I started experiencing watery eyes and a mild asthma attack, which are usually signs that my dust mites allergy has been triggered. I took some DayQuil and used my inhaler, which stopped the asthma, but a few minutes later I looked in a mirror and noticed both my eyes were completely bloodshot and red (which doesn’t usually happen), and my left eyelids had swollen to the point that my eye looked about two thirds closed (which never happens). My vision was unimpaired and I wasn’t in any pain although I did notice some pressure, and my co-workers told me I looked like someone had just punched me in the face. The redness and watering stopped about an hour later, and as of now (about 4 hours since lunch) my eye is still somewhat swollen, but the pressure is gone and the swelling is clearly going down.
Acco don’t to what I’ve read, shellfish is the most common adult-onset allergen, and I can’t think of anything else in the soup that I haven’t also eaten in the last few days, so the shrimp is my prime suspect. Obviously I’m going to have to see my doctor and get tested to verify this.
I’m curious if any other Doors have become allergic to shellfish later in life and would be willing to share their experience. When did you first notice it? Does it get worse with time? Any steps you could recommend (besides not eating at Red Lobster, obviously) to avoid or minimize reactions?
I used to love shrimp and crayfish. Then one day I was eating a shrimp salad from McDonald’s and noticed my uvula swelling to the point where I could almost touch it with the back of my tongue. It didn’t swell to the extent that it closed off my trachea, but it felt like I was gagging. Later, my allergy progressed to the point where if I took a bite of shellfish, I would vomit instantly, along with the other symptoms. I was in my mid 30s. I can be around other people eating shrimp, but I avoid eating it completely. Fortunately, that hasn’t hindered my enjoyment of regular fish.
I haven’t, but 40 or 50 years ago I knew an adult who suddenly developed an allergy to shrimp. He blamed some medical care for triggering the allergy, either the use of iodinated contrast dye or maybe he had a large area painted with Betadine for some procedure, I really don’t remember which; and I’ve kind of lost track of the guy in any case. I also don’t know if an actual physician determined that the medical iodine caused the allergy, so while it may be a data point, it’s a very fuzzy one. I’d toss it unless you end up with a metric butt load of similar stories.
For clarity’s sake; this was supposed to read “Dopers”, but I missed my cell phone “fixing” it.
From what I’ve read, it’s a misconception that iodine is related to shellfish allergies, and in either event I haven’t had any sort of medical treatments recently or any exposure to iodine other than what you’d find in table salt. I can’t think of anything that would’ve triggered this if it is indeed a shellfish allergy.
If you now have a shellfish allergy the “trigger” is eating shellfish. As to what caused your immune system to suddenly decided shrimp is The Enemy science is not entirely sure about that one.
If a food allergy is confirmed you’re going to have to read labels on food. A lot.
Most “shellfish” allergies are to a specific shellfish, such as shrimp or oysters or clams or crab or lobster, etc. Often the allergy can be broken down further to a specific species of shrimp or lobster. Some individuals have an allergy to a wider range of shellfish and that’s not uncommon.
So it’s possible you reacted to one specific species you’ve not been exposed to very often before (at least one previous exposure needed to occur, to develop the allergic reaction).
To help clarify the issue, a blood test known as RAST could be done for different shellfish types, to see which you have a positive reaction for. That could help guide you in future food choices, but wouldn’t necessarily guarantee you would NOT have an allergic reaction to a specific shellfish, even with a negative test. But the odds would be in your favor.
Also, allergy to shellfish does not mean automatic allergy to finned fish, and vice versa. It’s not real common to be allergic to both, but not rare either.
Um … depending on where you got said shrimp soup, shrimp may not have been the only aquatic lifeform in it … clam juice is commonly used in seafood products to boost the fish factor, and fish sauce/nuc mam <spelling> or oyster sauce is frequently used to boost umami, as are various mushrooms [in the guise of ‘natural flavoring’]
As someone allergic to bivalves [clams, oysters, mussels, coquina and such], mushrooms and palm/coconut, I have learned to be very careful about what I eat, and what foods can hide ingredients I am allergic to [right now, I am pretty much entirely off Pacific Rim cooking, palm/coconut, fish sauce and unspecific ‘natural flavors’ are endemic and I would rather not get hauled off to the damned hospital if I can avoid it.]
It was a frozen soup I got at the grocery store where I work. I found an ingredients list on the web and it doesn’t list any seafood-based ingredients other than whiteleg shrimp (though I suppose there could be something hidden in “natural flavor”), and the allergens warning mentions shrimp, wheat, and soy. I’m reasonably confident the latter two aren’t the culprit since I’ve eaten them several times this week, before and after the attack, with no issues.
In any event, when I woke up today my eye was back to normal, and I have a doctor’s appointment in a few weeks.
I got shellfish allergy in my late 30’s. It is mild (only hives).
Funny anecdote: I initially consulted doctors in the USA who ran some skin test and told me I was allergic to all crustaceans (shrimp, lobsters, crabs…) and molluscs (clams, squids…). One year later I was living in Europe and consulted doctors who didn’t find any mollusc allergy. We decided to make a test: I would come at the hospital in the morning, sit in the waiting room, consume some molluscs, and wait and see it something happened. I chose an octopus salad… It was funny to sit there, having my octopus breakfast at 8 am!
The doctors I consulted in the USA told me to carry an epi-pen at all times, which was probably the worst part. An epi-pen takes space in your pocket (actually I had an auvi-q in the beginning, which is way better in this respect), you can’t leave it in a hot or cold car, and it constantly reminds you of your allergy by its mere presence (and that was before the price spiked…). Anyway, doctors in Europe told me I didn’t really need one considering how mild my allergy is, and I was glad to get rid of it! I really hated how constantly having to attend to this thing made an hypochondriac out of me.
So, I still can’t have any shrimp, crab, etc. It is a pity about the shrimps; I don’t think too much about crabs and lobsters which were never more than an occasional treat to begin with. Anyway, I got used to it, and there are plenty of other tasty things in the world.
I have to pay attention not to eat any shellfish by accident. I avoid any fish dish that I don’t cook myself (you never know what’s in the sauce), as well as seafood restaurants. I still get some allergy, roughly once a year, mainly after eating in restaurants (probably because of some contamination in the kitchen or because of some misunderstanding). It is always limited to some minor hives… I always carry an anti-histaminic around and it deals with it.
So, life goes on and this is not too bad to deal with… but I am glad my allergy is very mild and that I don’t need to worry about getting an anaphylactic shock.
I dread the words “natural flavoring” or “natural vegetable extracts”, to the point I have sometimes contacted the company producing the produce to ask, specifically, does your product’s natural flavorings contain “X or Y?”. Sometimes I even get a useful answer.
There are all sorts of pitfalls - some things list “casein”, which comes from milk and should be avoided by those with a dairy allergy. “Naturally/traditionally brewed soy sauce” contains wheat, which should be avoided by both those with a wheat allergy and those with celiac disease.
“Natural flavors” or its close cousin “natural colors” can be a real problem for people with health problems, like allergies, that require them to absolutely avoid a particular substance.