What are the symptoms of food allergies

A few days ago, I picked up a child who was allergic to mangoes. Within ten minutes, his lips swelled into small sausages and he was unable to speak. This is the most typical manifestation of rapid food allergies. The most dangerous type of immediate food allergy usually occurs within a few minutes to 2 hours after eating. In mild cases, the lips and tip of the tongue are numb and swollen, and large wind masses appear on the body like mosquito bites. It itches to the point of sitting still. In severe cases, the throat becomes tight, breathless, dizzy and unsteady, and even anaphylactic shock occurs. Many people also experience gastrointestinal reactions accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and repeated diarrhea.

I have been working as a nurse in the allergology department for almost five years, and I have seen too many patients who treat allergies as other problems. Many people's understanding of food allergies is still that "you will get a rash immediately after eating it." However, people with different physical constitutions have very different symptoms of attacks, and even the same person may have different symptoms of allergies every time. Last week, a high school student came over to check for allergens. He said that every time he ate cashews, he would have a stomachache and that it would be cured by two diarrheas. He always thought that the cashews were not fresh. It wasn’t until he rolled over in pain and broke out in a rash last time that he realized something was wrong. This allergy, which only manifests in the digestive tract, is easy to leak. If he doesn’t take it to heart, he might develop more serious respiratory symptoms next time.

I should also mention here that many people on the Internet now confuse food intolerance and food allergies. For example, if you drink milk and have diarrhea, you will say you are allergic to milk. In fact, more than 90% of cases are lactose intolerance. It is the body's lack of enzymes that break down lactose, and it has nothing to do with the immune system. There are also many institutions that use food IgG positivity as the basis for allergy diagnosis. This is quite controversial in the industry. The mainstream view is that IgG positivity is actually a manifestation of tolerance caused by the body's exposure to this food. It cannot be directly equated with allergy. If you avoid eating a lot of foods based on this result, you may be malnourished.

There is also a kind of delayed allergy that is more subtle. Symptoms may appear several hours or even two or three days after eating food. For example, recurring eczema, oral ulcers, and long-term coughs with no known cause may be related to it. Previously, a mother brought her 3-year-old child here. The child’s legs were scratched with eczema. After applying ointments for more than half a year, it was useless. In the end, it was found that he was allergic to egg yolks that he often eats. After stopping, the rash completely disappeared two weeks later.

Of course, there is no need to be overly cautious. If you only feel a little gastrointestinal discomfort after eating once in a while, and there are no other recurring symptoms, it is most likely not an allergy. If you really doubt it, just go to the allergy department of a regular hospital for a checkup. Don’t blindly restrict your food and end up losing your mouth and lacking nutrients~