[hennie pennie]

Okay, thanks for your quick response; when you specifically mentioned in that one posting that both fruits & veggies gave you problems, I simply ‘had’ to say something.

I stayed off all fructose for half a year, and then went all-out CARB, simply because I was curious what would happen. It took six weeks to replicate my initial symptoms, which started around age 14 and lasted for decades until last year when I came across comments from the Mayo Clinic about fructose intolerance being pervasive in America, but nobody knowing much about it.

I was quite amazed in reintroducing carbs to learn that EVERY time I had any Tabasco Sauce, that I’d get sevreal bright red raised itchy hives about 36 hours later — something all brand new, as I never had hives ever before in my life.

I hope you have more success with the docs accurately determining what is the exact nature of your problem.

I wonder if there are any medical bulletin boards where you could post all your symptoms and their triggers, and see what medical professionals advise?

Or make an appointment with the Mayo Clinic or with some doctor whose research specialty is histamine?

Please come back to this thread when you get the results of your tests, okay?

Thanks!

[metmom]

The nurse at my PCP sort of jokingly suggested I try for the Mystery Diagnosis show. Considering that every doctor I’ve seen so far says they’ve never seen the symptom set I display before, it’s a thought......

I think there’s probably a lot of things that they don’t know about because it’s usually written off under a generic diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

[metmom]

I was quite amazed in reintroducing carbs to learn that EVERY time I had any Tabasco Sauce, that I’d get sevreal bright red raised itchy hives about 36 hours later — something all brand new, as I never had hives ever before in my life.

Food allergy reactions can be delayed like that, which is what makes tracking down the offending food so difficult. You could be reacting to something you ate days ago and not know it. Instead, you'd be thinking that you're reacting to something you just ate.

You ought to get a list of the ingredients in that Tabasco sauce and keep it on hand in case you react to something else. You might be able to figure out the offending substance. Problem is, the best way to do that is keep a detailed food log (pain in the butt).

If you're dealing with a real allergy there, you can pretty much be assured that as you eat the Tabasco sauce, you'll react sooner and stronger every time unless you avoid it for months to a year or more.

My advice to anyone who thinks they're having an allergic reaction to any food, is to stay away from it because in my experience, it will get worse with repeated exposure. And keep liquid (dye free) Benedryl and maybe an Epi-Pen on hand.

A hives reaction to food is about the last step before possible anaphylaxis. It's a more serious warning sign than most people realize. Most people take it far to lightly.

Be careful.