Forums » Smalltalk » Strange Allergies!

I don't think I have any allergies that could be deemed uncommon; hayfever, dust, animal fur (however for cats it's the saliva that people are allergic to, rather than the fur itself), and histamine (I react incredibly badly to bug bites) are the worst ones. I'll genuinely feel feverish and ill if I'm exposed to one of these too much - my tear ducts in my eyes get incredibly itchy, and my temperature soars. Normally I'll get the "Aw are you suffering from a cold?" From people, but nope. Just awful allergies.

I do believe I have a very slight intolerance to nuts as well, but not enough to cause much in the way of anaphylaxis. I notice it the most when eating peanuts.

I wish I knew! Have dealt with outbreaks of hives since about puberty (over 20 years ago now).

I've been to an allergist and had my blood tested, done the food journals, but it didn't yield anything useful.

So just gotta remember to take my daily antihistamine... Otherwise I'm either itchy or dealing with random swelling on my lips or on my eyelids. Which is more embarrassing than anything. Looks like I either got punched or stung by a bee.

I seem to be allergic to pewter. Not to the metals that make up the alloy. Specifically pewter. This is based on having developed itchy rashes from pewter rings in the past, but I've never noticed any issue with any other metal or alloy.

I also have a sensitivity to artificial sweeteners and scented products. Artificial sweeteners make me kinda queasy, and I can't handle those shops that sell, like, candles and lotions and stuff, and have to steeply limit my time in those shops full of eastern wares because they keep incense going. I commonly gag in public bathrooms because I'll walk in and it smells like a perfume bottle exploded (it seems to be becoming less problematic?).

For stranger things, I know two people who have what is commonly considered to be a sun allergy (although I think it's technically not an allergy, it is still a weird response). In both cases, sun exposure causes them to break out in blotchy light patches that don't otherwise seem to bother them any. I've also heard of a girl who was allergic to water, and my parents know a woman who developed an allergy to the cold while pregnant. Like, she actually breaks out in hives if her skin gets too chilled.

Technically, I'm not allergic to anything, as my tests all came back negative. That being said, my body clearly didn't get the memo, so here's a short list of some things I'm sensitive to, that may cause me to break out in hives:
(I have eczema, so my body is pretty sensitive - feel free to laugh at the silly things it's "allergic" to)

- Anything that contains perfume or any kind of scented oils, no matter how "natural" the product claims to be. This covers everything from tissues to beauty products.

- Black eye makeup. Brown mascara forever!

- Chalk and resin used in gyms/sports.

- Sweating. No joke.

- Chlorine water, like in pools. Which is a shame, because I really like swimming!

- Water with a different chemical composition than what my body is used to. Like when you go abroad.

- Taking warm showers + taking showers every day.

- Probably 95 % of all soaps. Which means that my boyfriend washes all our dishes!

- Things that are cold. My ex once placed a cold hand on my belly, and a few hours later, I had a beautiful hand-shaped rash.

- Things that are warm, like hot water bottles.

- Fabric that isn't smooth. Like knit-wear, which is a darn shame, because I really love cozy sweaters.

- All kinds of wool.

- Wearing necklaces, especially metal ones.

Penholder - Chlorinated water doesn't surprise me, because it can be an irritant to eczema! Washing thoroughly with a hypo-allergenic body wash is pretty much a must after swimming in chlorine. I'd check the PH levels of the pool you go to as well, because if the PH is out, then that can also irritate your skin.

I don't have eczema, but I do work in a pool environment and the chlorinated atmosphere is so gross. It dries out your skin and can also be an irritant to asthma sufferers.

I think I'm allergic to codeine. Evidence: took some cough syrup with codeine in it and almost died on the floor.

Thanks for the tip I did know that chlorinated water is a problem to eczema - I've always known that, but sometimes I'm just stupid enough to try and defy it ^^' Never ends well.
I've never tried hypo-allergenic body wash post-pool, basically because it's soap and I gave up on soap 5 years ago (Relax, I do wash my hands, I'm not that gross). I've been told that my only pool-hopes are salt water pools, but the only one I know of in my region is a spa, and I feel like they'd kick me out if I started doing laps..

i am, more or less, allergic to heat. also sort of the sun. i have cholinergic urticaria, which means that when i'm exposed to temperatures that make me even moderately warm (around 65+) i break out in red, itchy splotches and wheels. even better is the condition is worsened by anxiety, and i get anxious about being splotchy and itchy, so...it gets even worse! no treatments aside from trying to stay cool and out of the sun. may or may not be related to my eczema. who knows.

also have a minor but adverse reaction to certain forms of cinnamon oil, like you find in some candles and waxes. it isn't anything major, but it's annoying because it itches my throat and makes my eyes water. christmas is like a giant asthma attack for me.

Oh boy.
I've actually got shifting allergies? I don't remember exactly because luckily, I haven't had a sudden rash in a long while (well, I did last year but it was stress-induced). So far I've been alergic to:
-A specific brand of Jam
-Nylon-based products
-My own spit!
And many others I don't care to remember.

It wasn't until about 2017 that a study was done to find out that this particular house plant is toxic to humans.

Meet the Bromeliad.


This plant is used all over the world in many climates to decorate homes, shopping centers, doctors offices, and all kinds of places because its extremely hardy and low maintenance.

It is toxic to all people but on the occasion it is highly irritating. I'm one such person who is extremely allergic to them as I get itchy hives being near them. And the weird thing is that these things don't even produce pollin! Not that I am aware of, and honestly they may have already been known to be toxic/poisonous to people already but it wasn't readily known. Heck, we sell toxic and poisonous plants for decorative purposes everywhere so they won't be disappearing anytime soon.

I'm also allergic to penicillin and many substitute forms of it. I'm mildly allergic to bees and wasps.

I am also allergic to bell peppers. Red, yellow, and orange are more mild but still upset my stomach, bit green is horrible for me. I can eat any other kind of food, pepper, or whatever and be just fine. Not bell peppers though!

I don't believe they use it anymore but I use to be really allergic to the food dye Red 24. They use to use it in tomato products like ketchup.

I have the perfume/body spray thing for sure. In high school being in the locker room i'd have asthma attacks because of it and the girls thought this was SO FUNNY so they'd spray stuff into my face and laugh at me.
Man... why are teenagers such psychopaths? Seriously?

As an adult I refuse to wear perfume and dislike people wearing it because I find it overwhelming on a sensory front but also yeah, it makes my chest tight.

IN terms of stuff i'm actually allergic to?

Normal stuff like cats, but I still love them and will bury my face in them because I don't care. Hayfever and allergies to road dust and spores and a few other plants that bloom at sunset which is a bit unusual as most people assume hayfever is a daytime thing but nope, my worst symptoms are at dusk. My eyes can actually swell shut, it's pretty intense.

I have a contact allergy to something in the attic which is either the dust up there or the fibreglass insulation. That stuff is irritating to most people but both myself and my cousin when we went up there came down with actual WELTS on our skin while everyone else is fine.
Wha?

Kiwifruit, i'm allergic to kiwifruit, but wierdly enough not the fruit itself, the skin. Or something on the skin. I think it's actually kiwifruit pollen i'm allergic to because if someone rinses the thing, peels it, rinses it again and gives it to me i can eat it but if it's not rinsed several times and peeled I get horrible rashes on my hands where I touch it and any juice touches and worse, actual weeping sores in my mouth! AIEE!
So I just avoid most kiwifruit.

I'm also allergic to Sulphite, which is a preservative used usually in citrus fruit preservation. So lemon and lime flavourings almost always will have sulphite in.
Wine has it in too, especially bubbly wines but usually it's in a small enough quantity that it doesn't cause a reaction. Some prosecco will set me off though, as will ALL things made using cirtrus cordial or concentrate. I've also learned I can't have passionfruit cider because again, sulphite. It causes my throat to swell. It's super uncomfortable and takes a few hours to go down, makes swallowing really difficult. Thankfully the reaction seems to be mild enough that my airways don't close but it's still pretty scary to have your throat start to swell shut because you drank something with lime concentrate in not fresh lime.
I have to ask everywhere we go "is this made with fresh lemon/lime juice?" and explain that if it isn't I can't have it.

I joke that i'm allergic to the sun but genuinelyI struggle in the summer. I've never been able to work out WHAT it is, be it the glare, the heat, the uv rays or what, but I get terrible horrible migraines during the summertime if I go outside. I also struggle to regulate my body temperature (despite my thyroid apparently being fine) and don't really sweat very efficiently so I have to constantly spray myself with a water spritzer to keep cool which does help a bit with the headaches. But yeah, I don't like summer as a result. I find it miserable and difficult.

I also don't like winter for the opposite reason but that's not an allergy, more just a wierd physical thing related to the body temp thing. I feel the cold VERY acutely to the point it's physically painful for me. So I can't handle cold things without pain radiating up to my elbows and aching and throbbing for ages afterwards. In the winter, I need to wear two pairs of gloves or i'm in agony.

I also can't take synthetic hormones, they make me siiiiick. I'm quite sensitive to them for some reason so yeah.. they gave me a micro dose of estrogen at one point and my blood pressure spiked to stroke level overnight as a result. Eeep.
ALL synthetic hormones seem to cause problems for me. Not an allergy, just a bad reaction. So I can't take the pill or anything like that.

Wool. Not an allergy, but wearing anything with wool in it scratches and it feels like my skin is breaking out. I itch for ages afterwards. Even wool blends trigger this. I think it's a sensory thing. Yuck, wool. HATE it.

And there's some debate over whether or not I have a gluten intollerance. My sister and neices have been confirmed as having it, my mother does, as does at least one of my kids... so yeah... fun?

I'm allergic to mangos, pineapples, kiwi, animals with long fur, pretty much just goong outside, and slightly allergic to the sun.

I'm not allergic to many things...

I'm also allergic to penicillin though! It sucks because we always have to tell all the doctors i have so they don't make a mistake. As far as I've been told, over here penicillin is the first medicine any doctor will give you if something's very wrong. So... It kinda sucks.

I'm also allergic to head lice. A lot of people class themselves as allergic because it makes their head itchy and stuff, but that's normal for everyone. I mean a proper allergy, where I can go into anaphylactic shock if I get them. We have to treat me at least once a week just to make sure and I have to try to stay away from other people's hair.

I’m allergic to both amoxicillin -and- penicillin, they break me out in really bad hives, I also allergic to spicy food, I can’t eat Jalapeños, habanero peppers, or anything with super spicy chili powder like hot Cheetos or else I will be in pain for weeks. But do I eat spicy anyways? Yeah...totally worth it...

I can’t really say that this is an odd allergy, because it’s really more sad. That’s right people. I am allergic to chocolate. Which is very sad. Because chocolate is delicious. Frankly, I still eat chocolate because screw allergies, even though I get an asthma attack, even after eating a single M&M.

not me, but my father

He only has an allergy to the pollen in America, basically. where he grew up he had no problems with allergies AT ALL. And, he grew up in close proximity to rural life and was forced (all the children were) to do basically unpaid agricultural labour. But where I grew up, the pollen gets really bad in the spring sometimes (with thick layers of yellow pollen on cars), and he always got really irritated, and still does get v irritated to this day.

while the pollen allergy in of itself is not that strange, I find it weird that he only has a sensibility to it here in the US

Occasionally I'm sensitive to eggs and bannanas. I don't know if it counts as an allergy. I can't eat bannanas by themselves. I'll get a stomach ache and might hurl. However, eggs I've managed to build up a tolerance to, or something, because I love them is breakfast tacos, potato salad, and things.