Oral allergy syndrome Puns

I recalled my allergist saying it's fine because my symptoms aren't that bad (mild itchiness to feeling like I have a bad cold, depending on the food) and it was confirmed I didn't have actual food allergies from blood tests. They also claimed I shouldn't have any reactions at all to certain things that definitely make me very itchy though, so I don't know if I entirely trust them.

I saw someone online saying their allergist said that "throat itching turns into throat closing" if they kept eating foods they have OAS reactions to.

Is this true? It'd probably be pretty bad for my diet to cut out even the foods I have very mild reactions to, since that's many fruits and some vegetables...

How do you guys make due? Avoid all fruit?

For years I noticed that certain fruit made my mouth itch. I couldn't eat a pear or apple without feeling weird. A few months ago I made myself a celery smoothie and couldn't drink more than a few sips.

I went to an allergist and they confirmed I have OAS as well as a lot of pollen allergies. I didn't get hives during the skin test, but my blood test results came up a bit more sensitive.

I've been eating plant based (essentially vegan without the animal rights element) and it sucks that I can't eat fruit. I've been avoiding smoothies since I got my results. I don't buy fruit anymore. If I want fruit, I'll drink juice. Apparently I can eat fruit, if they're cooked. But I only know how to fry or boil bananas or bake apples. There aren't many recipes that involve cooking pears or grapes, jams and pastries aside.

I can't eat dried fruit because they make my teeth hurt.

Recently became dangerously allergic to soy and cherries. I love snacking on raw fruits and veggies for an easy lunch to pack, am super lazy about cooking. Graduating college with a job lined up shortly so I can do more cooking to make my OAS foods edible, but the following fruits/veggies/nuts have to be skin-off or cooked first to be able to eat. Does anybody have any suggestions on ranch/hummus dip-and-eat raw vegetables or fruits that I can toss into a container on the go?

Can't eat raw: celery, apples, almonds, cherries, peaches, plums, carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, avocado, snap peas, green beans, kiwi

My favorites that I *can* pack raw are cucumber, rasp/blue/blackberries, strawberries, and bananas, but I would like to get more vegetable in my diet. I'm also in the upper midwest so its hard to get fresh berries that are actually good during a lot of the year off season.

Any suggestions?

Background: I did allergy testing when I was in high school after an episode of wheezing and having trouble breathing. Testing showed rhat I was allergic to a bunch of stuff (especially oak). I haven't really had breathing issues since then, aside from fairly normal seasonal allergy symptoms. I also have several medical allergies.

However, as an adult I have noticed that I tend to have reactions when eating certain fruits (stone fruits, apples). Sometimes my mouth itches, or my lips swell up, and sometimes I get a tightness in my throat that feels like I have something stuck there. From Google, it sounds like this could be Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS)?

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this? Does that sound like what I'm experiencing? How serious is it? I've obviously never suffocated or died, but when I decide to eat a peach and then my throat tightens up for the next 30+ minutes, it does make me a little nervous. How do I know when a reaction is dangerous? I've never had food allergies, and don't remember experiencing this with fruits until my late teen years.

Why YSK: Oral allergy syndrome is the most common food allergy and you, or someone you know, may have it. You can help them out by killing the pollen on the food you serve.

I've been surprised that numerous friends who had their throat itch from bananas, watermelon plums etc. weren't aware of oral allergy syndrome. Also known as "food pollen syndrome" it relates to foods from a specific season that carry a type of pollen you're allergic to (usually birch, grass, or ragweed).

I have a life threatening peanut allergy and have so far never had an anaphylactic shock because I (and my parents) have always been so careful.

I also get mild OAS to various fruits/veg and have always managed it fairly well, the reactions have never gone beyond tingly lips and slightly itchy throat and I cleared with my doctor that I should just continue to be cautious and take antihistamine when necessary.

Today I ate a plum (which I very occasionally react to) and the OAS was worse than normal, itchy and burning throat and a wheezy voice which still sounds a little croaky a few hours later. It shook me a little and I won’t be eating plums again in a hurry.

Has anyone experienced OAS getting worse, even to the point of anaphylaxis? I’m cautious to manage it safely while keeping a healthy diet with fruit and veg. My doctor didn’t seem too concerned but I’ll go back if I need to!

When I was younger I had no problem eating walnuts, almonds, peanuts, etc. But as I've gotten older, I've noticed that I get an "itchy" or "fuzzy" feeling in my mouth when I eat any kind of nut...except for when it's in chocolate, which is now the only way I can enjoy them.

From what research I've done, I know that this could be due to a potential pollen allergy, but I have no problem eating the fruits and vegetables listed in these articles - raw or cooked. I guess I just feel like these mouth itchiness is psychosomatic, because it's literally only nuts/peanuts and nothing else associated with OAS. Any advice/suggestions is appreciated!

P.s. I just wanted to add that all of the articles I read ever only listed almonds as the only nut that can cause a reaction, the rest were fruit/veggies, but this happens to me with all nuts.

I can't eat 90% of fruits. Most veggies and treat nuts. Usually, it's only raw but in some cases even cooked veggies and fruits ( like apple crisp and banana bread) trigger reactions. The older I get the more sensitive I seem to get.

has anyone ever tried allergy shots for this with luck? Or any other remedies?

Good evening. I was thinking of starting a FODMAP diet for my IBS (diarrhea/constipation). I love fruit, especially apples and bananas, but I cannot eat them because my mouth and throat will get itchy because of oral allergy. Some raw vegetables also cause the allergy to pop up. What could be a proper diet for me? My IBS is really frustrating

Is anyone also allergic to every fruit out there? Even tomatoes, cucumbers etc as well? How do you deal with it?

Hello. I sometimes (about %50 percent of the time) get sore throat (no itchiness/tingling, drippy nose or any other typical allergy symptoms though) when I eat melon. Happens more on sweeter varieties.

I do have cat, grass pollen and dust mite allergies. Can this be Oral Allergy Syndrome? Any other people have similiar experiences?

Edit: Sore throat lasts for a few hours. No other symptoms. Bananas give me incredible acid reflux when eaten alone by the way if this information helps.

I saw a nutritionist a few years ago after my OAS diagnosis, but she was of little help. I felt like I was teaching her about OAS instead of the other way around. The thing I would love to do is work with a nutritionist to craft a plan that accounts for the foods I/we can eat and maybe even come up with some new recipes to share here. Recommendations welcome.

For example, I'm looking to create a smoothie that I can have post-working out and a lot of smoothie ingredients are out of the question for OAS sufferers. However, maybe something with an Egg White protein, cooked fruits or veggies (sounds gross, I know) and other stuff would work.

I have had severe hayfever all my life (dust mites, almost all pollens, dogs, cats) but never any food allergies. But recently, (mid-20s) I started noticing some stinging on my tongue and throat when eating certain foods, (i.e. parsely, plum, avocado) so after some reading and seeing a doctor (haven't been able to schedule a skin prick test yet, possibly takes months to schedule in my area), I think I may have oral allergy syndrome.

My question is, how are we supposed to find what is safe / not safe to eat? For example, I had a reaction to plum, but what about apples, peaches, peanuts (all part of the birch-related family)? Even if I avoid everything on that list, articles are saying things like grass can have cross reactivity with a bunch of stuff.

So how do I figure out what foods are safe to eat? Do I guess and test everything? What if I have an anaphylatic reaction to something?

And secondly, I've seen many people comment that a mild reaction one time doesn't mean it will always be mild. So if I had a food once and it was tolerable but slight tingling, should I completely also avoid that food?

I have been lucky to never have any serious dietary restrictions and I have so many questions / anxiety (to the point where if I sit down at the kitchen table and eat a familiar food, I start to wonder if I'll have a reaction and my heart starts pounding.

Could anyone that has had an anaphylatic reaction comment? The idea of not being able to breathe until an ambulance arrives (could be 15+ minutes) scares the hell out of me. Did you make it out okay even without an epi pen immediately available? I wonder if I will need to carry one around everywhere going forward

Also, I tried finding some online communities (like this subreddit) but couldn't find an active discord to share experiences / recipes so I made one: https://discord.gg/dhKQVqrUXz . But feel free to link an existing one and I will delete mine!

So to preface, I'm going to go to an allergist and ask them as well but I'm curious on the reddit consensus.

I have oral allergy syndrome (I think, self-diagnosed). Avocados, bananas, canteloupe, some apples, and mangoes make my mouth itch.

I've been avoiding avocados for like a year or two, because I heard somewhere that an avocado allergy could get worse and you could end up with anaphylactic shock.

My question is - how valid is this statement? I LOVE AVOCADOS. I mainly want to know is there a ticking time bomb where the next time I have a burrito with guac I die. I absolutely love avocados but I don't want to risk this.

I don't mind the itching - I can handle that. Just don't wanna die of anaphylaxis... Thought about asking for an epi pen just in case..?

TL;DR: does oral allergy syndrome to avocados often end in anaphylaxis ie can I ever eat guac again

So I've been trying to think of a way to still be able to snack on vegetables instead of chips and candy. My issue is, things like fully steamed broccoli just don't seem like a snack food.

Completely raw broccoli (and most other fruits and veg) makes my lips tingle, the back of my throat and tongue inch and swell in a very minor way. I was told by my doctor that this could turn anaphylactic at any point, so even though currently it's just a minor nuisance it's not worth the risk. Cooking vegetables and fruits changes the proteins or some such thing and allows me to eat them with no issue.

My question then is, has anyone who has a similar allergy had success essentially flash steaming (for lack of a better term) vegetables? Like just a few minutes to where they are closer to raw than cooked? I'm not entirely sure to what degree they need to be cooked for the change to take place that allows me to eat them. I know canned fruits and veg are fine because they are cooked to a certain extent, just not sure how well they are cooked in the canning process.

I want to be plant-based because it's so much better for the planet and I hate the thought of any harm coming to an animal, but I have severe oral allergy syndrome and am yeast-intolerant.

Basically all plant matter needs to be thoroughly cooked (fruits, veggies, nuts) and all added yeast is a no-no, whether it's for the umami flavor, leavening, or as a preservative.

Is it possible to go plant-based without my entire life revolving around trying to meet my nutritional needs?

Oral Allergy Syndrome, sometimes referred to as Pollen Fruit Syndrome (PFS) is the result of your immune system confusing proteins found in different fruits with proteins found in certain kinds of pollen. This can result in an allergic reaction to the raw fruit, but cooked fruits are often safe as the protein is broken down.

Unlike traditional vaccines, mRNA vaccines help your body produce a protein that triggers an immune response. Would people with OAS be at risk for additional/more severe adverse reactions? Are mRNA vaccines like to be more effective, less effective, or is there no correlation/causation between OAS and mRNA vaccines?

Hi everyone, for a good portion of my life I've been allergic to pollen in some fruits and veggies. When I was younger, it caused some mouth tingling, but then eventually evolved into abdominal cramps. Whenever I try to do research online of the different pollen categories, I'm left confused. Why does broccoli sometimes give me a reaction, but carrots almost never cause allergies? All the foods I get reactions to are in groups of foods I'm not allergic to which is very confusing. It's very difficult to find consistent results because those results are always changing.

It's a long one, but very informative! This is a new condition for me, so learning as much as I can.

https://youtu.be/C93KzqAxeOE

I'm a white 42 year old woman and eating raw apples makes my lips tingle, but I really like apples. Is this a situation where the reaction will get worse if I don't stop, or can I keep enjoying apples?

Thanks in advance!

just fyi i’m not going to go into any detail abt the negative side of my relationship with food but it will be mentioned. for the past year & 1/2 or so I struggled with restrictive/disordered eating. i was never hospitalized & most of my family doesn’t know, just my therapist & a few close friends. i was never drastically underweight but i had a very unhealthy relationship with food

starting when i was about 11/12 i went to sleep away camp in another state. i had been going to this camp for like 3 years at this point & this summer seemed normal until i started to get seemingly random reactions to food. i was told it was the pesticides that i wasn’t used to. But when they didn’t stop when i came home I got a little more worried. my parents didn’t NOT believe me but they didn’t really take me seriously bc i was the third child & a picky eater so they just assumed i was making excuses for not wanting to eat fruits & vegetables.

my allergies went back & forth between bad & fine for a while until i was 14/15 & my lips starting to be affected. i already had lips problems where my lips had a red ring around them & i was SO fucking embarrassed abt it. (this was also a little before the mask mandate which felt like a godsend at the time). My parents finally took me to the allergist about 8 months afterwards.

My restrictive eating was finally getting better & i had actually started to eat what i wanted pretty much guilt free when my allergies got so bad that i had to cut out all fruits and vegetables. it felt like a sign from the universe that i should go back to not eating & that was a really yucky feeling. how do i stay healthy & eat what i want without being able to eat all fruits (except for grapefruit for some reason) and most vegetables (except for cooked spinach, asparagus, & brussel sprouts).

Thank you so much for reading i’m sorry for this being so long.

TLDR: restricted/disordered eating coinciding with food allergies. how do i stay healthy?

I’m a long-time sufferer of pretty severe tree and grass allergies. I used to have allergy induced asthma that sent me to the ER once, but with years of allergy shots and inhaler usage that’s no longer an issue. However, over the past couple of years I’ve started to notice that fruits that I once loved are starting to really bother me. It started with apples, which would make my sinuses in my ears and throat itch. I then started noticing it with other fruits like watermelon, banana, and peaches.

It’s been getting worse as time goes on. I had a handful of cherries last night that left me with a stomachache, intensely itchy sinuses, and almost lead to a migraine (luckily I took my migraine meds before it could really hit). I’ve been reading about oral allergy syndrome and that’s what it seems is happening to me, but the symptoms of that seem to be mostly itching in the mouth. My symptoms are more sinus focused, with my throat and inside my ears (like Eustachian tube area) being affected the most.

My first question is: is this probably just a bad case of OAS, or could I possibly have developed a primary allergy to some fruit?

My second question: are there any therapies or preventatives or anything else I could do to mitigate this? I LOVE all fruit, but I’m basically down to just citrus and berries that I can eat without making myself miserable.

Thanks for the help!

Ive never eaten healthy due to a plethora of sensory issues that make me a super picky eater, likely due to my autism. The healthiest things i ate were pomegranates, kiwi, and apples. I LOVE pomegranates. If i knew i had 10 minutes left to live id spend it eating a pomegranate. But nooooooooo. Im allergic to them. Every fruit ive put in my mouth makes my mouth and throat unbearably itchy, and makes my ears swell up. So i cant risk eating any fruit unless i have liquid benadryl on standby in case the swelling decides to affect my throat as well. I just want to eat fruit again 😭

I'm not a vegan, let me say this right off the bat.. but I am not adverse to eating vegan foods. However, I've always been hesitant to delve too deeply because I have oral allergy syndrome and I feel like I'd be eating close to nothing if I tried to go vegan because of it. Oral allergy syndrome is basically when you are allergic to the pollen in some fruits, vegetables, and nuts. It affects everyone differently. For me, I can't eat raw cherries, plums, pineapples, strawberries, mangoes, raspberries, apples, broccoli, carrots, celery, potatoes (ofc we don't eat them raw but touching a raw potato causes a reaction so I rarely cook them), almonds, peanuts, walnuts, and a ton of stuff I'm probably forgetting. Since it's only the allergy to pollen, if I cook them it takes the allergen away. It's not fatal, but my mouth will throb and itch insanely if I ingest any of these. For me, this is a conundrum because a lot of healthy eating contains these foods. For example, snacking on fruits and raw carrots, etc. I mean, nobody is going to cook their fruits into mushy pulps before eating unless they're making sweets. So for me, it feels like going vegan would be tough unless I relegate myself to a very strict (and tbh boring sounding) diet. I am passionate about food, it's one of my greatest pleasures in life so if I were to eat only the same few things all the time, it would make me depressed. How would you guys suggest this would be possible while still keeping variety?

I just got allergy tested today because I thought I was becoming allergic to things like kiwi, tomato, cantaloupe, bananas, etc but turns out it's OAS from allergies to just about every kind of tree, weed, and grass :') I have pretty bad fall and spring time allergies that usually lead to back-to-back sinus infections, so it makes sense. The doctor recommended allergy shots, which I'm a little apprehensive about; having to go in weekly seems like a huge pain in the you know what. Could they help with OAS or will it just help with the hay fever type symptoms?

Has anyone else on here had oral allergy syndrome too? There are a lot of fruits and vegetables that I cant eat anymore bc im really allergic to the pollen that's in them. They make my mouth itchy and if I know im reacting to them in my mouth, my eoe is going to flare up bad. Anyone else had something like this?

Has anyone mixed these up...or have both? Lately, my symptom triggers have been things like fruits, vegetables, legumes.

Background: Had been a healthy and active person maintaining a primarily whole foods plant-based diet but in December, I started to experience heartburn-like symptoms including tightness/pain in chest and esophagus after eating. After going to a gastroenterologist, I was put on Omeprazole since they suspected it was acid reflux or LPR/GERD-related and was told to cut out trigger foods (many of which I wasn't eating anyway like dairy, chocolate, processed fatty foods, etc).

Since then, have been following the medical and diet protocol and also been tracking food pretty closely for patterns. Lately, I've noticed that symptoms came on after consuming foods that had been staples in my diet (before the heartburn and during the 'management' phase of it) like apples, almonds, lentils, broccoli and cauliflower. BUT I feel no symptoms after I eat cereal or candy...which I have only turned to because, ironically, everything healthy makes me feel horrible.

This led me down the Google rabbithole where I landed on Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS) and Pollen Food Allergy Syndrome (PFAS). The symptoms and triggers line up with my recent experience but it doesn't make sense to me that I would have a sudden onset of this if I had been eating these foods pretty consistently before this and while managing my heartburn symptoms over the past two months.

Curious if anyone has had a similar experience and where they netted out with management or diagnosis?

TL;DR - Been on PPI since December managing heartburn symptoms and suddenly getting heartburn/chest and esophagus tightness after eating fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. Trying to figure out if it's truly LPR/GERD or an allergic reaction or otherwise!

Thanks!

Hi all. My coach hasn't had any good suggestions. I even saw a professional nutritionist once, and that also didn't go so well (she mostly got mad at me that I couldn't use any of her many carefully researched monthly meal plans). I'm constantly super hungry, and as a busy mom to a toddler, preschooler, and elementary age kids I need fast, easy options for healthy green snacks and breakfast that are safe for me to eat with my allergies/intolerances, all while I'm the midst of pandemic schooling chaos at home.

I’ve got pretty bad seasonal pollen allergies, but I can usually help tamper them with a couple weeks of (3/day) regional raw honey in my tea or bee pollen bits as a topping on various foods. I was talking with a friend who has oral allergy syndrome (quite bad, can cause their throat to close up which in turn triggers an asthma attack), and we were thinking that maybe bee pollen could help them out too? Has anyone tried this? I’d love to help my friend out, but I would also rather not send them to the hospital by just trying it out. I haven’t been able to find any thing online about bee pollen and OAS specifically so if anyone has any personal experience, that’d be most helpful, thank you!

I had some watermelon seed butter and my throat burned I barley had ANY and my fingers tingled It was really bad. .. I’m okay jw what was going on? It was like eating a chilly pepper

Hello!!

I have oral allergy syndrome to so many fruits and vegetables and I’ve never really tried hard to find something that would keep the symptoms at bay.

Does anyone have any great solutions (prescribed or OTC) to help with the mouth itchiness?

So I’m allergic to the pollen in cannabis I guess and they said I have to stop smoking???! I don’t want to. Any other smokers who have OAS and have continued to smoke regardless???

Hey, wondering if any Redditors could help me here.

I’ve had OAS since around the age of 17 (I’m 25 now) It never used to bother me because I enjoy eating crap, but I’ve decided it’s time to eat healthier! But now thanks to this, It’s I can’t (Well..I can but it’s very uncomfortable).

I’m aware that I can eat heated, cooked, tinned fruit and veg etc. but you can’t beat fresh uncooked fruit.

Basically what I’m wondering is, do any of you have any tips or advice on dealing with OAS, suppressing the effects of eating fruit/veg (itchy lips, scratchy throat, swollen lips etc.)

All I want do is eat fruit and veg again lol

So last night was day 11 after my negative test, and day 20 after my diagnosis (but have been fighting symptoms since December 15). I currently am still fighting bi-lateral pneumonia, a host of neurological symptoms, no sleep, and now this.

Every time I have tried to eat food in the last 24 hours, my mouth starts uncontrollably itching, and I end up with burn like sores around my lips and the inside of my cheeks.

I tried taking Zyrtec and Benadryl yesterday morning, and last night went nuclear with the codeine/promethazine with no relief.

I’m on steroids and HONGRY. Any advice?

I've had really bad environmental allergies my entire life, and in the last 5 years or so it's caused a really bad version of oral allergy syndrome, where the pollen that breeds fruits and vegetables causes itching and swelling of the mouth, lips, and in my case, esophagus. Has anybody else figured out how to join the world of salads but been blocked by this? Any tips?

Some background: I have extremely bad allergies. Nothing that will kill me, but by God, it hurts so much. My childhood was just me staying inside because of pollen seasons and having peeling eyelids. About 4 years ago, my first food allergy was to cherries, then a couple years later to apples, and then peaches. Eventually I became allergic to everything in the peach family so I avoided them. The thing is, I started feeling the burning/tingling on my tongue to other foods that weren’t in the peach family. I remember eating cauliflower or hazelnuts and having that weird sensation. I would tell my parents and grandparents but they would tell me it’s my imagination or I’m overthinking it.

Lately, at work, my coworker has been on my case about my allergies and my back (car accident). She keeps saying I’m not in that much pain because I’m so young(I’m 18). It made me feel like my pain wasn’t valid unless I was older.

When I got a very bad reaction to what we thought was mango, my dad decided enough was enough and we went to an allergist. (My dad always believed me when I told him a my allergies). We described the symptoms and she said it sounded like I have oral food allergy syndrome. She skeptical because I listed so many foods so I got worried that it really was all in my head. We brought plum, pear, green apple, red apple, nectarine, mango, peach, cauliflower, hazelnuts, almonds, celery, cherries, and kiwi. I reacted to all of them except mango. When they told me that I did react, I actually felt super relieved. I had felt crazy for almost 4-5 years because something felt wrong with me! And when I came into work that day, drugged out from the amount of allergy pain meds they gave me, I was able to shove the pictures of my reactions and foods in her face. Of course she felt bad about it but it still felt nice to show her that young people feel pain too.

All-in-all, I’m happy that I haven’t been somehow overreacting my pain. I’m happy I’m not crazy! I did have obvious reactions, like swelling and bleeding lips, rashes, tongue turning bright red, etc. which should have been proof enough. Its just being told over and over again by close family that I’m overthinking everything.

I would be more upset about not being able to eat my favorite fruits but there’s a cure! 5 years of injections, but I’m patient. I’ve had allergies my whole life so I don’t mind waiting a few years to get better. I’m happy to finally have a diagnosis! Though my doctors are stunned b

For years I've been trying to find a way to enjoy the taste of a strawberry banana smoothie without having my lips swell up and my whole mouth be itchy, and FINALLY I HAVE FOUND THE SOLUTION! The brand "Naked" sells jugs of smoothie and since the fruits aren't exactly fresh and are a bit processed they don't agitate my allergy. If you didn't already know this I highly suggest trying it, it's honestly amazing.

Cherries, apples, nectarines, and peaches are all my favourite fruit and I can’t have any of them due to the itchy/burning lips and throat just after a few bites. Does anybody else have this??

I can't eat 90% of fruits. Most veggies and treat nuts. Usually, it's only raw but in some cases even cooked veggies and fruits ( like apple crisp and banana bread) trigger reactions. The older I get the more sensitive I seem to get.

has anyone ever tried allergy shots for this with luck? Or any other remedies?

I'm curious about this and what your experiences have been with allergy shots.