Severe food allergies, good times for all

Synapse

I don't know if anyone else has experience with food allergies on these boards, but it's worth a shot to ask.

This is long, I know, but I rather desperately need some advice from anywhere I can get it (I'm scouring the internet, making appointments, asking in other places).

Here it is:

I've always had food allergies, though only to a limited group of foods for most of my life: Tree nuts, MSG, shell fish.

When I was sixteen I had a series of severe reactions (hospital stay and epipen fun-time included with each) to cereal, yogurt and tomatoes. I had several tests done, and walked away with a few more new foods to avoid: tomato, citrus, yogurt, dairy, wheat, rye.

Around the age of twenty, my wheat and dairy allergies seemed to have subsided, and I chalked it all up to hormonal changes, as no one had an answer anyhow. I still stuck to a fairly strict diet, and didn't have any big problems (though plenty of close calls, resolved by larger doses of benadryl).

I am now twenty five, and in the past two months my allergies have grown out of control; I'm allergic to pretty much everything i put in my body. I've been preparing my own food for years now, hadn't changed anything in the diet, wasn't under any abnormal stress, I don't take any medication besides benadryl when needed. I'm down to chicken, beef, broccoli and lettuce as a diet, no spices, no oils. I'm still having seemingly random reactions.

To clarify; these aren't the simple itchy, break out in hives, pop an antihistamine and you're fine type; these are severe, throat closing allergies. I know the process of anaphylaxis from previous experience. Every time I react to a food now (three weeks ago it was corn, cut that out; two weeks ago it was rice, cut that out), the reaction itself is far worse than ever was typical; throat becomes stressed, begins to swell, sometimes breathing becomes taxed. I take benadryl in response, and minty gums help (though i don't know why). I did go to the hospital recently when I felt i'd nearly need to inject myself with epinephrine (cucumbers this time), asking instead for prednisone.

I'm running out of things to eat. I'm already naturally very thin. I don't like taking antihistamines all the time, waiting for them to ease these very real and very scary threats. This has become, essentially, life threatening. What would cause this kind of change in the body/immune system? Why would my allergies flare so severely and completely, with seemingly no provocation and in such a compact amount of time?

Cancer?
Bacterial infection?
Some other severe disease I've not heard of (I've researched Hypereosinophilia, but that's about it)?

I've gone back to an allergist (did skin prick tests, confirmed all of my known allergies and added a few more on top), he seemed unconcerned/ignorant so I need to find another (competent and caring). I'm sending in a GI tract health test to a naturalist doctor i went to long ago (one of the few doctors I've talked to that cared to really ask thorough questions and have a real discussion, but this was for other stomach issues), but that will take up to two weeks and he's out of town until the 23rd.

I live around Los Angeles. Is there a specialized clinic/specific allergist or practitioner in California that anyone has experience with? I can't travel by plane since I have to prepare all of my food, and I have severe peanut and nut allergies (yes, even to the dust in the air).

Any new suggestions at all would be helpful.

Bendery It Like Beckham

Hypereosinophilia; I have this in reaction to food allergies. it impairs my ability to absorb nutrients from food, not breath though, so I'm not sure about any other reactions

Could be environmental or what you are preparing your foods in. Did you recently switch dish soaps? possible molds in your house where you store your food? Bugs? (even the cleanest houses can have these problems)

As for doctors, I was under a pretty close watch by Doctor Bastion (he did all my allergy tests) and Dr. Ranjan Dohil (He was my GI doctor who gave me a diagnosis)

Both of these doctors practice out of the San Diego Children's hospital though. You can probably contact them and find out information for a doctor that fits your age range.

Infact: come to think of it I believe they were both conducting a joint study on allergies and Hypereosinophilia, if you can get a eosinaphil count, they'd probably be interested.

HK5

Try getting a referral through UCLA? They have the best hospital on the west coast and might be your best bet for finding a good specialist. Sounds like you really need the specialized care at this point since you're going through such dramatic, dangerous changes. A little searching shows that the UCLA department of clinical immunology and allergy has a westwood and a santa monica office.

Westwood Community Practice Group Location:
Medical Specialty Suites
200 UCLA Medical Plaza, Suite 365 B-C
Los Angeles, Ca 90095
Office Hours: 8:00 am - 5:00pm
(310) 825-6011 Information and referral


Santa Monica Community Practice Group Location:
1245 16th Street, Suite #309
Santa Monica, Ca 90404
Office Hours: 8:00am - 5:00pm
(310) 319-4371 Information and referral, Santa Monica

Hope that helps! I have zero personal experience with allergies myself but I had good experiences with the medical services there while I was doing undergrad at UCLA.

Synapse

I had an ESO count in a blood test over a year ago that was within normal range. I suspect that can change pretty suddenly though, and I'm sure I could use a new blood test.

As for environment: I moved back in with my parents in may. They have no carpet, and we all keep it incredibly clean. Dogs are outside ( i don't interact with them much as they are old and blind). I have bad mold allergies, but growing up here never had a problem.

As for food prep, like i mentioned above I don't use any oils now. I usually bake my food. I always wash everything thoroughly. I use the same detergents and body soaps I always have (i'm a person of habit and order out of necessity).

I'll definitely look into those doctors in San Diego. Thanks.

Hypatia

The only thing that's coming to mind is maybe the potential freshness of the things you're eating? Not that I'm an allergies expert but I started having reactions (throat closing up, stomach pains, swollen lips and throat, hives) to a bunch of raw fruits and vegetables and one of the things I got told was that the pollen count in them was greater because a lot of fruits and veggies get picked before they're ripe and they ripen while they're shipped, which makes the pollen count huge. They told me I'd be safer if I ate only really really fresh fruit/veggies that had just been picked.

Not that this explains your yogurt/wheat/etc, maybe everything is treated with some chemical? Have you tried growing your own stuff to see if you still have a reaction?

MurphysParadox

I did read a recent article that spoke of a very off-the-beaten-path research into allergies and the treatment there of. It has been shown that allergies rise in occurrence rate and severity the more one moves from '3rd world' to '1st world'. One correlation that can be determined was that the rate of parasite infections drops in rough inverse proportion to the allergy rates.

Studies done lately have actually found that intentional infection of a person with, say, 5-10 hook worms significantly reduces allergic reactions (in some cases actually removing them). Hookworms aren't great, but that's usually because people in bad areas would get dozens to hundreds of them and have no medical resources to handle the infestation.

Obviously, you would need to find one of the doctors currently investigating the procedures and study up on it, but... if it is a few hookworms in a strictly controlled environment or having your diet continue to be restricted...

Here's an article which includes Dr. Homer Boushey, chief of Allergy/Immunology Division at UCSF Medical Center, and several people who have gone for hookworm therapy: http://wcco.com/watercooler/hookworm.treatment.therapy.2.1015550.html

I'm sure some additional research will lead more results with better specifics (I found that article with 1 minute of "hookworm allergy therapy" searching).

greyson

I have food and inhalent allergies and the best/only thing that worked is EPD (enzyme potentiated desnsitization) which is now called LDA (low dose allergen) in its US incarnation. It is very effective , but takes a while to really work. Something I want to try is Hookworm infection and the best source is http://autoimmunetherapies.com/. It is pretty close to you, so you may want to check them out. Google "Hygiene Hypothesis" for more info on this therapy.