Berry Allergy or Pesticides

[terrab]

So my son loves berries. Loves, loves, loves them. Eats them all the time. Blueberries and strawberries are his favorite. But last week, out of the blue he broke out in hives after eating some blueberries. He ate some again a couple days later and had the same reaction. This morning, he ate 2 strawberries and it happened again. First he got really itchy and then he broke out in bright red blotches. His paediatrician is away for 2 weeks and doesn't really have a backup, so I can't get a referral to an allergist for at least two weeks. From what I've read it could be an allergy to berries or to the pesticides on berries. Has anyone else experienced this?? Berries are seriously his favorite food in the entire world so I'm really hoping that he hasn't developed an allergy to them.

[jacinda]

To be on the safe side, I'd avoid giving him any more berries while the paediatrician is away. No one is allergic to something they've never tasted. The body has to have been exposed to it before. For some reason the immune system reclassifies a particular food/allergen as being dangerous to the body, even though that person has eaten it before with no problems. The next time it enters the body, it triggers the red flag for danger, and the allergic response starts. Allergic reactions can get worse each time, especially when it's a new allergy starting. Now that the body has decided to treat the food/pesticide as an allergen, it will recognise it straight away, and the attacks might get really serious a lot quicker than you think. It's a worse case scenario, but you want to be careful and only expose him to the allergen under controlled conditions from here on in just to be safe.

[terrab]

Thank you, Jacinda. You're definitely right. I'm not going to give him any more berries until we get this sorted out. I had no idea it could be berries in general or I wouldn't have given him strawberries this morning.

[YepBrook]

I Googled it and yes... It does appear that you can suddenly develop an allergy to berries... That includes bananas. Specifically, I read that Strawberries have a high levels of histamines in them. You might want to just give him Benedryl for the reaction (it's an antihistamine) and stop feeding him berries for a few days then try again. He might have consumed too many and his immune system might be lower right now for some reason? One one website I read is a good warning that sudden allergies can be pretty scary... http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=606734

Hope this helps, Terra.

[jacinda]

Well you did better than me. I wouldn't even have thought of the pesticide part of it.

[BrattyMeg]

I have a berry allergy myself..it sucks. I still eat strawberries here or there and take benadryl since my reaction is just hives...I don't touch other berries though

You can soak the berries in a water/vinegar mixture (I do 1 part vinegar to 5 parts water) to clean them well. I'd do that then retry the berries to see if maybe it was a pesticide allergy instead. It also prolongs the life of the berries

[mariewilcox]

Sadly you can become allergic to things after eating them for years with no problem. I grew up eating shellfish and then when I was about 21 I ate a shrimp and have a bad reaction. About a month later I had lobster and nearly DIED! The doctor told me then that our bodies go through changes and even if we have eaten something with no problems for years our bodies can decided they don't like them anymore.

If it is the pesticides then at least you will be able to buy organic berries, so that would be good if it was the pesticides, but the down side is that pesticides are on everything non-organic so he would be allergic to numerous fruits and vegetables unless they were 100% organic.

[hollyxann]

I'm allergic to berries. I can normally handle about a handful but after that I break out in hives everywhere and itch. Benedryl normally takes it all away.

[erica zane]

I can't eat raw apples anymore (and sometimes grapes & strawberries) without my throat getting super itchy. Hazlenuts too & I grew up eating all that with no problem. I also know someone who developed a severe watermelon allergy in their teens...so yeah, it can be random & sudden.

[eranslow]

What a bummer Terra! Both my boys are allergic to something (Blake - peanuts, Landon - milk) so I know how much it sucks to deal with food allergies! I hope you get it figured out soon!

[lilusmom]

My sister-in-law is very allergic to blueberries. For some reason blueberries seem to be really hard on people. She can have other berries though.

[terrab]

So after depriving my son of his favorite blueberries for the past week and cutting all berries out of his diet this week, I have discovered that he isn't actually sensitive or allergic to berries at all. The reaction is from his daily vitamin! It appears that he is sensitive to Niacin which is the form of B3 used in the vitamins that we started giving him earlier in the month. Prior to that, he had been taking vitamins that had the Niacinamide form of B3, which does not cause the same reaction. So glad to finally know what is going on and relieved that he can still eat his favorite berries.

[YepBrook]

Originally Posted by terrab

So after depriving my son of his favorite blueberries for the past week and cutting all berries out of his diet this week, I have discovered that he isn't actually sensitive or allergic to berries at all. The reaction is from his daily vitamin! It appears that he is sensitive to Niacin which is the form of B3 used in the vitamins that we started giving him earlier in the month. Prior to that, he had been taking vitamins that had the Niacinamide form of B3, which does not cause the same reaction. So glad to finally know what is going on and relieved that he can still eat his favorite berries.

Oh, wow! So glad you got that figured out. And what a relief he can still have his favorite fruits!!

[jacinda]

Yay! Now that's a result I'm glad to hear about!

[Jenn Barrette]

So glad you figured it out!

[sigmakap95]

Glad it's not the berries..... was gonna say that I was 'allergic' to strawberries for just one Summer when I was a teen.... had always eaten them, but for some reason, just that Summer, I would break out with even just one. The next Summer...nothing - and nothing since - so weird!