Allergy to sour food after breast cancer

[believer3232]

hi,
My mother who is 57 yrs old had suffered from breast cancer about 12 yrs back. she undergone all the treatment including total removal of breast + chemotherapy and radiotherapy. After treatment she got well except swollen left arm, which doctors said happened due to removal of lymphatic channels and she was told not to put any strain on that arm but she did.
Now since last few years, she developed some kind of allergy which she thinks is from sour food. its to the extent that even 1--2 drops of lemon or any sour agent in food could trigger.
symptoms which includes, redness in that swollen arm then high grade fever with weakness and body ache.
it remains for few days..
I would like to know why its happening and what is the treatment.
is there anyone out here experienced same problem ?  

please advise.

Thanks alot.

[believer3232]

Thanks for the suggestion.
I guess if Allopathic medicine has no permanent cure for such type of allergies, other schools like Homeopathic or Herbal or Chinese should have it.
I would request to all reading this thread and about any such treatment, pls let me know on my email, ***@****.

I'll appreciate.
thanks alot.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

There is no permanent cure for allergies.Medicines like antihistaminics,corticosteroids etc are aimed at providing symptomatic relief after allergy occurs.

One thing which can be done to prevent allergies is to take allergy shots. These are not generally considered mainstream treatment for food allergies because there effectiveness in food allergy is doubtful,but neutralization and low dose immunotherapy has been found to have some efficacy in treating food allergies.Pls discuss this option with an allergist.

Hope it helps.Take care and regards.

[believer3232]

Hi,

thank you so much for the useful information that you shared.
As you said my mother would need to avoid citric acid incase of allergic to it. Do you know if there is any treatment available so that she can get rid of this allergy ?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,

In cases of an allergic reaction,the lymph nodes swell up to act against the allergens.This is a normal protective mechanism of body.In cases of lymph node removal due to breast cancer this cannot occur.So an important line of defense being gone,the body shows various symptoms in case of an allergic reaction some of which your mother is showing.

You can check out whether your mother is allergic to sour food or citric acid in sour foods by getting allergy tests done by an allergy specialist.These include skin ***** tests,blood tests like RAST and food challenge test.If your mother is found to be allergic to sour food,then avoidance of citric acid in any form,even hidden ingredients have to be avoided.

If an allergic reaction unfortunately occurs,then antihistaminics like benadryl and corticosteroids are needed.

I hope I have provided you with sufficient information. If you need any more, then pls post us.

Regards and God bless.