Food Allergy?

Hi,

I am trying to make sense of some symptoms I had, and I think that they either relate to food I ate or a drug I took. A couple of weeks ago, I took some Theraflu, hot, lemon flavored in a packet form. About 20 minutes later, I had a beer, and shortly thereafter I ate some Chinese Food.

Shortly after eating my dinner, I came home and laid down. Suddenly, I started feeling a shortness of breath, and some difficulty breathing.  This was followed by a numb or swollen sensation in my tongue, and my face felt weird, particularly around my jaw (not on my neck). The wierdness could be best described as a numb sensation, the same feeling you get when a dentist injects your jaw a freezing mechanism. My eyes also started to water and I mucous came from my nose. Perhaps a slight sore throat, did not feel feverish.

After a few hours, the breathing became normalized and feeling came back to my face, and tongue. The next day my eyes were very red and people at work said my eyes looked "puffed" out.  Total symptoms subsided after a day or two.

Anyways, I have take Theraflu in the past and don't recall this reaction, nor have I ever had this reaction to CHinese food, particularly the dish I ate, which I had eaten in the past without a reaction. Actually, I went back to the same restaurant, had Chinese food, did not have the Therflu or the Beer and had no reaction.

This scares me, so your help is appreciated.

[David Tinkelman, M.D.]

What you describe suggests that you had an allergic reaction.  Assuming that you drink beer on a regular basis (the brand of beer that you had that night), we can probably eliminate the beer as a direct cause.  However, the beer ingredients, including but not limited to alcohol, might have combined with the medication and hastened the absorption of the Theraflu so that you got a sudden burst (resulting in a high level) of one or more of the Theraflu ingredients into your blood stream.  And the speed of absorption could have been further enhanced by your taking both beer and Theraflu, on an “empty stomach.”

That leaves the Chinese food and the medication. Consider the process of exclusion.  I suggest that you first speak to the restaurant chef or manager to find out if they might have recently changed the recipe of the dish you at that night or, if in the kitchen, your dish might have contaminated by food from another dish on the menu, for example resulting in the introduction of peanuts.  

That leaves the Theraflu.  Many adverse side effects, including the ones you experienced have been described.  That you have taken the drug in the past, with no unpleasant side effects is no guarantee that it alone could finally cause an allergic reaction.  You should discuss this with your doctor at the first opportunity, but should you feel the need to take this drug again, I suggest that you begin with a very reduced dose (1/4 or less of the recommended dose), do not combine it with alcohol and do not take it on an empty stomach.

Good luck

[JOE22913]

Sorry, just trying to gain a sense of what caused this and what course of action, if any you suggest that I take.

Joe

[JOE22913]

Thanks for getting back to me.

I just wanted to reiterate that Theraflu was taken first, followed by beer and then Chinese Food. The reaction came about 15 minutes after I had eaten and maybe an hour after I first took the Theraflu. The "burst (reaction?)" as you say would have occurred after eating, not on an empty stomach.

For what it is worth, I eat peanuts all the time, (fish - including shellfish) soy and don't recall much of reaction if any at all.

Don't know if this changes or affects your opinion. Thank you for your insight into the problem.  I have been told my some people that my symptoms sounds like Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. Don't know if this sound reasonable in your professional opinion.

Thanks

[javed520]

Once I took food containing shrimp in chinese restaurant and 15 minutes after the food I started feeling loss of breathing, swelling/numbness feeling on my face which started spreading out to lower body. I got fainted and I called my family doctor on phone who advised me to take antihistamine immediately and then take decadran (steriods) injection. I followed and hardly succeeded to drive back to a hospital where Doctor told that I had developed an allergic reaction from food. Later I went for allergy test and found that i was having maximum level of allergy from shrimp which I had taken in food.

May be my experience would help you in some ways

[worshipgirl71]

A related discussion, To Joe was started.

[gigie75]

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