Food allergies

Can food allergies cause diarrhea and/or vomiting?  Also, what are some other symptoms of food allergies?  How soon after ingesting the food item do they appear?  I have not been able to figure out what it is that I think I am allergic to.  Along with vomiting and diarrhea I will break out in hives and start having an asthma attack.  Please help - I can't get in to an allergist for several weeks.

[Nanny]

I would look to other causes for diarrhea and vomiting other than food allergies unless this is a new food that you have tried and never had before.  Usually these adverse reactions to foods that someone is allergic to show up in early childhood.  Have you just tried something totally new, or is there the possiblity that something else could be causing this problem?  Is this a continuing problem or was it a one time occurance?

Nanny

[GvilleRea]

Sorry Nancy, your remarks to S***** were not correct.  One often grows into and out of alleries. You don't have to have had them as a child.  New food allergies can give you diarreah (diarrhea), hives, servere breathing problems etc.  I have a friend who is now allergic to (of all things) watermelon!  She ate it as a child and adult.  Her allergies just began recently.  She was tested and watermelon is one of the big no-no's. I am highly allergic to cats.  I had a cat as a child and as an adult.  Then in my 30's I was hospitalized three times for severe allergic reation to something.  Turned out to be cat.  Dogs dont bother me.  Second to cat is rabbits.  I learned that one last summer when an old friend introduced me to her pet rabbit.  Lives in the house, uses a litter box, and chews.  Any way I was playing with it and within five minutes I thought I was going to die.  I did my de-cat routine and it saved me.  She could have new allergies.

[Nanny]

Thanks for the correction.  I was not aware of this.  If that's the case, maybe a daily food intake diary might help to pinpoint the offending food (or external substances should be noted, such as as animal dander or fur) until the allergist can test more accurately.

[gregd64]

Nanny is wrong..  !!!!  My uncle was 36 before he became allergic to wheat, he had your symptoms and it took months for the doctors to figure it out.