Adult-Onset Allergies, Food Sensitivity, Elimination Diets, &c., &c.

so in the past 6 to 8 months, my boyfriend seems to have developed some allergic symptoms -- including some increased respiratory issues and some skin issues (namely, some rosacea-looking redness and a patch of eczema). he's begun taking OTC allergy meds, which have improved his breathing, but the skin reactions are unaffected. he's just been to the allergist, but won't get the test results for 2 weeks. notably, he's never had any history of allergies, so this is new and kinda troubling for us.

In an effort to find some underlying cause to these issues, he's decided that he wants to attempt an 'elimination diet' to see if dropping certain types foods have an effect on his condition. in support, i've agreed to join him in this.

i already know what some of you are going to say: that a lot of the information around food sensitivities (or 'intolerances') is pure quackery; that self-diagnosis is hugely problematic. i largely agree with this. but in the absence of medical solutions here, i'm trying to see this diet as something that may help / couldn't hurt. and an elimination diet might help me break some cravings i could do without anyway.

so: what are your experiences with this stuff? can you offer any tips or suggestions? any good (reliable) sources of information? any help appreciated.

should note that when he started on claritin, his eczema & redness disappeared for like a day, then returned. so this makes me think that it's allergy related but idk.

... anybody? no?

Any recent changes in soap, shampoo, cleaners, detergent?

eh, no major changes there that i can think of, but it's something to consider i guess.

fwiw i asked this on ILE because i simply don't trust the crazies on holistic health sites, but idk

i've had fairly severe allergy attacks over the past 3 or 4 years. full blown anaphylactic shock type things- i still have no idea what i'm allergic to. although i gave up going for allergy tests because i thought it was kind of silly.

a lot of doctors don't check for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastocytosis

um i guess my only advice would be to look for patterns in things. i've always had attacks either on bike rides or when i've been super hot or doing some sort of excercise- so if you're getting tested for allergies try to recreate the circumstances that cause you to display your symptoms the most.

in terms of diet, i've been told im mildly allergic to dairy and wheat despite having eaten both my whole life. i cut it out for a long time, didn't make a difference, i didn't expect it to, it was just a good excuse to jump on the nutrition nazi thing.

anyway, good luck, allergies are weird things

About 10 years ago I had an allergic reaction to pine nuts after my wife bought a mungo-sized container of them at sams club and put them in everything for a few days. Itchy rash on hands and arms, lips swollen out like a cartoon. I asked the doc if I could get allergy tested and he said (in different words) that allergy testing is a pain in the ass and they might not even have an easy test for pine nut allergies. Just try not to eat pine nuts, was his closing advice.

This week I got a bad rash on my hands. My initial consult with an urgent care doc led him to believe it was contact dermatitis, but the heavy duty coritizone cream he prescribed didn't work and later in the week it spread to other parts of my body. A different urgent care doc said that I might have food allergies. The fact that I've been hitting the claritin and benedryl hard for the past month to keep my hay fever at bay probably kept the allergic reaction from getting dangerously out of hand. I'm on prednisone now, so we'll see where that goes.

Last week I had made a huge dietary change: attempting to quit processed sugars. To try to stave off sugar cravings, I stocked up on high protein snacks - in particular cashews and sunflower seeds, both of which I've had in the past without event. I wasn't gobbling them up in large quantities at one time, but 1/4 cup here and a 1/4 cup there maybe pushed me over the edge or something? I dunno. Definitely going to call an allergist on Monday though.