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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why am I allergic to chicken and turkey?
« on: 09/01/2019 06:16:19 »
I just want to echo the sentiments of toinfinitiandbeyond.
I also have suspected the hormones as the cause for quite some time.
I've also had this allergy my entire life. Intense chest pains, headaches, and the feeling that blood pressure is rising in my head. I feel like the veins in my head are bulging out, but they aren't actually visibly anyway. For me the reaction starts almost instantly. After about 24 hours I'm back to about 95% normal and within 2 days the reaction is gone. I can't swallow well when it happens but not to the point of needing a spitting cup as some here do. I've never had a feeling that it was impacting my ability to breathe. I've never gone to the ER but there are a few times I probably should have now that I understand more about the reaction and the risks. I now carry an Epi-Pen but have yet to use it.
I had hundreds of allergies as a kid. I was allergic to literally everything they skin tested me for, which didn't include poultry. (Early '70s) I took weekly injections for my allergies and outgrew most of them. This one is one I never outgrew. My father always encouraged me to try once a year, in part because he never really believed me and thought I just didn't like poultry and was using it to get out of eating it, and in part because he hoped I would outgrow it. So I've had this reaction at least 50 times or more I would guess throughout my life either accidentally or through trial. (My alergest tells me I'm toying with death by trying this and that I should never do it, so I don't anymore and I don't advise it.) For those who suggest Salmonella poisoning, no way, that wouldn't happen literally every time (with a few exceptions accounted for below) that I've eaten chicken or turkey my entire life. This is an explanation I've seen on this thread, and we all get from people who haven't heard of this allergy and don't believe it. Please take it more seriously.
Here is why I suspect hormones.
1. Occasionally but almost never I get a slighter form of this same reaction to ham.
2. In the late 80's I lived for a year in Guyana, South America. There I discovered that I could eat the locally raised chickens without reaction. If I ate an imported chicken, I did react.
3. In the early 90's I went fishing in a lake in Kansas that was experimenting with some automatic fish feeders that fed pellets with growth hormones to the catfish. When I ate the catfish we caught, I had this same allergic reaction to fish for the first and only time ever in my life. Luckily it was a fairly mild form like I sometimes get from ham.
So I've suspected hormones since that time. But here is my experience since then.
1. In the late 90's I was living in Berkeley, California. I tried some chicken from a local shop that sold "Free-range, hormone free chicken." I tried it and got just as sick as ever. Very strong reaction. I pressed the merchant and he swore up and down it was hormone free. I never tried another brand of "hormone free chicken" after that and figured I was perhaps wrong. I'm glad to see from toinfinitiandbeyond's post above some brands of hormone free really have been reaction free.
2. I later found out that most free-range, hormone free farms don't raise their chicks from the egg but still buy live chicks from factory farms, so perhaps some exposure to hormones from an early age is a factor. I haven't tried hormone free from a farm that hatches their own chicks.
3. I now live in Ethiopia, and again, I can eat the locally raised chickens without problem. No reaction at all. (My allergist advised me to stop this too, and again said I'm toying with death, so I almost never eat it anyway, but on very rare occasions now I still do and have yet to have a problem with it.)
So anyway, sorry to re-raise an almost dead thread, but I don't think there's a better discussion on this topic anywhere on the internet, and there are enough people here looking for the solution that I wanted to add this data to the discussion. It would be wonderful if we could all find chicken and turkey that was truly hormone free and it really provided an answer to the original question "Why am I allergic to chicken and turkey?" Problem is, it's pretty dangerous to experiment with this so I don't know how we find out. My wife and daughter are far more fearful of this than me and it causes them both a lot of anxiety if I try it now.
toinfinitiandbeyond, if you end up seeing this, I'd be curious to know what brands have worked for you that you now stick with.
One side note, I once dated a girl whose father had invented a disease inoculation for chickens that are used in farms across the US. He never liked me much, so even though I had the allergy before his invention I suspected he was trying to kill me. In all seriousness, innoculations may be another distinguishing characteristic between US raised and foreign raised chickens.
I also have suspected the hormones as the cause for quite some time.
I've also had this allergy my entire life. Intense chest pains, headaches, and the feeling that blood pressure is rising in my head. I feel like the veins in my head are bulging out, but they aren't actually visibly anyway. For me the reaction starts almost instantly. After about 24 hours I'm back to about 95% normal and within 2 days the reaction is gone. I can't swallow well when it happens but not to the point of needing a spitting cup as some here do. I've never had a feeling that it was impacting my ability to breathe. I've never gone to the ER but there are a few times I probably should have now that I understand more about the reaction and the risks. I now carry an Epi-Pen but have yet to use it.
I had hundreds of allergies as a kid. I was allergic to literally everything they skin tested me for, which didn't include poultry. (Early '70s) I took weekly injections for my allergies and outgrew most of them. This one is one I never outgrew. My father always encouraged me to try once a year, in part because he never really believed me and thought I just didn't like poultry and was using it to get out of eating it, and in part because he hoped I would outgrow it. So I've had this reaction at least 50 times or more I would guess throughout my life either accidentally or through trial. (My alergest tells me I'm toying with death by trying this and that I should never do it, so I don't anymore and I don't advise it.) For those who suggest Salmonella poisoning, no way, that wouldn't happen literally every time (with a few exceptions accounted for below) that I've eaten chicken or turkey my entire life. This is an explanation I've seen on this thread, and we all get from people who haven't heard of this allergy and don't believe it. Please take it more seriously.
Here is why I suspect hormones.
1. Occasionally but almost never I get a slighter form of this same reaction to ham.
2. In the late 80's I lived for a year in Guyana, South America. There I discovered that I could eat the locally raised chickens without reaction. If I ate an imported chicken, I did react.
3. In the early 90's I went fishing in a lake in Kansas that was experimenting with some automatic fish feeders that fed pellets with growth hormones to the catfish. When I ate the catfish we caught, I had this same allergic reaction to fish for the first and only time ever in my life. Luckily it was a fairly mild form like I sometimes get from ham.
So I've suspected hormones since that time. But here is my experience since then.
1. In the late 90's I was living in Berkeley, California. I tried some chicken from a local shop that sold "Free-range, hormone free chicken." I tried it and got just as sick as ever. Very strong reaction. I pressed the merchant and he swore up and down it was hormone free. I never tried another brand of "hormone free chicken" after that and figured I was perhaps wrong. I'm glad to see from toinfinitiandbeyond's post above some brands of hormone free really have been reaction free.
2. I later found out that most free-range, hormone free farms don't raise their chicks from the egg but still buy live chicks from factory farms, so perhaps some exposure to hormones from an early age is a factor. I haven't tried hormone free from a farm that hatches their own chicks.
3. I now live in Ethiopia, and again, I can eat the locally raised chickens without problem. No reaction at all. (My allergist advised me to stop this too, and again said I'm toying with death, so I almost never eat it anyway, but on very rare occasions now I still do and have yet to have a problem with it.)
So anyway, sorry to re-raise an almost dead thread, but I don't think there's a better discussion on this topic anywhere on the internet, and there are enough people here looking for the solution that I wanted to add this data to the discussion. It would be wonderful if we could all find chicken and turkey that was truly hormone free and it really provided an answer to the original question "Why am I allergic to chicken and turkey?" Problem is, it's pretty dangerous to experiment with this so I don't know how we find out. My wife and daughter are far more fearful of this than me and it causes them both a lot of anxiety if I try it now.
toinfinitiandbeyond, if you end up seeing this, I'd be curious to know what brands have worked for you that you now stick with.
One side note, I once dated a girl whose father had invented a disease inoculation for chickens that are used in farms across the US. He never liked me much, so even though I had the allergy before his invention I suspected he was trying to kill me. In all seriousness, innoculations may be another distinguishing characteristic between US raised and foreign raised chickens.