Allergic reaction to meat products
 

When I was young, I was allergic to poultry. The only part of a chicken I could eat was the liver! I usually tried to stay away from eating poultry because I would feel horrible afterward. By my late 20s, the allergy had disappeared.

Yesterday, I ate pork rinds. This is not something I have eaten throughout my life, but I felt like eating a low carb crunchy (junk) snack food.

About three hours after eating them, I became the most itchy I have ever been. I think I broke out in hives from my waist to my toes. Even my ears felt like they were closing up. I didn't turn on the light to look, so I don't know if my hives were red, but I do know they were raised because I could feel them. I took some Benadryl and put on anti-itch lotion and finally went to sleep. When I woke up, I was OK.

Has anyone else had a reaction to meat or meat products? Researching this, I found these interesting links.

Pork-Cat Syndrome (I am allergic to cats.)

Tick Bite-Induced Meat Allergies

It's also possible I was having a reaction to the high temperature in the room where I was sleeping because the air conditioner hadn't been on in there, so it was hot. However, the more I think about it, I think it was the pork rinds. Needless to say, I'm not going to rush to the store to buy more anytime soon.

:help:

Were they flavored pork rinds or just fried pork skin and salt? What brand if you wish to share.../

Mac's Original Fried Pork Skins

Ingredients: Fried pork skins, salt.

If I had this reaction, I would be concerned as well. Since I eat pork rinds with only pork and salt, and I've never had a bad reaction, I can only sympathize and hope that you don't experience this reaction again.

Specifically, I've never had a bad reaction to any meats. To be clear, the meats that I eat are whole pastured foods without additives or chemicals. As for pork rinds, I'll continue to eat the brands that I've been eating.

That's a pretty common brand.
I had begun to think I was developing an allergy to pork than I remembered I kept cooking it with pineapple and I think it was the acid in that but still I'm not sure.

Walmart, I eat those too - and the flavored ones. Sorry, further no speculation for me...

Try again and see if you get the same result. Causation and Correlation can be tricky to link. As we all know, people with larger feet are far superior at reading and comprehending what they have read. This is true and bore out by statistics :)

I'll save you a trip to an allergy specialist...doctor's best advice will be:
"don't go rushing to the store to buy more anytime soon."
They won't know, allergy tests are unlikely to pin point what it was, and may only send you on your way with an EpiPen prescription when a good dose of Bendryl will work as well.

I have a bunch of weird food allergies that can result in an anaphylactic reaction, I avoid those foods or the allergies have resolved on their own. Pork Rinds are pretty easy to avoid.

One thought though...what about the oil it was fried in? Probably not if you have eaten other fried foods in the past without reaction. Evans foods doesn't list what oil on their website.

This is the key point, and while I'm not consuming pork rinds like they're going out of style, I've often wondered about how they're prepared. I hope that any fat used for preparation is pork fat.

If the labels just says "fried pork rinds" the fat used should just be the fat rendered out of the pork rinds.

How do the commercial ones get so light and fluffy/crunchy? Like air is injected into them.
They are nothing like the solid sheets of pork skin you can get in a NC barbecue joint.

I have no desire to eat pork rinds at this time, so I won't be trying them again any time soon.. Thanks for all the comments, though! I seem to be doing well.

Hi, whynot18. :) I get reactions to processed meats, and also to smoked and aged meats and fish. I buy veal because it is not aged. I also get very unpleasant symptoms from factory-farm/grain-fed meat. Grass-fed/organic does alright.

I try to get eggs from chickens that are outside eating bugs and worms, definitely no soy.

Pork is not in my food plan.

I wish you success in finding what you can eat. :)

Allergic reactions to meat. Also a look at allergies and histamine.
 

I had a more severe reaction yesterday, and pork rinds were not on the menu. it was so bad I had to go to the ER, as blood pressure dropped. I'm going to be carrying Benadryl and an EPi-Pen after this. I'm not sure if there was one trigger.

I am thinking that maybe I am having a problem dealing with histamines. Both these attacks occurred after 10 p.m.

See this article.

i have had allergies before going low carb but this severe itching/low blood pressure close to loss of consciousness has kicked in since modifying my diet. Is it connected? Is my gut biome changing? See excerpt and link below.

'low carb equals a less acidic colonic environment due to the drop in fermentation (and I presume harder, and less frequent stools as a function of reduced biomass from bacteria – or maybe not). As pH shifts, prospects for opportunistic pathogens increase, as does opportunities for gram-negative bacteria like Bacteroides and Enterobacter. When you add this up – and a lot of more shifts in the microbial ecology of the low carb gut – you most certainly have a classic case of microbial dysbiosis – as the name implies, an imbalance. This dysbiosis can lead to issues associated with IBD, autoimmune disease, metabolic disorders and so on."

Link


That said, I am not affected by ragweed this season, and I usually am.

Not sure what to do re eating. Am almost afraid to eat at this point.

This is a good piece on histamines. Link

Wow, sorry you had to go through that! Having to go to the ER sucks.

Have you considered outside (not dietary) elements that are new in your environment, or where you have travelled? The only time I got an allergic reaction severe enough to have to go to the ER was on a day when I visited a cactus nursery, followed by visit to a gym. Was it one of the cacti? Something I came in contact with on a surface in the gym? I never did determine what it was, but it was definitely environmental.

Maybe it's not your diet at all that's causing your reactions.

*

Is my gut biome changing?

Add some soluble fiber perhaps? This is a quality product, imo.

https://www.amazon.com/Heathers-Tum...l/dp/B0002ON8DU

Or some low carb fermented foods to restore good bacteria:

https://www.culturesforhealth.com/l...ermented-foods/

I make kefir, and always second ferment it to further reduce lactose.