My nephew is allergic to dairy and also egg protein, like someone would be if they were allergic to bees (in other words, his air passages actually close if he ingests any - he's not just 'lactose intolerant').

I know a couple of people who are severe celiacs, too.

i'm allergic to rhubarb... O_o it wasn't fun finding that one out... especially because i drank a large amount of rhubarb wine and everyone just thought i was drunk.

I'm allergic to food as well. It is not fun, mostly because those foods are so good and I was able to eat them as a kid. But since I came to the US (I'm from Europe) things changed drastically because as soon as I ate some of them my tongue, lips and throat reacted.
Some Nuts, Fruit Accid (from Apples, Oranges, Strawberries.. anything that's juicy, so after eating a few bites of them I def. have to stop), Carrots and so on.. It's rather sad

I'm Lactose Intolerant. I have a friend with a severe egg allergy, know a whole slew of Celiacs, know some nut allergies and then of course have all of my vegan friends (I know it isn't an allergy but it still is a very special diet).

My cousin is allergic to peanut.

I used to be allergic to cashews and a couple other nuts, but not anymore. Also allergic to mangos, well kind of. Can eat one, but anymore and I have a reaction - if I still do.

Oh, forgot another, I have a reaction to certain plastic bottles/items.

Me... cane sugar, oats, and coffee.

I have one friend who is allergic to eggs, plus a bunch of other things I can't remember... Another is allergic to strawberries and raspberrys, while another is slightly lactose intolerant.

I know 4 people with celiac. I have a lactose sensitivity. Those are legit. With a rare a celiac is supposed to be I am surprised that I know 4 non-related people.
I also know people with "food allergies" meaning they really just have disordered eating and thing having every allergy and sensitivity in the book will excuse them. a quote: "oh, I'm lactose intolerant, allergic to all nuts, sensitive to refined flour..." uh-hu. I'm not saying all food allergies are like this, but I am always suspicious of the person who has them all.

I don't know of anyone I know having one but I think I might be allergic to a fruit I had recently. I would hate to be allergic to raspberries. I love raspberries.

yep, I'm allergic to food coloring, MSG (monosodium glutamate), nitrates, annato, sulfites...and basically everything else. :/

My brother's gf is allergic to chocolate and tomatos! I can't even imagine having no chocolat or pizza, ugh!

nah... but you never know. i might be allergic to something but it's not severe, so i have no idea

there's a lot of philosophy behind a eprson being allergic mildly to some food and that's the reason they're overweight and stuff... don't know if i believe that.

allergies are weird, my grandma became allergic to peanuts when she was 55 and stop being allergic when she turned 60. WTF? also mu cousin was allergic to diary when she was 5 months old and doctors curried her over the time of 6-9 months... her case was quite severe, it wasn't just diary, pretty much everything she ate. now she's 6 and is perfectly fine.

I'm gluten and lactose intolerant. It has made me SO ill this christmas because I can't expect my boyfriend's mother to cater to my whims. I am soooo ill right now.

A kid I used to babysit was allergic to eggs, wheat, dairy, whey, and gluten when he was really young, but he outgrew the allergies when he was about 4 or 5. One big theory as to why food allergies occur is that people aren't exposed to as many bacteria when they're babies. Therefore, their immune systems don't have anything to fight and build antibodies against so they respond to foods. There is something about nuts/eggs/shellfish/glutens that mimics bacterial cell surfaces very closely, so that's why those foods trigger a response more than others. As the kids grow up, their immune systems become more developed and they stop fighting off the foods. It makes a lot of sense to me...most kids I know that grew up playing in a lot of dirt don't seem to have many allergies.

Oh sparklestar. I am sorry. From time to time I will have a little something I am not supposed to (usually to be polite if someone offers me something) and I never know how my anaphylaxis will exhibit itself. Take care of yourself and I hope you feel better soon.

Gosh, I feel so lucky that I don't have any of those problems, I'd have a hard time living without peanut butter.

I'm allergic to cantaloupe and watermelon. And pineapple if I have more than once slice. It's so sad because I was able to eat all of these when I was younger but now it makes my throat itchy and swell.

My brother is 22 and just found out he has MS. That means he can't have any gluten (no grains or sugar,) no saturated fat, no dairy and no legumes. It really makes me angry about people who choose to starve themselves. I used to be one of them until now. He's really inspiring:)

I'm allergic to beer. My kid's stepmother's allergic to everything!! it seems, and my ex has a lot of allergies- I hope they don't decide to have a child!

Oh wait! Hotdogs that aren't kosher (oh God the agony!!), heavily processed lunchmeats, more than a couple ounces of beef and MSG. I react to many preservatives and nitrates now because I mostly eat whole foods.

I'm allergic to shrimp. I think the actual allergy is to shellfish in general [crawfish, oysters, clams], but it's not worth the agony to find out! @_@

I know a lot of people who are allergic to shrimp, to strawberries, to tomatoes, even to cheese. It's tons of fun when we go out to eat!

I know several people with food allergies and several people with fake food allergies. I adjust my cooking when I entertain for both.

I am allergic to, sitting down???? Beef, pork, chicken and all other poultry, eggs, walnuts, and pecans. PHEW. It makes eating out EXTREMELY difficult, because so many dishes, even pasta dishes, vegetable dishes, and fish and lamb dishes are made with CHICKEN STOCK - I have to ask the kitchen specifically if any dishes have "hidden" chicken, beef, or pork products in them. AND, it makes me feel like an a**hole - I've reached the point now where I just ALWAYS eat BEFORE I go to a dinner party, because I can't possibly expect people to accommodate my insane list of allergies.

The really interesting thing, ATTENTION ALL VEGGIES: I've been out to restaurants before, and I ask if, say, a pasta dish has chicken stock in it, and waitress smiles and says NO, and then I say: "Well, I'm not asking because I'm a vegetarian, I'm asking because I'm allergic to chicken." And then she freezes, and smiles again and says, "Oh, yeah, it DOES have chicken stock in it." OR "Oh, I'll check with the kitchen." (and then it invariably does - This has happened at least a half dozen times, people!! So if you ask if a dish is vegetarian, just know that they might be lying to you!!

Oh my yes, I have allergies. I am allergic to all meat, gluten and wheat, sesame, dairy, cane sugar, eggs, peanuts, soy, yeast, and some fruits. I spent Christmas crying, as I have the last 3 years since I became severely allergic. EVERYTHING social is revolved around food and it's torture when you are have as many allergies as I do. Friends don't invite us over anymore because it's too hard to do dinner together or anything like that. I get to sit and watch everyone eat at get together and smell all the amazing smells, things smell so much better when you can't eat them. I also get mad at people who complain about how things taste or "this is too much food" it makes me want to yell and tell people to appreciate that they don't get deathly ill from ingesting normal food. It's very hard and I struggle with it daily.

That means no eating out- no ice cream- no chocolate- no romantic dinner dates with my hubby. I get to chop and cook every, sinlge, meal!

I know one guy who as a child had a list of things he COULD eat: so many allergies that listing them would make a longer list. His safe-to-eat list was one hand-written page long. No eggs, dairy, gluten, most fruits (only raspberry, blueberry and tangerine were ok), most vegetables (cucumber was ok but basically nothing else as raw), most meat (wild birds were ok, I recall), spices (except for juniper berry, salt and sugar) and so on. His school desk needed to be cleaned without soap because the soap traces caused him a rash - even through clothing!

I'm happy for him that somehow most of his allergies went away when he got older. I was amazed to hear that nowadays he can have even gluten and dairy which used to cause a severe reaction.

gluten intollerant for me.
isnt stopping me from going to culinary school for baking and pastry. ha

I'm allergic to apples, pineapple, cherries and some nuts. It makes my throat itchy, except when its processed.

EmyAnne - sorry to hear that about your friends...maybe you could suggest that you would bring your own meal over to their house so that you can enjoy your time with them and still eat food that does not cause an allergic reaction?

Sparklestar - What a shame about your boyfriends mother. That shows a lack of respect for you on her part. If she knows you can't eat certain things she should try to accommodate you. She could plan out a meal for you in advance, ask you to help her pick out a menu that you can be a part of eating also (good bonding time), or maybe make a few choice items that are your favorite.

As for myself, thankfully I'm not allergic to anything that I know of. I did have the full gamut of celiac tests run a few months ago and all came back a-okay! However, a lot of family has the gluten allergy and my grandmother has both celiac and a lactose intolerance. She brings her own food to places if we go out to eat.

My husband and his youngest daughter who had an anaphylactic reaction not that long ago.

she is now so thin as she's scared to eat anything even if we guarantee it doesn't have anything it in.

She's only 5 i think she needs counseling has anyone had anything like this?

i do know quite a few people that have food allergies and i think that it's interesting to see that the numbers are going up and up over the years. when i was a kid there were very few people that had them - my mom and oldest brother are allergic to shellfish - but that's about it. i feel like every kid now has a major food allergy and that has to be attributed to something...right?

I have Celiac, as does my best friend's mother. Celiac isn't really an allergy -- it's an inherited autoimmune response that the a genetically susceptible person's body has to gluten. And it sucks. Especially on the holidays.

EmyAnne's entry made me cry because, really, having any sort of reaction to food is a trial, but during the holidays it becomes the worst sort of nightmare because all you see are foods you can't eat. Which means, skip the office kitchen and zip through the ads on TV.

Celiac isn't so simple as taking croutons off the salad (b/c you can get cross-contamination from that). After you are diagnosed; your world becomes a montage of food labels; changing your makeup and hair products so you won't get the dreaded celiac eczema (and *all* the expensive brands use wheat proteins of some sort or tocopherol, which is Vitamin E derived from wheat); making sure your dates brush, floss and gargle with listerine before letting them kiss you (kills the mood, most times); dealing with grumpy family members that don't get it; warning restaurant staff and being told you can't safely eat anywhere so maybe you should leave (it happens); and spending an absolute fortune on unsatisfying cardboard-consistencied recreations of pasta, bread, etc. The list is endless and the disease is horrible, as bad as brown rice pasta. Ugh. That's bad.

I have a friend allergic to peanuts. I also met someone recently who is allergic to spices!