Cross Reactivity in Food Allergies

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I recently interviewed a few board certified allergist about my specific food allergies. 
The doctor who diagnosed me is a board certified allergist and he talked in depth about cross reactivity of food allergies and recently I saw another allergist who backs up the same story on cross reactive or intolerance. 
I have an orange allergy as one of my 10 diagnosed food allergens. Doctors told me citric acid, lemon, lime and grapefruit might also be cross reactive to my orange allergy- so I followed this strict policy for over a year of avoiding all these foods and products made with citric acid.

Based on my interviews with a recent specialist who said it was "impossible to be allergic to citric acid," I went ahead and tried a product that was sent to me which contained citric acid.

Standing in the library 10 minutes after eating it, my chest was sore and my face felt like it was on fire- I forgot I had just eaten and kept thinking-"what the heck is wrong with me..." 

While I didn't go into anaphylaxis- the effects of eating citric acid lingered for over 3 hours. My kids love the product but this mommy now realizes these doctors who say citric acid is a cross reactive with a citrus allergy, may have been right.

Here is the original article I wrote: http://www.examiner.com/article/food-allergen-myths-dispelled

Read More about cross reactivity with food allergies

While the allergy specialist I interviewed say there is not enough information available to make 100% conclusions about anything in food allergies- every person reacts differently and no one is really uploading information to one medical database to help others who may experience the same things so other specialist and patients can learn and understand more to connect the dots.

Those suffering with the reactions are the experts on how their bodies respond, but doctors will still say, "the mind is a very powerful thing," meaning what we think or believe to be true may not always be real. It's still hard to say. I don't wish to have any food allergies or wish it upon those who are true food lovers, but it is difficult to argue with your body when it is reacting.