I'm allergic to poultry!!!

What a delight to read this thread and find lots of people who are the same as me! I'm 43 and have had this since I was a baby and chicken was first introduced to me. After several experiments, my mom stopped giving me poultry. As I got older, I wondered if I was REALLY allergic because I never ate it, and doctors are always skeptical. Then I had a hot dog at someone's house one day. You guessed it -- the invention of the turkey hot dog!

I've been hit by the following products that you don't normally associate with poultry -- hot dogs, deli meat, ham, gravy, pizza meat, taco meat, and ground beef/turkey combination that looks like beef. My symptoms the same as everyone else's. I have learned to go vegetarian when eating at someone's house (yes, even family. . . what a bad Christmas that one was . . .) and only order things from the menu that can only be beef/pork. The day that hamburgers and steaks get poultry will be a sad day for me.

I never considered the dark meat/light meat difference with chicken. But by now, I stay away. I read somewhere else awhile ago that people who are allergic to all poultry can tolerate eggs fine (as I can) but those who are allergic to chicken ONLY are also allergic to eggs.

Has anyone ever risked getting a flu shot? How bad was your reaction?

I am 32 and have had similar symptoms my whole life. My chest feels tight and I have excessive saliva. I have severe discomfort that feels like heartburn and gas. This goes away after 2-3 hours. I have a much more severe reaction with dark meat turkey or chicken and sometimes I don't have any reaction to white meat.

I'm not allergic to eggs and I do get a flu shot every year without any problem.

HI everybody, I haven't read all of these post but in most it is stated that you are allergic to poultry your hole life. I'm interested if how many is there that get allergic in some period of their life? And I would like to hear their how did they experienced it.
Thank you.

I have been very allergic to poultry my entire life and I will be 33 in September. My skin actually cannot even come in contact with any type of poultry without breaking out. Back in 2005, I had my worst reaction ever when I ordered an Italian sub from a local pub that I have been to about 1000 times and had this sandwich multiple times and they must have ran out of pepperoni and replaced it with turkey. I did not check the sandwich since I had it so many times before and before I knew it I ate half of the sandwich and almost immediately became really sick. I had reactions to eggs and other things in the past but never like this, I actually contemplated having my wife call an ambulance because I thought that I may have been dying. It took this reaction about 3 hours to pass when it typically only takes about 1 to 2 hours. I would love nothing more than to have some beer and wings (they smell so damn delicious) but I have to pass. As a replacement, I have began making boneless pork country style ribs, rolling them in some butter and milk and bread crumbs (if you can find them without eggs), par baking them in a frying pan and then bake them on 350 for exactly 1 hour with some beef broth. Serve with your favorite sauce (mine is Frank's Red Hot). Anyway, I thought that I was the only person in the world allergic to our winged friends, nice to see others are too (not really but atleast I don't feel like a freak now). My allergies come up every time that I go out to eat with new people, kind of gets annoying after a while. >:( It is also ironic that about 1 year ago, I saved a baby duck from being run over as it was not keeping up with its mother and she was not stopping, I could have got my revenge but I love animals too much.

It's happened to me, too...itchy throat (around my eustachian tubes), lips if they're already chapped, thick saliva and heartburn. Usually mild symptoms, and I've found that eating bread or something starchy in combination with the poultry helps to buffer it quite well. Had one incident a few years ago while on a date; ordered veal parmigiana and accidentally was served chicken parmigiana. No big deal, I thought, I'll take an antacid if I have to. Went out for coffee after dinner, and noticed during coffee & dessert that I started feeling flushed, my hands and feet were itching, I started to feel tightness in m throat and I felt kind of bloated and swollen. My date also looked at me a little funny...Anyway, went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror; my face was red and swollen! Thankfully it didn't get any worse, but now, living in the South where chicken and sweet tea are staples, I have to be very careful about mixing poultry and caffeine. Not fun!!!!

I too have an allergy to poultry, but it differs from your symptoms somewhat, i get this itchy feeling in my ears that can't be scratched then it moves down to my throat and then my chest starts to hurt and i find it hard to swallow, i guess this is my throat swelling up all i know is it is 1 of the most horrible feelings ive ever had, and i hate it when some 1 gives me poultry by accident like roast potatoes cooked with turkey in the same oven, this gives it to me aswell, Christmas is such a pain :-(

I've been allergic to poultry for as long as I can remember, although my parents say that I used to eat chicken as a young child. I can eat beef, pork and fish. I'm allergic to shellfish and certain legumes (especially chickpeas and lentils). I have never met anyone who shared the poultry allergy.

To a lesser extent, I also have problems with certain fruits and vegetables, like avocados and bananas. This fruit and vegetable allergy is fairly well-documented as "Oral Allergy Syndrome" and some of my immediate family members also have it.

The symptoms of the poultry allergy are similar to what most other people have described -- swollen lips, severe stomach pain that comes in waves, and clear mucous that comes up when I try to vomit.

If I have only consumed a small bite of chicken, or something with chicken stock in it, I can usually avoid vomiting. I have found that drinking something sugary (especially soda) tends to partially relieve the symptoms.

Strangely, I occasionally produce this clear mucous when trying to swallow foods that I'm not allergic to (e.g. steak). It's not vomiting -- the food just won't go all the way down unless the mucous gets dislodged immediately. I have lovingly dubbed this symptom "the phlegmatic". If anyone else experiences something similar, I would be interested to hear about it.

I'm not allergic to poultry. But you have mention fruit and vegetable, similar thing happens to me when I eat coconut. One bite and I have to vomit. Smell is even not good. I get a headache.
Do you think that you might have smaller esophagus than normal. I have a friend and he has this all of his life. And he sometimes has problem swallowing.

I am interested in trying to find out what protein it is in poultry that causes this. My boyfriend also has these symptoms, can't breathe, and vomits a lot if he accidentally ingests a very small amount of any poultry. Sometimes even the smell of poultry cooking makes him sick to his stomach. He has had the allergy since he was a kid but at first they thought he was having bad asthma attacks (He had really bad asthma as a kid) and never checked him for food allergies. He, as many others have stated, can also eat eggs (strange). The other night we had to go to the ER after he ate some meatloaf with ground pork in it, He broke out in hives (Majorly! They were all over his body). We're thinking it may have been cross contamination as the pork was processed by Tyson (BEWARE). But he has never had hives before and didn't have any of his normal poultry symptoms (vomiting, trouble breathing, etc.), just hives. He has also had issues with Totino's pizzas and pizza rolls, and Burtoli frozen pasta meals (they use chicken broth in their sauces) because a lot of frozen food manufacturers have started to use poultry in the meats as a cheap alternative. We always have to read the ingredients on any processed food before we buy it. I've also started looking up different recipes with fish and beef to give us a little variety in our diet. I'm trying to get him to get an allergy test done but he doesn't have ins. and it can cost up into a few thousand dollars depending on the situation.

To Seperi and anyone else looking for a healthy meat to eat with this allergy try Bison meat, my boyfriend has this allergy and can eat it and it's lower in fat and calories than chicken. And it's GREAT!

I too am allergic to Poultry albeit not as severe as other here. I recently had some soup with chicken broth and was ok. The last time I had a severe reaction was when I was 13 (26 now). I used to rub some chicken on my skin to test for allergies and used to get a small rash. However, recently I don’t get a rash at all. I saw an allergist when I was a kid and she told me to stay away from chicken but that it was possible that I would grow out of it. My reaction was so bad when I was a kid that I am paranoid to try poultry again. I might try a small sample with my EpiPen near by.

I have other allergies with the same symptoms (excessive saliva, swelling in throat, etc) as poultry and was wondering if other had additional allergies. Perhaps there is a common trait among these foods. My other allergies are:

Tuna – not as severe and not always
Grouper – sometimes not always, perhaps it wasn’t grouper, not as severe
Tree Nuts (not peanuts though) same exact symptoms as poultry

I'm in the same boat as everyone else. 39yo male. I've gotten in the habit of telling everyone that I have to stay away from 'fins & feathers'. I get the same symptoms as described by others. Every once in awhile I test myself to see if I can handle the chicken or turkey... but now that I read how serious this condition can get, I think I'll stop doing that. It's nice to know that I'm not alone in this situation. I will say that spitting out the onslaught of saliva helps to make the reaction go away a lot faster than just continuing to swallow the saliva... There have been times that I've ate McDonalds' chicken nuggets and haven't had any problems at all... (I think that's because their chicken isn't real). Someone else suggested that it may be because their chicken is not 'free-range' chicken or something along those lines. I've never been to a doctor about this, and it sounds like the only advise they will give me is to avoid eating the foods that create the problem. Some seafood bugs me as well... but not all. I haven't ate seafood for awhile, but what I remember was that crab legs didn't bother me... shrimp sometimes did. Also, I get similar reaction to bananas. Can't stand them.

I'm going to print off all your posts on this topic and shove it in the faces of all those who thought this problem was 'in my head'.

Stay healthy everyone!

Yay! I'm not the only one. I've had the allergy since I was 3 or 4. It steadily got worse and worse as I got older and now if I eat it accidentally, I can stop breathing. My advice, READ ALL LABELS. Even foods you eat regularly, check the labels once in a while. Especially on soups. The manufacturers have a nasty habit of sneaking broth or fat into recipes.

Tonight I had a Michelina's santa fe beans and rice meal. I had two bites and then started feeling it. Throat got tight, got really wheezy and have a little facial swelling. Popped two benadryls and am feeling better.

I hate having this, but I'm glad it's not a peanut allergy or something resulting in instant death.

My poultry allergy started when I was eight, with the exact same symptoms, but they evolved over time. Mine also includes an allergy to bananas, beans, melons, pumpkins, and a few other things. At first, I only broke out in hives and had thick spit that was hard to swallow. Now, I have that plus my throat swells and I get the most intense heartburn, which is incredibly painful. I still eat these items every now and then because I miss the flavor, but in general, I'm always eating beef and pork.

Hello everyone,

even though the original topic is a few years old, it nevertheless seems to be up to date! ;-)

I'm from Germany and I haven't found a single person until now who's allergic to poultry, so I'm glad there still seem to be very many people having this - at least in the USA. :-D

My son is now three years old. I was breastfeeding him until he was about 6 months old. Then I started giving him carrots, then carrots and potatoes and after that carrots, potatoes and beef. He was fine until I changed beef for turkey. (I have to add that I didn't cook the meals - he got the very-well tested, organic baby food, so I'm sure there wasn't any "bad" poultry in it).

Well, after he ate his first turkey, nothing happened until about 4-5 hours later. Then he all of the sudden became really sick and couldn't stop throwing up. It was incredible, I've never seen anybody vomiting like that. It seemed as if the body couldn't stop until the very last bit of turkey was out - which took about an hour!!!!

We first thought he was "just sick", but after he's had chicken, it was the same reaction - no red face or anything, but again 4-5 hours later the extremely vomiting.

I've read every single post here, what I didn't find out is:

1. Does anybody have a relative, who's having the same problem (to see if it runs in the family')? For me I can say that NOBODY - neither my nor my husband's family - has the same problem.
2. My guess was also, that he doesn't have the enzyme to split up the poultry - due to the 4-5 hours that it takes until the throwing up. One of you wrote that there need to be 2 enzymes to split this meat up - which I'd never heard before. Do you know the name of the enzymes?
3. Since this is anonymous, maybe you're willing to answer if you are also very skinny persons??? My son really is.
4. Would you say you are allergic to poultry or could it also be a indigestibility???

My second son is now 6,5 months old and I'm about to test whether he's allergic or not. We'll see....

I hope for some answers. Thanks!!!!

PS: I hope my English is well enough for everybody to understand me! :-D