I'm allergic to poultry!!!

hi, one of my new friends in college recently told me he was allergic to poultry. Apparently, he has int always been this way. He told me it started when he was around 10 years old. It did not seem right that all of a sudden he became allergic to poultry over night. I decided to look into it for him and ended up finding a doctor who would run some tests on him. Turns out he is not actually allergic to the poultry itself but the "ammonia" it is disinfected with. " i believe its ammonia but i do know its what they wash the poultry with".  Therefore, i contacted a woman i knew who had a bird farm and bought a chicken off her. " i even got to kill it myself". Anyways, i shake and baked it and my friend was able to eat it without an allergic reaction. So the point is, for all of you who may not have visited the doctors and do not know exactly what there allergic to, it may be a good idea to check it out. 

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.
Yes My cousin and I have the poultry allergy
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?
No I do not
3. Since this is anonymous, maybe you're willing to answer if you are also very skinny persons??? My son really is.
I am about 5'3" and weight at 110 I guess I could be skinny to average build

4. Would you say you are allergic to poultry or could it also be a indigestibility???
I am allergic, I have been tested (poultry meat shows on skin test) and also have an allergy to feathers

My question is this what age/location are you?

Both My cousin and I have this allergy and both of us were born May of 1970 in Michigan.
We are the only ones in out family to have this allergy and I was wondering if anyone else was born around this time and or area.......

I'm also allergic to poultry. Actually, it's a common allergy, as eggs are used in the making of flu vaccinations and if you have that allergy, they won't give you the shot. It's on their forms. The only thing to do? Avoid it. Seriously. I've been to an allergist about it and other of my food allergies. There is no cure, just avoidance. Read labels. Chicken broth shows up unexpectedly in a lot of things, especially soups in restaurants. And chicken/turkey show up in cheap hot dogs and corn dogs. They're now putting pepperoni with turkey in it on most frozen pizzas.

I am so glad I came across this! Have had this problem for years and everytime I tell people I am allergic to chicken they do not believe me, glad I am not alone in this. Have always experienced what I would describe as an itchy tongue after eating chicken and then a tight crushing feeling in waves over my chest. Sometimes if I drink alot of water and juice afterwards it does help relieve the pain but only slightly. Wish there was a cure for this! I only get a sore stomach after eating eggs so not too sure if it is related or not? If anyone has any useful tips or advice I'd be happy to hear it :)

I can not believe I didnt look this up until now. It is truly amazing to know that other people have the same allergy as me. I like other people am getting so sick of telling people im allergic to these random things. My allergies include all poultry including eggs, sesame, salmon and some other fish, peanuts, and tree nuts. It really is annoying but certain things I can deal with like a little bit of sesame (i.e) like on sushi. On top of all of this I cant have much lactose or else I get pretty sick. At one point I went through a short phase when I was younger where I could eat chicken and tolerate it but now just being near it gives me hives. One of the weird symptoms I get besides the ones mentioned is itchyness inside my mouth in the gum area. I often find myself biting down on my gum to the point where I am literally tearing off parts of it. I wish I could find out if their is a connection between these foods so I could point out the one thing im allergic to.

I have been allergic to all poultry, all seafood, and all nuts forever. Anaphylaxis, swelling, asthma, hives. Even from the smell when it is cooking. Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday.

Like you, I developed an allergy to chicken when I was 12. My reaction started with acidic saliva and chest tightness and pain. Every time I ate chicken the reactions got worse till I realized it was occurring only when I ate chicken. Flash forward 24 years and I am extremely allergic. Reactions start within a minute and it is so severe that it can happen just by being near somebody eating a soup that has chicken broth in it as the 20th ingredient. I was formally diagnosed at 15 to chicken as well as eggs, fish, oysters, and peanuts. Turkey and all other poultry followed suit. I guess because my reaction is so severe, I've never missed eating poultry. But like others have said, nothing to mess around with especially if you notice that your reactions gradually get worse. Become a reader of ingredients and always find out what is in your food at restrauants, don't take anything for granted. I was once surprised at 17 by an Italian sausage that had turkey and a soup that had 26 ingredients with chicken broth as the 2nd to last ingredient, which the waiter didn't catch until after I had the reaction despite asking. We are a rare breed however as only less than 1% percent of the population.

UNBELIEVABLE! AFTER 30+ years, she ate POULTRY. Like all of you that have posted your allergy symptoms, I too share the same poultry allergy for 30+ years. The epi-pen is with me everywhere I go and it is a huge relief to know that I am not alone nor am I some kind of freak. Over the years, I have been told the allergy is due to a hormone in the poultry and avoid it forever. I recently visited my doctor (GP - not allergist) who convinced me that the allergy was due to all the "extras" in the processing of the poultry; i.e. hormones, antibiotics, feed, ect... He is obsessed with eating healthy, non-processed, chemical free foods and was certain if ate 100% organic poultry, I would not experience a reaction. Well, I did it and ZERO reaction! No internal hives! No anaphylactic shock! And it was a delicious breast of chicken! I realize this only works at home with the proper meat and the Epi-pen will have to remain with me for those incidentals in public; however, I had to share this with all of those who battle the same allergy.

I too have suffered an allergy to poultry (including duck) most of my life. My symptoms have included internal bleeding, hives and so on. I have "accidentally" eaten pate and this seems to react even more quickly. The only relief is to get someone to knock you out for about three days and have a total flush out. Altenatively simply avoid poultry altogether, the latter being less painful. I have tried organic on the basis that, that's what I ate as a child on a farm, but I'm afraid this didn't work for me.

I know this is different from an allergic reaction, but I haven't found anything related, every time I eat poultry specially non organic I get pimples all over my face the next day and I usually don't have pimples beside one or two during the year, I'm from Mexico and I didn't have that problem with poultry until I got here, does anybody have something similar or have heard about it? Thanks

I have always been allergic to chicken, turkey, quail, etc. I've never tried duck or fois gras, which is really a shame. I am in my 50's, and I've just learned to live with the inconvenience. My blood type is A+. I had bronchial asthma as a child, but I outgrew the problem with adulthood. My older sister used to actually LAUGH and make fun of me and tell me my "chicken" allergy was all my imagination. What a B***H. I found out for sure that I was allergic one day when my father, at my mother's urging, went to the store and bought a package of hotdogs for dinner. I ate two hotdogs, which tasted perfectly normal. A little while after eating, I was resting and watching TV, and I suddenly started having stomach cramps, nausea, and the itching and swelling that goes along with an allergic reaction. Since the only thing that I had eaten was the hot dogs, I went to the refrigerator and pulled out the frozen hot dogs. Eureka! Chicken franks. My poor father was so upset that he had bought these, but I didn't blame him. It was an honest mistake. This was as good as a double blind test, because the hotdog franks tasted no different from the regular beef/pork franks, and I wasn't aware of their content before eating.

The only thing that I have ever done is to just avoid poultry products in any form. I don't eat soups at restaurants, especially french onion, soups, because the restaurants primarily use chicken stock as a soup base. I know that french onion is supposed to be made with beef stock, but I found out the hard way that this is not always the case.

My allegic reactions take the form of lips and airway swelling, severe itching, bright skin redness, nausea, dysentery, and wheezing - a pretty severe reaction. When confronted with the rare allergic reaction, my remedy is always BENADRYL. Two tablets will knock the worst reaction down to normal, but they do make me extremely sleepy until the drug leaves my system. I make sure to have Benadryl in my luggage when travelling, in my car, at work, and at home. I don't have an epi pen, because the Benadryl has always worked for me.

I am also deathly allergic to grouper, salmon, tuna, trout, and baked beans. Shrimp bothers me, but I can eat it on a limited basis. When I was young, I couldn't even bear to smell shrimp without having a reaction.  I can eat eggs, cod, flounder, halibut, bass, snapper, oysters, beef, pork, lamb, milk, wheat, peanuts, etc. with zero problems. My body chemistry has changed a little as I've aged.

Still, the only hope for poultry allergies, is abstaining completely and being vigilante by reading the content label on foods packaging. Its a pain in the rear, but I know of no other choice. Apparently, our bodies just don't have the necessary enzymes to digest the proteins in certain foods, and those foods act as a "foreign" body in our system, which triggers the body's allergic reaction.

Every time I eat chicken/fish, mins later I run to the bathroom w/diarrhea! Does that mean I'm allergic too?  :-(

I've had similar reactions to most of you!  Beercheck (4th entry) seems to have hit the nail on the head for similarity to my experience with allergies that I've had my entire life.  The same reaction to dairy occurs with me.  I'm now in my thirties but as a teen I hunted, cooked, and ate a wild partridge.  My thinking was that since it was wild and natural I wouldn't have a reaction since it didn't have any added "chemicals, hormones, or preservatives".  Although my reaction was MUCH milder I was wrong.  Turns out I'm allergic to birds!  Chicken, turkey, duck, partridge.  I haven't hunted crow or eaten pigeon but will assume it's the same.

TIPS FOR ALLERGIC REACTIONS: 
note: if you have severe anaphylaxis take your epi or call 911 first!  And take this advice with a grain of salt.  Allergies are serious!

Once you've eaten something you're allergic to, rinse your mouth with hot water (it helps dissolve oils and fats that are stuck to your mouth etc.).  If you're at home brush your teeth and tongue, again with hot water and tooth paste.

After doing all of this sometimes the reaction subsides but then starts again from my stomach up to my esophagus.  If it starts getting out of control I have, on occasion, induced vomiting... and then repeated the hot water mouth rinse/tooth brushing! Nasty.  Drink lots of water.

If you're worried about a crazy reaction take some benadryl...  again if you have anaphylaxis take your epi or call 911!

If you're having trouble with your throat swelling and you're having trouble swallowing it's important to stay as calm as possible.  Take really deep, really slow, breaths and pay attention to your breathing.  Start with 10 slow deep breaths.  It's also important to stay as still as possible.  Moving around gets your heart rate up and your blood moving around and spreads the reaction faster, so try to sit or stand still.


Having said all this, sometimes I wonder if it is possible to cure it all through mental focus combined with slow re-introduction to your allergens.  In my 20's I developed a mild allergy to pork and peanuts.  For the pork allergy I just reduced my intake of pork, and it went away for the most part.  For the peanut allergy I conducted an experiment (again I wouldn't recommend this without an epi pen or an allergist's advice).  I ate a tiny amount of peanuts every hour for a few hours.  The amount was small enough that I didn't react at all.  I did this a few times over a week or two.  The allergy seems to be way less significant.  I get sick of peanuts or peanut butter before I feel any symptoms.  I tried this procedure in my thirties with chicken but wasn't as focused or meticulous about it (I'm also a huge procrastinator!).  So I never resolved anything there.

Ultimately I think our psychology and mental awareness affects our physical reaction to varying degrees, depending on one's specific situation and history.

You are NOT alone! As long as I can remember, I've had the exact same symptoms. It probably began around age 6 or so. My episodes always end up with me vomiting to rid my system of the poultry. Turkey is worse! I can't say I've eaten it in 30+ years (I'm 40). The reactions are not typical as allergies go, but, thanks to the internet a few years ago, I discovered that there are many who are affected the same as you and I. I avoid eating poultry by asking many questions (you'd be surprised how chicken stock is the base for some CRAB soup!), and I sort of like the attention when people learn that I am allergic (also, please note that I am an African American woman...there goes the stereotype, huh?)

i too suffer from poultry and seafood allergies. I haf severe asthma when i was little (20 now) and i had a heart attack when i was 6. A year latter, my dad cooked some fish in a crock pot i believe and just the scent alone or steam set my insides spinning in all the wrong directions and i had a astma attack. Since then i cant eat anything with any ingredients with poultry or seafood in them which is hard because most frozen pizza pepperoni's have it in them and most people who buy hot dogs for cookouts get the kind with chicken in it. I can strangely eat clams however i think it is. Not out the shell but the kind you can buy at a restaurant fried i think. If i eat poultry, my saliva gets thick and plentiful to the point where i have to spit it out every 3 minutes. My lips swell, my throat itches and i get hives on the corner of my mouth. Its a shame because chicken does taste good the first 30 seconds and thanksgiving sucks big time...