29 years old, moved to a new place, and am now allergic to almost everything I used to eat...
Honestly mostly looking for commiseration here, advice would also be welcome bc I'm losing my mind lol. Im not exactly newly diagnosed, but I've had a TON of new food allergies show up within the last year.
I've been vegan for a large years and a lot of the reason why was food-allergy based (allergic to multiple proteins in milk, allergic to beef and my parents kept me off all red meat, allergic to eggs) all of which started when I was a kid. So when I decided to go vegetarian, I was functionally vegan. Soy was always safe for me as a kid, fortified soy milk was how my parents got a lot of necessary nutrition into me.
Flash forward to 28 years old and all of a sudden I developed a soy allergy. I was reacting to so many foods and my allergist tested for very specific things but not for any of the top 9 allergens? Yeah turns out I was reacting to the soy oil in peanut butter, etc. Figured that one out myself, cut soy from my diet and started doing a lot better (even though it meant I had to stop eating out mostly, and a lot of my favorite foods had to be cut from my diet). But at least there was beyond meat and other pea protein products...
Flash forward again, to maybe 6 months later. I got a job and moved, and within a week of moving I suddenly started having reactions to lentils, chickpeas, peas, tomatoes, lettuce... It's been somewhat inconsistent- if I don't go outside then my reactivity seems to be lower?- but it's been making my anxiety so bad. I'm not reacting on an anaphylaxis level, but it's still not pleasant and I know there's always a chance it can progress.
It might be pollen cross-reactivity as I've had OAS for most of my life, especially with stone fruits and stuff. And my worst soy reactions are to things like soy milk, though even cooked soy products and lentils and chickpeas and pea proteins are now giving me reactions. I'm trying some other legumes to see if I'm across the board allergic, but I'm worried I am because usually people who react to pea and chickpea are sensitized to all legumes based on the literature? I mostly get itchy mouth and sometimes an upset stomach, but ugh. I still don't want to be experiencing all of that. Trying seitan. I've been okay with cashews so long as I don't eat a ton of them? Trying to track these reactions is a NIGHTMARE.
I'm so exhausted from the mental toll of all of this. And though I've not eaten meat for probably 15 years, I feel like maybe I should try chicken or turkey again. I'm just worried that I'll react to those too. (I didn't really eat pork or shellfish a ton growing up and I know there's cross reactivity with cat and dust mites respectively, both of which I'm allergic to). But the thought also severely freaks me out, so there's some extra stress too.
My father had really weird allergies he developed in his early 20s and grew out of by his early 30s, but I'm developing allergies in my late 20s and there's probably no hope for me growing out of them lol. It's just discouraging and I'm so tired.
Thanks for listening