Diet taboos for urticaria

First, absolutely avoid foods that are known to cause allergies； During the second acute attack, temporarily avoid high-histamine, highly irritating, high-risk foods ； Third, patients with chronic urticaria are strictly forbidden to blindly avoid large-scale food intake to avoid malnutrition and aggravating the condition.

Not long ago, a 22-year-old girl came for a follow-up consultation with chronic urticaria for almost half a year. She said that in the past six months, she could only eat white rice and boiled cabbage, and her face turned as yellow as old paper that had been exposed to the sun for three months. After checking the allergens, she was only allergic to dust mites and ragweed, and none of the food she ate was positive. She went back to eat for two weeks, and the rash did not appear as much. Too many people have suffered this injustice.

The older generation often said that "hairy things" should not be touched. In fact, it is not completely unreasonable now. Foods such as shrimps, crabs, shellfish, and stale sea fish are highly allergenic and high in histamine. During the acute attack, the blood vessels are already in a state of high permeability. Eating them is indeed likely to aggravate the wheals and itching. I have met many patients with acute urticaria. When the rash first broke out, they were greedy for plated shrimps. That night, their eyes were so swollen that they could not open their eyes. They went to the emergency room overnight for hormone treatment. But not everyone has to avoid these hairy things. A few days ago, a patient from Chongqing told me that he had suffered from urticaria for three years, and he ate spicy food and hot pot all the time. Nowadays, the attitude of the academic community towards spicy food is no longer one-size-fits-all: if eating spicy food really aggravates itching and increases the number of wheals, then you should endure it during the attack period. ； If there is no reaction after eating something, there is no need to torture your mouth.

Here I have to mention the "invisible high-histamine foods" that many people don't know. Not only seafood is high in histamine, but leftovers that have been stored for several days, fermented cheese, pickled bacon and salted fish, even bananas that are ripe enough to turn black, and soft kiwis, histamine The content is not low. Some people lack the enzyme to decompose histamine. Even if they are not allergic, they may develop a bunch of wheals if they eat too much. In this case, don’t mistakenly think that you are allergic to a certain food. Next time, don’t buy overripe fruits and dispose of leftovers in time.

If you have chronic urticaria that comes back and forth for more than 6 weeks, don’t be blind. Current clinical data shows that less than 10% of chronic urticaria is related to food allergy. Most of them are either autoimmune problems, or are caused by invisible inflammations such as Helicobacter pylori infection and chronic pharyngitis. Some are even caused by stress and staying up late. It is useless if you avoid all foods. On the contrary, your immunity is broken down, and the rash heals more slowly. The most exaggerated patient I have ever seen was someone who didn’t even dare to add too much salt. After eating a mediocre diet for three months, his urticaria was not cured and he was also diagnosed with mild anemia. It was totally worth the loss.

My general advice to patients is to keep a food diary. You don’t need to buy any fancy notebooks. Just keep a memo on your phone. If you keep track of what special foods you ate on that day, whether you had a rash or itchiness on that day, you can basically figure out the pattern after two weeks. It is more accurate than allergen tests that cost hundreds of dollars. After all, allergen tests may also have false positives, and your own body reaction is the most accurate yardstick.

After all, there has never been a standard answer to the dietary taboos for urticaria. Others will do it if they touch it. You may eat it without any problem, and others can eat it casually. You may swell up into buns after just touching it. Don’t listen to the unified list of taboos on the Internet, and don’t insist on being tough. Just do whatever feels comfortable.