What to do if food allergies itch

If you feel itchy just after eating, stop the suspicious food in your hand as soon as possible. Don't scratch it. If you don't have a tight throat, chest tightness and shortness of breath, take a regular second-generation antihistamine, such as loratadine or cetirizine. Either method will do. Most of the time, the itching can be suppressed within an hour. If you already feel out of breath or your throat is blocked, don’t wait and call 120. This is a precursor to laryngeal edema and shock caused by allergies. If you insist on it, something will really happen.

Speaking of which, my best friend also stepped into this trap last week. She ate Thai Tom Yum soup for the first time. After taking two sips, her lips felt numb and itchy, and a red rash appeared on her arms. She stupidly put an ice Coke bottle on her arms as a cold compress, and then applied some... I fiddled with the aloe vera gel in the bag for half an hour, but the rashes grew more and more, even on my neck. Later, I took out the leftover cetirizine from treating allergic rhinitis and ate a pill. After sitting for less than 40 minutes, most of the itching subsided, and the rash gradually subsided.

Many people's first reaction to allergies and itching is not to take medicine, but to apply various folk remedies on the skin, such as rubbing with salt water, applying toothpaste, and rubbing with ginger. These are really not a panacea. If it is just a slight itchiness around the corners of the mouth and there are no breaks, applying warm saline for three to five minutes can indeed temporarily relieve the discomfort. However, if blisters have already appeared or are scratched If tissue fluid oozes out, then applying irritating things will aggravate the damage to the skin barrier. When I was rotating in the dermatology department, I took over a 5-year-old child who was allergic to pineapple and made the mouth itchy and cry after eating. My grandma applied toothpaste with mint. The next day, the mouth was swollen and shiny, and a small pustule appeared. It took almost a week to heal.

As for whether to use topical ointments to relieve itching, there are quite a lot of differences now. Many people are opposed to hormone ointments when they hear it. Even if it is so itchy that they can't sleep, they will not apply it. In fact, weak glucocorticoid ointments, such as desonide cream, should be applied thinly to the itchy and red rash. Use it once a day and no more than 3 times in a row. Oh my god, there is no so-called dependence at all. On the contrary, it is much more reliable than scratching repeatedly to cause ulcers and scars. Of course, if your skin is particularly thin and sensitive and you really don’t want to take hormones, you can also choose non-hormonal calcineurin inhibitors, but the effects are slower and you have to wait two or three hours to slowly suppress the itching.

Don't be careless after the itching subsides. Don't touch the food that triggered your allergy this time for at least the next three months. If it is the second or third time that you feel itchy after eating something for no apparent reason, it is best to take the time to go to the hospital for a food-specific IgE test to find out which ingredients you are allergic to. Just avoid it in advance next time. It is better than suffering from itching every time, right?