Does this sound crazy?
As mentioned elsewhere, I had a big problem with hives and dermatographia (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/Dermatographia/DS00755) back in July. I had crab cakes for lunch that day, so most likely it was an allergic reaction to the crab meat. The allergist did tests which were negative, but he also said that food allergy tests are more likely to return a false negative than tests for other allergens (like pollen), so I need to do a field test by actually eating a small bit of crab to see what happens. I have not done this yet, because I was waiting for winter to come so I don't wind up with another case of hives that keep me from enjoying good cycling weather. In fact, I have avoided all shellfish since that day.
But, I have had three milder cases of the same allergic symptoms since then. The only unusual thing I ate before the first (and worst) of these three cases was Newman's Own pepperoni pizza. The second time, I had tried one of the new holiday Cliff bars (cranberry and orange). The third time, I had eaten Amy's organic frozen pizza rolls. All the other foods I ate on those days were things I eat frequently with no allergy symptoms.
The common ingredient in all three foods is sea salt. I think the pizza had more of it than the other foods, based on the amount I ate and the fact that they use sea salt to naturally cure the pepperoni.
I googled, and found some web sites where people say they are allergic to sea salt. But I know you can find pretty much anything on the internet, and it might not actually be true; there might be other things that really cause the symptoms that people have not been able to isolate. So does it sound crazy to be allergic to sea salt? I think the idea is that the salt itself is not the problem; rather it's microorganisms that remain on it after the sea water has evaporated. So the same proteins that cause a shellfish allergy might be involved.
I have some other foods at home with sea salt in them (Kashi crackers, low-sodium soups, organic canned kidney beans) so I'm going to do more testing. But knowing there could be a placebo effect, I was wondering what you alls thought.
Thanks as always for your wisdom!!
p.s. the cranberry-orange Clif bar was tasty.