Rice Pudding

[Eden]

You must go through epi-pens by the dozens!

indeed allergy is a pretty widely misused term. Most people who think they have food allergies do not..... I'm not saying that they don't truly have some kind of reaction to what they avoid. There are other things that can happen. You can have intolerances like lactose intolerance from not producing the proper enzymes, or gluten intolerance from celiac disease, but these are not allergies in the proper sense of the word.(itching, sneezing, wheezing, hives, anaphalaxsis!) Of course lots of people do say they are allergic to something that they just don't like too. My neighbor was "allergic" to chicken.... until he tried it again, found that it wasn't so bad and started to get over his allergy.

[OakLeaf]

I was diagnosed by an allergist. I know there's controversy among allergists over whether the kind of reaction I have is truly an allergy, or whether only the anaphylactoid type is, but I'll leave that to the scientists.

It's not lactose intolerance (dairy is by no means the only food I'm allergic to, I'm more allergic to goat's milk than cow's, and digestive symptoms are minimal, attributable only to an excess of mucus) and it's not celiac (gluten-containing grains are not the only ones I'm allergic to, and in fact I'm more allergic to rye and corn than I am to wheat).

Basically, I have the same type of reaction to foods as I do to pollens and molds. Fatigue, systemic edema, congestion and excess mucus production in all mucus membranes, and palpitations (SVT). As my allergic load increases, so do my symptoms - so I'm much more strict about my diet during weed season, for instance. No one disputes that inhalant allergies are truly allergies.