I don’t usually eat much seafood anyway, but I used to eat tuna fairly regularly.
Early last year I went on a trip (Europe) and vomited not long after eating a tuna meal I cooked myself (from canned tuna, so it probably wasn’t a contaminant). When I got back home I had tuna again, and vomited again after having a really bad headache.
I started to suspect an intolerance, but was a little reluctant to test this out - there might’ve been something wrong with the first batch and the memory of it made me sick the second time.
However, on at least four other occasions that I’ve been game enough to have a little bit of tuna, smoked salmon, prawn or clam I have felt the familiar headache that I get when I’ve eaten enough of it to feel sick (about a teaspoon’s worth) but not quite enough to feel sick enough to vomit. Sometimes the headache gets so bad I need to make myself feel sick enough to vomit so it can go away and I feel better.
Strangely enough, I haven’t felt sick in the slightest after eating fish or calamari from a takeaway shop (ie battered/crumbed and deep-fried).
So, I have no idea what’s going on or what could have happened, which sucks because seafood is a pretty good food healthwise and such.
Could strep throat cause this change? Trouble is, I can’t remember whether the first time was before or after the strep throat (which was pretty bad, but not treated with antibiotics since I didn’t see the doctor before I was in recovery); the two weren’t close enough to directly affect each other.
I’m sorry if this question is too demanding, I’m just wondering how it’s possible to develop a food intolerance after not having any for the first twenty years of my life.
Thanks for your help.
Thanks for that, but it wasn’t my first time eating tuna; I’ve been eating it for ages, that was the first time I’ve had a reaction though.
Yes, it is possible. Are the fish varieties you tolerate from the ocean? Iodine plays a big factor in fish allergies. If you never had exposure to tuna, and then suddenly started eating it at age 20, yes, it’s possible your body’s immune system didn’t recognize it so reacted. Also, some substances act together to produce some dandy reactions. The strep organisms seem to be involved. If you had strep present in your body, and then had your first exposure to tuna, the two may have acted together as "haptens." Get into a pathophysiology book or some medical allergy texts and read about "haptens" and late life first time exposures. Have you ever heard that young children who are raised with two pets, cats and dogs, preferrably two dogs, are less likely to develop allergies? Allergies are annoying, scarey sometimes, and very intriging to study.
