Allium Allergy?

#1

Don’t laugh. I’ve been wearing HAs for 15 years. I didn’t wear them often enough to please anyone.
Last fall, I started being horrible allergic to garlic and onions (alliums). Not anaphylactic but almost.
Allergist told me……no cure….strict avoidance.
So my daughter, “G” visits me this year (first time since Covid). We go out and get breakfast (the safest meal for me to eat out)
She starts yelling at me “you can hear me!!! In this restaurant!!! What have you done?”

Apparently, I had a not so awful allergy that kept the tinnitus at high volume. I’ve not worn HAs since covid started. But she was right. I could hear her.

In the past week, I’ve been repeatedly exposed to alliums again. My tinnitus is back at screaming volume. I can’t hear anything without high volume or reading lips like I used to.

I can’t be in grocery stores, restaurants, smell seasoned food grilling. Raw, cooked or powdered requires massive Benadryl.

I think I found one cure.

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#2

wow, that is incredible. SO glad you have found some form or relief, however it seems the sensitivity is very high and therefore limiting. I wish you all the best in your efforts to retain your hearing!

#3

It is WAY more limiting than wearing hearing aids. But, in the beginning before I became so sensitive to the onions etc, I may have been able to dodge both the hearing loss and the reactions I have now if I’d quit consuming alliums.

Vidalia onions were a cause for celebration. Shrimp scampi and all the great Italian and Greek food. Oh well.

#4

What about allergy therapy, and possibly allergy shots

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#5

Yes!! Great idea! I was also thinking that to be 1,000% sure, go see an allergist and find out anything & everything else that might trigger such a profound reaction.

Geez. I’d have to fling myself from a bridge, cuz I LIVE for Indian food. Life without sloppy curry would be verrrrry tough.

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#6

I saw the allergist yesterday and he reminded me of what he told me last year. The onion/garlic is not a true allergy. It’s an irritant.

Think about cutting an onion and how we often cry from the fumes. That’s what happens to me on the inside. Nasal, throat, and upper chest as well as my eyes.

So allergy shots are useless for me. Strict avoidance.

And sloppy curries are missed too. But I hear everyone now. I might trade wearing hearing aids to be able go everywhere again with the ability to breath.

#7

So my question is what is the difference? They make you ill

#8

Makes me cough and wheeze and nose running faster than I can catch. Migraines and fog headed. It’s like being underwater sorta. I’m a mess when exposed long enough.

I live in a wonderful area with fabulous restaurants and breweries. Asheville NC. I can’t drive downtown because all those delicious smells get in the car. And with the traffic, you can’t drive out of there fast enough.

#9

Sounds like allergies to me

#10

They do this even when they are cooked down in the dish?

#11

Yes!! It’s quite a miserable allergy/irritant whatever. So I have to buy special ketchup and read every label on everything. If it says spices or natural flavoring, I skip it.

Alliums don’t have to be labeled in this country.

When I first started having trouble, I was googling and saw Facebook had a group reference. Signed back up and looked. Two groups. International and they’ve been a life saver.

Like this forum, they are supportive and informative. There’s lists of foods that are safe and recipes to adapt and general help on how to manage.
Unlike my Dr.

Salad dressing without garlic or onion? Recipes and all the commercial ones you can buy.

I just thought I’d share that my tinnitus calmed down after giving up alliums to where no one complains about my hearing anymore. Nor do I. Birds are back!

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