Q: can you be allergic to garlic and onion so severe that you can't even be in the same room.
Hi Diane,
I'm not an expert on food allergies, but I do know that you can have an allergic reaction to nuts just by being in the same room with them or even touching someone who'd eaten them hours before. So, I imagine the same thing could be true of onion and garlic allergies as well.
Perhaps someone more versed in food allergies will also chime in?
To your health,
Kathi
Totally, I have had this problem all of my life, over 50 years. If I come into contact with
garlic and onions either raw or cooked my throat becomes instantly sore and breathing
becomes very difficult. My skin around the eyes, nose and mouth becomes itchy and
sore and eventually breaks open. If I am in the same space as someone who has been
eating either of the above I get a gag reflex and again breathing becomes a problem.
The problem was not so bad up until the 80s when for some reason all chefs and
food companies started putting garlic into everything. I guess it is because garlic and
onions can mask bad cooking and other the cheap low quality produce used in processed
food. I have developed a sixth sense against garlic and onions and bail out of range asap when cominging into contact. I also carry allergy tablets which I pop whenever I
take a hit from the pungent bulbs.
YES! You absolutely can. As soon as a wave of garlic fume comes into a room, I have to run out. Pain begins all around the backs of my eyes, in those sinuses. My eyes begin to burn and water (this is worse than the standard reaction, which most people understand about onions). Nausea sets in. The last time it happened, I actually became violently ill... twice. It has definitely gotten worse, as I've gotten older. Though I actually liked garlic, when I was 10 or younger; by age 17 I knew it was not agreeable to me. When I was younger, it simply caused a headache and gas. Now that I'm in my 40's, it's horrible. I can't even walk into a Maggianos restaurant, anymore. I agree with the comment about the extreme use of garlic and onion, since the 1980's - largely as a way to shortcut to "flavor." The reaction is WORST WHEN the GARLIC is cut FRESH from the clove and baked in your presence. I wish more people understood this. It's no fun, at all - even embarassing - because no one really believes you. I come from an ethnicity with no garlic cooking, so my body just can't tolerate it.
Hi
I am alleric not too eating onions but to the fumes. My eyes tear up and my nasal passageways and throat swell up to the point where it is difficult to breathe. Even cutting leeks and chives will irritate me. I wear swim goggles to protect my eyes. For my breathing, I am still unsure of a solution.
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I, too, am allergic to both garlic and onions. The smell can trigger a migraine. Eating them is totally a digestive mess for up to 48 hrs. It makes it almost impossible to buy prepared foods and eating out results in a list of questions for the chef. I've been this way for almost 60 years.