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Symptoms of Seafood Allergy

Fish, shrimp, oysters, and clams are delicious and healthy to eat. But if you are allergic to any of it then it wouldn’t be so healthy anymore as this would cause several reactions to your body. It is therefore important to be aware of the symptoms that may occur to know if you have allergy and should avoid eating seafood.

Seafood allergy is caused by the abnormal response of the immune system to components of seafood. The types of seafood that can trigger allergies are:

• Bony fish which contains parvalbumin, a protein known to cause allergic reactions.
• Crustaceans are another type. This includes crabs, lobsters, and shrimp which is considered the most allergenic.
• Mollusks like mussels, clams, and oysters.

So how can you tell if you are experiencing allergic reactions? The following are the symptoms you should look out for:

• You have runny nose or nasal congestion.
• Your eyes turn red, watery, sore, or itchy.
• You experience difficulty breathing. Wheezing is breathing with audible sounds because of difficulty. Asthma, which is a more severe breathing difficulty, results from the constriction of vessels wherein the air we breathe passes through.
• Continuous coughing and sneezing.
• Swelling of the different parts of the body such as the lips, tongue, face, and throat.
• Itchy or tingling mouth.
• Having headaches.
• Rashes appear on your skin. They may just be as mild as ordinary rashes which turn parts of your skin red, or more severe ones like hives (which is the presence of red, rounded lesions on the skin that are itchy and inflamed) and eczema (rashes that are accompanied with dryness, swelling, blistering, crusting, or bleeding).
• Suddenly having an upset stomach which may be accompanied by vomiting, diarrhea, or nausea, or gas.
• You experience heartburn (reflux of the food you ate back to your esophagus).

You should take note however that the symptoms listed above are for the mild to moderate cases which will appear minutes to hours after your exposure by means of inhaling, touching, or eating the allergen..  Severe allergic reactions, on the other hand, not only cause these symptoms but may also result to anaphylaxis.
Anaphylaxis is affects many parts of the body including the skin, gastrointestinal system, respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous system. Effects on the skin are the same as the symptoms mentioned above, presence of hives, itchiness, redness, and swelling. For the gastrointestinal system, it causes abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea while for the respiratory system, it causes shortness of breath and wheezing. The most significant and the worst symptom of anaphylaxis is the severe drop of blood pressure that may cause loss of consciousness.

To avoid any of the symptoms above, all you have to do is to avoid what type of seafood you are allergic to. If you are still not sure the exact type you should not be eating, keep away from any seafood as much as possible. When eating outside, you must always ask if there is any seafood used in the variant. You should also ask what type of sauce or condiments they put in before taking a bite.

Now, if you have failed to avoid the right seafood and you start experiencing any of the symptoms, the fastest way to relieve yourself from it is to take anti-allergy medication. You can also take bronchodilators to deal with asthma. Adrenaline injection is used when dealing with anaphylactic shock. However, you must remember that the latter (adrenaline injection) is only to be administered by a physician. What you have to do when having anaphylaxis is to run to the nearest hospital and let the doctors do the job.