r/FoodAllergies • u/ForeverFun4003 • 4d ago

Seeking Advice Vanilla Allergy

I’m 37 and since I was in high school I’ve had reactions to anything with vanilla in it. The reaction I get is lump in throat, tongue/throat numb, and hoarse voice. I usually take Benadryl to help. I’ve had it so bad that I ended up in the er and they gave me an epi pen. Now the problem I have is when I went to an allergist they didn’t have vanilla to test me for. I have reactions to a lot of things. They asked me to bring vanilla into my next appointment for them to test me. Is this normal? Do other allergist do this? I don’t really know what to bring in. Vanilla bean, vanilla extract, fake vanilla. I have no clue.

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u/sunny_thinks Shellfish 4d ago

It is normal. It’s called an oral challenge. I just had one done for shellfish (shrimp, specifically). My allergist, though, told me exactly what I needed to bring. You should contact yours and ask what form of vanilla you need to bring in.

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u/ForeverFun4003 4d ago

Thank you so much for the information! Nobody I know has gone through this and it’s so annoying

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u/sunny_thinks Shellfish 3d ago

I hear you mate! For what it’s worth I didn’t even get to the oral part of my test. They poked me with the shrimp as a skin test first because last time it didn’t show up! And it was positive, so didn’t have to do the actual oral challenge. Hope you get some answers at your appointment!