Losing my mind over fear of allergic reaction

[Worrygirl32]

So I have struggled with this, on and off for sometime. I eat food and it doesn't matter if I have had it before I immediately start to feel a tightening sensation in my throat. Like a lump in my throat. Most times I work through it and recognize it as anxiety and move on. However, I have oral allergy syndrome. Basically, I get really bad seasonal allergies and it crosses over sometimes to raw fruits or vegetables. Raw carrots for example make my mouth itch. So I just avoid them. I have no problem eating them when they are cooked. Well lately I have become OBSESSED with my oral allergy problem more than ever before. Because I'm trying extremely hard to eat healthy. Well this past week I meal prepped some quinoa. I have had quinoa before and never noticed any problems. I have had it on several occasions. On Monday I ate some quinoa mixed with green peas ( I had anxiety about the peas because I was scared that I may have an allergic reaction from them). Shortly after I ate I had the lump in the throat feeling. I brushed it off -- whatever. Today I had the same thing quinoa and green peas. I didn't think twice about it. And ate it. It was fine. Then the thought crossed my head and I felt my throat tighten up. I pushed through and kept eating. But it felt like it was getting worse. I didn't have trouble breathing. I started googling of course and I saw that quinoa is a seed that belongs in the pollen family. I immediately freaked out. The tight feeling subsided shortly after. But I just had dinner and the pizza felt rough going down my throat if that makes sense. I became much more aware of my ability to swallow food. I'm not sure if this is a result of the anxiety of eating quinoa earlier. Anyway. I'm in the mood to have a beer tonight but I'm terrified because it says online that alcohol can exacerbate an anaphylaxis response. Can someone please rationalize with me right now. I feel like I'm being borderline crazy and at this point I'm completely consumed with my thoughts but I can't stop. And my anxiety is totally controlling me right now.

[ErinKC]

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I went through this same fear. A few years ago I ate a piece of cranberry walnut bread while putting away Christmas decorations. I randomly found one hive on my wrist. I figured it was the dust (I'm so allergic to dust) from the tree and went about cleaning. But, my mom - also an anxiety sufferer - mentioned the possibility that I was having a reaction to the walnuts. I do not have any food allergies, but I was having anxiety at the time, and it set me off.

The next day I decided to eat it because my rational mind said I was not allergic, but I immediately felt funny in my mouth and throat and freaked out. I became so afraid of every food with traces of nuts. I went to an allergist and had a scratch test done and I had no food allergies. She even did a food challenge, where I came in and ate walnuts in her office over the course of an hour, and I was fine.

But, for months I continued to avoidance behaviors and was afraid to try anything new or even anything I'd had before that could be a possible allergen. It was awful. Finally, slowly over time, I was able to build back up to not being afraid just by exposure. I would just suck it up and eat something and then see that I was fine.

I was 100% convinced I had food allergies, but I was 100% wrong. It was all in my head.