73 Folks With Weird Allergies Reveal How They Affect Their Everyday Lives

I have chronic eczema meaning I’m allergic to pretty much everything. All my clothes have to be 100% cotton, rain water hurts like hell, I can’t hold plastic items for much longer than a minute without my skin flaring, honestly I could sit hear for a good few hours and type a small novel of stuff I’m allergic to.

I can’t remember the last time I wore a skirt or shorts and I try and wear long sleeved tops as much as possible. For 50% of the time I put up and shut up, my hands have been covered in eczema for the past 4 odd years and now the skin is a bizarre texture from scars, cracks and overall dryness.

At least once a week they bleed and weep which is embarrassing. My arms are usually red raw and often blood stains soak through my clothes throughout the day which is bad. Those are the worst parts, but it’s pretty much everywhere. Physically I have scars all over my body from where my eczema has flared and wrecked havoc and mentally my self esteem is wrecked.

Chlorohexadine, more commonly known as Chloroprep. It's the agent to sterilize (?) an area before surgery. Holy hell does it make my skin break out in the worst rash imaginable, and if not treated quickly, spreads to my entire body and inevitably, without fail, develops impetigo.

Only took 6 years but it FINALLY got added to my medical record, which has been a huge help bc even before it was I would specifically state multiple times to use iodine ONLY, but chloroprep would still be used bc of some miscommunication somewhere. Now anytime I have to go to the doc they see it and confirm it. God bless that nurse who finally got it added!

I usually tell people that I’m allergic to dust because it’s a hell of a lot easier than describing how I’m allergic to dust mite poo.

Poison Ivy. Yeah yeah, I've heard it all before. "Everyone is allergic to poison ivy!"

Not like I am.

I've caught it from smoke, when someone burned a patch to clear it out. I can get it if I go swimming in a pond that had poison ivy runoff. And I don't get it like you get it. You probably just get a rash that itches locally. I have to go to the hospital to get steroids and plastic surgery because my skin turns into scales. Every summer, while growing up, I got steroids to take just because poison ivy was in my area and those steroids would help me fight it.

I've gotten poison ivy from touching a gas pump after someone else doing yard work used it. I've gotten poison ivy so bad the doctor thought about putting me into a coma to wait out the pain of it.

I moved to high altitude where there isn't any poison ivy.

The best Poison Ivy/Poison Oak cure I've come across:
When you first notice the rash, take a shower immediately in cold water (you've got 10 minutes from first contact). Scrub with soap. After the shower, mix equal parts rubbing alcohol and vinegar and apply it to the rash after the shower.


You'll smell terrible, but after an hour the rash is completely gone and so is the itching. Repeat as necessary.

I have a scent allergy. Nearly all chemical scents give me an instant migraine which includes nausea, inability to concentrate, and sensitivity to lights and sounds.

Working with the public, and going to a university with international students (mostly) who bath in cologne, triggers a migraine.

Every.
Single.
Day.

I'm lucky if I can get a few hours of relief in the evenings.

Please ya'll, be aware of the amount of perfume/cologne you wear.

Working in the zoo field, I've encountered a lot of keepers that have discovered they are allergic to random animals. I know several people allergic to Kudu, but no other hoofstock, another is allergic to aardvarks. I'm certain these allergies are more common, but it's not common to be exposed to exotic animals.

I'm allergic to omega-3. Spent years trying to figure out why I got violently ill each time I had things like salmon, tuna, lots of eggs, etc. Even the teenage development vitamins my mother got me in middle school (they had extra omega-3 for growth and each time I took one I vomited pink sludge for three days)

Asked a doctor a out it a couple years ago- she immediately said that was an extremely bad allergy to omega-3 and to avoid it at all costs because vomiting violently and all my other symptoms (including the occasional fever, all of which my parents associated with me having a weak stomach) were signs of anaphylaxis and if I wasn't careful I could go into shock and pass away.

My mother refuses to believe I'm allergic and tells everyone, include my regular practitioner, that I fake the allergy and convinced this medical professional with 7 degrees I have a nonexistent allergy.

So I cut out most foods with omega-3 in them and I've been very careful since then. Went from throwing up fairly frequently to, in the past couple years since being diagnosed, only throwing up maybe once or twice. HUGE change. I'm able to gain weight now, my teeth are no longer as messed up (stomach acid decays them, and before I cut it out of my diet I was vomiting several times a month) and I feel a lot better in general.

I do miss seafood, but I can still eat a couple eggs at a time without anything but stomach pain and cramps, so I eat eggs sometimes to make sure I'm getting enough omega-3 to be healthy.

Aloe Vera, such a pain of an allergy. Do you know how many things have Aloe Vera in it? So many things! Finding out toliet paper at a restaurant has aloe infused into it, was not a fun time. Quick way to end a date.

With mosquito bites, the bite and the skin can sometimes swell up to the size of a small golf ball. My mom, when I was younger, always circled the bite and swollen skin with a pen just in case I needed to go to the doctor if it spread. But holy hell the bites still get so red and feels warm to the touch and my skin would eventually bruise. I always try to stay inside during the summer.

Edit: wow I didn’t expect so many people to have the same reaction! Also thanks for those offering solutions to treating these types of insect bites! Honestly my dad and sister will tease me about it as I’m the only one in the family who actually gets bitten?? Thankfully my mom’s a little more sympathetic, but summers are so rough in my area. Just being outside for 2-3 minutes means I’ll get up to 9-10 bites. But it’s fine as I get to have an excuse to stay indoors watching Netflix with the AC going!!

I’m actually allergic to potatoes.

Its easy enough at home, but gets super annoying going to restaurants... I’m from Canada and EVERYTHING comes with a side of some form of potato. People often seem to think I’m lying and just don’t want carbs....

My mom is Irish and wonders how I’m her daughter :(.

I'm allergic to allergy medication. Also bees, bandaids, lilies, water chestnuts, one kind of insect bite, and some pollen. So when I react to something, I can't take anything for it generally, other than a steroid if the reaction is bad enough.

I've got oral allergy syndrome, which isn't crazy uncommon but not many people who don't have it know about it.

Basically my body reads the proteins of fresh fruit the same as the proteins of pollen (or whatever else gives me hay fever) and rejects them. But once the fruit is cooked, the protein structure has changed and I'm no longer allergic.

It's also not consistent. I can't have peaches, pears, apples, cherries, or anything like that but I'm totally fine with berries, citrus fruits, and bananas. I also have a mild allergy to carrots and tree nuts which is supposedly due to the oral allergy syndrome.

As a kid, adults would not believe me when I told them I was allergic to fresh fruit. They'd tell me I was just being picky and try to force me to eat it anyway. Like, I know the difference between "this is gross" and "my throat and mouth itch uncontrollably and my lips are numb".

Not technically unusual, I’m allergic to Dairy.

99% of people think I mean lactose intolerant, no.

Anaphylactic shock to all dairy.

If you get ice cream on my skin a painful, itchy hive/rash will occur.

On the RAST test Im a 5, as high as it gets. A 6 to goat milk(they stop counting the antibodies after a certain point because it is too much).

I have been this way since birth, so no, I do not know what pizza, chocolate, ice cream or cheese taste like.

My bones are denser than normal because I weightlift and I am frequently asked if I am a marine due to my broad build.

Eating out makes me anxious, the burn of spicy/seasoned food feels the same as a reaction and cross-contamination is a big issue.

My diet is veggies, meat and some carbs, just without sauces/condiments/butter.

I’m severely allergic to alcohol. Even being in a room where alcohol is present can give me a headache. I’ve always had a massive aversion towards alcohol more than other kids. The first time I tried a tiny sip of diluted wine it made nauseated, dizzy to the point of almost fainting and very short of breath. The same happened when I tried beer a year later. At that point I wasn’t sure it was alcohol or something else (sulphates or congeners or something) but I wasn’t planning on finding out so I just swore of alcohol all together. But in my first year of studying biology at uni there was a practical where we needed to use 70% ethanol and most people left their pots open and I got the same reaction. That’s how I knew for sure.

I have gotten pretty horrible remarks over it from people. People telling me I’m overreacting (I’m not), that one drink won’t end me (it will), one time I was told I’m a liar and that you can’t be allergic to alcohol (it’s rare but you can be).

I’m an early twenty something in uni so alcohol is all around me. It can be a drag. There are so many events that are only about drinking and I have zero desire to participate in those events. It is no fun being sober around drunk people.

Two super random things:
Legit allergic to myself. I have a gene that makes my mast cells constantly produce histamine. It’s an autoimmune thing so I’m stuck with it. Increased stress can cause it to flair up. Hives all the dang time.

Also citric acid. That stuff is in everything from shampoo to soda. Lucky because of all the stuff I’m on for the self allergic thing, this isn’t so much of a problem. When I wasn’t my eyes swelled shut after drinking a Hi-c.

I'm allergic to the adhesives in Band-Aids and other common bandages. Officially it went on my file as "allergic contact dermatitis" but it really is only an issue when I come into contact with bandages.

Basically it means I have to buy really specific, harder to find bandages. Most of the supposedly hypoallergenic ones are not so hypoallergenic for me, and I also can't have the ones that have medicine in them (like the Band-Aid ones with Neosporin already on the pad, for example). The hydrocolloid ones they have now are okay for short durations, or I can do gauze for bigger cuts/ scrapes.

I'm allergic to red food dye, red #40 specifically. It's the dye that makes Benadryl pink. It's also in everything.

Nickel. Most belt buckles and things of that nature are at least partially composed of nickel. If I don't have my shirt tucked in, I have to wear my belt sideways, otherwise it touches my beer gut when I sit down, and makes for a very itchy rash the rest of the day.

Cinnamon. Became allergic in adulthood. Apparently it's rare in children but more common in adults. I miss chai lattes SO DARN MUCH. I have to be careful in restaurants because cinnamon is a lovely ingredient to add to foods. Also can't really go in JoAnn Fabrics during this time of year due to their cinnamon scented everything.

I miss you, delicious spice.

I have a friend that has an alphagal allergy from being bitten by a Lonestar tick. He isn't able to eat red meat like beef or pork. Any sort of bird like chicken, turkey, etc or fish is fine.