can't breathe after eating sweets/chocolate What is this?
Hi everyone
Hoping you might be able to help. On about 5 occasions now over the last 2 years, I have had what might possibly be an anaphylactic shock. i don't know if it could be classed as one as I have recovered by myself after a while without medical intervention.
Basically, it has happened after eating a boiled sweet or some chocolate bar. My throat suddenly closes up and I literally can't breathe. i go dizzy and try to gasp for air. I also seem to have alot of saliva in my mouth at the time so I am not sure whether my mouth has just watered so much that I am chpking on it, but I cannot cough, my throat is literally closed.
On 3 occasions I have held the phone in my hand ready to call an ambulance. (Don't know how I would speak to tell them anything but I would hope they would trace the call). In the end, I have got my breath back by breathing through my nose. it lasts for a good minute and it is SO scary. It takes 15 minutes to recover afterwards. I am not aware of being allergic to anything. I eat peanuts/tree nuts, drink milk, eat eggs safely.
Any ideas?????
CASEYMAY
Re: can't breathe after eating sweets/chocolate What is this?
That IS scary!! Sorry you're going through that!! I don't really know, but have had somewhat similar, yet different reactions myself. Mine's not to chocolate, but to soy. Did your reactions just start happening out of the blue? Had you eaten chocolate before with no reaction, then suddenly one day you got this reaction? That's how it was with me. I've eatin soy foods for years, but had recently started drinking soy milk. I had been drinking it about 3 weeks when all of a sudden, while drinking some, I got a sudden, very strong feeling like I was going to pass out. I was sitting on the couch, watching TV. It was the strangest thing. That continued to happen, off and on, over a couple days. It was like I could literally feel my blood pressure dropping to scarily low levels. I also wondered if I was having an anaphylactic shock reaction, since I felt like my blood pressure was extremely low, like I could pass out at any second, and sometimes felt dizzy too. Like you, it would pass usually within 10-15 minutes and I'd feel perfectly fine (til the next time).
Anyway, I know our reactions/symptoms are different, but I still felt that I could sympathize and relate with you on some level.
Have you paid extra attention to what you eat now? At the times when you had your "episodes," were you eating and/or doing something the same in all those times, that would be the common theme? You say "sweets/chocolate bars," which is a pretty broad category, have you narrowed it down to a specific ingredient in what you've eaten at those times?
It's all so scary, when stuff like this happens out of the blue, when you're otherwise healthy!!
Re: can't breathe after eating sweets/chocolate What is this?
thanks for your kind words. the thing is that I still eat the things that cause the breathing episodes and it doesn't affect me - just occasionally. So my thoughts are that it is something 'foreign' in the sweet or chocolate -perhaps an extra helping of chemicals/ingredients or something in that particular chocolate bar /sweet that i am reacting to. Gosh I don't know. I have been wondering whether to go to docs because the next time it could be really bad.
Re: can't breathe after eating sweets/chocolate What is this?
I would seriously go get this checked out by a doctor. If there is an unusual cause, you need to know this so you dont get surprised by it if it worsens. Go to an allergist/ immunologist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by caseymay
Hi everyone
Hoping you might be able to help. On about 5 occasions now over the last 2 years, I have had what might possibly be an anaphylactic shock. i don't know if it could be classed as one as I have recovered by myself after a while without medical intervention.
Basically, it has happened after eating a boiled sweet or some chocolate bar. My throat suddenly closes up and I literally can't breathe. i go dizzy and try to gasp for air. I also seem to have alot of saliva in my mouth at the time so I am not sure whether my mouth has just watered so much that I am chpking on it, but I cannot cough, my throat is literally closed.
On 3 occasions I have held the phone in my hand ready to call an ambulance. (Don't know how I would speak to tell them anything but I would hope they would trace the call). In the end, I have got my breath back by breathing through my nose. it lasts for a good minute and it is SO scary. It takes 15 minutes to recover afterwards. I am not aware of being allergic to anything. I eat peanuts/tree nuts, drink milk, eat eggs safely.
Any ideas?????
CASEYMAY
Re: can't breathe after eating sweets/chocolate What is this?
I have the same problem, occasionally. Did you ever find a good answer to it, other than avoid eating anything sweet? I have had no luck "googling" this symptom.
Re: can't breathe after eating sweets/chocolate What is this?
Is it any chocolate when it happens? or a specific candy bar?
I would definitely see an allergist and get tested. It could be a reaction to something.. maybe you have had more of an ingredient that day and it has built up in your system
Re: can't breathe after eating sweets/chocolate What is this?
hi. me again. well I had medised the other night (i know its for kids but I needed some pain relief and it was all we had) and within 5 minutes I broke out in hives.
Saw my doctor today and he said I am allergic to the anti-histamine. (True - I can't tolerate piriton either). But then I asked about the chocolate thing - he said it'll be parabens (e numbers 214,216, 218). I asked to be allergy tested and he said you can't test for these. He said to avoid them.
this is impossible - do you think he is right in what he is saying with no testing at all? Or is it true you can't test for these?
