Shellfish Allergy
One of the more common allergies from ocean food is a shellfish allergy. Shellfish include all animals with shells, such as lobster and shrimp, clams, squid and octopus. Like all other food allergies, a shellfish allergy can make you extremely ill, with swelling of throat and limbs, hives, wheezing, tingling in the mouth, diarrhea, vomiting , abdominal cramps, dizziness and more.
A shellfish allergy can bring a sudden halt to an otherwise fun-filled day at the ocean. It is caused when the body’s immune systems identifies the protein from shellfish as a threat and releases antibodies to wipe out the protein. An allergic reaction can cause the symptoms listed above an well as a constricting of the throat and nasal passages that, if untreated, can lead to respiratory failure and death. The treatment for this condition, know as anaphylactic shock, must be an immediate injection of epinephrine either in an emergency room or with a self-treatment kit. Antihistamines can treat many of the other symptoms.
One of the problems with a shellfish allergy is that there are many, many different kinds of shellfish. And while you may not be allergic to all of them, it is best to be safe and completely eliminate all shellfish from your diet.
Every different kind of shellfish contains it own unique allergy-causing proteins. In the crustacean category are the ever-popular lobster, crab, shrimp, crayfish and prawns. The mollusk category includes: bivalves--clams, scallops, oysters, mussels and abalone, gastropods, which include periwinkles, snails and limpets, and cephalopods-- which means octopus, squid, and cuttlefish.
A shellfish allergy can develop in anyone at any age. The diagnosis is the same procedure as that for other food allergies and can include a skin test or a blood test. In the skin test, the skin is pricked by a small needle and shellfish protein is sprinkled onto the area to see if there is any surface reaction on the skin. A blood test can be taken after an allergic reaction to see if there are immune system antibodies still present in the blood stream.
No matter how diagnosed, the best treatment for a shellfish allergy is to eliminate them from your diet. Being allergic to shellfish is not the same as being allergic to all fish as shellfish are a very distinct and separate category of fish. Cross-contamination can occur if the same pots and pans or cooking area is used to prepare other kinds of fish. When dining in a restaurant, especially a seafood restaurant, make sure not only that your dinner choice does not include shellfish, but also that it has been cooked in a separate pan from those used to cook shellfish.
Also avoid a supplement of coral calcium, which is obtained from ocean reefs, as it has been linked to shellfish allergies.
As long as you take reasonable care to stay away from shellfish, you can avoid any possible allergic reaction.