What we learned about food allergies in India

I have not yet found an antihistamine cream, but there are many tablets available. I think I have a selection of three in my meds box just now. Not hugely expensive.

Remember that India has a big pharmaceutical industry.

Thanks very much...

That company brought up in post #1 of this thread has a website of course, looks very handy so I thought I'd leave the URL: http://www.selectwisely.com/

GREAT thread, thanks!

I have a legume allergy, with peanuts as my most severe allergy and only very mild allergy to things like lentils, chickpeas, soy, etc. I'm not so sensitive as to have a bad reaction if I'm near peanuts but if I eat any more than a pinky sized portion of something w/ peanuts, my lungs begin to close, my skin becomes inflamed and red hot and- **I'm actually very curious to know if anyone else has ever experienced this**- the worst part of my reaction is actually the excruciating abdominal pain I get when my body has an allergic reaction. I'm not exactly sure what this means or how it happens but I suppose it has something to do with my digestional system freaking out and perhaps due to the swelling I get something gets blocked, some blood flow or something. It is literally the worst pain I can possibly imagine- far far worse than the broken finger I am sporting right now.

I was on a student program in the south for 3 1/2 months, in Auroville, a very western little city in Tamil Nadu, right next to Pondicherry. I had four incidents during that time period, all in Auroville. I had been very careful, always testing tiny bits of my food before I indulged, even when they told me "no peanuts", but there were a few times when I forgot just how careful I really have to be. Two out of those four times it was a western dish I was eating; one was just some roasted veggie dish, another was pesto pasta. Both times were scary but I hadn't eaten enough for there to be too bad of a reaction. I just felt sick for a few hours and had to wait it out. The first time it happened it was an indian dish that i just took too large of a test bite of. The worst time, when I had to use an Epi-Pen for the first time in my life, was when I was eating a Tamil breakfast- the very same one I had eaten at least 20 times before and loved. I ate the whole thing before realizing it. The experience was a nightmare (mostly because of the physical pain), but my teacher helped me and brought me to the health clinic where they gave me a shot of anti histhamine, and a muscle relaxer to help stop what the doctor called a "bad cramp". So the lesson that I learned was to never be sure of anything, even if I've eaten something a hundred times, I still have to ask and test very tiny amounts of it before I eat.

Since then, I've had no problems.
Be careful my fellow travelers with food allergies!
Best of luck to us all~

Just leaving a note that a crucial ingredient of pesto is pine nuts... (a seed in fact I think, but I'm eternally confused about the precise classification of all that stuff anyway; possibly replaced by other nuts if unavailable or considered too expensive, leading to an inferior product but that's not the issue here. In fact I think cashew nuts and walnuts are a popular and cheaper replacement.)

It would seem difficult to me to get a convincing answer that what you don't want in your food is actually not in there yes (hard enough for something as simple as being a vegetarian out of your own choice -- though less so or hardly at all in India, of course), and then traces of anything can easily find their way in there through a variety of means, but so much the better that sufferers don't let it deter them from traveling

That is very helpful, someone who speaks the language! You say that you live in the north; how do you do your shopping with your allergies? My kids used to eat only rice, vegi's and fruit when they were little and very allergic but I can imagine that you will need more?

It sounds like a real adventure for sure... How is the air polution? Do you know about a website with that kind of information?

Thank you!

Is it possible to buy epi-pen or something similar without a reciept in India? They are darn expensive here at home so don't want to buy more then one to bring.

Wow! This is a great thread. Thank you to all the posters!

I am allergic to pollen (saffron!) and coconut as well as bees, and pretty much anything that flowers or has hair. Luckily my food allergies tend to be easily noticeable -- if its a bright yellow, I need to be careful. My allergy to coconut is less severe, and I actually seem to be growing out of it.

My plan for India is to bring 3 different kinds of allergy meds, plus benadryl. I actually have an idea for the poster who was concerned about the cost of an Epi-pen.

*Warning: I am not a doctor, so please consult a physician before adopting any ideas!* Because I do not have an "immediate, I will die in the next 5 seconds" reaction, I have found that crushing a Benadryl and putting it under my tongue works well. It is the same drug (according to my RN mother). While I need the drug quickly, 5-10 minutes is a good response time for me. The skin around my mouth and neck starts to inflame and get red before I get the breathing problem. I learned this when I was camping and got stung by a bee. Please, also remember that an Epi-pen or the like does not necessarily stop the reaction. Depending on the severity or amount of allergen ingested, the reaction could continue after the anti-histamine has worn off.

Thanks for the tip! But Benadryl is a anti-histamine while epi-pen is adrenaline, should have different effect? But I will carry a lot of antihistamines with me that hopefully stops everything before I need the epi-pen. Like you I won't die the first couple of hours if ever

Varnim -- So true! I asked my RN mom. I guess that my allergies do not respond well to adrenaline .. tends to cause a nasty rebound as soon as the adrenaline fades. (See why I am not a doctor!? Now, if you want affirmative answers about American Literature .. I am your woman!)

i have celiac disease - a severe allergy to a protein found in wheat and barley. even a very small amount of wheat will cause me severe digestive difficulty and abdominal pain/swelling.

i will be in india for 6 months this winter and am wondering if anyone has any advice on avoiding wheat and the dangers of cross contamination.

i cannot eat at any restaurants here in the US as wheat seems to get in everything with mixed fryers and grills. i am hoping that eating in india will be better. any thoughts?

Hm. I really don't know, so kindly wait for others to respond.

However wheat is really really big in at least northern India as far as I know, and is what all those chapatis and many other breads eaten there will typically be made of. The south (and perhaps north-east) is traditionally bigger on rice, but the dividing line isn't all that clear as you might hope for in this context. There's a lot of overspill in all directions. (And then barley I think is one of the, if not the, main staple foods in Tibet, but I have no idea how this might reflect on India, or its (far-) northern cuisines, or sometimes Tibetan presence there, and/or certainly plenty of other Himalayan folks.)

I guess one of those allergy cards discussed before on this thread could be a good idea; I'd still be a little wary of to what extent it's understood you have a real issue with it though.

(Hm, and then again what started this thread was gluten allergies right? I'm not sure how the two relate precisely, but those people seem to have managed it. Wait, give me one second and I'll check on something and edit this post.)

So, instead of editing, I'll just add it (and I was mistaken, this thread started off about nut and nightshades allergies): There was this woman with a child with a gluten and lactose allergy, she seems to have gotten by fine in the end, you could look up other posts by her as well: Glutenfree and milkfree diet.

You can also search this site for more posts concerning gluten; I'm not sure how the new search engine handles it, you'll find the old search engine here (it's listed on the search page as well): http://www.indiamike.com/india/search.php.

Thing is, not being a sufferer I don't know how closely those two allergies are related.

I'm also not trying to scare you btw; but it could obviously merit some good looking into like you're doing yes.

nb One more point that you may not really be looking to hear, but the way I know my Indian kitchens I think the chance of some traces of (or the actual) flour or something flying about would be pretty high yes.

Opting for more high-class places I don't think will necessarily save you from this, you mostly just won't be able to see what goes in there. (That doesn't mean kitchens there are generally disgusting, but like you said yourself, it gives you trouble in the US. I've worked in restaurant kitchens in The Netherlands, it's not essentially different here, that's just how the business works. Of course you don't have the time to make the workplace free from everything all the time.)

I find it very hard to say; from this thread alone and others like it, it would seem clear that many people manage to get by with a number of allergies. It would depend on the severity of your condition I guess, and how far you're willing to (or able to) go with it; and if you easily adapt to other environments, and to other languages to express your needs in, and etc.

It would, in fact, not seem like an easy proposition to me; and then let alone for 6 months (in a country that can be challenging enough as it is; and then on a first trip, I presume? What area are you going to? -- this might be very helpful to know); but then again what do I know, and again I certainly wouldn't want to discourage you. In fact, I'd rather see you have a good time there.

thanks for the info. this is actually my second long trip to india. however, the first was ten years ago before i had developed this allergy. i plan to spend time in the north and the south.

the "select-wisely" cards look really helpful and i am definitely getting a gluten-free one written in hindi. do you think it would be worth it for me to get special-order cards made for the south-indian languages? or can people in the south usually read hindi or english as well?