Technically I'm in Europe (the continent, but no longer the economic zone) in the UK. It's been years since I've really had to handle coins, but even so, it takes holding it in my hand for maybe 30 minutes to cause the blistering and that's not something I've needed to do very often. Nickel allergy is fairly common but I understand mine is a fair bit more sensitive than most. The main inconvenience from it is having to be very careful about what I buy if I'm going to need to touch it - no metal framed glasses, my wedding ring is zirconium, and the rivets on most jeans will burn me even through my underwear. When a few years ago I found a pair that I liked the fit of, and also had nickel-free rivets, I bought 10 pairs.
I live en Europe too (northern countries) and we almost never handle coins anymore, but nickel itself is in so many things as an alloy. So I can imagine it must be very annoying to buy something and suddenly realise you can't use it due to a rash, that does indeed suck.