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by johnsonjo
524 days ago
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My sister went to an allergist and found out she is allergic to corn/HFCS as well with similar symptoms as you (hives, vomit inducing). Corn and HFCS are in almost literally everything, so it's a really hard allergy for her to have. You say now you eat it for breakfast? What do you mean by that? Are you over your allergy and what has worked for you if so? If you could give someone going through something similar advice what would you say? |
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I would consider myself over my allergy. I'd say it lasted seven years, gradually diminishing in severity over time.
For the first couple years following the diagnosis my parents had me eating spelt, kamut, quinoa and all that. Alternative recipe books, bag lunch, Martin's potato bread, health food store, no vending machines, no trick or treat candy, and we checked the ingredients on every box. But like you said, HFCS is practically unavoidable. My parents made some judgment calls— they checked my reaction to corn starch and plain old corn, and I had none. The alternative grains went away, we were just ingredient checking and keeping my corn intake relatively low. Five years in, I was eating the same stuff other kids ate as long as it wasn't sugary like pancake syrup or a cinnamon bun. Then after puberty corn syrup was the bad grade scapegoat and nothing more.
Nowadays I will demolish a bowl of Honey Comb cereal— basically corn flour hexagons. I read the nutrition facts and ignore the ingredients list; my childhood allergy doesn't even enter my mind. Arrowhead Mills spelt flakes are delicious, though.
Your sister's a completely different jumble of molecules, and my experience might not apply, but I would recommend a similar approach my family took: switch to boring food for a year or two, even in the tricky social situations surrounding food. Then, talk to the allergist (or don't) about safely testing subcategories of corn product. The worst offenders are probably the sweeteners. I hope corn flour makes it back on her menu, but if not, I imagine now is a great time to be allergic and on the Internet.