Dealing with a shellfish allergy

Of course I think everyone has an issue when they are dealing with a food allergy and here is just another one of the issues that we encounter.

When you tell someone you have a shellfish allergy they immediately think of lobsters and crab and things that have a hard physical shell on them. Well, when someone says they are allergic to shellfish they could also be allergic to shrimp, scallops, clams, oysters and yes calamari along with a lot of other items. See all of this items are considered in the same family so it makes it difficult to find a restaurant that serves finfish but not at least one of the foods listed as a shellfish.

One thing that has to be noted is that someone with a shellfish allergy may to avoid the area where shellfish is being steamed because the protein can become airborne which can also cause an anaphylactic reaction. I know this as I once had a reaction when I was in a restaurant and they served shrimp fajitas and I had a reaction but to the amount of sizzling that was coming from the platter.

I found a really good article with regards to shellfish allergies and here is the link for it.

There have been times that I would love to go out and have fish and chips at a restaurant but that is such a challenge as most fish and chip stores serve at least one item that is considered a shellfish. We continue to try and find a restaurant that I can go and have fish and chips but right now there still isn’t one that I have found in the GTA that I can eat at. We have had lots of friends recommend different restaurants and then as I do the investigation about the restaurant I discover that they normally have some sort of shellfish on their menu.

A shellfish allergy can be a challenge at the best of times but when you know what good fish and chips taste like as you are adult onset anaphylactic it can make things even worse. I didn’t have the shellfish allergy all my life so there are days when I would love to have something that I can’t eat but I know that I can’t if I don’t want the reaction. Until I find a restaurant where I can have fish and chips safely again I will just have to avoid having them. So, when someone says they have a shellfish allergy it may seem that only a couple of foods are eliminated but really there are a lot of foods that get eliminated.