Brazil Nuts

Recently I was diagnosed with an adult onset brazil nut allergy. I’ve never been allergic to nuts but started eating brazil nuts recently after reading they were good for preventing headaches and migraines. After eating them for about a week, I started to get very itchy all the time. My face particularly but my whole body itched and it drove me nuts (excuse the pun).

I ruled out lots of things and then decided to stop the nuts. My first nut trial coincided with changing hair products so I thought that caused the itching all over my body that started after 30 mins. The 2nd and last trial, I was convinced it was the brazil nuts (so tried nothing else new) then had two brazil nuts. Within 10 minutes I was itching all over, my eyes started stinging and puffing, and I felt awful. Some antihistamines worked after 30 minutes and then I felt like I’d been hit by a mack truck.

My doctor has told me to steer clear of brazil nuts (and possibly all nuts). The fact that my reaction is getting worse each time and happening quicker is a big red flag that I could progress to anaphylaxis.

But it has put me into a bit of a quandary. I know that Little B has an allergy to peanuts though it is very mild. It is also thought that he will outgrow this before he is 5. But with my experience, I’m now very wary of doing nut challenges on him.