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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by Karen Sines on 06 Dec 2007 at 8:01 pm

I have recently in my mid fifties found that I am allergic to pine nuts. It surfaced a
couple of years ago in an organic pizza with pesto. I had never had pesto and
was not aware of my allergy. Then last Sunday a woman put pine nuts in a
salad at church, they fell to the bottom and I was not aware they were there.
By the time I got home I was projectile vomiting, and ended up with uncontrolable
shakes. It was a good 8 hours before I could sit up or converse. It is now 5 days
later and I am very leary of any nuts at all, or nut oils. I am also allergic to soy.
That was discovered by saliva testing, but the pine nut was by accident. I have
decided not to eat any for of nuts and no nut oils. Thankfully I do my own cooking
and we very rarely eat out. This last episode was 10 times more violent than
the first one. I don't know if I would survive another bout and I cannot take epinephrine.


Read the news article that this opinion was posted about:
Common Food Allergies

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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by trina on 22 Dec 2007 at 11:41 pm

hi Karen,
I am deadly allergic to pine nuts too. i have been intubated now four times. I have only had a reaction from eating out two times and eating something at my friends house twice. I am lucky i can take epi. Why can't you use that? I don't eat out much now. I am not allergic to almonds or peanut though. I have been eating those all of my life. I just turned 39.

I hope to get the pine nut allergy out the public more, they never list those under tree nuts, and they are a tree nut.

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It's A Seed

posted by Beverly on 14 Apr 2008 at 12:19 am

I believe that pine nuts are not a nut at all. They are a seed, I do agree that they can cause an allergic reaction though.

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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by Allie on 27 Aug 2008 at 7:36 pm

My experience is similar to Karen's. I believed my first experience was due to food poisoning. I became suspicious the next time it happen and began to relate it to pesto. I experienced the same symptoms after eating a salad with pine nuts. I have tried to avoid pine nuts and pesto for the past several years. I recently consumed a small frozen entree which I belatedly confirmed (after symptoms presented) contained pesto. My symptoms are excessive hunger after eating followed by vomiting. I am not allergic to peanuts or other nuts.

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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by Mallory on 19 Oct 2008 at 12:58 pm

I recently found out about my allergy while i was in NYC. I was also eating a pizza that had pesto sauce on it. Immediately my lip swelled up and then i was covered in hives everywhere! It was so scary. and worst of all i missed a concert i was looking forward to so much =(

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My Son Is Allergic To Tree Nuts

posted by mimi tong on 14 Jan 2009 at 5:28 pm

My son is allergic to tree nuts,but thank God he can eat Pine nuts which are actually seeds. He can also have peanuts but he probably should not overdo it. Don't forget that many Pesto recipes include Walnuts in addition to Pine nuts, so be very careful about learning all of the ingredients of what you consume. My son had a protein allergy growing up, and until he hit puberty he could not eat beans, soy, chocolate, peas,or cow's milk products.

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Oh My!

posted by T R King on 30 Jan 2009 at 4:13 pm

I totally agree more people need to know about this allergy! I found out by accident also...I loved the flavor
of pine nuts! Put them in soups, salads, casseroles, etc.

After several bouts of violent vomiting, I singled out the pine nuts! Now, I cannot tolerate even the fragrance of pine nuts. I cannot believe that well known, poppular health articles are printing info on how pine nuts and/or their oil are very beneficial in weight loss???? Thanks for bringing this info to the forefront.

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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by Susan Boulanger on 16 May 2009 at 3:08 pm

I'm deathly allergic to pine nuts and only had them 3 times. After I ate them for the first time, I had about 8-10 tortilini with a nut in each one, In 20 min. I felt sick with the chills and a rash,just thought I was sick. 6 hrs. later at a class, found out it was an allergy, someone told me to take an antihistimine,it helped. Next time I ate a piece of pizza with a white sauce, then went shopping with my husband. In the store I felt like I was high on something,same symptoms as before, but slightly worse. Took an antihistimine when I got home, next day all my joints ached(the poison must go there).

Last time I was on a cruise, totally spaced about the fact that I had eaten pine nuts. In less than 20 min. I felt a tickle in my throat, thought it was lemonaide pulp. About 20 min. later hubby mentioned I may have had pine nuts. To that I said, oh my hands itch,so we went to the infirmery, where they worked realhard to save my life. They were monitoring my breathing and giving me an IV with antihistimine because my throat was swelling and closing up, was hooked up to oxygen and my blood pressure was going up or down, hubby can't remember. He knew it was bad when he saw them look at each other, with "The Look of Concern". After 3 hours they let me go, I was so Cold,just went to my room and slept.

I've been reading about allergies a lot, mothers will often pass them to their sons, and if you have a nut allergy you may be allergic to other tree nuts. I take my pulse for 1 min. eat a suspected food and take your pulse again 20 min. later. If elevated then you may have a food alergic reaction. I did this with walnuts & hazelnuts, with both pulse went from 60 to 80, with almonds and pistachios pulse remained the same. I found this in a book about prescription for nutritional healing. You'll want to be relaxed not doing anything before you take your pulse.

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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by Monique S. Sanders on 23 May 2009 at 2:28 am

I first ate pine nuts in my forties, when they were still a relatively new culinary phenomenon in the UK, and was sick afterwards. I didn't connect the two, until I was offered a desert made with them, when alarm bells rang, but I thought I would try a spoonful anyway.

Then I knew I was allergic! Each time I inadvertently eat them, the reaction is more severe. As well as the usual evacuation of orifices(!), my temperature and my blood pressure drop, I shudder uncontrollably and eventually an itchy rash appears over my body. The last time it happened was the day after my 60th. birthday at a restaurant where the staff had been warned of my allergy.

Eventually, my husband used an epipen on me - our 'first time' and a bit scary. I agree that it is an allergy that is rarely mentioned. I subsequently found out that my cousin's son also suffers from the same allergy and so I have warned my sons that they could have inherited an intolerance to pine nuts.

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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by Susannah on 15 Jun 2009 at 1:15 pm

I, too, have a pine nut allergy. My symptoms are a drop in blood pressure, projectile vomiting, extreme shivers, inability to stand, swelling/tingling in my mouth, profuse sweating to where I look like I dived in a pool with my clothes on, and the feeling as if an alien was trying to claw its way out of my belly.

I first starting having symptoms when I was eating salads from a pizza shop that were in contact with pine nuts when being prepared. I went to the doctor and was suspected of having gallbladder attacks. An ultrasound revealed some gallstones (which can be harmless), but had surgery to remove my gallbladder. THE ATTACKS CONTINUED after my gallbladder was removed (in hindsight, removed for no reason). The doctor didn't know what to tell me, just shrugged her shoulders.

A time later, I prepared my own salad with pine nuts as a topping and had the WORST attack I've ever had. Funny thing is, I suspected lettuce as the culprit! It took two more embarrassing attacks, one from pesto and another from an appetizer dish that contained ground pine nuts, for me to put it all together. Pine nuts!!

I now carry an epipen will not put anything in my mouth until I've scoured the ingredients with a fine-toothed comb.

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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by vanessa on 22 Jun 2009 at 6:37 am

We just found out last night that my 5 year old daughter has a pine nut allergy. We ate them in a side dish. About 30 minutes later she had hives all over her face and her eyes were blood shot.

We put a ice pack on her face and gave her benadryl. She woke up this morning a lot better. She has always had peanuts abs cashews. Do you think that she will be able to still eat them?

If anyone has answers please let me know.

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Go See An Allergist

posted by Lynn Manzione on 15 Sept 2009 at 7:53 pm

This is to alert anyone who thinks that this is not a serious allergy. My son had three exposures to pine nuts- all without our knowledge. Each reaction was more severe than the last. The last time the hospital staff told us to call an ambulance if he ever gets exposed again. His last reaction he had violent stomach pains, his skin was bright red and itching with rashes all over. His throat got very tight and it took three injections by the emergency room doctor to to get him under control. Even with that it kept breaking through. He was kept overnight in the hospital. We are very diligent about checking ingredients in everything and have found that a lot of breads are manufactured in plants that process tree nuts. All I can say is if anyone has had even one reaction they should go to an allergist because with each exposure the doctors at the hospital said it gets progressively worse.
SEE AN ALLERGIST!

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Pine Mouth

posted by David Collier on 04 Oct 2009 at 6:37 pm

I had a reaction to pine nuts also I believe, I had eaten them before with no side effects. However having them uncooked seems to have been enough to trigger the sensitivity. My reaction took quite a while to surface it was over 6 hours later. I awoke from sleep with a swollen throat and my tongue felt a bit different it was hard to swallow and just bearable so I Managed to go back to sleep not to concerned assuming it was some sort of cold virus I must have picked up, I also felt quite nauseous. When I finally got up My tongue looked like it had died it was an awful color all over and there was a distinct metallic taste in my mouth. There were no other signs, my spit looked normal. I did a bit of googling and found the term Pine Mouth that seemed to have all of my symptoms and of course then I linked it to the pine nuts from the night before. I normally do not eat pine nuts (I don't like the taste when not cooked preferring to remove them from the salad) However this 1 time I suspect I munched on a few with the salad masking the taste, it was laced with garlic dressing. Alovera seemed to help within a short period of time, the next morning a whole layer of cells seemed to come of my tongue with a bit of scraping (disgusting stuff it was to) and it returned to its normal color. Its been 4 days and still the sides of my tongue feel different.
Hope this helps.

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Allergic Reaction To Pine Nuts

posted by Stephanie Myers on 26 Oct 2009 at 9:00 pm

I had an allergic reaction to pine nuts tonight just a minute or two after finishing a pasta salad made with pesto containing pine nuts. It started as my hands itching a bit and then burning and it moved up my arms to my head, my face and ears felt as if someone had lit them on fire and I mentioned it to my mother and she looked at me and said I was unbelievably red.

After a few moments the burning and redness covered my entire body and my face and neck began to swell tremendously. My mother called an aid car and they assessed me and my blood pressure and pulse were both very high. My mouth was extremely dry, tingly and I had difficulty swallowing but my airway never felt compromised. I am okay, but it was very frightening and I don't plan to eat these nuts ever again

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Cross-contamination

posted by Richard Rawling on 03 Nov 2009 at 12:05 pm

Please, please remember that most peanuts, nuts and seeds are processed on shared 'lines' and that the equipment used to roast, clean, salt, soak, and can seeds, nuts, and peanuts will never be completely clean of the contaminates. If you are allergic to any seeds, nuts, or peanuts stay away from all of them. It isn't worth the risk.

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Im Very Allergic To PINE NUTS Too.

posted by jan molyneux on 06 Nov 2009 at 5:26 am

I first discovered my allergy to pine nuts just over 2 years ago, I’m 49. I ate a few raw pine nuts and immediately my mouth tingled and the taste was awful. The back of my throat felt swollen too. Within half an hour my stomach hurt, and I felt sick and my hands were tingling.

I wasn't far from a hospital so went to their A and E dept. they gave me an anti-histamine and after 2 hours I was very sick. They let me go home and I was fine the next day.

Episode 2 was exactly 1 year later, eating dinner in a hotel, had a dish which included balsamic pesto. Within 20 minutes I was very sick and the other end too! I was totally cleared out within the hour. Had stomach pains, and then felt very woozy and weak. We called an ambulance and a paramedic arrived who checked me over and said little. When the ambulance crew arrived they wouldn't take me to hospital as my symptoms suggested a D and V bug.

I was virtually unconscious at the paramedics feet and he said if my family were worried later they should call another ambulance, fortunately my family said they were very worried right NOW! So he called another crew and they were lovely and took me to their local A and E. I was given O2, anti-histamine and steroid injections. I soon felt much better.

(My daughter’s friend who apparently had a needle phobia, passed out when the doctor removed the cannula from my arm, banged her head and had to go for an ECG and be checked over!) What a night that was!

At this point I started to be extremely careful about my allergy, glad I had discovered it so easily.

BUT, a few months later at a Christmas meal, safe I thought, soup, turkey and xmas pud, I soon found out that the soup had a pesto oil garnish, only discovered AFTER I had taken a sip, and I mean a tiny sip. Felt a little tingle in my mouth, but ok, so I carried on with the rest of the meal, (not the soup), had a couple of brandy's and danced,

3 HOURS later, I felt a bit odd, collapsed, vomited. Ambulance called, epipen given (which I had had to ask the doctor for, and he told me not to use it if I didn't need it cos they cost Ł35!!!) when the ambulance arrived the paramedic gave me a further shot of adrenalin and oxygen. I was taken to A and E again. Where I recovered in the next couple of hours.

I am now extremely careful about what I eat. I used to feel uncomfortable causing a fuss, at friend’s houses and in restaurants, but I don't anymore. If the symptoms get worse every attack as is suggested, who knows what might happen to me next time??

BE CAREFUL!

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Another Victim

posted by Susan Siebler on 15 Dec 2009 at 2:44 pm

I have only eaten pine nuts 3-4 times in my life and got ill every time although it wasn't until the last bout that I figured out they were the culprit, violent vomiting that went on and on. I have no problems with any other seeds or nuts.

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Dangerous Behavior

posted by John on 10 Jan 2010 at 8:34 pm

I went to dinner one night at Romano's Macaroni Grill, and my father ordered mozzarella sticks. The sauce they came with was red, not a pesto green. I had one stick. Within five minutes I was in the bathroom washing an itchy tongue. Within 10 minutes I was in the hospital. After 20 minutes, I was in shock, my body temperature went to 90 degrees, and I went blind. The blindness lasted for 45 minutes, so I couldn't see when the doctors were cutting off my shirt to put in a second iv for adrenaline and an antihistamine.

The culprate was pine nuts.

After reading these comments, I want to let you know some things I see that are dangerous.

1) Get to a hospital if you have an allergic reaction. The doctors told me that if I was 10 minutes later, I would have died.

2) Do not "test" a food by trying a small amount. That is super dangerous. Go get the allergy test at your doctors.

3) Do not leave a doctor without finding out what to do when the allergy comes back later. The nature of allergies this severe is that they come back a few hours later. Histamines fight, antihistamines fight back, but for some reason as your body relaxes and digests and metabolizes the allergen, it comes back for a second round. Mine happened at 2 am while I was laying in the hospital bed. Though this is not as dangerous as the initial reaction, it still is dangerous.

4) keep Benadryl in your wallet or pocketbook. It could save your life if you have an allergy you know of or don't know of... or it can save someone else.

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Pine Nut Allergy - New To Me

posted by Sean D on 20 Feb 2010 at 9:53 pm

Several months back I had an amazing salad that had some pine nuts sprinkled on it. Not being aware of an allergies, I ate them all. Shortly after, I found myself feeling mildly dizzy and somewhat anxious with an elevated heart rate. This was accompanied but the the taste of pine nuts - that just wouldn't go away. As this experience wasn't really that bad I wrote it off as just a coincidence.

Tonight I had an asian chicken salad that was loaded with pine nuts. To make this short, my previous experience was amplified by 100. I felt my heart race, became dizzy, sinus congestion, mild sweating, tingling and feeling of no blood going to my arms and hands and VERY anxious as I thought I was going to pass out.

I informed everyone at the table how I was feeling and what I think was the route cause. I had no clue that this could possibly get any worse ( thankfully it didn't). I made the mistake of riding it out and two hours later I have nothing more than a headache. I'm lucky! If you feel any of the above symptoms - seek attention immediately!

I haven't received a valid medical opinion as of yet but, my symptons fit what I have read on various boards. I've never been one to worry about a health situation nor the type to self diagnose. I will be seeking pro medical advise and care asap, however.

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Pine Nuts: Meal / Flour And Oil

posted by Gary Blanton on 30 Mar 2010 at 10:03 am

I have had two allergic reactions to them and both were bad. The first I took a vitamin that contained Pine Nut Oil. I had a high fever, sweats, abdominal pain, and my heart rate sky rocketed and BP fell. The second was in a Pesto Sauce this time I had all the same reactions but the abdominal pain was worse and I past out. Both of these reactions happened about 30-40 min after eating them and I have been told that each exposure will be worse.

The bad news is I sell food ingredients and the use of these are on the rise. I am selling more and more of them each year to companies to use in many ingredients. I know in Russia they use the flour in pancakes and muffins also. I expect this to be catching on here also. I do not want to ever experience the pains again because not even Morphine helped that much.

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Pine Nut/ Food Poisoning

posted by bean on 13 May 2010 at 8:27 am

I've read through the responses and I have had similar experiences. Its surprising how hard it is to find info on pine nut allergies. Growing up my grandma, mom, and aunts all loved pine nuts, ate them by the hand fulls. For as long as I can remember the smell of them has made me nauseous. Looking back I must have tried them at one point but maybe I was so young I don't remember and any reaction may have gone unnoticed or was written off as the flu.

All I knew was I did not like pine nuts! When I was 21 I had a salmon salad with pine nuts even though I asked for no pine nuts. I figured I'd give them a try and see if I still hated them. BIG mistake. I couldn't get the taste of pine nuts out of my mouth. I had to leave work early and had to stop multiple times on the side of the road to vomit. I was vomiting for 12 hours I had never felt so sick in my life. I don't know how I figured out it was the pine nuts, I remember thinking it must be food poisoning from the salmon.

Something in my head just clicked to stay away from pine nuts. I had no idea vomiting was an allergic reaction. I thought allergic reactions were all hives and swollen throats. A few months later I took my sister out to eat I was already apprehensive about pine nuts. I checked the menu and even asked the waitress, I avoid pesto like the plague even some hummus. My first bite of a chicken lettuce wrap I tasted that god awful taste of pine nuts. I asked another waitress who confirmed it had pine nuts in it. I was vomiting all weekend. If I see or smell pine nuts I get that taste in my throat. Its the worst. I'm so glad I found other people with the same reaction I've been a bit confused about it.

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Pine Nut Reaction

posted by meghan on 24 May 2010 at 12:03 pm

I've always eaten pesto, pine nuts, etc. with no problem. I bought some to cook with asparagus and ate maybe 5 raw ones. Within a minute or two my tongue started tingling and felt really swollen, my eyes started watering, etc. Fortunately, my son is allergic to peanuts so I knew what was happening (from my experience with him).

Two weeks later I bought pesto that I thought was pinenut-free and BIG MISTAKE -- within seconds my throat started closing and my neck was bright red with hives -- I keep Benedryl around all the time and took one immediately but I will make my own pesto from now on!

I have no history of food allergies except for this--has anyone else had this happen? I'm also 46.

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Pine Nut Allergy?

posted by Jnean on 04 Jun 2010 at 2:32 pm

My sister-in-law bought a bag of pine nuts. I had never tried them so I ate one (yes, just one) nut. Immediately I had horrible heartburn and was belching what tasted like turpentine. That lasted all day long. The next day she and other family members decided that previously I had eaten a bad pine nut and talked me into trying them again. I took a single nut and scrapped a bit off of the nut with my teeth. I had heartburn and belching "tupentine", to the same degree as with a single nut, all day. Is that considered an allergy and if not why would anyone want to eat a nut that tastes that bad?

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Pine Nut Allergy

posted by Emoore on 14 July 2010 at 8:56 pm

I've had problems eating pine nuts.

Very tiny amounts of them will set me off--once it was a single raw pine nut, another time someone put a tablespoon of pesto in her potato salad.

So far I generally have a bit of trouble swallowing and very sharp stomach pains. The last time I ate them by accident though my voice grew very hoarse and I was concerned but I did not have problems breathing.

I have never had problems eating roasted nuts or seeds but I have once in a while felt a bit uncomfortable after eating them raw.

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Developed Pine Nut Allergy.

posted by Kate on 20 July 2010 at 11:48 pm

I love pesto, and had eaten it many times (pine nuts and all) and never got sick. There was one instance where I had eaten pesto and broke out in hives, and my throat and tongue were both swollen. I thought it was something else in the pesto because I had eaten it so many times before that without a problem. I had it again a couple weeks later and the same thing happened, except it was worse.

That's when I decided it was probably pine nuts.

This probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but just to make sure it was a pine nut allergy and not something else, I ate a pine nut by itself and I broke out in hives and my throat and tongue were swollen again. But at least I know what it is now! It just sucks because at most restaurants pesto is already prepared. So you can't get it without the pine nuts :(

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Pine Nut? Sickness And Metallic Mouth

posted by Frankie on 14 Aug 2010 at 3:48 pm

I have eaten pine nuts on a number of occasions without a problem. Last Thursday I had a roasted veg and pine nut filled bread roll for lunch. The pine nuts did taste a bit old. Later that day I vomited quite a few times and felt wretched and exhausted the next day. Since then have had an aching stomach, strong metallic taste and feeling very out of sorts. 6 days previously I had an old filling replaced. I wonder if there is a connection. If I'm not better Monday I'm off to the doctor's

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