every once in awhile — maddeningly untraceably infrequently — i get what seems to be some sort of allergic reaction. my skin gets itchy and hivey. frequently on my hands; sometimes on my legs and arms. quite uncomfortable for a matter of 5 minutes or maybe a half an hour tops, then it vanishes. then i try to think back. what did i just touch? what the HECK am i allergic to? i have never found it.
this is how i get to the point where i gift my thousands of dear readers with a log (nay, blog) of everything i have exposed my body to in the past couple of days, and hence begins the long, dangerously slippery process of “internet self-diagnosis.” perhaps someone, somewhere will KNOW the answer.
as it is, just today, something has been giving me a rash on my hands, all may long!
could it be related to the “amylactin” body creme? it is high in lactose… but this comes on couple hours after lunch, strong — but maybe just because i would sit outside with my hand in the sun — and if the hand had had the creme on it? but surely i wash my hands of it during the day before then? or MAYBE it’s the soap at work. which is not a common denominator from the days it happens at home. harrumph; bafflement continues:
Date: Fri May 16, 2003 8:32:35 PM US/Pacific
Subject: ragout and other oddities
on thursday morning, ~ 9a, ~20 hours after eating that salad from the work salad bar (not that i draw conclusions!), i had an upset stomach. drank mint camomile tea. following morning, friday, also had some cramping/not as severe.
but it was also tuesday night i had the least cooked piece of salmon…
On Wednesday, May 14, 2003, i consumed:
green tea
ruby mist tea
~12:15
lefthand in sun at lunch:
baby field greens
jicama
garbonzo beans
red potato salad
eggs
cauliflower
broccoli
tofu marinated in _____
green salsa stuff
olive oil / balsamic / rocksalt / rainbow peppercorns
olive roll
rootbeer – with half soda, half empty-coke-soda-only spigot stuff
~4:15
rash on left hand
by 4:30, 5p it was on both hands…
On Thursday, May 1, 2003,
sat with this arm, the right arm, in the sun for about an hour at lunch. started raised itchy blotches on the top of the hand; spread to spots up the arm.
over eight hours later the hives, though diminished, are still there and itchy…
hhmm, sun activated?
On Thursday, May 1, 2003, at 03:45 PM,
acute contact urticaria
Angioedema: what is it?
salicylates, preservatives (benzoates), and artificial coloring (azo dyes)
cheiropomphylix, a pompous word if ever there was one. But really it’s just hives of the fingers.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~aair/urticaria.htm
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~aair/angioedema.htm
Thursday, May 01, 2003 3:30
twirling wheat allergy?
juniper berry?
Butternut Squash, Carrots, Parsnips
Ragout over Pasta
Cal 519 Fat 29g Chol 90mg Fiber 6g
$5.50
butterscotch / english toffee frozen yogurt
sigh.
Moya Watson 
It could be the eggs.
I’ve had some redness and rashes come and go without a reason for a few months, later came digestive disorders. Since I had removed all things my body felt toxic and allergenic, the only culprit left was EGGS.
No more eggs, no more digestive problems, no more skin rashes/redness.
Try to eliminate them from your diet a few days, see how you feel and if you still experience the symptoms. Then reintroduce the eggs and again check for symptoms.
Yesterday I had a lot of jicama at a Vietnamese restaurant. I sat by the window. When I left the place I had major itching of my left elbow which stopped by the time I got home. However, when I took off my jeans I saw blotches, just as you describe (May 1) on the left thigh, which was in the sun a lot of the time while I was at the restaurant. Jicama + sun activation? I’ve never had hives before.
fascinating! i never thought of the combination of heat and allergy activation – could that be it? sun or heat does seem to activate hives sometime. so strange that this is my singular most popular post — and i’ve never once been able to correlate jicama with allergies.
thanks for posting your thoughts. maybe one day we’ll come to the bottom of it!
I was just chopping jicama and my hands instantly broke out in itchy hives! I googled it and found this post… I know it was the jicama because I hadn’t touched anything else right before it happened!
I have a latex fruit allergy, which means bananas and avocados are no longer an option. I have had small quantities of jicama with other food in the past. Today I ate some jicama by itself and am getting the same sensations, though not as severe. I can’t find any definitive information whether it is a latex fruit or not. Some say yes. Some say no.
Tonight was the first time I’ve ever tried jicama. I cut it up like french fries and baked it in the oven with olive oil and Old Bay. I use olive oil and Old Bay the time. I know they are not the issue. But since I ate the jicama my feet have been itching like crazy. That’s the only new thing. I have one other food to which I react exactly in the same way. It’s a preservative in a vacuum packed ham steak. I will assume an allergy and not try this again, this is miserable.
This is crazy — thanks for sharing. I have not found any substantiation anywhere on the Internet (the Ultimate Arbiter of Truth of course…) about the possibility of Jicama being an allergen… and yet. Perhaps Candice you can try that same recipe above (once you’ve recovered) again sometime… Perhaps it is that piece of Jicama, but some kind of treatment/growth condition and not exactly the thing itself. Perhaps it’s a random thing in the air…………. perhaps more complicatedly a combination of things. Good luck getting to the bottom of it!
I get itchy all over when I tried to eat jicama. I am alergic to all legumes. some say this is AIP OK because its the root not the plant that we eat .
3 am on Sunday morning. I have eaten Jicama many times with no problems. Yesterday I bought some and cut it up into french fries shape and ate quite a bit with ranch dressing. The taste is great and I remember really liking it before (years ago). This morning I was woken up with extreme itching in the palm of my right hand? so bad that I couldn’t stay in bed, digging with my left fingernails in my right hand I thought instantly about my daughter who has terrible allergies and got up immediately and got the children’s benadryl from the medicine cabinet. It is seeming to help after only a few minutes. We will see??