If a serious allergic reaction has left you afraid to eat even ‘safe’ foods, you are not alone. Anaphylaxis can exact a huge psychological toll – but there are ways to stop fear from eating you up. By Jennifer Van Evra.

fear of food

It wasn’t until Sandra Schwartz was on a camping trip in Northern Ontario in August 2005 that she felt the full force of the fear. Just a couple of days earlier, the 36-year-old Ottawa resident had been lying in an emergency room, experiencing her second-ever reaction to shellfish after eating a plate of shrimp. Unlike the minor reaction she’d had a year before, when she turned red and her face swelled, this one was full-blown anaphylaxis: Schwartz’s entire body turned crimson red and covered in hives, her heart raced as she grew light-headed and dizzy, and her face swelled beyond recognition. But the food didn’t just set off a dramatic physical response; it also triggered a psychological tidal wave.

“They always talk about that feeling of impending doom, and I had it times 10,” says Schwartz. “The doctors were saying I was okay, but I said, ‘I feel like I’m going to die. Please don’t let me die.’ “

Though she had yet to realise it, that was the night Schwartz’s fear of food began. The next day, thinking she was well enough to travel, Schwartz left on a planned camping trip with her boyfriend. As they drove along the increasingly remote highways, the “what ifs” began to creep like tendrils into her psyche: What if I react again? What if medical help can’t get to me on time?

There was also another worry. Because Schwartz had been diagnosed with a shellfish allergy a year earlier, but didn’t understand that she was supposed to avoid it altogether, she had continued to eat shellfish. In fact, only a month before, she had eaten a plate of shrimp without incident. As a result, she didn’t fully believe that shrimp could have triggered such a massive reaction this time. That raised another terrifying question: if it wasn’t the shrimp, what was it? Maybe it was fruit. Or wheat. Or something else. Suddenly, every food was suspect, and Schwartz became terrified to eat.

This is an excerpt from Allergy Today Spring Issue 122. To subscribe to this edition, click here. Click here for an annual subscription.