Symptoms
The following are symptoms of a mild reaction:
- Swelling, redness, and itch e.g. eyes, lips, face, ears. When it’s a food allergy, the mouth is usually affected and you may feel tingling and itch of your lips, mouth or throat.
- The typical skin rash looks like nettle rash and is sometimes called hives. The medical term is: Urticaria. It is itchy, red and lumpy, often with white bumps in the middle that can look like blisters.
- Food allergies can make you feel sick and make you vomit. Other digestive symptoms might be cramps and diarrhoea.
- If your nose is affected you may start to sneeze and your nose may stream.
Treatment
The above reactions are usually considered mild in the sense that they are unlikely to be life threatening. Nevertheless they can be really unpleasant for the affected person and scary for other people.
The standard treatment is an antihistamine such as Chlorphenamine. You may find it easier to swallow a liquid antihistamine rather than a tablet, particularly if your lips or mouth are swollen.
Often your symptoms will start to improve within 10 minutes, but if they do not or worsen then you may need to take another dose and/or seek further help from a doctor or NHS24.