Oranges?

[janash1959]

My daughter ate an orange for the first time in a while last week and came out in a horrendous rash.
The orange was the only thing that she had eaten which had not been included in her diet for maybe a month or more.
She spoke with our GP who said it was more than likely the orange that had caused this reaction and told her to take antihistamines which did seem to calm the rash after a day or two.

Is it very likely that the orange did cause this reaction? She has never had the same reaction before with oranges ............... though strangely in October last year she was prescribed penecillin for an infection and came out in an allergic rash. Is there something going on?

[Di Graham]

I sometimes have a reaction to various foodstuffs like oranges, particularly when they're very acidic. Likewise tomatoes, onions, apples, mango,pineapple etc etc, the list goes on.However, many of these foods I can cope with, in smaller quantities, when cooked. Cooking changes the structure of food and probably destroys much of whatever is causing the problem.
After much trial and error --and I'm in my 70's having had the problem since a child (no help back then),I find it best not to eat certain foods two days running eg, tinned tomatoes etc This gives the gut time to clear the problem. I have atopic eczema and my skin becomes very itchy too if I eat too many acidic foods.
I buy dried fruits to eat and have never had a reaction to these (yet!!).
I also cannot take penicillin as that upsets my gut.
Hope this helps

[Dr Kate Swan]

Hello. We do not generally see allergies to orange but it is possible. Citrus fruits sometimes cause children with eczema to have a localized flare up around their mouth which is irritation rather than allergy. If you are also concerned about this and about possible penicillin allergy, please ask your GP to make a referral to a paediatric allergy service. There are many other causes for having a rash in a child including viral infections so it is not necessarily an allergy that caused her rash.