Cross-reactivity with Lemons??

I am not sure about the connection to PA, however, I am allergic to lemons, limes, tangerines, oranges, bananas, etc. I break out with the exact description of what you just described.

Mkruby - sorry for all my questions . . . I don't know of anybody else who has also had reactions to citrus (only lemon, so far, in my son's case), and I feel overwhelmed by the thought of handling another potentially dangerous allergy. Have you always been allergic to those fruits - and are you also PA? Are your symptoms only from the fresh fruits - that is, can you eat any of those fruits as an ingrediant in cooked form? Have your reactions to fruits been as severe as nut allergy reactions (life-threatening) and have they progressed in severity over the years? Were you skin tested for these fruits?

Thank so much, in advance, for any info you can give me!

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When my pa son was about a year and a half old, I was out to lunch with a friend. To keep him occupied while we finished up, I let him sip some of my diet coke which he had done many times before. The difference this time was I had squeezed a lime in it. He broke out in hives on his face in just a few minutes. I kept him away from all citrus from then on. When he was almost 4 we had his skin testing done and they didn't have lime to test but did have lemon. He tested negative but has only had a few items with citrus in them since. He hasn't had any more problems.

I believe there is a name for the mouth reaction like this..I could swear my allergist said there was.

Yonit- in response to your question regarding PA and lemons, my daughter is allergic to peanut, all tree-nut, possibly coconut, (eggs, milk, and a few others). Her IGE values show no allergy to lemons, yet she gets hives when exposed to lemons. Her pediatrician explained to us that this is due to cross-reactivity, her immune system identifies the lemon protein as a nut and therefore she gets hives. I hope this helps.