Exercise-Induced Allergies Exist, And We’re Shook

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It’s a long shot, but if you’ve ever had any sort of serious reaction after working out, it may not be that you’re out of shape. You could be allergic to the combination of what you ate prior to exercising and your actual workout. Calling our bluff? We’re about to lay it on you.

Researchers from the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health report that in the last few decades, an increasing number of allergic reactions have occurred following exercise. In a case study conducted in 1979, researchers named the condition exercise-induced anaphylaxis.

Don’t take this news as justification to stop your workout routine. It’s not exactly the exercise that you’re allergic to — it’s whatever you ate before, triggered by moderate-to-rigorous exercise like running, jogging, tennis, dancing or bicycling. The rare condition affects roughly 50 in every 100,000 people.

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Here’s what happens: A person eats a food he or she doesn’t normally have an allergic reaction to, but then suffers an allergic reaction after working out. This person can experience a range of symptoms like hives, swelling of body parts, trouble breathing, abdominal cramping and nausea.

So, is it a real allergy? If you have experienced exercise-induced anaphylaxis, you have an underlying allergy to the food you ate before you worked out. The only difference between this allergy and a normal allergy is that you won’t experience symptoms unless you trigger the allergy by exercising.

You could go years without knowing if you have the allergy if you haven’t eaten the food in question prior to working out.

Cross your fingers and hope you’re not affected by this strange condition. (Chances are you’re not.) If you believe you are, experts say to seek help immediately, and though it’s a bit much, it doesn’t hurt to have an EpiPen on hand. All we know is we’re staying on our toes…just in case.