How to Detect Poultry Allergies Symptoms

While it may seem absurd, about 5 percent of the American population is allergic to poultry, so if you feel that you have adverse reactions to chicken, turkey and other poultry meats, you aren't crazy. However, detecting the symptoms of a poultry allergy can be quite tricky, as symptoms vary from person to person. A few tips can help.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Detect a poultry allergy quickly and easily by simply asking yourself how you feel after eating poultry. Many people with poultry allergies will begin to have stomach cramping, nausea and even vomiting shortly after a meal which includes poultry. If this sounds like you, it isn't food poisoning, it is most likely a poultry allergy.
2. Begin by eliminating all poultry products from your regular diet for about 2 weeks, including broths and packaged items which may contain poultry meats. Many people with poultry allergies suffer symptoms which are not easily correlated to the allergy, such as asthma, ear and bladder infections, eczema, skin rash, fatigue, acne, insomnia, joint pain, hives, depression and migraines. If you find that eliminating poultry relieves other problems, congratulations, you have detected a sure poultry allergy.
3. Introduce poultry back into your diet if you are still unsure after 2 weeks, but just for one meal. After eating chicken, pay very close attention to how you feel for the next 24 hours. If you notice stomach pain, gastrointestinal upset, outbreaks of acne or other skin conditions, vomiting, headaches, fatigue or shortness of breath, it's time to cut poultry products from your diet.
4. Get a full allergy workup to detect an allergy to poultry as well as a number of other items. An allergy workup can be expensive, and unfortunately not all allergies are guaranteed to be detected; however, if you are struggling to pin down the source of your allergy, it might just be the best way to go.

Tips & Warnings

• Strangely enough, not all people with poultry allergies have similar reactions to eggs; however, some do, so take care when eating eggs if you have a poultry allergy as well.
• Many people with poultry allergies are allergic to meat in general. If you feel this is the case, you may want to eliminate all meat products for a period of time to see how your body reacts and to detect not just a poultry allergy, but a meat allergy in general.