I have eaten just about every kind of seafood, shell fish, mollusks, etc that can be found around the world. However the last two times I ate fried oysters I immediately had breathing problems and it felt like what I think the onset of a heart attack would feel like. I didn’t associate it with the oysters as they have been a favorite since I was a kid, especially raw. I simply chalked it up to some cooking ingredient. The same experience with a small pizza in a pub one time also. Again, I just assumed it was an MSG or other spice problem. Well Monday night I stopped in and got a nice order of fried conch. I only ate about 1/2 the order and had a glass of Remy Martin. The next morning I am having a huge rash over chest, arms and back. Itches worse that 10,000 misquito bites. No respiratory problems this time. But the rash left no doubt as to the cause. I made it to a hospital where I was given some pills that did not help. I happened to be out town of town so when I got back to Taipei the next day, I went up to Machay and got an injection, I think it was adrenalin and some pills to help with the itching and to make me sleep. I had no sleep in two days at that point. They were kind of reluctant to prescribe a few Percadan but what they gave me to sleep was pretty good. Some topical cream for daytime and for night also. Today, the itching has subsided and and I have had a good night’s sleep. Rash is still very apparant but it just itches now and doesn’t hurt like before.
All this leads up to my point that just becuase you have eaten something all your life, you can gain an allergy to it. From the websites, I have reviewed, it seems like I am now permanently off all varieties of shell fish, mollusks and the like. Note that websites put all these varieties in various categories even though they are technically different. If you see these symptoms get to a decent hospital pronto. I have no doubt that the oyster issue could have been life threatening and I would not wish this rash on anybody.