That sounds reasonable, but I asked my wife if people here talk about allergies a lot; she said yes, a lot. I asked what the most common food allergies are here, and she said seafood, especially shrimp. 
She suspects it’s often a reaction to the large amounts of drugs they feed the shrimp routinely to prevent disease.
Thank you for your interest in this topic. I’m running around chasing my kids, getting dinner ready and preparing for my class so I will read more carefully later.
Just to clarify…
Communication is no problem. We addressed in all available languages, Chinese, Taiwanese and English by native speakers of those languages. Sometimes a women would be holding a fish and say no fish here… I left that stand in hurry… And this covers all places from Keelung, Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung. …
I’ve had this allergy since before I’ve come to Taiwan. My Taiwanese Mom, may she rest in peace, really went out of her way to make me feel welcome. Often pulling my portion out of the family pot before the fish sauces were added. If there was a vegetarian equivalent sauce, she’d put that in for me. If not, she still made the Taiwanese food taste like heaven. I really miss that.
2nd… either my body has changed or people have gotten more careless over the years. Up until about 3 to six years ago, I could basically count on people’s work when it came from food from the grill or the pot, like pigs feet and what not. Now it seems I’ve been having too many bad experiences.
For instance… I had Family Marts Frozen Pumpkin Chicken for years but then stopped. I saw it again about a month ago. I had it and I was off to the hospital. It could have been the some kind of seaweed gum in the Lipton Milk Tea, but I don’t know the exact cause.
Another piece of information… I chatted with my “friends” in the Emergency room. Heck it’s my second home… they quietly told me that I am not alone. Even Chinese come in with serious allergic reactions. A FEW TIMES A MONTH there would be a visit. Mostly drug allergies but he did say that there were a few fish ones too. I will try to verify.
Housecat… I certainly can feel for your kid. Please be careful. One time, I actually had to instruct the doc on what my case was. That was scary. I would some how get a card or paper with the Possible Diagnosis and recommended treatment procedure in Chinese.
If you leave the main cities you could find yourself in a clinic that seems like you fell into the twighlight zone.
Why are there no Epipens in Taiwan? Thanks guys for your support.
Sorry but that is BS. You dont have to be a neither a doctor nor a scientist to understand “you put fish in that dish I DIE!” and they are free to say: sry we cant prepare the dish without fish. But they do not care. About your car metaphor. The point is that you tell them: If you put that component in the brakes will fail on my car. And they do it anyway. And they are mechanics. A cook knows what he puts in his dish. Like a mechanic knows what he puts in the car. Thats the whole point of having those people do specialized work and for that exact reason anything they do is in most cases on purpose. The only other option is that they are not sure if they are putting something seafoodish in there and in that case they should say exactly that. However, what happens is that they do not want to lose the money they earn from you, or the ususal… “yeah yeah whatever” attitude they get when confronted with something like that. Its inexcusable. Its stupid and it pisses my off. The faulty component is not a correct analogy. The cook is responsible for what he puts in the food and when in doubt he should not put it in. Its not like those instances related to allergy are due to manufacturing errors where a shrimp fell into the bottle of soy sauce or something.
It could also be that the girl taking your order does not communicate that request to the cook (I hesitate to call ‘him’ a chef).
She should still be taught a lesson, as should the Laoban, by suing their ass off and calling them out on their asshattery.
I’ve been searching for it for a while, but I can’t find the article! I remember reading a blog post a while ago where a foodie went to quite a classy London restaurant with her partner, who had a severe allergy to garlic. After being assured that there would be no garlic in ANYTHING, they found chunks of it in the broccoli.
While he’s going into an immediate anaphylactic shock, the waiter comes over and asks them to pay the bill before they’ll call the ambulance. 
They got him to the hospital in time, but she was pretty pissed off.
I’m quite lucky in that I’m only allergic to chilli peppers, and only in that it blocks up my sinuses for half a day. (Or at least, I think it’s the chilli that does it. Very sad, because I love spicy food.) I don’t really like seafood though and I know how often you find it added as a ‘bonus’ :aiyo:
Honestly, it’s bad enough being a picky eater, but being allergic to anything must be a huge pain in the ass.
Wow guys. After reading your posts, I must say that if I had to stuck with an allergy… Fish seems to be the easiest to live with. Allergies to garlic, glutin, peanuts seems much harder to avoid.
If I go total VEG and avoid the soup while out, I’m safe. I think there is a lot to be done here.
I think I will start a Facebook support group. Chinese readers who love doing technical searches, please check the literature, newspaper, magazine articles and other things about severe food allergies. We have to measure objectively what these people know.
If you can find articles, I can find some to help translate them. Maybe we can find allergy friendly restaurants.
I’ve been here for thirteen years and it looks like i’m gonna stay here for some more. I would like to do my part in making it safer.
{And when I go back to the states this summer, I’m going to record the personal injury commercials that are on TV and show them to my students, this is one case where some ambulance chasing lawyers would help Remember, you don’t pay unless you collect 
)
Slightly off topic here…a rant about Epipens, not food allergies.
I am asthmatic, and went I started diving I went to the hospital to get an Epipen for my emergency kit, especially for times when I am on a remote island.
The DRAMA I had to go through to get one (even when I offered to pay) was ridiculous, I finally managed to get one, which apparently got sent over from Taipei hospital.
Then, when the one I had manged to buy expired, I made another appointment, returned the unused one, and asked to buy a new one, only to be told that they were now not available in Taiwan.
I questioned the doc about this, and asked what they give to people with sever allergic reactions to bees or peanuts etc? He told me that that conditions is not common in Taiwan, and that adrenaline is only administered in the hospital :loco:
If anyone knows a doctor/hospital that does stock Epipens please post that info!!
I have heard that there is a new procedure which can “densensitize” people to allergens by exposing them to increasing (very low) doses of whatever they’re allergic to. Apparently it only works in certain cases, and it’s still at the research stage, but it sounds like something worth looking into, if you could literally die from eating a peanut or a prawn. That must REALLY suck.
You can probably take it as read that such treatment is not available in Taiwan, given John’s experience above.
I’m not saying that they put fish in it, even after instruction. It might well be that the fish was already included in another ingredient which they added.
We don’t always know which ingredients or components are added to a substance before using the product.
Is it at all possible that the fish may have been part of an oil, flavour enhancer, machined meat, residual layer in a pan, or anything else?
I’m only saying that not all cooks understand what they are cooking. In which case, I wouldn’t be taking chances myself, given such an acute potential reaction. I think I’d just stick with what I can do for myself in this case.
Its really horrible to be allergic to anything . And nobody wants to have such an allergy. That said, its dangerous out there for people who are deathly allergic.
Im somewhat allergic to mussels and was at one point very allergic to pineapples. Through eating some over the years (and getting sick) i finally overcame them. And i can eat a small amount of mussels and pineapple without getting sick . BUt i no longer like those foods. haha.
But its good to not have to worry.
I feel bad for those of you that have to be so careful.
There is for sure insufficient appreciation in Taiwan in the food industry towards people allergic to certain foods.
So i would tend to agree with sulavaca on this. Better prepare your own whenever possible and if eating out, eat ONly those items that you KNOW for sure are safe (to the best of your knowledge).
Well, I am also allergic to garlic so I never eat lunch boxes here unless I am sure there is no garlic in the vegetables.
You should see me have the runs.
Not too serious though.
Eww, no thanks!
Though in all honesty, my flat’s so small that I have the pleasure of hearing my husband all the time. So I’m not sure how much it would bother me.
I couldn’t imagine being allergic to garlic here. In the UK you could get away with it, but it’s in EVERYTHING here. I cook with garlic every single day.
Yep, garlic is pretty much added to all stir fries here.
I have had one definite allergic reaction here which is to a yam like root, Shan Yao. The itchiness was incredible.
NO NOT OFF TOPIC!!! A GOOD ONE! EVEN in the US where they really do try to be careful, mistakes happen and every kid has got an EPIPEN!
Yeah… ranted about that during more then one of my visits to the emergency room. A few times a sympathetic doc was about to hand me phials to DIY. I cringed a bit, and said “No thank you”.
I spend most of my time not more that ten minutes from a major hospital, and seriously I don’t think that stuff would keep if I’m out and about while traveling. Plus the thought of measuring and self administering the drug makes me dizzy.
The web sight of the Manufacturer did list Taiwan as a place to purchase it, but I could not follow up.
Slightly off topic but still on. There is one doctor in Kaohsiung that administers the traditional “allergy shots” that many of us went through as a child. They are the ones with dust mites and other common allergens. When asked why doesn’t my local ENT do it? He say that there is no money in it so they don’t choose to do it.
Back where I come from, that was a service provided by the local ENT. Prevention over treatment. Not a money making philosophy. PM if you want more info about the allergist.
*** I wanted to start a Facebook Group but I need to add “friends”. PM me if you want to be in on it and if you have any suggestions for a name. " The Taiwan Food Allergy Support Group"? Or maybe a more inclusive name? Don’t know. There are a number of food allergy support groups already there.
I personally agree with some posts that mentioned the doctors’ opinion about the rarity of severe allergy in Taiwan and thus rendered the inaccessibility of this drug. According to the Bureau of National Health Insurance, the doctor here has to apply for Epipen in advance under special circumstances and fill in some forms. Even so, it’s still available in Linkou Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital for special need. Basically the related information is from the pediatric center of allergy there, but I guess the allergist in that hospital can prescribe it, too. Well, since allergy, immunology and rheumatology are in the same entity in Taiwan, you can go to the outpatient clinic of these three and this drug should not be so hard to find.
And yes, desensitization therapy, in my opinion, is also an option for allergic people. Well, it’s been practiced in Taiwan for several years but it’s only available in some medical centers and effective only for some well-recognized allergens, such as mites, some pollens, cockroach, some animal danders and molds. The other drawback is that it takes a long time to achieve the effect, basically a year at least. So there’s another kind of desensitization therapy, called rush/rapid desensitization, which is especially useful for some drug that is important for the patients in need, but unfortunately allergic to. I heard that it also can be used in prevention of severe allergy to bee-sting.
So for the allergy of adults and desensitization therapy is an acceptable choice, I will recommend Taichung VGH. As for the children, I will suggest Linkou Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital. Hope this helps.
@Taiwan_student,
I think you should have another allergy test to make sure your body didn’t develop other intolerances over the years since you had your previous test done. It seems like your having more problems than just seafood now.
Also, Epipens are hard to come by in Taiwan, due to regulations and NHI. Its another “NHI at work” problem. Pharmaceuticals are now reluctant to introduce drugs in Taiwan because of price regulations by NHI… so its really not worth the hassle for them when there’s no profit.
Yes. Your body can change over the years. I ate mango for years with great delight, until I turned 40 and suddenly became allergic (now my face and lips swell when I eat it.) I haven’t tried again to see if the effect would worsen over time. Fortunately it is easier to determine whether something contains mango than to find out whether it has fish or seafood hidden somewhere in it.
Can’t you folks pick up an EpiPen in, say, Thailand or HK or Singapore, and bring it back? I know you can import restricted drugs for personal use, I’m going through the paperwork for that myself.
You can find them all on YouTube:
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Maybe those with life-threatening allergies should consider eating out less, and trying to make most or all your own food? I know it is an effort, and requires planning, but in addition to ensuring you’re not putting the dangerous things into your food, you can eat more healthily in general if you control the contents. One way to do this without spending too much time is to make large batches, and then refrigerate and freeze portions that can just be reheated in the microwave, in the oven or on the stove. Sandwiches and fruit make a good lunch bag to take with you if you’re going out, and most workplaces here have a steam oven or microwave, or both, for their employees’ lunches.