# Fishing with a fish allergy



## BigJohn (Apr 14, 2004)

Hey guys,
Ended up in the hospital last month after having a severe allergic reaction out of the blue. Turns out the culprit was the fish I was eating at the time (tilapia). I've eaten fish all my life and never had a problem, but doc says I will react to some level from now on. And everything I've seen and heard indicates I should avoid eating all fish and not just tilapia.

So the question now turns to fishing. I don't get out much, but thoroughly enjoy it when I do get the chance. But now I'm a bit afraid to give it a try. Does anyone else on here have any experience with this type of situation? As long as I avoid eating them or putting things in my mouth while fishing (I like to squeeze the split shot sinkers with my teeth) am I safe?


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## PolymerStew (Feb 17, 2009)

Sorry to hear you developed an allergy to fish

I've been deathly allergic to fish my whole life, but I've been fishing safely for 30 years. Here's my experiences:

I can handle the fish just fine (unhooking and so on) as long as I don't cut them open

I don't rub my eyes, face, or put things in my mouth after handling the fish, I try to rinse my hands off in the water after handling them

When using fish as cutbait for catfish I do have to wear gloves ( I use the nitrile gloves they sell at the hardware stores for handling solvents), I've had allergic reactions if I prepare cutbait without gloves

I can't clean fish (not that I have reason to since I can't eat them)

Never had a major allergic reaction from fishing require medical attention. About my worst experience has been some welts and rashes on my hands and swollen/itchy eyes from handling cutbait without gloves.

Another tip is to carry some Benadryl pills and some Benadryl or Cortisone cream with you to take/apply if you do have an allergic reaction. Carrying an Epi-pen (one use emergency Epinephrine shot) also isn't a bad idea.


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## Smead (Feb 26, 2010)

I wonder how one developes an allergy of this sort...you'll never know when that next fish sandwich will send you to the ER.

I can understand it with wasp, hornet and bee stings...since there is venom involved.


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## FSHNERIE (Mar 5, 2005)

Talk about taking all the fun out of fishing.........


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## Dixie Chicken (Nov 12, 2004)

Hit me when I was 26 years old. Ended up in the emergency room twice from it. I can handle and clean fish just can't eat'em. Now if I clean fish 4- 6 days in a row my hands look like a bad case of poison ivy. Once on a week long fly in trip in northern Canada. I caught a ton of Pike and my hands got so bad I could button a button or zip a zipper. My brother was a big help until I had to answer nature's call. I think his words were "You're on your own brother".

Good Luck but don't give up fishing until the Doc says so.

Dixie Chicken0


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## Bonecrusher (Aug 7, 2010)

people that are alergic to fish are the best fishing partners!  now if only i could find a guy who likes to mushroom hunt but cant eat them!

In al seriousness I am sorry to hear about your alergy. As mentioned above it is still very possiblke to continue fishing.


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## snake69 (Sep 26, 2005)

Boy, being able to fish is ok I guess, but being told I couldn't eat em'....man, that *sucks*. That's nearly as bad as saying you're allergic to sex! Well, she already is so that's nearly as bad!!


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

Bonecrusher said:


> now if only i could find a guy who likes to mushroom hunt but cant eat them!QUOTE]
> 
> I do have a friend like that, the best mushroomer I know. He hunted and ate mushrooms all his life. Then, one day, deathly ill. He didn't know the cause. Again, he ate mushrooms, and again, deathly ill. He later realized that mushrooms was the only common factor between his two episodes. His doctor ran some tests, and said the next time might be his last. Thankfully, he still loves to hunt them, and can still handle them with no adverse effects. No, I will not tell you his name
> 
> Sorry for you guys, that would seriously suck. Did any of you guys have any sort of symptoms before hand, or was it just all of a sudden? Is there any medication you could take? I think if I had to stop eating fish, I may as well just die. This might give me nightmares.


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## fishing_marshall (Jun 12, 2004)

I can't eat most fish without my chest getting tight and hard to breathe. I can eat tuna and salmon. I can clean fish and handle them. If I get any keepers I just give them away. I like to think of it of the fish getting revenge on me.


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## RiverDoc (Mar 12, 2010)

BigJohn said:


> Hey guys,
> Ended up in the hospital last month after having a severe allergic reaction out of the blue. Turns out the culprit was the fish I was eating at the time (tilapia). I've eaten fish all my life and never had a problem, but doc says I will react to some level from now on. And everything I've seen and heard indicates I should avoid eating all fish and not just tilapia.


Something is not right here and I wish you a speedy recovery. I hope that you talk to an allergist soon. No point on having to give up something you like based on one allergic episode. 

My first thought was that something contaminated (preservative such as a sulfite, etc.) the tilapia and that is what your body responded to. For example, whenever I eat a storebought apple, I develop an allergic response, even after it has been washed. But, I don't have such a reaction when I buy and eat apples from orchards. 

EPA and other folks worry about us eating fish out of the lake and the alleged chemicals in the fish, but we do not know the conditions of the water and/or how the tilapia are produced. 

Please speak with an allergist.


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## markfish (Nov 22, 2007)

i dont think i wouild jump ship right away you may have just got so porly handled fish,and got sick from it im not telling you to go get more but im bull headed and the next time your out fishing and get some to bring home just eat a small peace to see if you are felling ill or not,im no doctor but they have been wrong on more than once in there life time,it just seems odd that this just came on out of the blue,


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## fishintechnician (Jul 20, 2007)

Bonecrusher said:


> people that are alergic to fish are the best fishing partners!  now if only i could find a guy who likes to mushroom hunt but cant eat them!
> 
> In al seriousness I am sorry to hear about your alergy. As mentioned above it is still very possiblke to continue fishing.


You are a dick!!!!!!!! No just kidding he always gives me sh** about being allergic to fish, "thats why I catch them cause they know they will get thrown back", but he doesn't bi*** when he gets a mess of fresh fish. Hahahaha!!!


I got it when I was about 8 or 9. Just out of the blue, we were camping and mom friend up some stripped bass that dad and I caught. Shortly after eating them my eyes swelled shut and my chest and throat got thight to the point where I could barely breathe. Went to the er and sure enough fish allergy. 

When fishing I make sure I rinse my hands often and don't rub my eyes or eat anything that i have to handle alot (chips,candy). Another good thing to keep is anit-bac hand lotion with alchol in it if you need to eat (or use the restroom) while you have fish slim on your hands just use some of this and a CLEAN rag and you should be good to go. I get hives from cut bait also but it usually not that bad just a few bumps on my hands as long as I am not touching my face I can deal with it, again after I cut my bait just rinse my hands in the water. If you have open cuts on your hands becareful with that, once you get fish in the cut it will burn,itch, and swell (not extreme but very annoying). The last reaction I had was when I was help a buddy clean some bass we caught from his pond. Cleaned five bas and when I was done I had large hives from my elbows down. Went away in a few hours after some benedryl. I have also noticed that I am mildly allergic to turtle meat and frog meat as well, I can eat it just in small portions, I will notice that after a while I will get a tingle in my throat and I know that it is time to stop. Now the really weird part is that I can eat salt water fish no problem as well as shell fish. I usually don't eat much salt water fish, not because it will cause a reaction but it freaks me out thinking that it might. Now shell fish I will demolish. 

Everyone that knows me thinks this is weird as hell. "How do you love fishing so much when you can't eat them?" It's not the eating I enjoy!!! I guesse I was really bad in a past life or soemthing and this is god's cruel little way of punishing me.HAHAHA


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## OhYeah (Apr 29, 2005)

Severe allergic reactions S-U-C-K !! 
I agree with RiverDoc and "highly" suggest seeing an allergist. 

Allergies are strange, and "can" disappear as quickly as they appear. I once received 20+ ER stitches with 'no anesthetic'. I wore a bracelet <due to a life threatening reaction as a youth> stating I was allergic to the entire "caine" family. Immediately after the ER episode, I went to an allergist and was found to be no longer allergic to that family of drugs.

GR


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## yonderfishin (Apr 9, 2006)

I have a distant family relative who is highly allergic to crappie , he can eat any other kind of fish ( well that he knows of ) and have no problems at all but if he eats crappies he could die. Nobody knows exactly why. I wouldnt give up all fish because of a reaction to one.


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## ApeShip (Apr 17, 2006)

Good point on the Tilapia being store bought. I am confident it was also Farm Raised; most of what is in a grocery store is. So who is to say what could have been the problem. A bit back my doctor and I were discussing the benefits of fish consumption and she made the comment. "you might as well eat bacon" when it came to farm raised.

Possibly you may consider, in a controlled situation with an Epi-pen at hand some one with you, try some fresh wild caught fish.

I have had allergies since a child and it ain't no fun, cats dogs, eggs. Also, in recent years I do react to alot of store bought vegetables and fruit as described here when eaten raw and washed. I have thought about going to an allergist but not keen on the idea of being another pharmaceutical statistic; _Symptoms may include......heart attack and death._

Good luck.


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## BigJohn (Apr 14, 2004)

Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm not much of a winter fisherman, but come spring I'm feeling better about giving it a try. 

Mine reaction too started out of the blue. I'm 49 and had never had the slightest hint of a problem with fish. Asked the doc about this and he said that sometimes this just happens. My experience was the same as many here. Started eating the fish and immediately felt my mouth start tingling, which quick progressed to throat swelling and trouble breathing. Within 15 minutes I was out on the floor and waiting on the medic to get there. I don't even remember them taking me to the hospital. Ended up on a vent for two days as I totally stopped breathing at one point. Very scary situation. I now carry an Epipen and am being very careful about what I eat until a I get a better feel for what some foods contain. There are hidden sources of fish everywhere, like in Worcestershire sauce and much Asian food that is made with fish stock. 

I did see an allergist and my personal doc also ran a blood test. Both tests came back positive for cod and tilapia. They didn't run any of the other fish, but I've read several places that most fish contain similar types of protein, so it is likely, although not for sure, that if you are allergic to one type of fish, you will react to other types. At this point, I'll just stay away from them altogether. I like fish, but can't say they are my favorite food, so I won't miss it that much. I like catching them much better. Although I'll really miss eating those fresh walleye or perch right out of the lake. Not many things better than that.


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## Lagreene333 (10 mo ago)

yonderfishin said:


> I have a distant family relative who is highly allergic to crappie , he can eat any other kind of fish ( well that he knows of ) and have no problems at all but if he eats crappies he could die. Nobody knows exactly why. I wouldnt give up all fish because of a reaction to one.



I found out just today while crappie fishing with my nephew that he too cant eat crappie. He handles, cleans them nothing. He has tried several times to eat them again after not getting sick on other fish and everytime about an hour or so after eating them cramping and throwing up. He talked with a Dr about it and was told crappie have some kind of oil in them that other fish dont have and was told that its not as uncommon as one might think I guess a lot of people have the same issues. He has not found another species yet that makes him ill just the crappie!!!


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Lagreene333 said:


> I found out just today while crappie fishing with my nephew that he too cant eat crappie. He handles, cleans them nothing. He has tried several times to eat them again after not getting sick on other fish and everytime about an hour or so after eating them cramping and throwing up. He talked with a Dr about it and was told crappie have some kind of oil in them that other fish dont have and was told that its not as uncommon as one might think I guess a lot of people have the same issues. He has not found another species yet that makes him ill just the crappie!!!


Welcome to OGF where do ya hail from?


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## Meerkat (Aug 10, 2008)

Presume you guys know this thread is about 10 yrs old? 


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## DHower08 (Nov 20, 2015)

My tourney partner is allergic to fish. Me taking fish off for him lasted one trip. Then he tried fishing with gloves, he finally believed me that you can't do anything effectively with gloves on. Now he just washes his hands in the lake after touching any fish and has zero to minimal issues.


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