School gym class was quite simply, never my favourite. In fact, I probably used every excuse in the book to get out of the daily torture — the twisted ankle, I have the flu, my knee is sore, I forgot my PE gear, can I study for my test instead? The list was endless. People would even joke that I acted as though I was allergic to exercise… but perhaps this wasn’t such a ridiculous excuse.
Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis is a disorder in which anaphylaxis occurs after physical activity and exhibits the same physical symptoms as somebody who is allergic to peanuts, eats them — hives, wheezing, nausea etc — and ceases and the stopping of activity. (1) However, these attacks are typically only triggered when co-factors such as foods, alcohol or temperature are also present. For example in Food Dependent Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis, the reaction will not occur due to exercise, nor the specific food, alone — anaphylaxis develops only if physical activity occurs within a few hours of eating a specific food. (2) So unfortunately, my distaste for, and lack of breath after, exercise, will not allow me to add this ‘allergy’ to by repertoire of excuses for skipping gym class.
Joe O’Leary is (in my opinion), one of the lucky few that have the BEST and most valid excuse for skipping PE class. After splitting having a pizza for dinner one he decided to hit the gym. Only to find that half an hour in: “My eyes were watering, I was having trouble breathing, in another five minutes I was struggling tobreathe. I looked behind me into the mirror, and my eyes were swollen—every part of my face was swollen.” (3) It was later found that the tomatoes he ate as a part of his pizza, in conjunction with his workout, was to blame for his allergic reaction to exercise.
However, for such an odd disorder, we know very little about its mechanism of work, except that when we exercise, blood in travelling more often to the stomach and picking out traces of the food we ingested and this is why people with Food Dependent Exercise Induced Anaphylaxis can eat, tomatoes (for example) and be fine, but once they start exercising have an anaphylactic reaction.
Other than this, exercise allergy is treated as any other allergy — avoid the trigger (such as foods, alcohol or temperature) and carry an epinephrine pen.
So whilst I am definitely not allergic to exercise… and am really just lazy and unfit… this could definitely be worth a try next time the teacher doesn’t believe I have twisted my ankle for the 6th time this month.
References:
1.https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/886641-overview
2. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/allergic-exercise-f1C9926288
3. https://www.menshealth.com/health/exercise-induced-anaphylaxis
Science Scholars 2017 