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"  I have always loathed fish. The smell. The texture. Everything about it. And it has led to a cascade of questions (with a hint of disgust) from anyone who overhears me turn it down: &amp;quot;But what about sushi?&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Not even salmon?&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;You must eat shrimp,&amp;quot; to which my response is, &amp;quot;Like I said, NO seafood.&amp;quot; People just could never wrap their head around it. And, believe me, I wanted to love it. Do you know how much easier my social life would be if I could finally join the &amp;#039;sushi-eating club?&amp;#039; Can you imagine how much I wanted to understand, first hand, what all the exaggerated sounds were about when any of my friends downed a line of the mysterious-looking bites in front of me? Recently, I went for a vitamin IV and some blood work at the hands of John Salerno, MD, a physician and founder of The Salerno Center in New York City, Along with checking levels of the basic nutrient roster (vitamin B, C, iron, etc.), he did a thorough look at what was going on in my body. A week later, Dr. Salerno called me with my results and added a shocker statment to the end of our convo: &amp;quot;And you&amp;#039;re allergic to shellfish,&amp;quot; he said. Instead of being upset, I gasped with joy\u2014even though shellfish only encompass a small grouping of fish, my aversion to all kinds suddenly made sense. The only reason that I didn&amp;#039;t jump up and down was because I happened to be on a fishing boat when I received the call (Yes, note the irony. I was laying, not fishing like the rest of the crew.) My entire life\u2014the countless explanations, meal diversions and replacements, as well as holding my head up high at the neverending disbelief\u2014had all been validated. And I wondered, &amp;#039;Why on earth had I waited so long to find this out?&amp;#039; The thought of now, after a simple and quick blood test, being able to quickly quip &amp;#039;Sorry, I&amp;#039;m allergic!&amp;quot; to a shrimp plate at a party or a group sushi dinner, instead of hanging my head in anti-fish shame is life-changing. And it turns out, linking a hate for a food and a legitimate allergy is not that uncommon. &amp;quot;It is very possible to have such a reaction,&amp;quot; says Dr. Salerno. &amp;quot;The human body can be very intuitive in regards to knowing what it may be allergic to.&amp;quot; And besides having an aversion, Dr. Salerno says that when people have an allergy, &amp;quot;it can manifest in several different ways\u2014it can present itself as bloating, chronic malaise or fatigue, weight gain, brain fog, and mood changes and depression,&amp;quot; he explains. &amp;quot;The main mechanism behind the physiology is because antibodies are produced against the allergic foods, which create an inflammatory response.&amp;quot; And so, you will find me happily not eating crabs. Or shrimp. (Or salmon, tuna, or sushi for that matter) and so on because (wait for it....): I&amp;#039;m allergic. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/health/a2313/bloodwork-allergy-test/>