There are a few allergies that most of us are familiar with; pollen, nuts, eggs, dairy, cat hair, etc. You’ve probably met someone who has at least one of these allergies; you might even have one yourself. Whether you learned about it through trial and error over the years or you could have used a food allergy testing kit. Its quite easy to identify the more common allergies, but some allergies are so rare that scientists haven’t even developed routine allergy testing for them. Today we’re going to take a look at the weirdest allergies discovered so far.

 

Money

Well, if handling money brings you out in skin lesions or rashes, you might well be experiencing an allergic reaction! Some unfortunate people are literally allergic to handling coins and cash. It’s believed that the most common allergic reaction when handling money is to nickel. Nickel is a compound found in all kinds of coins throughout the world. Unfortunately, topical steroids and contact avoidance are the only current treatments available for a nickel allergy.

Other people have more significant problems in that they’re allergic to paper money. More specifically, the ink used to prink banknotes. For anti-counterfeiting reasons, many government mints won’t reveal the chemicals used within their ink, but it could be anything from synthetic chemicals to plant gums. Again, medication and avoidance of handling notes are the best treatment available.

 

Water

Our bodies are made up of as much as 60% water. We’re always being told that we should be drinking more water to lose weight, sleep better, be able to fly…ok that last one is an exaggeration, but the point stands; water is good for us. Well…most of us.

The reason we say this is because, for sufferers of aquagenic urticaria, contact with water can cause itching and hives. With no treatment available, sufferers have to severely restrict their bathing (for some only once a week) and have to stick to drinking diet soft drinks to avoid potentially lethal swelling of the throat. It is believed there have been fewer than 100 cases of an allergy to water in the medical literature.

 

Human Touch

While you probably know one or two people that metaphorically make your skin crawl, we’re talking more literally here. Sufferers of a condition called dermographism will notice reddening of the skin whenever contact is made with other skin – even their own! The 5% of people living with this condition will tell you that they can ‘write on their skin’ using only their finger (and pressing lightly at that!). The redness lingers for a while, but usually goes away after half an hour or so. There are several over-the-counter medications recommended to help deal with this condition.

 

Food Allergy Testing

Whilst these rarer allergies are difficult to test for; you can find out whether you have a more common allergy by conducting food allergy testing. We have a selection of tests that can help you identify your allergies and sensitivities to a wide range of food and non-food items.