Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] Hello Doc, I have some questions for you. I experienced rapid heart beat last night after I ate fried fish and red spots occurred all over my body and I felt like my head was so hot that it seems like its going to burst. Everything went back to normal after I drink soft drinks (sprite). My parents gave me anti-allergy medicine but I was afraid to take it because It might make it worst. I also experienced this last week, after eating dried fish. I am 22 years old now, and when i was in Grade 5, i had an asthma attack. I cannot breath air and was taken in ICU after I ate Tuna Fish. Only those times I have those kind of reactions but most of the time nothing happens if i eat any kind of fish. Do you think I am allergy to fish, doc? What kind of allergy is it? If it will happen again next time, will it be a threat to my life?
[|AI|]  Hello. Thank you for asking at Chat Doctor. I went through your history. As you are not experiencing symptoms every time you eat fish, first I would think of Histamine fish poisoning rather than fish allergy. Histamine fish poisoning is a relatively common type of food poisoning. It occurs after consumption of improperly preserved or inadequately refrigerated fish (Fish require stringent refrigeration for preservation). It occurs due to presence of excess of a substance called histamine in the fish. The symptoms are the ones you described - skin rash, itching, headache, palpitation, sometimes breathlessness, etc. The symptoms develop within a few minutes of consumption of fish and usually subside by 6, rarely last up to 12 hours. A very important thing to know is that it is not possible to know whether the fish is likely to cause histamine poisoning by look or even taste of the fish. It looks and tastes same. Only sometimes one feels a typical peppery or burning taste in mouth while consuming fish, one can suspect it is rich in histamine and one should not consume it. Usually antihistamines medications like chlorpheniramine and sanitizing are used for treatment of symptoms. So, in your case, I would think of Histamine fish poisoning rather fish allergy. It is even more common wish some variety of fish like Tuna, Sardine, Mahi-mahi, etc. It is not an allergy. Furthermore, it is usually benign and self-limited, but rarely it can cause death. If you experience any serious symptom like difficulty in breathing, dizziness, palpitation, etc. it is advisable to go to ER and get examined by physician and treated. Hope this will be helpful to you. Wish you the best of the health. Regards.