Woman who is 'allergic to everything' can only eat oatmeal and baby milk

27 March 2024 , 22:46

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She had three more severe allergic reactions that month to bread and pizza (Image: Caroline Cray / SWNS)

A woman who is "allergic to everything" can only eat oatmeal - and says most foods could prove deadly.

In September 2017, 24-year-old Caroline Cray spent 12 hours in hospital after she ate an ice-cream and went into anaphylactic shock. She had three more severe allergic reactions that month to bread and pizza. After eating rice and beans with her family, Caroline reacted again and spent 12 days in intensive care.

After 10 months of tests, she was diagnosed with rare chronic illness mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) - which causes repeated severe allergy symptoms - in May 2018. She now has a diet that consists of just oatmeal and EleCare - an amino-based acid infant milk - and says everyday things such as fish, peanuts, nuts, sesame and mustard could prove deadly.

Caroline, a health care recruiter, Boston, Massachusetts, US, said: "I am at the point where my diet is only EleCare and oatmeal. I will have that for three meals a day and I only eat three times a day as I have to self-medicate beforehand.

"It is really tough - you don't think about food at all when you can eat normally. With a limited diet, I have realised that culture is all about food. I don't rule myself out of things though, I sit down and eat with my family every night. I will go out for meals but I bring my own food and I will go for nights out and take a water bottle."

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Caroline eats oatmeal a lot now (Caroline Cray / SWNS)

Caroline Cray, 24, first realised something was wrong when she ate an ice cream and went into anaphylactic shock (Caroline Cray / SWNS)

After a string of anaphylactic shocks in September 2017, Caroline claims she was initially told her allergies would likely disappear within months. She said: "In the fall when I was having the repeated shocks, my allergist and ER doctors were under the assumption that my reactions would only last a few months.

"They put me on antihistamines and they got me in to see a specialist. It was really discouraging that a few months later I was really sick. Every day I was wondering if I was going to end up in the hospital, I had a really tight throat, and I was itchy and wheezing."

After a 10-month wait, Caroline was diagnosed with MCAS in May 2018. She said: "I was emotional which was very surprising for me.

"I am a very cut and dry person but me and my mum, Julie, 59, were both crying. It was validating that someone was finally like 'this is a chronic illness and we need to treat it as one.' It was 90 per cent relief and 10 per cent 'oh god I will live with this the rest of my life.'"

Caroline has to take a concoction of medication including xolair shots every 14 days, daily antihistamines and hizentra every seven days. She also avoids foods like nuts, kiwi, sesame and mustard.

She said: "My diet consists of oatmeal and EleCare - my biggest trigger is the process of eating and digesting food. I am currently meeting with my MCAS therapist to try trailing different foods. I will try single foods one by one so if I have a reaction we know exactly what it is to."

Caroline said she doesn't rule herself out of family meals of nights out with friends despite her very restricted diet.

"Weirdly enough I don't mind it, not everyone drinks or cares that you're not drinking," she said.

"The fact you're not eating the same food in the restaurant is more noticeable, especially when I open my Tupperware. When I go on nights out, I am always the designated driver, I can fill people in on what has happened the night before. I have turned that into one of my favourite things, I tell my friends I get second-hand drunk from them."

Ben Barry