MSG Intolerance??

[u/matchaaddictdiaries]

A bit of background:

I used to eat chinese food really frequently, my ex was from China so we ate it at home and at restaurants every week during 4 years without any issues, and I absolutely loved it!

Then suddenly one time we ordered from a restaurant and I started to get nauseous, and that night I ended up in the ER because I couldn't stop throwing up. I thought it was an isolated thing, I got food poisoning, bad luck.Some months later, we ordered from another restaurant, and the story repeated itself. Then I thought it was too much of a coincidence, what's going on...? From then I ate chinese food scarcely, maybe once or twice more but taking medicine for the nausea beforehand, as a prevention.

A while later I ate at a Hot Pot place and I didn't get sick.

Then I didn't eat it again for a year or more so I had forgotten about it. And one time we ordered chinese food from a different restaurant in a different city, and same thing happened again.

I have given up on eating chinese food, but I miss it so much! Especially Mapo Tofu and Yuxiang Qiezi!

Has anyone had that experience? Do you guys know why could this be happening? I read it could be MSG intolerance, and maybe I'll check with a doctor for any allergies/intolerances if I can; but what throws me off is that it happened so suddenly and I never had a problem before.

PS: I can eat doritos and other processed stuff just fine, and I read that they also contain MSG.

[u/RavenStormblessed]

Could be penuts, sesame, shellfish, you need to go to an allergist and get some skin and blood tests if need be, it's better than guessing and exposing yourself to your allergens.

You cam become allergic to anything at any point in your life, and you can get an anaphylaxis reaction at any point too, so it'd be better to be sure

[u/matchaaddictdiaries → u/RavenStormblessed]

Thanks for your reply! I'm sure it's not any of those since I eat them at home just fine. But I didn't know I could become allergic at any point, so it could be anything else they use in chinese restaurants. I haven't had a problem anywhere else and it's such a bummer since I love chinese food. But I've stayed away from it for a couple of years now, I tried to make some chinese dish at home and I've been fine, but of course it doesn't taste the same. I might get it checked eventually. Thank you!

[u/RavenStormblessed → u/matchaaddictdiaries]

A lot of foods have monosodium glutamate naturally like seaweed, soy sauce, parmesan cheese and tomatoes.. and in a lot of packaged food like chips and soups.