Why do I suddenly feel sick when I eat eggs?

[ksr5377]

I checked with Dr. Google and it keeps telling me it's a sign of allergies.  I have eaten eggs without incident my entire life.  I love them. I am having no other allergic symptoms.  This happened a few weeks ago for the first time and I thought it was because I ate too fast, we were in a hurry to leave and I had a lot of coffee.  But it keeps happening.  Basically, within a minute or two of eating them I feel horribly sick to my stomach.  I have only been sick once, but it's still been awful.  Any ideas other than an allergy?

[Katy]

Have you been on antibiotics recently?  I think I had a mild wheat allergy my whole life that turned severe after some antibiotics.

It's possible it's an egg intolerance rather than an allergy.

[Noreen Claire]

Are you pregnant? (I was like this with chicken.)

[hellen]

16 minutes ago, Noreen Claire said:

Are you pregnant? (I was like this with chicken.)

 

I was wondering the same thing. I couldn't eat meat for many months in my first pregnancy.  

[lmrich]

Allergies can pop up later in life. 

[Toocrazy!!]

I discovered this when I did whole 30 a few years ago. I think for me it's an intolerance. I can eat them in baked goods, and even huevos rancheros, but if I eat a fried or scrambled egg, my stomach hurts. 

[cjzimmer1]

I can't eat eggs for breakfast or on a really empty stomach.  If I do, they often come back up or at the very least make my stomach hurt.  However I can eat them later in the day after I eaten other foods.

[HSmomof2]

I have had the same reaction for the last couple years when I eat eggs....I’ll feel nauseous for hours. I haven’t actually gotten sick, but have stomach pain and feel nauseous. I’ve also been fine eating eggs my whole life up until about 2 years ago. I seem to be fine with them in baked goods, just not on their own.

[DawnM]

7 hours ago, Toocrazy!! said:

I discovered this when I did whole 30 a few years ago. I think for me it's an intolerance. I can eat them in baked goods, and even huevos rancheros, but if I eat a fried or scrambled egg, my stomach hurts. 

 

This is me.  I am very sensitive to eggs.  If I have them by themselves I feel sick, but I can handle them in small amount IN something.  I even had testing done and YUP, eggs are on my sensitivity list.

[DawnM]

Question:  I wonder if trying organic, farm eggs would help?  I haven't compared.  Hmmmm

[Pawz4me]

If I eat eggs w/o an accompanying carb they make me very queasy. If I eat toast, a biscuit, a tortilla, anything like that with them I'm fine.

[historically accurate]

I haven't been able to eat them since my 2nd pregnancy. I can eat them in things like baked goods, but eggs as a side item or main item nauseate me and make my stomach hurt for hours. The runnier the yolk the worse it is, but all from fried to scrambled to hard boiled make my stomach hurt. 

[Kanin]

Oh, so sorry. Eggs are a staple! I feel your pain because DH had the same thing happen. After a couple rounds of antibiotics, he can't eat eggs without feeling gross for a week. However, after a few years, it seems that he might be able to eat them if they've been really processed at high heat (like in a cracker). It really stinks, and limits so many foods at home and restaurants ?

[J-rap]

I've noticed this in myself lately too, but it doesn't happen all the time.  It happens more often if I eat out -- like if I eat one of those hard-boiled eggs that hotels have at a breakfast buffet.  If I make myself a homemade omelet or egg salad sandwich, it doesn't happen.

But I was realizing noticing this a few weeks ago after eating hard boiled eggs and wondering why I hadn't noticed it before.

[Lady Marmalade]

What kind of eggs are you eating?

I cannot eat conventional grocery store eggs, or I have serious digestive issues in a short amount of time,

I am perfectly fine if I eat my weight in organic brown eggs though.  I don't have problems with conventional eggs in baked goods like cakes or muffins, but if the item in question is heavy on the eggs (like french toast or bread pudding) then I make sure I use the organic eggs to make them.

My dad has been a big egg eater all his life, but a few years ago they were getting their eggs delivered from a local farmer.  Well, that farmer sold his chickens so they went back to regular grocery store eggs and wham, all the sudden my dad was having the same issues I'd been having for years.  They switched to good quality organic eggs and he doesn't have any problems.  It seemed he'd had no problems while he just kept eating the same old thing, but once he switched away to something better his system reset itself.

I've always thought it's something in the feed of the chickens that makes the difference.  I mean, what else could it be? 

ETA: Eating eggs out is very problematic because most places use conventional eggs.  I miss ordering a great diner omelet!

Edited August 11, 2018 by Lady Marmalade

[Kassia]

This happened to my dd, too.  She was fine with eggs forever and then suddenly she started feeling really sick when she ate them.  She can eat them in baked goods and other recipes but can't handle straight egg whites.  

[ksr5377]

Thanks for the replies everyone. This makes me sad.  I am for sure not pregnant and I haven't had antibiotics.  I think it's just going to be a problem. I haven't noticed anything yet when they are in ingredient, like in baked goods, but any time I have had them on their own - with or without other carbs.  I'll be avoiding them until I have testing done.  Oh, and my MIL has chickens that just run all over her barnyard, so we have the ultimate in free-range organic eggs so that's not the problem either.  

[Spryte]

It sounds like you’re planning to get testing, so that’s good.

My DS has multiple serious allergies, so he’s prone to this, but a few years ago he started having big stomach cramping after eating scrambled eggs or an omelette.  His allergist tested him and he’s developed an allergy.  Bummer.  But - he can have baked eggs, say in a cake or cookies.  The temp on the stove top doesn’t get high enough to denature the proteins, but baking works.  This means he can have baked French toast, yay!  Anyway, the allergist said this is common with egg allergy.  FWIW, DS has a history of anaphylaxis to many foods and we do know the egg allergy could develop into that as it is an IgE mediated allergy.  So we always have epinephrine on hand.  But for now, with no history of anaphylaxis to egg specifically, we don’t worry about “May contains” or trace amounts.  We just don’t let him eat a plate of breakfast eggs cooked in the stove!

To contrast, I sound like you.  I suddenly started having upset stomach after eating eggs (like scrambled or other stove top eggs) and I seem to only have a mild allergy to egg yolk.  As long as it’s fully cooked I’m mostly ok.  I should probably go get tested again soon, actually.  

[sweet2ndchance]

It could be eggs or it might not be eggs....

I developed what was diagnosed as an adult onset allergy to eggs with similar symptoms to what you describe but I kept having more and more and more food sensitivities popping up after that. I finally had allergy testing done when I was breaking out in hives daily and no one could figure out why. I tested negative for eggs but insanely positive for tomato. I had never cared for tomato since I was a child so I didn't eat a lot of it by choice but when we cut it out completely and started avoiding tomato like the plague, all of my food allergies and sensitives calmed down and some disappeared completely. Within six months of eliminating tomato, I could eat eggs again. 

All that to say, it might be the eggs, it might not. It could be something the chilckens got a hold of in your MIL's barnyard that is coming out in trace amounts in the eggs. Have you tried eggs from different sources to see if it causes the same reactions? When my egg allergy developed, we were getting eggs from a family member as well. The first thing I did was try some grocery store eggs to see if the same thing happened. Unfortunately, for me, it did but it is worth looking into.

Edited August 11, 2018 by sweet2ndchance

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, sweet2ndchance said:

It could be eggs or it might not be eggs....

I developed what was diagnosed as an adult onset allergy to eggs with similar symptoms to what you describe but I kept having more and more and more food sensitivities popping up after that. I finally had allergy testing done when I was breaking out in hives daily and no one could figure out why. I tested negative for eggs but insanely positive for tomato. I had never cared for tomato since I was a child so I didn't eat a lot of it by choice but when we cut it out completely and started avoiding tomato like the plague, all of my food allergies and sensitives calmed down and some disappeared completely. Within six months of eliminating tomato, I could eat eggs again. 

All that to say, it might be the eggs, it might not. It could be something the chilckens got a hold of in your MIL's barnyard that is coming out in trace amounts in the eggs. Have you tried eggs from different sources to see if it causes the same reactions? When my egg allergy developed, we were getting eggs from a family member as well. The first thing I did was try some grocery store eggs to see if the same thing happened. Unfortunately, for me, it did but it is worth looking into.

Yes, I find that if I'm battling heavily with one of my allergies, like tree pollen in the spring, I develop some new sensitivities to foods. Sometimes these other sensitivities disappear, and sometimes they don't. It's worth getting tested to see if you have any allergies, though there are limitations with testing. They tend to start testing a group of common allergies, and then work from there.