Nickel allergy sufferer Marti Stanley says: 'I've ended up in A&E at times. It's a nightmare'
By
Charlotte Dovey
Last updated at 5:19 PM on 15th March 2011
When Marti Stanley tells people broccoli brings her out in a rash, their first reaction is that it’s just an excuse to avoid it.
When she goes on to tell them that green beans, spinach, shellfish, raspberries, pulses or pears have an equally nasty effect, they clearly think she’s neurotic.
And if she adds that anything from a can (food or drink), and even chocolate, risks triggering an anaphylactic shock, there can be no doubt: she’s the dinner party guest from hell. ‘I’m used to being thought of as difficult,’ says Marti, 49, who lives in South-West London.
Nickel allergy sufferer Marti Stanley says: 'I've ended up in A&E at times. It's a nightmare'
‘But if I didn’t tell people and mistakenly ate one of these things, my face could swell up like a balloon and I’d develop a rash on my chest, fingers and back. I’ve ended up in A&E at times. It’s a nightmare.’
Nickel is a trace element found widely in the environment, and Marti is one of millions of Britons with an allergy to it — though hers is at the extreme end.
Lindsey McManus, spokesperson for Allergy UK, says: ‘Up to 10 per cent of people in Britain may have an allergy to nickel to some degree.
‘Nickel is used to strengthen soft metals such as gold, so can be found everywhere — in costume jewellery, certain coins, including the one and two Euro piece, bra fasteners, belt buckles, watchbands and so on.
‘But the metal can actually be found in foods, too.’
Nickel gets into food via soil and pesticides, or from the equipment used in the handling or storage of the food (tinned fish such as tuna, for example, has nickel both from the fish and the can).
Dr Adam Fox, consultant paediatric allergist at Guys’ & St Thomas’ Hospital, London, says: ‘The majority of people who are allergic to nickel will have a contact allergy. Prolonged contact with the metal causes a reaction, leading to them developing dermatitis.’
The immune system goes into overdrive, attacking healthy cells and tissue, and resulting in skin that’s swollen, red, blistered, dried and cracked.
The dermatitis tends to occur where the skin has come into contact with nickel.
Hidden component: Nickel can be found in everything from the one and two Euro pieces to bra fasteners
In Marti’s case, however, this rash occurred all over her body when she ate any foodstuffs containing the metal — which is more often the case with children, says Dr Fox.
The problem is that people can spend years not knowing what’s wrong with them, wrongly attributing their rash to something else, says Lindsey.
‘That’s why it’s important that anyone suffering from chronic dermatitis is referred to a dermatologist, who can carry out a “patch test” to try to determine the actual irritant that’s affecting the person.’
It wasn’t until a few years ago, when her condition worsened, that Marti’s allergy to nickel was identified.
‘As a child, I do remember getting an itchy, red, area on my tummy whenever I wore jeans,’ says Marti, who works as a receptionist for a sports marketing company.
‘I know now it was the button irritating my skin, but at the time I just put up with it. Then, when I was 14, I had my ears pierced — and the same thing happened. I had to take the earrings out. Any cheap jewellery would bring me out in a rash within minutes.
‘But things took a turn for the worse in 2007, when I decided I needed to get fit. I gave up smoking, cut down on drinking and looked at my diet.’
Marti cut out takeaways, crisps and pizzas, and decided to concentrate on the five-a-day ethos, eating fresh fruit and vegetables regularly. She also cut out white bread.
Almost overnight, her itching got worse. ‘I’d wake up in the morning, have a bowl of porridge, and within hours my chest would be itching,’ she recalls. ‘Then, at lunch, I’d have a wholemeal tuna sandwich and my back would itch, too.
‘Creams such as E45 helped, but I constantly had a rash somewhere on my body. I now know the problem was my diet full of nickel-rich food.’
She went to her GP after one particular incident when, as well as the itchy rash, her face swelled up badly.
‘Catching sight of myself in a shop window, I looked like the elephant man,’ says Marti.
The GP surmised the problem was the latex gloves Marti’s dentist had used while inspecting her mouth the day before, but he sent her for a patch test at Guy’s Hospital.
Relief: E45 cream helped sooth itchiness until Marti was diagnosed with her allergy
As well as latex, Marti was tested for around 12 other irritants, including wheat, pollen, dairy and gluten — but all of these were ruled out.
‘In hindsight, the real cause had been a stir-fry with broccoli — which is really rich in nickel — that I’d eaten the night before, but I didn’t have a clue,’ says Marti.
For the next year, she relied on E45 cream — and visited her doctor at least once a week. ‘I was at my wit’s end,’ she says. ‘Neither my GP nor I had any idea what was causing it.’
Then, one day in late 2008, after a meal out the night before, Marti woke and couldn’t open her eyes properly.
‘My entire face was covered in a red rash and was badly swollen, as were my fingers.’
Marti phoned her sister, who immediately came round to take her to A&E, where she was told she had suffered anaphylactic shock.
‘In some people, an allergy can trigger a part of the immune system to overreact and release histamine,’ says Dr Fox.
‘This is totally separate from the part of the immune system that causes dermatitis.
‘Histamine is a chemical that produces an immediate, and potentially fatal, allergic reaction (anaphylaxis shock).
Most commonly this is as a result of eating peanuts, eggs and shellfish, or a reaction to bee stings.’
For the first time, Marti was asked what she’d been eating. She was also told to keep a food diary for a month.
‘As mad as it sounds, this was the first time I started to see a link between what I ate and an allergic reaction.
‘On the days I had porridge, there would always be a reaction. Similarly, whenever I had chocolate, my fingers would swell up.
‘When I returned a month later, the nutritionist flipped through just two pages of my diary and said: “You’re allergic to nickel.”’
Now, two years on, Marti is getting used to living with the allergy.
‘It’s certainly not an easy allergy to have — but I just have to get on with it. My one consolation is that I can still enjoy a glass of wine.
‘And at least with the anti-histamines, I still get to enjoy some of the foods I love. Chocolate, for instance, may be nickel-rich, but it’s something I simply can’t live without!’
www.allergyuk.org