ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with unusual symptoms; unusual is a relative term and can refer to the nature or frequency of symptoms. The techniques of food elimination and challenges with which these unusual symptoms are evaluated, however, are techniques with which allergists are familiar, and so the allergist may be called upon to evaluate or assist in the evaluation of symptoms or signs that normally are evaluated by other specialists. Symptoms referable to every organ in the body have been attributed to foods. Medical folklore has long suggested that there may be a relationship between foods and rheumatoid arthritis. There are also a number of older medical articles that suggest that foods may exacerbate symptoms in patients with chronic arthritis. During the week following ingestion, patients experienced fever, chills, headache, tachycardia, cough, chest pain, and pruritus. The patients complained of abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, odynophagia, and dysphagia; physical examination often revealed hepatomegaly.
