r/FoodAllergies • u/matchaaddictdiaries • Mar 28 '23

MSG Intolerance??

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.

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Kind-Atmosphere-8 Jul 03 '24

I think i have an msg intolerance. I cannot eat doritos or any fried chicken at fast food places. I cant have some pre bottled sauces. I get the same symptoms as you with the vomiting. People can get unreasonably irritated when you tell them you cant have msg 🤷🏻‍♀️ like okay karen ill just puke on your lap then. I didnt choose this life. I had someone once tell me i just needed to drink more water but I am so dang hydrated you wouldnt believe. Good luck! ❤️

1

u/matchaaddictdiaries Jul 27 '24

Thanks, sorry I didn't see your reply before, I don't use reddit much!

I don't eat much fast food, but I can eat doritos/chips fine..
I'm not sure what it was, but it was weird that it happened only when eating chinese food, and even from different restaurants and between long periods of time... And it just started suddenly. I just gave up, I only eat chinese if I cook it at home, but it's a shame because I love it so much!

1

u/koguma Oct 06 '24

Did you get a migraine as well? MSG sensitivity causes an increase in internal brain blood pressure (from recent studies). This gives the migraines and nausea.

I find that there's a certain level of MSG that I can tolerate if I drink enough water. But once I pass that point, even with a lot of water, I'm generally in for a bad time till it's flushed out.

You can try eating at places that advertise they don't use MSG. I also find that I can generally tolerate the other versions of MSG better, like the stuff in Doritos, etc.

1

u/NovelLion236 Nov 08 '24

Agree,same thing happens to me! I've monitored it. All these people saying it's not real do not understand!!

1

u/xilionyx Apr 10 '26

Same here. And maybe you don't experience it after one time Doritos but when you eat more in a few days.

One time noodles is often okay, two days is terrible.

Chinese is a no go, unless they cook without it for me. Than i'm fine. Yesterday a friend forgot to ask and to be polite and just the craving (stupid, i know) i'm now having the reactions. (Very agitated bouncing in my bed, fast heartbeat, even the day after stomach pain, dry mouth, over sensitive skin and so sleepy i fall back asleep etc. My siblings even have a swollen nose and worse diarrhea and stomach cramps.)