A woman who is “allergic to everything” can only eat oatmeal over Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Caroline Cray, 25, was diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) — which causes repeated severe allergy symptoms — in May 2018.
She first realised something was wrong when she ate an ice cream and went into anaphylactic shock — spending 12 hours in hospital — in September 2017.
She had three more severe allergic reactions that month to bread and pizza.
After eating rice and beans with her family, Caroline reacted again and spent 12 days in intensive care.
After 10 months of tests, she was diagnosed with the chronic illness and now has a diet that consists of just oatmeal and EleCare — an amino-based acid infant milk.
Caroline says she still loves the Christmas season and spending time with family and friends — despite her limited diet.
Caroline, a healthcare recruiter, Boston, Massachusetts, US, said: “When I was younger and able to eat normal food, Thanksgiving was my favourite holiday.
“I loved food so much but that has definitely changed.
“I tend to lean towards Christmas a bit more as there is more of a focus on other areas like gift giving and sticking up decorations.
“This is my fifth year of being on the oatmeal diet and it is hard.
“I would be lying if I said I don’t struggle because I do.”
After a string of anaphylactic shocks in September 2017, Caroline claims she was initially told her allergies would likely disappear within months.
She said: “In the fall when I was having the repeated shocks, my allergist and ER doctors were under the assumption that my reactions would only last a few months.
“They put me on antihistamines and they got me in to see a specialist.
“It was really discouraging that a few months later I was really sick.
“Every day I was wondering if I was going to end up in the hospital, I had a really tight throat, and I was itchy and wheezing.”
After a 10-month wait, Caroline was diagnosed with MCAS in May 2018.
She said: “I was emotional, which was very surprising for me.
“I am a very cut and dry person but me and my mom, Julie, 59, were both crying.
“It was validating that someone was finally like ‘this is a chronic illness and we need to treat it as one.’
“It was 90 percent relief and 10 percent ‘oh god I will live with this the rest of my life.’”
Caroline has to take a concoction of medication including Xolair shots every 14 days, daily antihistamines and Hizentra every seven days.
She also avoids foods like nuts, kiwi, sesame and mustard.
She said: “My diet consists of oatmeal and EleCare — my biggest trigger is the process of eating and digesting food.
“I’m currently meeting with my MCAS therapist to try trailing different foods.
“I will try single foods one by one so if I have a reaction we know exactly what it is to.”
Since March 2024, Caroline has been taking part in food trials to see if there are any foods she is able to eat.
She has tried chicken, lamb, sweet potato, and broccoli but has had allergic reactions to the foods.
Caroline said: “I have been food trialling but nothing has been a success yet.
“We have been introducing small amounts of a single food to see how I react or if I react.
“Unfortunately, I have been having a reaction to the food I have tried.
Caroline says one silver lining about the holiday season is that Christmas and Thanksgiving are hosted at her house so she can easily prepare her meal.
She said: “I am in my house so I can prepare my food the way I want to.
“In the first couple of years of my diagnosis, I didn’t want to eat in front of anyone else.
“It is certainly hard because food is central to the holiday season but there are a lot of factors that make me feel included in the ritual of Christmas.”
