God luck srtrickler2. I wouldn't test anything except in tiny amounts as allergies are a medical condition subject to "hyper-sensitization", so they can change depending on what exposures you have and become far worse and more intense to different parts than you have at present, or in an unlucky case, even life-threatening if you test the wrong thing. There are a bunch of similar proteins in nightshades including tomatoes, husk tomatoes (tomatillos), eggplants, potatoes that cause the allergies and cooking seems to degrade some of the allergens, but not all (making a peeled cooked tomato an interesting test). Exposure of commercial commodity tomatoes to ethylene ripening rooms was also mentioned as making certain individuals' allergies worse in the literature you can find online but that is patient dependent and didn't neutralize the allergy. If by green tomatoes you mean immature ones, that is one thing, and if you mean green ripe ones that's possibly another category of response. The red in tomatoes is mostly caused by lycopene, which is also found in watermelon. So if you are not allergic to watermelon, it is a good bet it is not the redness itself in tomato causing the reaction, and I don't see anyone claiming lycopene is an allergen. When tomatoes turn red, they go through a process to re-purpose chlorophyll and some proteins that break the chlorophyll down for this process may possibly be contributing to your allergy, not the lycopene itself, and if it just happens to be a protein, an enzyme, that breaks down the green that you are most affected by, logically these green when ripe tomatoes would cause less of a reaction, as would immature tomatoes. Nobody can tell you what you have without turning you into a research subject since so many of these natural chemicals in the tomato are chemically similar, removing one allergen could just create more of another. In other words, you may react to a class of compounds. So there is that small but real risk, if you inadvertently expose yourself to a highly concentrated form of the allergen you react most to by testing the wrong thing, this could result in the hyper-sensitization and suddenly you might not be able to eat potatoes and eggplants either, or develop the contact allergy, since allergies can get better or worse over time due to changes in immune system reaction and sensitization. So tread carefully and with an allergist. Best of luck, PC

I had food allergy testing done because I started having sores in my mouth. Tests came back that I am allergic to a number of things - 3+ on most - shellfish, oats, almonds, strawberries, oranges, nutmeg, cauilflower, mushrooms and of all things - celery! The allergy doctor says most allergies cause stomach problems headaches etc, not rashes or sores unless it is a nut allergy. Anyway - I know that I had been eating lots of oatmeal when the weather was cold and was in hopes that it would lower my cholestrol. Ha - turns out the stomach issues I was having was probably due to the oats! I avoid most of the things now - will eat a little crab once in a while and if the celery is in something else I eat it. I do avoid the almonds and the oats which seemed to be the worst. I think I am also allergic to something that is found in the seasoning I use on my Standing rib Roast. It is called Everglade Seasoning and makes the best roast. Anyway, I had a severe reaction - swelling eyes twice after eating meat I had cooked with it. First time I ended up in the hospital for three days - made the mistake of saying that it started with a shortness of breath. Several tests later I learned that I have a slight narrowing in a small place in one artery but no biggie. They were not worried about the eye swelling - but it took a week to go away even with heavy doses of Benadryl, Claratin and Prednisone. Happened a second time to a much lesser degree - I got out the Benadryl and allergy pills immediately and got it under control. I still carry my Epipen and Bendaryl with me wherever I go, though. Turns out the mouth sores are probably from a Galvanic Reaction to the amount of metal I have in my mouth from fillings and crowns. Took several months to run its coarse but will crop up from time to time. Keeping myself hydrated helps as does a good Vitamin B. Some thought it was called Geographical Mouth, which the same things are suggested for it. One interesting fact is that the mouth issue, eye swelling issue and the heart issue all occured about the same time. Bloodwork during this time also showed my potassium level was low. Since then I take a Potassium tablet every day.

Jess: Really like the links you gave on making baby-powder recipe. THANK YOU. I have Calendula flowers in my garden (it's a perennial): "1/2 cup arrowroot powder & 1 tsp chamomile or calendula flowers, powdered in the blender or food processor or a few drops of chamomile essential oil." Chronic sinus can also be from allergies to cat-dander. When I first met my husband, he had 4 cats, I constantly sneezed from the cat's hair. He gave away 3, and kept only one cat. I washed his cat weekly, to decrease the dander, so I won't sneeze so much. Now we have zero cat, bad-allergy. However, probiotics like L. Rhamnosus GG (in Culturelle and Solgar Advanced Multi-billion Dophilus) ... that strain of bacteria is proven to slash pneumonia in half, so it helps with membrane in sinus & lung. I gave my 13-year-old daughter Culturelle, Hyperbotics, Solgar, plus Kefir for that past 5 days. I meant to decrease her oily secretions so she has less facial pimples .. and that ended up lessened underarm odor. She's allergic to chemical deodorant, so she uses Milk-of-Magnesia ... magnesium hydroxide has a drying effect, but doesn't last long. Last night I sniffed her shirt before putting in laundry... Wow !! Barely noticable odor, same with my clothes, I can easily wear the same clothes & undies twice, since the probiotics suppress the bad-odor-causing bacteria. That's the logic for daily consumption of Kefir and pickled veggies: less body odor. There's studies that show babies born through C-section has more allergies than babies born through birth-canal. Below excerpt is written by a microbiologist: "For example, during pregnancy, the composition of bacteria in a woman’s vagina changes so that there is a higher concentration of Lactobacillus, a kind of bacteria that aids in the digestion of milk. While he or she might eventually get colonized, a baby born by cesarean section will miss out on immediately acquiring these beneficial bacteria. Dutch researchers recently published a study in the journal Pediatrics showing that infants with colic have more bacteria that are known to produce gas, whereas anti-inflammatory bacteria that live in the vaginal canal are more common in colic-free infants. Health problems that are more common in children born by C-section, such as obesity, asthma, allergies, type 1 diabetes, food allergies, eczema, and celiac disease. While there is still much we don’t know, alterations to the gut microbiome might connect these conditions to what some have dubbed the "cesarean epidemic" in our country and around the globe." http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/06/02/babies-born-by-cesarean-section-may-not-gain-benefits-of-vaginal-microbiome.html

ci_lantro - that is very good information about Voltaren and Volfenac. thank you. Shows you how much my doctor knows about meds, I apologize for believing him, and appreciate you correcting my ignorance. I have always had the idea that if physicians diagnose and pharmacists prescribe we'd be so much better off. Don't you? Also, I believe that pharmacists should be able to dispense supplements, herbal, alternative, and non-traditional medications based on diagnoses, and follow you as your sole pharmacist no matter where you live in the US. They have years of intensive training where I think physicians prescribe what the last pharmaceutical rep were touting. Probably callous or snide, sorry. Reading the anecdotes here it looks like y'all have been personally drilling down to what aggravates and what alleviates for you without meds. I will start looking at my diet and keep a diary of what foods help or hurt though I've never felt there was a difference. Right now the only thing I've identified is that a drop in barometric pressure makes my arthritis flare up, like the coming of a storm or a drastic drop in temperature, but not a change into dry warm weather. I also know that the more active I am the less likely that my arthritis will flare. I follow the Mayo Clinic Hand Exercises for Arthritis that totally works for me and do it pretty much mindlessly while I am reading or being bored in front of the TV, or being a passenger. After a few months of this (and continued from 5 years ago) I could really see that the progression of arthritis in my hands had lessened and years later, I think, has kept the worsening of it at bay. But, now I have it in my neck/spine bones from several head-on collisions years ago that even though chiropractic has helped, there is no exercise for those bones. Y'all have given me much to consider.