Your co-worker is definately not making this up. I suffer from the exact same issue. It's called OAS (oral allergy syndrome). Because of severe environmental allergies to grass/plants/trees, whatever comes from them raw I can't eat (ie: fruits, vegetables, spices, etc.). I can tolerate eating 'some' vegetables only if they're cooked, and not a large amount. Reactions include: hives, itchy throat etc within minutes of eating something that may bother you, and even if you do ingest these certains foods your stomach can reject them causing severe pain, nausea or similar symptoms like irratable bowel syndrom. It's definately not made-up, and it's certainly not easy trying to eat 'healthy', when everything 'good for you' causes such problems. I was able to get help from a nutritionist, and I hope your co-worker can get some help too.View Thread