Coping with Mint allergy/sensitivity

[tmh359]

Am I the only one who reacts badly to anything mint?  Cause I'm sure feeling lonely...

It wouldn't be so bad, except... Mint is EVERYWHERE!   I have to order expensive toothpaste because the normal stuff stings like crazy and makes me nauseous.  Cherry tastes like medicine.  And I can only tollerate cinnamon in very small doses (like what's mixed in the sugar for cinnamon toast small).  I have yet to discover a brand of mouthwash that does not contain mint in some form or other - or else the cinnamon kind makes first burns then makes my mouth go numb.  Ditto for breath mint alternatives.  (I can't even handle a Tic-Tac in my mouth for more than a few seconds, much less chew on it or swallow it.)

Face clensers with menthol stung, and also left my face feeling greasy.  But not in the haven't washed my face often enough way.

I don't know how much money I've wasted on cough drops/throat lozenges, chapstick, lotions, etc, only to discover after application that, you got, there is mint of some sort in it.  

And sadly, avoidance seems to have only made reactions worse.  Just the smell of other people's mints (breath mints, candy mints, peppermint sticks) makes me feel ill.  And the first time I consumed any in eight years, it was an accident, had half of a mint Brussells cookie, and a stomach ache for a good twenty minutes.

Anyone else here that *look* when you tell others you and mint don't get along?  Care to share your symptoms?  Your coping/mint alternatives?  

Tiffany

[SleepyWicked]

I hope people find this helpfull but I actually contacted multiple toothpaste companies asking for toothpaste that does not contain mint/menthol. so far the ONLY company to offer adult toothpaste that has no mint and I found not to be sickly sweet is Tom's of Maine. Specifically their fennel flavored toothpaste is very pleasent and is completely mint-free. But I will copy and paste here all of the options that they offer that contain absolutely no mint. Here is what they wrote:
"Thanks for your email! We do have a number of mint-free options.
Toothpastes with fluoride:
Whole Care Cinnamon Clove
Children's Silly Strawberry
Children's Outrageous Orange Mango
Toothpastes without fluoride:
Propolis & Myrrh Fennel
Antiplaque and Whitening Fennel
Children's Silly Strawberry"
Good luck on mouthwash because I haven't found any yet.
I actually am on the far side of the allergy where even breathing in a higher concentration of mint makes my throat close up and I can't breath. I have allergic asthma due to mint allergies basically. Ingesting sends me to anaphylactic shock, coming in contact with gives me bad burn-like rashes on my skin and breathing in high enough concentrations gives me asthma attacks, stuffy nose, coughing fits and swells my throat. In fact if someone chews a fresh stick of mint gum near me it can trigger any of my symptoms and so if some stranger on a subway is chewing gum I ask them to stop. I get these looks like: "What gives you the right to ask this of me you spoiled brat" and it makes me feel like a horrible person. But once I got unlucky and got on a subway car where it was a lot of people chewing gum and this one person actually sharing with her friends. It took 5 minutes to get to the next stop but by then I passed out and stopped breathing. I woke up in a hospital later :( Honestly not being able to breath is the scariest feeling in the world. So now I would rather be seen as a bad spoiled person than risk dying.

[StaticEcho]

My girlfriend is allergic to mints... Her throat closes up. I'm not sure what the cause is but I came here looking for an answer... It seems that, even in 7+ years, no one really knows whats wrong and why it happens... She was 7 when she found out about her allergy, it almost killed her. and now 11 years later she cant even touch the tip of her tongue to a mint without it numbing that part of her tongue. However, mint toothpaste and mouthwash dont bother her, but thats probably because she doesn't swallow those things.

[dinahtaz]

Why is the mint allergy so harsh? I have other allergies but mint is everywhere and at Christmas that smell I can react over a block away.

[pasta_lord]

hi, i actually have the same problem. allergy to anything that smells like mint, and it makes my lungs and throat burn like crazy, sometimes it makes me nauseas, dizzy, sick, or outright unable to breath.
when friends come over chewing mint gum and bring it into my closed space of a house i have to make them throw it outside in the trash.  (and it's not like i don't tell them every single time.  most of my friends just brush off my allergy,

but the friends that have seen me literally cry while i brush my teeth with mint toothpaste, and literally almost choke to death, they treat my allergy with caution because they've seen just how much it interrupts with my daily life. but i have gingivitis, so i don't get a lot of choice of toothpaste.
even non-mint toothpastes, they make it so hard to breath it almost hurts to the point of tears, but i'm not gonna stop brushing my teeth.  
i have an allergy to all of the lamiaceae family as far as i know. this allergy is
i know i'm allergic to mint, sage, lavender, nettle, chia seeds, & cinnamon (when in large amounts)..  
but mint, menthol, and peppermint, spearmint, fresh mint, etc. they're practically a poison for me. one time i tried a face lotion with mint, and i checked, on the label, no mint. on the site for the product? the ingredients list was longer. with mint in it.

another time, someone at school had smelly feet and put mint oil in their shoes to cover i. i almost blacked out from lack of oxygen because my throat was swelling up so much, because it took me a few minutes to notice the smell of mint because they were more than 10 feet across the room.  the school nurse wanted to send me to the hospital.  escalated heart rate, shallow breathing, nausea, dizziness, swollen throat.
after calling both my parents, my doctor, and giving me some generic allergy meds, she eventually let me go to my next class, and I ALWAYS FEEL BAD ABOUT MY ALLERGY. she got her sandals confiscated by the school (they gave her some flipflops to use till school was over).

medically the lamiaceae family is considered an 'herb family' so when they say "natural flavors" or "natural ingredients" they don't have to say on toothpaste if it's got mint because technically you're not "ingesting it" because they have the excuse that you're "Brushing your teeth with it, not eating it" they use it because it's so overpowering off every other flavor.

so many people seem to enjoy mint it makes me feel bad for having to ask them to get rid of it. it makes me feel like i'm a spoiled king that no one likes what they demant. :(

[calbuz]

I have a mint allergy too.But its weird.My throat burns,my stomach burns and I vomit.I wish some people would think about us mint allergy people!

[RomanCatholic]

I have a contact allergy to mint. Earth Paste is what I use. There are both mint and non-mint varieties. I use the cinnamon flavor, yummy. Also, I use a home mixture of organic coconut oil ond baking soda. It tastes a little weird but works very well; it cleans and whitens my teeth. I hope this was helpful. Watch out for unnamed "flavoring" or "perfumes"! Many products have mint in them in disguise; I have found out the hard way several times.

[abbycs]

Wow, this is so great to hear I'm not the only one with this reaction!! My family pretty much thinks I'm making it up, which is unfortunate... My whole family are big gum chewers and it's hard to go on car trips with them where the air just keeps getting mintier and I start having trouble breathing and feeling sick.  I use tom's of Maine silly strawberry flavor toothpaste, which is for kids but tastes great. I recommend it especially if you don't like the cinnamon flavor. It's only a little more expensive than regular mint, I think it's worth it.