Strange Swelling in Mouth after Drinking Tea?

My mother was not allergic to anything but seasonal hayfever type of stuff. Then she steeped a cup of ginger tisane using candied ginger from a health food store. She didn’t have a recipe or anything, just infused a whole lot of it in hot water. She had swelling, hives, numbness in her lips, etc. She went to the ER and was told it was allergies. Now she can’t even have anything with cardamom (related to ginger but not ginger) without taking an antihistamine first. And even antihistamines won’t make it okay for her to drink ginger tea. So it can happen all at once. I’m with Lynxiegirl – keep a journal and see if anything else causes the same reaction. But definitely be careful.

Whatever it is, I hope you figure it out soon. And I’m with you, I would hate to learn that I had an allergy to tea :(