Weird Allergies and Intolerances

I hate it when I am watching a show where someone has an odd intolerance to food and other people don't believe them - and make it very clear that they don't believe them.

It can be tough to decipher between a true allergy, an illness like Coeliac Disease, and a simple disliking of food. We all have our own preferences and our own reactions to foods and smells and ingredients.
So why do we even get the urge to disprove someone?
While a person claiming a severe allergy when a food is solely something that person doesn't really like can discredit those who do have serious allergies, do we really have to always question someone's motivations?

I am super guilty of becoming quite infuriated when someone claims to have an allergy when it is only a preference. This is something I need to work on. In the past it has bothered me because it often results in discrediting my own allergies.
For example, there are coffee shops that, instead of making Decaf Coffee, they simply add a little more water to the caffeinated pot. It does not seem like a big deal, but it can create severe reactions in people who have caffeine allergies.

I think that most restaurants nowadays are prepared (or mostly prepared) to cater to a wide set of preferences and allergies. You can modify nearly any meal to your liking, so I don't understand the need to say you have an allergy when you really just don't like an ingredient. Plus, if you say you have a severe allergy, it shuts down the kitchen in many cases. They have to wipe down every surface and cook separately from everything else, sometimes even having to change out the oil and pans and everything else. For a real allergy it is not a big deal, but if it is only a preference, then cross-contamination is not something a kitchen should have to worry about.

I am lucky in a sense.
My allergies and intolerances are so specific that there is usually no question of my allergies being true allergies.
Several weeks ago we used a gift card to have a date night at a steakhouse. I had to let them know that I have severe reactions to Star Anise (and some of its cousins - like fennel).
The waitress came back laughing because people in the kitchen did not even know exactly what it was or if they even had it in the building, let alone used it in cooking. As usual, the staff began to discuss whether or not they believed the allergy was real. Of course, the consensus was that an allergy to ingredient that specific is hardly going to be a lie.
Yay!

On the other hand, telling someone I have allergic reactions to Caffeine and Chlorine goes a little differently. Most people don't understand that you can have allergies to those chemicals. Furthermore, caffeine has become such a staple in most diets that some people can't imagine ever going without it!
Chlorine is everywhere. It's in our tap water, in every single pool and hot tub, and the steam from chlorine in the shower is brutal. So how do you stay away from something that prominent?
The fact is that I don't. I try to drink bottled water as much as possible, I swim for about 30 mins at a time, maybe 3 or 4 times a year (which sucks because when I am in the water, my joint pain lessens). I also take an allergy pill every day. That way, I only get a few hives and some slight breathing issues.
Same with caffeine. Caffeine is obviously in chocolate, and I love me some chocolate. I just have to be careful with how much I have in one sitting, and I usually chase it down with an allergy pill.
I also have an intolerance to Grapefruit that can be fatal. The reason this is called an intolerance and not an allergy is because my reaction to grapefruit is due to a medication that I take. It is not an allergy from my body, exactly, but a reaction between the fruit and the medication itself. It can still be fatal, but I try not to call it an allergy. More of a contraindication.

Expressing the differences between preferences, allergies, intolerances, and even simple unpleasant reactions (like some people who gag if they see or smell fish) is an important step. An even bigger step is taking someone's word at face value and not always questioning their motivations. (This is something I will have to actively work on). The problem with the second step is that it relies on the first step - that people won't lie about why they will not eat something.