Breakfast menu:
one montelukast
one super-strength paracetamol
glass of warm salted water
Back to the dentist on Monday and a great deal of poking around my teeth. The dentist is convinced I've got tiny pockets of infection around the gums. All I know is that the process has left me in enormous pain.
I've now got a splitting headache on the left side of my face and back in the left eye - as I had three years ago.
This may have been aggravated by the meal I had on Monday night. We had a visit from some salespeople from Saladmaster. Their process involves chopping vegetables very finely and cooking them without water or much else in very expensive self-contained saucepans (effectively acting as miniroasters). It's all very interesting and mostly we managed to adjust their menu to meat my needs - that even included using Golden Delicious apples to garnish the chicken. It was meant to be apple sauce but did not come out tasty or even saucy.
The only problem was the potatoes. In spite of my protestations, these were sliced very finely with the skin on and then backed with a cheese topping. It was quite tasty but there was no possibility of getting the skin off. Of course, for most people it is healthy to eat the potato skin. But it does, apparently, contain quite a lot of salicylate and I probably ended up eating quite a lot of it. We didn't buy anything.
So what's aggravating what? It could be raw nerves exposed by the dental treatment, it could be a reaction to potato peel or it could be further infection of the gums caused by the finely ground vegetables getting into the teeth.
Meanwhile I keep thinking, or rather hoping, The Ring is fading away. That's one reason for taking a daily montelukast - to zap The Ring.
If the problem is with the teeth, then I'm going to solve it. There will be brushing and flossing after meals as instructed. I'll also use salted water to disinfect. And montelukast and good diet will reduce inflammation from allergy. However I'd really like to know what facial symptoms are being caused by gums and what's being caused by what they call oral allergy syndrome.
RAS
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Census of visitors
Many thanks to those who took part in the "census" of visitors to this site.
Out of 63 who filled in the poll, some 38 per cent identified themselves as salicylate sensitive. 33 per cent had other allergies and 20 per cent are food sensitive.
A whopping 34 per cent said they were still trying to find out - presumably that includes people trying to find out what exactly it is they are allergic to, just as I was two years ago.
There was a smattering of health professionals (4 per cent) and of relatives (7 per cent).
Finally, a further thanks to those who've said hello when they are passing through! It cheers us all up to know we are not alone.
RAS
Out of 63 who filled in the poll, some 38 per cent identified themselves as salicylate sensitive. 33 per cent had other allergies and 20 per cent are food sensitive.
A whopping 34 per cent said they were still trying to find out - presumably that includes people trying to find out what exactly it is they are allergic to, just as I was two years ago.
There was a smattering of health professionals (4 per cent) and of relatives (7 per cent).
Finally, a further thanks to those who've said hello when they are passing through! It cheers us all up to know we are not alone.
RAS
Saturday, July 04, 2009
The Ring Trilogy
Nearly a week after giving up penicillin the ring on my chest is still there. I am trying to work out if it is slowly fading. It's not getting worse now so I do think it might have been caused by blue cheese/penicillin.
Looking back to two weeks ago I tried E45 and said it did not seem to work. Yet two days later on June 23rd I was reporting that the ring had almost gone. I put that entirely down to giving up Stilton but, maybe, the E45 worked after all. I will try some again.
That shows the benefits of keeping a diary!
RAS
Looking back to two weeks ago I tried E45 and said it did not seem to work. Yet two days later on June 23rd I was reporting that the ring had almost gone. I put that entirely down to giving up Stilton but, maybe, the E45 worked after all. I will try some again.
That shows the benefits of keeping a diary!
RAS
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Penicillin and the dentist
This morning it looked as if the "ring" was fading. The redness round the edges had gone and it looked as though the skin might heal.
I wondered why it had suddenly healed. Perhaps it was the swine flu virus or the effect of fighting an infection in the teeth.
The best guess is that it was caused by blue cheese, as I ran out of Stilton in the middle of last week and had been eating it almost daily up to then. I had followed through the links on the subject, erythema annulare centrifugum and found a very detailed text book page. This would appear to summarise all the reports on this problem and there would appear to be limited links with salilcylate allergy or montelukast. There is however an established link with blue cheese. The site states that blue cheese causes a problem because of the fungus Penicillium. And a list of the drugs that causes the problem includes salicylates and penicillin.
Today, by coincidence, I finally went to the dentist. A series of sharp pains last week ended up in a dull ache in my lower back jaw. I used warm salty water and this seemed to clear the inflammation of the gums but it failed to remove the dull ache.Wisdom tooth, I thought.
My National Health Service dentist has gone private - so the bill for the day was not small. The dentist x-rayed me, removed a wisdom tooth from my upper jaw and gave me a deep clean. The pain, she blamed on food trapped in the gums causing an infection. She then gave me a prescription of antibiotics. I couldn't say I was allergic to penicillin. The thought had hardly crossed my mind - so I told her penicillin was okay.
The dentist, by the way, accepted I could not find a safe toothpaste or mouthwash. Otherwise, I think, she would have tried to treat the infection with mouthwash.
I also got my fresh prescription of montelukast. It's been that kind of day.
Tonight the ring is again inflamed. I think I'll have to put up with it for three days and hope it does not spread any more. If it does we'll have to add penicillin to everything else. And do without blue cheese, groan.
RAS
I wondered why it had suddenly healed. Perhaps it was the swine flu virus or the effect of fighting an infection in the teeth.
The best guess is that it was caused by blue cheese, as I ran out of Stilton in the middle of last week and had been eating it almost daily up to then. I had followed through the links on the subject, erythema annulare centrifugum and found a very detailed text book page. This would appear to summarise all the reports on this problem and there would appear to be limited links with salilcylate allergy or montelukast. There is however an established link with blue cheese. The site states that blue cheese causes a problem because of the fungus Penicillium. And a list of the drugs that causes the problem includes salicylates and penicillin.
Today, by coincidence, I finally went to the dentist. A series of sharp pains last week ended up in a dull ache in my lower back jaw. I used warm salty water and this seemed to clear the inflammation of the gums but it failed to remove the dull ache.Wisdom tooth, I thought.
My National Health Service dentist has gone private - so the bill for the day was not small. The dentist x-rayed me, removed a wisdom tooth from my upper jaw and gave me a deep clean. The pain, she blamed on food trapped in the gums causing an infection. She then gave me a prescription of antibiotics. I couldn't say I was allergic to penicillin. The thought had hardly crossed my mind - so I told her penicillin was okay.
The dentist, by the way, accepted I could not find a safe toothpaste or mouthwash. Otherwise, I think, she would have tried to treat the infection with mouthwash.
I also got my fresh prescription of montelukast. It's been that kind of day.
Tonight the ring is again inflamed. I think I'll have to put up with it for three days and hope it does not spread any more. If it does we'll have to add penicillin to everything else. And do without blue cheese, groan.
RAS
Sunday, June 21, 2009
E45
My partner's been urging me to try E45 cream for a while now. So yesterday I did. I checked the ingredients first. It seems to contain palm oil, which would not be very good. However the ring on my chest was starting to tickle a little so I thought it worth a try. I went a little over the top and smeared it on the ring and also on the insides of my elbows. The immediate results were not promising - everything went red. The tickle's gone today but the ring remains inflamed. So I don't think E45 is sensible. We have another skin cream I am going to try - again the ingredients seem innocent but they also seem to be not as detailed as I would lack.
Looking back I'm reminded I cut back on montelukast because the ring, erythrema centrifugum, might be caused by a side-effect of drugs or by blue cheese. It didn't make any difference - all that seems to have happened is I've lost a sachet of pills so far as I can tell. Or else I'd used more than I thought since April. So I've had to order some more.
I'm now abstaining from stilton cheese in the faint hope that it might be the cause of the ring, rather than salicylate. Not much hope there and I'm worried it may be sprouting a second one. Uugh! I may even have to go to the doctor. Perhaps some sun-bathing would do the trick. My arms have been a great deal better since they got a dose of sunshine.
RAS
Looking back I'm reminded I cut back on montelukast because the ring, erythrema centrifugum, might be caused by a side-effect of drugs or by blue cheese. It didn't make any difference - all that seems to have happened is I've lost a sachet of pills so far as I can tell. Or else I'd used more than I thought since April. So I've had to order some more.
I'm now abstaining from stilton cheese in the faint hope that it might be the cause of the ring, rather than salicylate. Not much hope there and I'm worried it may be sprouting a second one. Uugh! I may even have to go to the doctor. Perhaps some sun-bathing would do the trick. My arms have been a great deal better since they got a dose of sunshine.
RAS
Monday, June 15, 2009
The sun shines!
One factor I forgot to mention in my recent troubles - the sun. Perhaps because there has not been a great deal of it during the British summer in recent years.
Two weeks ago we went for a picnic on a blistering hot Sunday. In desperation I borrowed some sun tan lotion off someone. It's hardly any wonder I had trouble with my skin for the last couple of weeks and that the trouble has been mainly on the arms and the face.
Last summer or the summer before I went to quite a lot of trouble to find hypo-allergenic sun tan lotion. I can't find any record of it on this blog and in the end I did not have to use the stuff very much. But over the weekend I found some of this lotion in the house "for sensitive skin". I used it yesterday when I was outside all day and the sun was shining blistering hot again in between cloudy intervals. When I first put it on my skin went all red. I didn't apply it to my inner elbows and they got burnt by the sun. I applied it to my face and that was still quite burnt.
There doesn't seem to have been any longer run effects. I had a cold bath at the end of the day and my arms do not seem too bad. I need to check the ingredients of the stuff I am using.
RAS
Two weeks ago we went for a picnic on a blistering hot Sunday. In desperation I borrowed some sun tan lotion off someone. It's hardly any wonder I had trouble with my skin for the last couple of weeks and that the trouble has been mainly on the arms and the face.
Last summer or the summer before I went to quite a lot of trouble to find hypo-allergenic sun tan lotion. I can't find any record of it on this blog and in the end I did not have to use the stuff very much. But over the weekend I found some of this lotion in the house "for sensitive skin". I used it yesterday when I was outside all day and the sun was shining blistering hot again in between cloudy intervals. When I first put it on my skin went all red. I didn't apply it to my inner elbows and they got burnt by the sun. I applied it to my face and that was still quite burnt.
There doesn't seem to have been any longer run effects. I had a cold bath at the end of the day and my arms do not seem too bad. I need to check the ingredients of the stuff I am using.
RAS
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Swine flu?
I have been wondering if I'm suffering from a dose of swine flu as it is around in our neighbourhood. I have been feeling dreadful all week.
Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe I drank too much Jack Daniels over the weekend. My experience over the winter was that the flu virus - if it was that - suppressed the immune system, led to other symptoms disappearing and allowed me much greater flexibility in my diet.
As of tonight, my arms look as though they're suffering from chicken pox. There have been a couple of breaches in the diet in the last few days but I have also been taking montelukast daily. Yesterday in desperation I took an anti-histamine and that may explain why I've been feeling groggy for the last 24 hours.
Leaving aside the whisky, I think it started on Sunday when we discovered we had run out of soy sauce. I was persuaded to try a cheap commercial chicken stock on the grounds the ingredients did not display any obvious salicylates, no herbs or anything.
Gravy was the problem a couple of days later when I went to a function. I asked if they could produce me a meal without sauces, herbs or spices. First the waitress told me they would have to cook it specially but a few moments later she returned with a slab of plain chicken, which they just happened to have prepared. Unfortunately it was soaked in gravy. I didn't have the heart to send it back.
RAS
Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe I drank too much Jack Daniels over the weekend. My experience over the winter was that the flu virus - if it was that - suppressed the immune system, led to other symptoms disappearing and allowed me much greater flexibility in my diet.
As of tonight, my arms look as though they're suffering from chicken pox. There have been a couple of breaches in the diet in the last few days but I have also been taking montelukast daily. Yesterday in desperation I took an anti-histamine and that may explain why I've been feeling groggy for the last 24 hours.
Leaving aside the whisky, I think it started on Sunday when we discovered we had run out of soy sauce. I was persuaded to try a cheap commercial chicken stock on the grounds the ingredients did not display any obvious salicylates, no herbs or anything.
Gravy was the problem a couple of days later when I went to a function. I asked if they could produce me a meal without sauces, herbs or spices. First the waitress told me they would have to cook it specially but a few moments later she returned with a slab of plain chicken, which they just happened to have prepared. Unfortunately it was soaked in gravy. I didn't have the heart to send it back.
RAS
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Apple sauce
Tonight we began cooking pasta and then I realised there were no fresh green vegetables, cabbage, leek or celery, to make my sauce.
So I chopped up a golden delicious apple and stir fried it. I then added a tin of tuna. The tuna was in sunflower oil, which was unfortunate, so I had to drain the oil off so far as possible. My first tasting seemed a little disappointing so I added a little soy sauce and then some more rape seed oil. Nothing else.
It was delicious - by far the best tuna sauce I have made.
RAS
So I chopped up a golden delicious apple and stir fried it. I then added a tin of tuna. The tuna was in sunflower oil, which was unfortunate, so I had to drain the oil off so far as possible. My first tasting seemed a little disappointing so I added a little soy sauce and then some more rape seed oil. Nothing else.
It was delicious - by far the best tuna sauce I have made.
RAS
Sunday, May 31, 2009
News on the omega syndrome
Well the salt mouth-wash worked, even though I forgot to take further doses. My gums cleared up and there has been no more pain.
This bit of news popped up tonight. The scientists involved seem to be arguing that western diet has switched to an unhealthy balance of omega 6 and omega 3 oils in the last century. So we may not be alone in needing to increase omega 3 consumption. There's not necessarily much new here - it's been known for a while that fish oil improves heart health.
It all serves to reinforce what I discovered originally about the omega syndrome. It's just odd that not many people seem to know about it.
RAS
This bit of news popped up tonight. The scientists involved seem to be arguing that western diet has switched to an unhealthy balance of omega 6 and omega 3 oils in the last century. So we may not be alone in needing to increase omega 3 consumption. There's not necessarily much new here - it's been known for a while that fish oil improves heart health.
It all serves to reinforce what I discovered originally about the omega syndrome. It's just odd that not many people seem to know about it.
RAS
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wisdom teeth and more
It's been the wisdom teeth on the right side of my jaw causing all the problems over the last week. And as always I'm not sure whether it's worth spending time and money on a dentist or not.
The saga began, I suspect, at a function I attended last week. Champagne and wine were being served in abundance and I could not resist a sip of both. A couple of days later I noticed a twinge in my lower right jaw. This became an ache, and then an agonising ache waking me up at night - so I took some paracetamol and that seemed to calm it down.
I should be so lucky. Over the weekend the upper back jaw flared up and became tender. That seemed to confirm the problem started as an allergic reaction rather than a decaying wisdom tooth.
Sensitive souls don't read on.
Last night as I was brushing my teeth I thought I felt some meat stuck in the tooth at the back - so I gave it a big scrub. Next thing I knew blood was gushing out of my mouth. You probably shouldn't go to sleep with that amount of blood running around your mouth. But I did and woke up alive and ok today. My guess is that the latest problem was an ulcer; I'd forgotten about mouth ulcers and how big a problem they were before I got this under control.
Today I thought it was fine - but eating a meal I realised my right jaw is still very sensitive. So I finally did what I should have done a week ago and washed my mouth out with warm, salted water. There'll be another course of that treatment today.
So it looks as if it was gum inflammation all along. Perhaps there's been an infection too. Somebody said you might as well have your wisdom teeth out in any case to prevent these kind of problems. I really do not want to as it will be an incredibly expensive procedure.
RAS
The saga began, I suspect, at a function I attended last week. Champagne and wine were being served in abundance and I could not resist a sip of both. A couple of days later I noticed a twinge in my lower right jaw. This became an ache, and then an agonising ache waking me up at night - so I took some paracetamol and that seemed to calm it down.
I should be so lucky. Over the weekend the upper back jaw flared up and became tender. That seemed to confirm the problem started as an allergic reaction rather than a decaying wisdom tooth.
Sensitive souls don't read on.
Last night as I was brushing my teeth I thought I felt some meat stuck in the tooth at the back - so I gave it a big scrub. Next thing I knew blood was gushing out of my mouth. You probably shouldn't go to sleep with that amount of blood running around your mouth. But I did and woke up alive and ok today. My guess is that the latest problem was an ulcer; I'd forgotten about mouth ulcers and how big a problem they were before I got this under control.
Today I thought it was fine - but eating a meal I realised my right jaw is still very sensitive. So I finally did what I should have done a week ago and washed my mouth out with warm, salted water. There'll be another course of that treatment today.
So it looks as if it was gum inflammation all along. Perhaps there's been an infection too. Somebody said you might as well have your wisdom teeth out in any case to prevent these kind of problems. I really do not want to as it will be an incredibly expensive procedure.
RAS
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