Toothpaste?

My respite did not last long as the inflammation of the eye has got progressively worse over the last two days.

My diet has continued to be pretty strict - with the exception of the Chinese takeaway the other day.

It is possible that other fruits are involved. I'm staying away from the red ones but, if it's something I'm eating, it is hard to see why the eye should suddenly flare up again without other symptoms.

What about something that goes in the mouth but not down the throat in great quantities? Something that you consume at night and first thing in the morning? When I woke up with a sore eye today - which got worse - I realised I had never even thought about toothpaste, even though I'm now starting to blame the allergy for some persistent gum disease.

A quick search of the net reveals a lot of confusion here as there are a number of groups keen to blame additives, such as fluoride, for problems. Well we have fluoride in our water - and that suggests there would have been no respite if that was the problem.

Very hard to establish what's in toothpaste. But "paste" may provide a clue. Paste used to be made from flour. A search of the ingredients of my current paste reveals a substance called 'cellulose gum'. Talkallergy.com suggests a problem if you have maize intolerance. This is a US site and if manufacturers are using corn starch from maize they are just as likely to be using it from wheat, surely.

The other disturbing thing is that I could have been aggravating my teeth problems for years by using toothpaste. I still feel sore, financially and psychologically, about that lost tooth earlier this year.

So I'll be brushing my teeth with plain (fluoridated) water for a while. I'll let you know of the results.

It is now nearly four weeks since my blood tests and no sign of any results yet.