Mushrooms

Tonight we had cuiche made with cheese, spinach and mushrooms. Mushrooms can vary enormously in salicylate level, so my dietician told me, and it all depends where they are grown.

I've tended to assume that commercial mushrooms will be grown in compost - which is likely to be rich in salicylate. Farm grown mushrooms, on the other hand, will grow in grass and animal manure and tend to be okay.

Well I continued to chance it, despite my experience over the weekend. I ate the cuiche and my throat swelled, my lips tingled and now I'm sitting here feeling as if I'm about to get a cold. It's not a cold of course, it's more like hay fever or what they call non-allergenic rhinitis.

Interesting the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has just released a report showing that most people put up with summer colds without realising they are probably hay fever. That used to happen to me except it probably was not hay fever, it was salicylate hypersensitivity.

Just when you think...

I really thought I was getting this under control. I've massively increased the amount of fish in my diet and I'm taking montelukast quite regularly after getting a repeated prescription from the GP. That means I can simply email the practice to get my next prescription note - although I have to go for an appointment in August to ensure there are no side-effects.

I've even once or twice created fish and tomato pasta sauces at home. So that's tomato back in the diet for the first time in nearly two years. Delicious!

Then last night the family brought home some Chinese spare ribs from the supermarket. I've avoided them up to now because I have no idea what the sweet sauce they are coated with is made from. But I thought I would chance it. Delicious!

Today for pudding we had a chocolate gateau and a raspberry pavlova. The gateau went and everyone was having second helpings from the pavlova. So I got a clean knife and cut away some of the meringue bit. There was just a smidgeon of raspberry on it. Not bad!

Now I'm sitting here with a desperately uncomfortable sore throat and a tingling tongue. Maybe it's a cold coming but more likely it's back to square one, I'm afraid.