tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335046172024-03-13T18:47:21.251+00:00Diary of a reluctant allergy suffererHow the British National Health Service deals with allergyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger334125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-848300090011622362020-09-07T22:16:00.002+00:002020-09-07T22:29:11.415+00:00Did Montelukast save my life?<div>Back in March I had the virus (COVID-19) but not in the same way as other people. I spent a scary night aching all over like the flu. My partner and I both had dry coughs and what is left of my sense of smell was eliminated. Later as I recovered I notice that much of my food tasted strange and sweet things were obnoxious. There was no fever.</div><div><br /></div><div>There was rudimentary diagnosis from the NHS 111 service - and so we self-isolated - but this was never recorded anywhere. We think we got it from someone on the London Underground.</div><div><br /></div><div>At the time loss of smell and taste was not recognised as a symptom and it was thought the disease behaved much like flu. Now doctors and scientists think differently.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it happened I had taken Montelukast several times in the previous days as I had been to a number of functions and meals. And spring was starting up.</div><div><br /></div><div>Could Montelukast have saved my life? It is now known that one of the ways the disease causes its damage is through an over-reaction of the immune system, of the white blood cells. Montelukast suppresses part of the immune system, the leukotrienes, a kind of white blood cells.</div><div><br /></div><div>This study, <a href="http://www.englemed.co.uk/20/20aug101_covid19_eosinophils_link.php">http://www.englemed.co.uk/20/20aug101_covid19_eosinophils_link.php</a>, found that eosinophils, the precursor of leukotrienes, are the main source of immune system over-reaction in COVID-19 infection.</div><div><br /></div><div>So did Montelukast save my life? That night I went to bed wondering whether I would wake up in intensive care. As I say the symptoms were unusual - no fever and the aching all over - but they were unpleasant and frightening.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have also read that people with asthma have proved surprisingly resilient against the virus - they have not faced the high death rate experienced by others who were believed to be at risk. Steroids, which also form the basis of asthma treatment, have now been proven to be an effective treatment against the virus. Could Montelukast be a useful preventative treatment for some of us?</div><div><br /></div><div>Six months later I count myself as among those who have not fully recovered from infection. I have experienced a strange congested feeling ever since. In the spring and summer I put it down to hay fever and took more Montelukast. However I don't like taking it in the winter as since it is an immune suppressant and I get concerned it could make me vulnerable to flu. I have just had a screening blood test ordered by the GP and the one measure that is out of sorts is my white blood cell level - it is low. I might have taken Montelukast a few days beforehand. I cannot remember as it never occurred to me it might be a problem. It could be a legacy of COVID-19 infection. I wonder if the GP will know?</div><div><br /></div><div>Indeed earlier this year I went down with flu in spite of having the flu vaccine (so it is very unlikely that my episode in March was another bout of flu). I was let down, I think, by my unstable immune system. The choice of whether to take Montelukast during the winter is now even harder.</div><div><br /></div>RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-26252862824044495102015-01-21T14:10:00.000+00:002015-01-21T14:10:22.677+00:00Bolognese sauce We've just got a juicer - or rather the other half has. It's supposed to aid weight loss as you are meant to chew up all sorts of vegetable matter in it to make juice.<br />
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It's certainly high-powered and cleverly designed. It has twin blades and seems to be able to chew up anything into a gritty sort of juice. Unfortunately some of the fresh vegetables you can juice leave a rather bitter taste. That may well aid weight loss as it's a real appetite killer.<br />
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So it occurred to me I could use it to make a proper Bolognese sauce to go with my pasta. That is a sauce that feels like it's been made with tomatoes.<br />
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If you remember the story of my pasta sauce, I started by trying to make it like Bolognese. I chopped a range of vegetables - mainly red cabbage and leek - as finely as possible, sometimes adding Golden Delicious apple or banana for a sweet and sour effect.<br />
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To do this you have to fry the vegetables before the fish or separately from the mince.<br />
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So I've ended up with a delicious pasta sauce containing a variety of vegetable, fruit and fish together with soy sauce. It is delicious but some complain it's a little salty. And it's not Bolognese as the vegetables and fruit are stir fried and not pulped.<br />
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So for my first effort with the juicer I didn't use a base oil. I juiced red cabbage, leek, shallot and white cabbage and banana, put it in the pan and added soy sauce and tuna. It was disgusting and there was too much of it. The juicing of vegetables leaves a very bitter and unpalatable taste.<br />
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I tried again and this time I fried some sardines first and added the soy sauce first. Then I added the vegetable juice. That tasted a lot better and looked like Bolognese sauce also.<br />
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It's still nothing like a substitute sauce yet and I could not serve it to guests and pretend it was Bolognese. Next time I will try apple instead of banana.<br />
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That's if there is a next time as this really is not as tasty as what I was doing before with stir fry.<br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-83055182417317913742015-01-12T16:47:00.000+00:002015-01-12T16:47:45.280+00:00Sake Somebody introduced a bottle of Sake into the house as a Christmas present - that's what's often called Japanese rice-wine.<br />
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It's never appeared on any lists so I thought I would check out the ingredients. It's fermented rice - so basically rice except that a special yeast is used for fermentation.<br />
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There's nothing wrong with rice - no salicylate in it, nothing green, red or orange. What could possibly go wrong?<br />
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Here was a chance to widen my range of alcoholic beverages, I thought. Currently it's just whisky, gin and vodka that's "allowed" and of the three I only drink whisky as it's the only one with any kind of taste. I'm never sure about it because it does pick up chemicals when it's stored in wooden barrels - hickory barrels in the case of Bourbon I believe.<br />
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So I tried a small glass of sake. Wikipedia advises that it is not really a wine and is a little stronger. Tastewise, it's like a dry sherry. Terrific, I thought. We could keep a bottle of Sake in the sherry cupboard (if we had a sherry cupboard, that is). The taste is not massively appetising - it's no substitute for red wine or a good Chardonnay. That's so far as I can remember as I have - with a few exceptions - only ever sniffed any wine for the last eight years.<br />
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That was yesterday. Today I'm not so sure. It seemed to have quite a kick. Maybe get some in for next Christmas.<br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-86015652454703738812014-10-01T22:03:00.000+00:002014-10-01T22:03:18.652+00:00World Urticaria Day Today has been World Urticaria Day. There's a lot of world days, weeks and months out there - but this one is welcome. It used to be called "hives", which makes it sound like something that people were familiar with. Now people don't talk about it very much - so it needed a bit of publicity.<br />
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My worst experience was when I suffered the kind that you get from fleas. But if you're anything like me you won't have great skin.<br />
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More details of the day here: <br />
<a href="http://www.englemed.co.uk/14/14oct013_world_urticaria_day.php">http://www.englemed.co.uk/14/14oct013_world_urticaria_day.php</a><br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-50578355956720767952014-01-26T19:11:00.001+00:002014-01-26T21:56:51.159+00:00Coleslaw indigestion I've eaten coleslaw for quite some time and have eaten supermarket coleslaw provided it doesn't advertise itself as containing onions.<br />
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After all it is basically cabbage and carrot and both are ok so far as I'm concerned. It can be made with mayonnaise and cream. Mayonnaise is a bit iffy, as it is usually vinegar and egg. Egg is fine of course, if not better than fine. Vinegar is not - but I assume the quantities are so low it can't cause harm.<br />
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So it's better home-made with the ingredients controlled. Some commercial coleslaw contains onion, which I never eat unless its shallott. Theoretically onion should not cause too much harm because the lists all say its low in salicylate - but not entirely free of it.<br />
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About a week ago we had a meal of supermarket coleslaw and supermarket cooked chicken, which was meant to be plain chicken.<br />
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That night I had such severe indigestion I nearly dialled 111. That's the National Health Service non-emergency out of hours number. I was advised to call it by one of those questionnaires you fill in for NHS Choices, the questionnaire it flashes up if you say you have pains in your chest. Yes, you can imagine they take no chances.<br />
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Yes this was real indigestion, under the rib cage, not in the bowels, crippling pain, rising up the right side of the rib cage. No question of it being a heart attack but I'd worry about problems like stomach ulcer.<br />
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Anyway it lasted no longer than 12 hours. I went for a swim the next day and that seemed to burn it off.<br />
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Today we had the same coleslaw with our meal. It is branded as being cabbage and carrot coleslaw. I don't see why they should add onion as I would have thought it would simply make it more expensive to prepare. And, yes, now I have stomach pains coming and going, just as I write. Not as severe as last time, I hope, but the night is young.<br />
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It's not even obvious why indigestion of this kind should be caused by salicylate - except that we know that salicylate causes a reaction in whatever tissue it comes into contact with. Could that cause ulcer? <br />
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And I come back to the issue that it may not even be salicylate. A doctor friend of mine once suggested that other syndromes, specifically sulphite (sulfite), might cause similar reactions. I'm not even fully convinced that there isn't some gluten intolerance. Remember I originally thought it was a wheat allergy and abstained from wheat products for six months until tests proved it was not.<br />
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Ah well, I'm going to have to break the news I can't eat coleslaw.<br />
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* I've now checked the small print ingredients and it does contain onion together with white wine vinegar. <br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-9379924533658063802013-12-24T19:38:00.002+00:002013-12-24T19:38:55.280+00:00Season's Greetings! And if you're celebrating Christmas I hope you get turkey stuffed with leek and shallot and basted in soy sauce, served with rich red cabbage and peas. For pudding may you have Christmas pud made from chopped Golden Delicious and peeled pear. Failing that, may someone who loves you rustle up a trifle made from chocolate log roll, custard and whisky whipped into a rich, pure cream. All this followed by a platter of Brie, Camembert and other cheeses untainted by herbs or fruit. And may your Christmas presents, if you are of age, include the best whisky, including a savoury Jura or Jack Daniels to enrich your lunch. If you are under age, I wish you a great many chocolate bars, none of them with nuts or fruit and not so dark chocolate you feel the caffeine content. Happy Christmas!<br />
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RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-62490483980661828812013-05-10T22:55:00.000+00:002013-05-10T22:55:02.773+00:00Peppers and tomatoes I've got a feeling <a href="http://www.englemed.co.uk/13/13may101_parkinsons_nicotine.php">this piece of research</a> into Parkinson's and tomatoes and peppers may miss the point.<br />
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Let me declare an interest - a close relative has just died from Parkinson's; and then a second interest, a very personal one. There has been evidence in the past linking Parkinson's to a history of allergic conditions. I'm a little worried.<br />
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The researchers here set out to show that tomatoes and peppers help to "protect" against Parkinson's. Their thesis is that these two fruits contain nicotine - which is thought to protect against Parkinson's. So they find that people who get Parkinson's don't eat many tomatoes and peppers.<br />
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As it happens my relative did not eat many tomatoes. Neither do I, nor many peppers - because I am allergic to them. My relative never had an allergy diagnosed - but he did not like tomatoes and I watched once when he ate one. Shortly after he reached for his hanky as his nose began running. Yes, I am concerned we may share genes.<br />
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This piece of research may be what's known as a failure of causation. It may well be that tomatoes and peppers do not "protect" against Parkinson's but help cause it - but because they cause it through allergic reactions, susceptible people actively avoid them, thereby eating less of the substance. Or it may be a bit of both.<br />
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What continues to be frustrating is the way a whole range of medical research simply fails to display joined up thinking. There are some people who recognise that allergic syndromes cause general inflammation - but they are few and far between. I know there are some in medicine who recognise that super-specialisation is the wrong way forward - it means that researchers and doctors simply fail to make connections. <br />
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RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-63036773068836143182013-04-17T21:53:00.004+00:002013-04-17T21:53:54.724+00:00Euro-pollen map A Euro-pollen map from the University of Vienna could eventually be helpful if you are travelling the continent over the next few months. However you may need to use a translator as it is in German.<br />
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There is an app available at <a href="http://www.polleninfo.org/">www.polleninfo.org</a> covering several countries. <br />
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Details at <a href="http://www.meduniwien.ac.at/homepage/news-und-topstories/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=3354&cHash=ab4e3683aa">http://www.meduniwien.ac.at/homepage/news-und-topstories/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=3354&cHash=ab4e3683aa</a><br />
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RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-1398242291176122122013-04-07T20:29:00.000+00:002013-04-07T20:29:14.334+00:00World Allergy Week There's been no need to keep ice on the go in the fridge as our tap water has come through at freezing temperatures for the last two months.<br />
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Meanwhile here is news of World Allergy Week, starting tomorrow. It's all about food allergies so it will be interesting to see if anyone discusses salicylate.<br />
<br /><i>Milwaukee, WI. The World Allergy Organization (WAO) will host its annual World Allergy Week from 8-14 April, 2013, together with its 93 national Member Societies, to address the topic of “Food Allergy – A Rising Global Health Problem,” and its growing burden on children.<br /><br />Globally, 220-250 million people may suffer from food allergy [1], and the occurrence of food allergies continues to rise in both developed and developing countries, especially in children. This year WAO plans to highlight the need for greater awareness and understanding of food allergy as well as the exchange of ideas and collaboration in order to address a variety of safety and quality-of-life issues related to the care of patients with food sensitivity. Activities will include international teleconferences with experts presenting information about global food allergy concerns and answering questions immediately afterward.<br /><br />According to Professor Ruby Pawankar, President of the World Allergy Organization, “There are problems that need to be addressed in many countries throughout the world such as the lack of awareness of food allergies, lack of standardized national anaphylaxis action plans for food allergy, limited or no access to adrenaline autoinjectors, and the lack of food labeling laws. Moreover, some countries have standardized action plans but no ready access to autoinjectors; others have autoinjectors but no standardized action plans. These circumstances can be improved with the distribution of information and resources for physicians, patients, parents, schools, health ministries, and throughout communities and by a call to action to <br />policy makers.”<br /><br />“As in previous years, many of the national Member Societies of WAO will organize local events and programs around food allergy issues that specifically affect their communities,” said Professor Motohiro Ebisawa, WAO Board of Director and Chair of the Communications Council. WAO is providing information about food allergy online at www.worldallergyweek.org and will track activities of its Member Societies. “Everyone with an interest in food allergy can participate by contacting their national allergy societies and food allergy advocacy groups,” said Professor Ebisawa. A list of organizations is also available on the website.<br />______<br />[1] Fiocchi A, Sampson HA et al. “Food Allergy”, Section 2.5 in WAO White Book on Allergy, Editors: R Pawankar, GW Canonica, ST Holgate, RF <br />Lockey (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: World Allergy Organization, 2011), pp 47-53.<br /><br />About the World Allergy Organization<br />The World Allergy Organization (WAO) is an international alliance of 93 regional and national allergy, asthma and immunology societies. Through <br />collaboration with its Member Societies WAO provides a wide range of educational and outreach programs, symposia and lectureships to allergists <br />and clinical immunologists around the world and conducts initiatives related to clinical practice, service provision, and physical training in order to <br />better understand and address the challenges facing allergy and immunology professionals worldwide. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.worldallergy.org./">www.worldallergy.org.</a></i><br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-69160389418836801692013-01-17T17:20:00.002+00:002013-01-17T17:20:28.166+00:00Ice! Three, small, fillings at the dentist today - the first I've had for a long time.<br />
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That's not bad considering I haven't <a href="http://allergy-diary.blogspot.com/2006/10/toothpaste-free.html">used toothpaste</a> for six years. But three fillings in one day is too many and expensive also.<br />
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So I've resolved to do better.This will be my belated New Year resolution. I had a think about things and realised I'm not drinking as much water as before. I used to alternate it with my half-pints of decaf coffee and I've stopped doing it. I just drink decaf by the pint.<br />
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So even though I was eating a lot of cheap chocolate the water, which is fluoridated here, must have swilled my mouth out.<br />
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And here's how I'm going to make this happen. We are going to keep the freezer stocked with ice cubes, just like we do on holiday. This will have another great spin-off. For while instant decaf does nothing to keep me awake when I'm working, iced water surely will. <br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-71951365334064153332013-01-16T12:48:00.000+00:002013-01-16T13:04:20.627+00:00Kill or cure!Sometimes silence here simply means I haven't got a clue what the h... is happening.<br />
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So I thought I shook off my cold in December by drinking redbush tea. And I kept to my resolution not to drink wine over Christmas. Quite a lot of whisky was consumed.<br />
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And then I came out of Christmas with a chronic stuffy nose. I thought maybe I had overdone the redbush tea and small things seemed to be causing reactions. For instance at the weekend I had nachos at the cinema but I did have them with cheese sauce. That definitely made my throat a little sore.<br />
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Now I am not so convinced. I woke up the other day and my left wrist was sore. In fact today my throat is sore on the left side and so is my eye and my leg is starting to feel sore. I am feeling hard done by because it is exactly why I didn't touch wine over Christmas to avoid these sort of symptoms.<br />
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Nevertheless I am beginning to think the problem is a lingering virus, maybe even .... flu. In fact I am feeling quite run down. This may be aggravated by the British freeze. Temperatures plunging to at least minus three have caused power cuts and put our central heating off. No wonder I'm a little shivery.<br />
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So I'm back on the redbush tea. Kill or cure!<br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-27976797254785981132012-12-21T22:26:00.001+00:002012-12-21T22:26:07.468+00:00Christmas coldIt arrived suddenly on Sunday - a torrent of cold. It's my second bad cold in two years so maybe my immune system's getting better!<br />
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I've had the pleasure of drinking redbush tea all week to give the immune system a kick. It's not obviously worked. The cold has simply gone through the phases of a bad cold - a nose that doesn't stop running, a lost voice and attempts to get a cough going. Tonight it seems to be trying to get a cough and a fever going.<br />
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The tea must have been well past it's sell-by date. I soon finished the half-a-dozen sachets in the box and went out to get another one.<br />
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So has the redbush tea made things better or worse? It could have aggravated the runny nose and sore throat for all I know, like a combined cold and hay fever.<br />
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If you remember my theory from <a href="http://allergy-diary.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/grannys-remedies.html">last autumn,</a> the allergic reactions seem to give a broad response which see off most viral attacks early. If the virus gets past this, it may cause problems. You could call it a salicylate-resistant virus. Because the fine-tuned parts of the immune system don't have to deal with many viruses, they are less prepared.<br />
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I haven't helped myself by not getting enough sleep. Pre-Christmas stress. I've no plans to drink wine to see it off - as I have in the past. That's a medicine with side-effects and usually leaves me with stiff joints for weeks.<br />
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RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-23705437805275257322012-11-14T14:00:00.003+00:002012-11-14T14:00:34.674+00:00BackacheIt arrived at the weekend. Actually the real problem is with the digestive system but I don't like to talk about that. That may be why I have not posted much in the last few weeks.<br />
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The rule of thumb is that raw food hits the mouth and throat and you can tell almost instantly if there is a problem. Big offenders are onions and pepper and they tend to crop up in plain English cooking, such as shepherd or cottage pies, or in coleslaw. Somebody served me a delicious shepherd's pie the other day, no pepper, but stuffed with onions and as a result my throat seized up and my nose ran - but it lasted no more than a few hours.<br />
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My skin is generally fine, clear as a bell. The Splodge has stayed away, even in spite of the occasional indulgence with Stilton and other blue cheeses. And there have been no rashes. That's because essentially I stick to a low-salicylate diet and mostly to a zero salicylate diet.<br />
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But if the food is processed or highly prepared it slips past the throat into the digestive system. That's happening all the time. I may take a pill if I'm having somebody else's food and I may think I get away with it. But the truth is that in spite of keeping pretty fit I've got serious inflammation around the abdomen - I'm pussy-footing around descriptions - and all that goes with it.<br />
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Well that caught up with me at the weekend when a muscle at the back of the abdomen pulled. It's taking a while to heal. There were all sorts of reasons but you cannot kid me that the state of my digestive system is not part of it<br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-78124976549631999842012-08-19T20:41:00.000+00:002012-08-19T20:41:22.532+00:00Holiday disasterIt was two years ago that a good dose of holiday sunshine burnt the original Splodge from my chest.
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So my hopes were high as we set off for holiday climes this year. Surely the resurgent branding on my chest would also burn off rapidly, I thought.
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It's a little too early to say - but maybe I did not help myself. A holiday's a break. I took a montelukast every day and let myself indulge in wine and olives. The pill, the sunshine and plenty of fresh air and activity should do the trick, I thought. I try to use sensitive skin or clear sun creams or oils - there seems to be no reaction.
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And indeed, while on holiday, it was terrific. No problems - except that the new Splodge faded but did not go away.
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Back home? I've had to take a paracetamol tonight. I have sporadic shooting pains all over my limbs, up my left leg and arm and down my right arm. This has happened before: I get it into my head that I can drink a little wine on holiday - and I spend weeks paying for it afterwards.
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RAS<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-69463988053307843552012-07-10T13:51:00.002+00:002012-08-19T20:30:21.612+00:00QornI think I have an explanation for the return and growth of the splodge on my chest. Over the last few weeks I've spent some time in the company of a vegetarian. I have nothing against vegetarians. But meals tend to get produced which appear to be chicken but are in fact made with the Qorn meat substitute.<br />
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What is Qorn? It's a fungus, like mushroom. So this tends to confirm the theory that I am reacting to fungi. Originally the dietitian said mushrooms were problematic and it depended where they were grown. I assumed this meant that if they were grown in salicylate rich compost - as most commercial mushrooms would be - they were off limits. On this basis Qorn should be okay as, according to Wikipedia, it's grown in vats, not in compost, and fed merely with glucose, vitamins and minerals. But it's obviously not okay.<br />
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Thanks to a small amount of sunshine over the weekend the splodge is fading a little and is less red and itchy. Let's hope this continues. Meanwhile I have told everyone, sorry, I won't be eating Qorn again.<br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-8633875798280669182012-07-02T19:09:00.001+00:002012-07-02T19:09:43.182+00:00Vinegar and mayonnaiseThe returned Splodge is now about the size of a 2p piece. I have been trying to work out what I am doing wrong as my diet has been pretty well controlled for the last few weeks.<br />
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Two theories. One is that I have become rather casual about vinegar as though it is okay. As vinegar is merely a kind of wine, of course it is not ok. In particular I've been downing the mayonnaise liberally. You can't have coleslaw without mayonnaise and we're making our own now. I even made tuna mayo with sweetcorn the other night. I decided that mayo must be okay because it's mainly egg - but it's also got vinegar. And certainly at one point last week the speckled rash was back on my tummy.<br />
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But there's a second idea. The original Splodge was triggered by penicillin and stilton cheese (the green mould in stilton contains penicillin). So this <a href="http://www.englemed.co.uk/12/12jun273_allergy_fungus.php">report </a>about fungus allergy was interesting. Is penicillin allergy actually a fungus allergy? Now our kitchen fridge doesn't seem very cold and there's been quite a bit of mould appearing. I had a slice of cheddar cheese a couple of days ago which tasted quite like stilton. Could it be mould?<br />
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Roll on the summer holidays when I might be able to burn off the Splodge. No chance in this wet, wet English weather!<br />
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RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-38440169612354888872012-06-02T11:14:00.001+00:002012-06-02T11:20:00.170+00:00Branded!The <a href="http://allergy-diary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sunshine.html">splodge </a>is on the way back and it looks as though I've been branded. There are two neat markings on my chest, one a half moon and the other slightly larger than a penny. The truth is they itch a little - and the itching makes me scratch. They are clearly growing.<br />
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I've not been taking penicillin or eating stilton cheese so it's a bit of a mystery.<br />
<br />
However after several weeks of indulgence - could this possibly be the reason? - I've resolved to carry a stock of montelukast with me at all times and to take it daily. There have been weddings and banquets and business meals and all sorts of events. And frankly I've nearly given up trying to get my special diet recognised. When I have a choice I choose fish - but the chances are it's cooked in a rich broth of herbs. And at weddings and set piece meals, you don't get a choice. The best you can do is to get the waiter to take it away and scrape off the gravy. Might as well do it myself.<br />
<br />
At the wedding I toasted the bride and groom with champagne and nearly choked on it. I'm not convinced about shallots either - we keep a stock for cooking but I really don't like them, nor does my throat.<br />
<br />
All this needs a pill beforehand and a pill afterwards<br />
<br />
When we had a brief bout of hot sunshine in the UK I exposed myself to it - but it was not enough. We are planning our summer holiday in a hot location so I'm hoping it will scorch the splodge away before it covers my whole chest again.<br />
<br />
I hope so because I really cannot imagine going to my GP and explaining how I got an enormous rash over my chest.<br />
<br />
RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-6395403712597224122012-05-08T22:33:00.003+00:002012-05-08T22:33:47.454+00:00Craving for things I can't haveI'm watching a TV programme and they've having a bit of a party with pizza and bottles of beer. I walk down the road and I smell curry in the air. I go to a meal with friends and it's at one of those places where they specialise in spicy food from around the world. We go to a medium-priced restaurant and I know the best food is served with savoury sauces or in pies. I choose battered fish. We go to a carvery and I choose beef and gammon. It may be salicylate-low but it's rich in omega-6 and triggers reactions over the next few days.<br />
<br />
In truth if I taste something I haven't tasted for years - like orange or mango - it just tastes weird. But I am beginning to feel the chronic sensory deprivation. Smell can't make it up. Even worse I'm worried that I'm starting to substitute sweet and chocolaty food to try to appease my deprived taste-buds. I can't seem to get my weight down. It's not enormous and I'm not obviously fat - I try to keep fit - but it's creeping up.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I should invest in more cheese and whisky - hardly the normal stuff of a weight-loss diet.<br />
<br />
RASEnglemed Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08070998003790390019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-36586442965190616992012-04-04T21:11:00.000+00:002012-04-04T21:28:59.408+00:00Melon and wineI found myself at a meal with a set menu and no chance to give instructions to the caterers. Quite a posh meal actually.<br />
<br />
Even worse I've run out of montelukast and haven't got round to ordering any more. There wasn't even any fish to counteract the salicylates.<br />
<br />
And I was hungry.<br />
<br />
So I ate some melon from the starter. Now, checking, I can't find melon on my list - I would guess moderate?<br />
<br />
And I drank some wine, maybe about two glasses. I know it's "very high" - and you'll know I drink it occasionally and push the limits. After about two glasses, my tongue started to swell so I stopped.<br />
<br />
The meal ended up being quite unbalanced. I ate the meat from the main course but no vegetables or potato (which was garnished0. And for dessert I had just custard.<br />
<br />
Today my left eye is a little sore but I can't report any other long-term effects - although I'm not sure my eyesight is working properly. I guess if I tried drinking wine nightly, I'd soon start to creak again. But I'm wondering whether melon is really okay. However the truth is once you've got a taste for, papaya melon - and mango - are rather tasteless.<br />
<br />
RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-12752500665010084222012-03-29T16:30:00.001+00:002012-03-29T16:30:31.187+00:00Apple trees and honey bees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF__t-OwThQVfnQv-KmWXGztoKQ8IoX-T4glOQ2txEraV1qKoHCYHFQfvH0WTk3z5MhiDIxDh3MSHD3fkx-cKKc5emRrypEmx4BgCtmfNxnl4vJiQL9WJbe5fs_j14B_CoJ0hTOA/s1600/golden+delicious+apple+blossom2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF__t-OwThQVfnQv-KmWXGztoKQ8IoX-T4glOQ2txEraV1qKoHCYHFQfvH0WTk3z5MhiDIxDh3MSHD3fkx-cKKc5emRrypEmx4BgCtmfNxnl4vJiQL9WJbe5fs_j14B_CoJ0hTOA/s320/golden+delicious+apple+blossom2.jpg" width="189" /></a></div>
This is our new Golden Delicious apple tree, purchased at minimum cost from Asda.<br />
<br />
Blossoms are already emerging and it's currently getting a reasonable amount of sunshine. I've found a slot on the lawn for it and dug it in well. We'll get a picket fence for it - but there will be no more football on the lawn.<br />
<br />
Now I have to find a space for a second apple tree, which will be a <a href="http://allergy-diary.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/apples.html">Downton Pippin</a> or some equally rare yellow apple. Apparently they cross-pollinate. The neighbour has a thriving apple tree so I hope they will help each other along. Must also ensure no one goes round swotting honey bees.<br />
<br />
The aim is to cultivate the other, rare kinds of yellow apple. You need Golden Delicious to pollinate them, it seems - so we are starting here. And this way we will find if an apple tree can grow in our garden.<br />
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RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-17667057552435348332012-03-16T20:11:00.001+00:002012-03-16T20:11:15.798+00:00MangoI dug out the last list the dietician gave me - a mere five years ago. It was meant to be more subtly graded than the earlier ones - but resulted in supposedly safe zero salicylate items such as cauliflower, papaya and golden delicious apple being ranked as "low" with items such as mango, pineapple juice, tomato, hazelnuts, peanut butter and horseradish.<br />
<br />
I tried pineapple juice a few years ago but gave up rapidly because of the effects.<br />
<br />
Somebody gave us a mango so I tried that today. There wasn't much substance to it. it was mainly stone. It had a tangy but insubstantial taste and an unpleasant after-taste. I definitely prefer papaya. I used to like mango juice but I think it would be a bad idea. Also pure mango juice is hard to come by.<br />
<br />
Now to see if there are any after-effects.<br />
<br />
I went to fetch the list off the kitchen noticeboard to write this - and found it had already come off and was starting to drift around the kitchen. Time I scanned it in - although, regrettably, in spite of the care that went into compiling it I still prefer the original lists which had a greater range of "negligible" items.<br />
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RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-31065599695088150442012-02-29T23:01:00.005+00:002012-02-29T23:01:29.665+00:00Soup updateThanks to everyone who supplied tips for making soup.<br />
<br />
I've had:<br />
thick soup<br />
thin soup<br />
salty soup<br />
saltless soup<br />
fish soup<br />
vegetable soup<br />
<br />
Sadly the cold weather seems to have gone and I have no more appetite for soup. It's a shame because it proved to a good hunger killer.<br />
<br />
Best soups:<br />
an onion type soup made with leek and shallot. It made my breath bad for days but was quite tasty.<br />
vegetable soup into which I popped a piece of frozen white fish. Not only was it tasty but it was also incredibly filling.<br />
<br />
I liked the idea of putting a bit of pasta or rice into soup. It gave it a nice minestrone feel. But, as I suggest above, the time-honoured problem of how much salt to put in remains - especially when I tried to get others to eat it. It was always too much or too little.<br />
<br />
Most of my soup ended up with quite a lot of soy sauce. As always, it was a challenge to make it tasty - especially when I tried to make it out of cabbage and potato.<br />
<br />
RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-88631716469762671732012-01-17T13:04:00.004+00:002012-01-17T13:04:50.873+00:00Soup?It's a freezing day in the British mid-winter and I've been outside in the freeze for most of the morning. What I could really, really do with is a mug of warm soup. Of course instant soup is out of the question - it's always laden with pepper.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Does anyone have any ideas for making a quick soup? </i></b>Leek and potato seems the obvious combination. Perhaps we should make it in the autumn and freeze it.<br />
<br />
This little problem pushed me quite a long way from instant food to preparing most meals from basic ingredients. But preparing months in advance, traditional style, now that's another big leap.<br />
<br />
RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-113707223381478632012-01-14T14:25:00.003+00:002012-01-14T14:25:53.809+00:00Sunshine!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjHGVZpdsKubF9zQZuZT8gkbiGr80vn7t6RlocPHsbmJKLKkO7xnT7feyEihWZEsRNBDklIfQrTSvYSL7zdga-5D5qDmIhxdE1S9TIHddIyvGuKla_LR0HG1aA7gOJy-bcdidHg/s1600/splodge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjHGVZpdsKubF9zQZuZT8gkbiGr80vn7t6RlocPHsbmJKLKkO7xnT7feyEihWZEsRNBDklIfQrTSvYSL7zdga-5D5qDmIhxdE1S9TIHddIyvGuKla_LR0HG1aA7gOJy-bcdidHg/s1600/splodge.jpg" /></a></div>
I've been meaning for a while to pull together some thoughts about sunshine- arising from the success of my summer holiday in 2010.<br />
<br />
We went somewhere a great deal sunnier than usual - that is not in Great Britain (which is currently sunny - but is without exception overcast and wet during the "summer" holiday season). The upshot was the disappearance of the Splodge. Remember the Splodge? It ended up covering my chest with the shape of a mirror imaged Australia - and seems to have been caused by penicillin and the penicillin-like mould in Stilton cheese.<br />
<br />
And during that summer holiday it disappeared - "burnt" off by the rays of the sun in spite of my using copious quantities of as hyposensitive sun cream I could find. At the time it felt like hot sun and plenty of fresh salt water made the difference - but maybe there's a simpler explanation.<br />
<br />
I was talking to somebody about this - and they said: "Maybe you need to move to somewhere sunny". - like Australia?<br />
<br />
Since then there's been plenty of evidence suggesting the benefits of vitamin D - which comes from sunlight. Only this week some European experts called for everyone to get a daily ration of sunlight:<br />
<a href="http://www.englemed.co.uk/12/12jan121_vitamin_d.php">http://www.englemed.co.uk/12/12jan121_vitamin_d.php</a>
<br />
<br />
Here's another one, also from sunny Spain last year:<br />
<a href="http://www.englemed.co.uk/11/11may191_asthma_sunlight.php">http://www.englemed.co.uk/11/11may191_asthma_sunlight.php</a>
<br />
<br />
There is a lot more. I've read other reports suggesting that vitamin D may help reduce inflammation.<br />
<br />
It all adds up. So I'm doing my best to get my 15 minutes daily exposure to the sun. Not sure we're moving to Spain yet!<br />
<br />
RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33504617.post-53071542936034592032012-01-03T00:58:00.000+00:002012-01-03T00:58:00.836+00:00Reflections and reactions after ChristmasI seem to be ultra-sensitive to salicylates again - and it's all my own fault. Just a little bit too much self-indulgence over Christmas.<br />
<br />
For instance tonight I was picking the purple chocolates out of tin of Cadbury's Roses. These have a nut, surrounded by sweet toffee in a chocolate shell. No I did not eat the nut - it was easy to eat the chocolate and the toffee, remove the nut from my mouth and throw it away and nobody else in my family likes nut chocolates - so nobody would complain.<br />
<br />
It didn't work - it was clearly too much exposure as my throat rapidly swelled up. It's been the same for days. Every small breach creates a reaction. On New Year's Eve I was at a party and was offered some mini spring rolls on the grounds they probably contained beansprouts and carrots. I wish. They contained some nasty mushed vegetable goo. On Sunday my other half pointed out I had sprouted a rash on the left side of my face. I also had jaw-ache on the left hand side. I took a montelukast last night and another one tonight.<br />
<br />
So what does this say? I had three glasses of wine over Christmas - two on Christmas Day and one on Boxing Day - in spite of resolving not to. Reviewing the experience of previous years, it seems as though the effects of wine are long-lasting. I used up whatever tolerance I have - even with the aid of montelukast.<br />
<br />
I wonder whether I can resist in Christmas 2012?<br />
<br />
RASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com5