Diary of a reluctant allergy sufferer

Soup?

2012-01-17T13:04:00.004Z

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.

Does anyone have any ideas for making a quick soup? Leek and potato seems the obvious combination. Perhaps we should make it in the autumn and freeze it.

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.

RAS

Sunshine!

2012-01-14T14:25:00.003Z

I've been meaning for a while to pull together some thoughts about sunshine- arising from the success of my summer holiday in 2010.

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.

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.

I was talking to somebody about this - and they said: "Maybe you need to move to somewhere sunny". - like Australia?

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:
http://www.englemed.co.uk/12/12jan121_vitamin_d.php

Here's another one, also from sunny Spain last year:
http://www.englemed.co.uk/11/11may191_asthma_sunlight.php

There is a lot more. I've read other reports suggesting that vitamin D may help reduce inflammation.

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!

RAS

Reflections and reactions after Christmas

2012-01-03T00:58:00.000Z

I 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.

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.

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.

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.

I wonder whether I can resist in Christmas 2012?

RAS

Swollen tongue syndrome

2011-12-31T17:30:00.001Z

Last night my tongue suddenly swelled. This hasn't happened for quite a long time. At first I thought I had an ulcer - then I realised my tongue was getting somewhat unwieldy. The prime suspect is a chocolate biscuit I picked up. It turned out to have an orange icing filling. The second suspect is quite a large glass of whiskey a friend gave me. Whisky should be okay - although I note one of my lists merely states it is low, rather than zero. I also suspect a lot depends how it is distilled. Anyway the chocolate biscuit tasted disgusting - I used to like the taste of orange. I can't think why now. So I didn't finish it.

I took a montelukast and the problem faded away. Odd.

No whisky for me to bring in the New Year. Happy New Year!

RAS

Christmases I have known

2011-12-20T21:16:00.000Z

The countdown is under way to Christmas and I've decided to stock up the whisky for the day. Sadly I've had all the viruses I need during the autumn and am unlikely to have that excuse for enjoying a glass or two of wine on Christmas Day.

When elderly relatives are present, it's really not right to go round looking for cold and flu viruses. They need to be banished from the Christmas table - the worst thing is when somebody ends up in hospital with flu straight after the festivities.

I've been perusing my postings for the last few Christmases and it turns out that drinking wine never worked out. Here is a selection:

This was the reality of the first Christmas Day on a restricted diet, tough turkey! And that's with massive appreciation to everyone who tried so hard:
http://allergy-diary.blogspot.com/2007/01/12th-night.html

These were my reflective thoughts on Christmas Eve at the end of the first year:
http://allergy-diary.blogspot.com/2006/12/happy-christmas.html

12 months later things were getting easier:
http://allergy-diary.blogspot.com/2007/12/happy-christmas.html

By 2009 I was learning to create tolerance before Christmas - by rigorous abstention - combine it with a virus and enjoy some wine:
http://allergy-diary.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-report.html

...but it wasn't wholly successful.
http://allergy-diary.blogspot.com/2010/01/gout-and-marzipan.html

And last year I reported, briefly, that my indulgence in wine created a holiday that was "quite difficult".
http://allergy-diary.blogspot.com/2011/01/trying-tomato.html

So maybe I'll be sticking to whisky - but I'm sure the turkey will be tasty. And if anyone wants tips on how to make the most of Christmas dinner, here's how to do a salicylate free poultry roast:
http://allergy-diary.blogspot.com/2009/03/roast-chicken.html

RAS

Viruses, teeth and everything

2011-12-01T23:54:00.001Z

It started with a bit of beef stuck in my back teeth. When problems persisted, more food got stuck and a dull ache spread from the tooth I just assumed I'd pushed my fragile dental system too far.

Then there was a slight ache in the chest and a thickness in the throat. Looking back I've been through this many times recently - yet it's always hard to be sure what's happening. They say a dental infection can spread, causing pneumonia and heart disease (I'm not a hypochondriac - just reporting what I've picked up).

I used plenty of salt water and dental floss to fight what I thought was a dental infection - while the virus slowly climbed my throat and throttled the tooth

By the beginning of this week I was back where I was less than two months ago. Overwhelmed by a virus. On Sunday I stayed in bed. On Monday night I barely slept for a hacking cough.

The thing is: once you know it's a virus you know what to do. On Tuesday I was due to attend a function - so I attended and indulged myself. Wine, mushroom starter, everything - well, everything except the beef.

Several posters recently have mentioned wine being high in salicylates and I keep saying what I always say: it's a great way to kick-start the immune system. I've still got a bit of virus - but not much. I've suffered no ill-effects from my indulgence. My tooth is barely sore - just a little bit, almost certainly from the effects of too much flossing. And as well as getting an immune system shot, my body's probably had a chance to pick up nutrients it may be deprived of routinely.

Only problem now is that it's going to be tougher to pick up a virus on December 24th - in time to make Christmas dinner palatable.

RAS

Maple syrup

2011-11-18T20:13:00.001Z

Does anybody know if maple syrup is ok?

RAS

Apple juice

2011-10-16T18:26:00.003Z

#BAD11 #worldfoodday I'm not sure about the Golden Nobles. They are yellow but I'm not sure they are salicylate free. In fact there's a distinct soreness of my throat and running of my nose after eating foods made from them.

I'm ignoring it. It's a cooking apple. It's yellow and I should be able to eat it and we've got a stock of them. We've eaten apple crumble and made an apple cake. I added some water to some left over stewed apple and drank it as a juice. Apple juice! I haven't drunk that for some time. It left a funny taste in my mouth but did not choke me - so maybe they are only low salicylate. The two varieties of yellow pippin don't seem to have caused any harm. They are delicious but running out fast.

A new blender seems to have appeared in the house so we're thinking of trying some banana smoothies using Smartprice bananas. However I'm not sure it's a good use of expensive fruit. It took one large Golden Noble to make a glass of apple juice and just a couple of minutes to drink it.

Today bloggers are writing about food for World Food Day and also for Blog Action Day, which focuses on the world's starving. If I seem to moan that there's lots of food I can't eat, don't take it seriously. For millions around the world there's lots of food they can't eat, because they cannot get it. And that includes Smartprice bananas and apples and bread.

RAS

Apples!

2011-10-09T19:48:00.003Z

The Wormsley Pippin - raised at Downton Castle

We were in Herefordshire the home of the English apple yesterday. And by all accounts it has been a bumper season for the English apple.

We came across an apple exhibition - and not only an exhibition but a sale of rare apples.

Now the diet sheets, as I recall, specify yellow apples only and then in brackets (Golden Delicious). I've never known whether this means only the Golden Delicious has ever been tested or whether they know something about apples in general. It certainly fits with the general principle the redder the fruit, the more dangerous.

But here, at this exhibition, was a host of other yellow apples. So we bought bags of them - one bag of a large yellow cooking apple called Golden Noble. Another bag full of the Wormsley Pippin. I have eaten a Wormsley Pippin tonight and it is delicious - soft and sweet but not round enough for the supermarkets. No obvious ill-effects - maybe my throat feels a little sore. But the diet sheets say "yellow apples" - so we will be eating yellow apples all winter.

There was also a small apple called the Downton Pippin. I got some of these and tried one. Very hard and aromatic and probably not good for the digestion - but I will have to eat them now. The Dowton, like the Wormsley, is raised at a place called Downton Castle, yes, really Downton Castle (If you don't know Downton Abbey is a hit costume drama on British television).

And given the glut of apples this winter, I bitterly resent paying supermarket prices. They are on the ground everywhere you go. We are in fact planning to invest in some Golden Delicious trees. Maybe we could get some Wormsley Pippin trees? Wouldn't that be great!

* If you are in Herefordshire, you have to head for the National Trust's Berrington Hall to find the exhibition.

* I have now googled the Wormsley Pippin and sure enough it is possible to buy the trees. There is a complication - they need a partner to pollinate. The good news is that the Golden Delicious tree will do the job. I can see an orchard coming on.

RAS

Granny's remedies

2011-10-03T16:17:00.000Z

By yesterday morning one eye was bloodshot and had been for two days without any sign of healing. The other was aching and I was losing hearing in the left ear. It was definitely the worst cold I've had since I've had this problem and, worse, it was persisting.

Out of necessity comes invention - or rather reinvention. I remembered getting sinusitis and bad colds as a child. I also know well the symptoms of the other kind of sinusitis, call it inflammatory sinusitis if you like as I'm probably not meant to call it allergic sinusitis. Maybe non-allergic sinusitis to rhyme with non-allergic rhinusitis.

Anyway this was not non-allergic sinusitis, it was viral sinusitis. And the old remedy involves getting plenty of steam and sticking your face in it. This is what I did. It flushes the virus out of the cavities of the face. I combined this with some new tricks - like swallowing to open the eustachian tubes and flush anything down from the ears. And, as my throat was quite lumpy, I put some salt in some hot water and gargled it.

Within a few hours I was cured. The blood went from the eye as did the aching. I haven't had a chance to test the hearing. At best all that remains is a mild cold.

So what on earth happened? My hyperactive immune system is meant to see off colds - and in case of doubt I thought to get it going with redbush tea and even a glass of wine. My theory is this and I'm no immunologist. The immune system works in several waves - the first is the blunt response to stave off infection. That's what you get when there's a salicylate reaction. Later on the immune system fine tunes itself to deal with particular viruses.

Now for the last five years I've barely had a cold or flu because it's been seen off at the outset. So there's been no fine-tuning against new viruses. The effect is similar to Native Americans or Martians being exposed to the European common cold. I'd lost my immune protection.

So once the virus got through I was vulnerable - and ended up spending two days and many more hours in bed together with a nasty bout of sinusitis.

RAS

PS In researching this I went back to several of the Wikipedia sources to make sure I'm not talking utter nonsense. Taken together they are very good. The article on salicylate sensitivity is good but you need to follow the link to Montelukast and on to leukotrienes, the arichidonic cascade etc to get the full story. The front-line immune cells are called neutrophils and they appear to be guided by leukotrienes, which also cause inflammation and hence asthma and other symptoms of allergy.

Breaking the diet

2011-09-25T19:46:00.000Z

This is now officially the worst cold I've had in five years. Yesterday I broke the diet to try and kick start the immune system. We were at a function and I just ate what we were given. Chicken in herbs, rhubarb crumble - delicious! Then there was no decaf coffee so I just had half a cup of ordinary coffee. At least it kept me awake for a longish journey home. But no appetite for wine. Sadly, although I was spared the embarrassment of having to ask for appropriate food, I then had to face the embarrassment of mingling with people with a cold that was just getting worse.

There were effects from the caffeine at first - I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head.There have been no skin reactions I've noticed and no sinusitis or jaw ache. My throat is sore and my nose runny - you would expect that. I'm wondering whether these symptoms have been aggravated by breaking the diet. Although the rhinusitis and common cold always seem to have opposite causes, in fact they are both caused by immune system reactions. I may be doubling up.

RAS

A cold

2011-09-23T19:09:00.002Z

I have gone down with a stinking, stonking, horrendous, wonderful cold - probably the worst cold I've had in five years.

For the last 24 hours I've been indulging in redbush tea. I ate a cream muffin with strawberry jam. I tried red grapes. My skin is fine, my throat is not but that is probably the cold virus.

I was going to indulge in wine tonight - but it is a real cold and is playing havoc with my tastebuds and appetite. So I haven't really enjoyed the redbush tea (it is rather old and may just be stale). All being well, thanks to a hyperactivated immune system it should be gone tomorrow.

RAS

A decaf tester?

2011-09-13T23:07:00.000Z

What we need is a thermometer style stick to test coffee for absence of caffeine.

Today I bought a small decaf latte from a caterer which specifically advertised a decaf option. This was welcome - I'm not sure whether the availability of decaf is improving or whether I'm just more discerning. For instance at a motorway service station I will head for Costa or Starbucks and take a decaf into the restaurant. No point in asking there as the best I will get is a dreadfully made instant sachet. I do drink a lot of instant coffee but it needs milk.

As I came away my throat was choking and that left eye started to ache - a surefire sign that something is wrong. Apart from that I felt bright and cheerful. It was a pleasant day - and I felt quite high ... as you would after an unexpected shot of caffeine. One possibility - as I have noted before - is simply that filter decaf or whatever they use in coffee shops is not fully decaffed. Another is that staff don't always remember to get out a decaf sachet and think you won't notice.

So we need a discreet testing device. Can it be done? A device for testing for salicylate would also be handy - but a little more complex as it's not going to be found uniformly in any food. So it would have to be some kind of scanner - maybe a project for the 22nd century?

RAS

Caterers and muffins

2011-09-08T11:44:00.001Z

I sent the following advice off to some caterers this week. Time will tell if I get an edible meal out of it:
It's salicylate allergy
What?
Unfortunately salicylate - much the same as aspirin - is in many fruit and vegetables, in caffeine and in most nuts, herbs and spices including pepper. The simplest solution is plain food and ungarnished vegetables with no sauces or gravy. All meats and sea food and cheese are good.

The following foods are good and commonly eaten:
Cabbage
Peas
Banana
Chocolate
Decaf coffee

Small mistakes are not fatal!

I'm not sure if I should have mentioned chocolate as I have largely given it up - but not in chocolate cake. Some supermarket chocolate muffins turned up in our house this week. I have eaten too many of them and feel unwell. I can only conclude they were stacked with loads of caffeine. This morning my left eye was sore - a sure sign of problems - and it is now spreading down my left jaw and left neck. I have taken a montelukast.

RAS

A little knowledge

2011-08-24T14:41:00.000Z

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/my-midlife-allergy-crisis-can-you-suddenly-become-allergic-to-something-or-is-it-all-in-the-mind-2342098.html?

Where do we start? This gentleman, writing in a respectable British newspaper, has gastrointestinal symptoms and decides to be tested for "food allergy". How many allergies are marked purely by gastro-symptoms? Maybe cow's milk in children.

He then discovers he is not allergic to anything - having been told he could test for wheat by giving it up. He then rants on about "true immune-mediated" allergies, clearly recycling some highly condensed notes and quotes - moving allergy in one stroke from gastro-intestinal symptoms to life-threatening anaphylaxis.

Is there nothing in between, Dan? No mention of asthma, eczema, urticaria (hives to you), chronic rhinusitis (that's hay fever) let alone the chronic inflammatory conditions that are so badly diagnosed?

And it all concludes with some nonsense, apparently endorsed by an Allergy UK spokesperson, suggesting that we mostly eat too much wheat and dairy. Try living on bananas, fish and cabbage, I say.

Most of the comments are equally disturbing. Maybe it's just because the British are obsessed with their bowels.

* I was interested to see the main source is the London Allergy Clinic, about which I had heard little previously. I'm amazed that when the NHS is so short of specialists they have the time to run a presumably lucrative joint private practice. I'd be interested to know if they provide effective on-going care for patients - or simply take fees for diagnosis.

RAS

PS My judgement may be a little harsh as originally it was gastro symptoms that alerted me to a possible problem. The second alert was when I started choking on my food. But it took me a while to relate it to a life-time of minor skin problems and the very disturbing ache in my left eye (which puzzled my optician). And I only dared go to the doctor when my tongue and lips started swelling.

Side-effects of Singulair

2011-08-15T22:54:00.004Z

There's a new side-effect from montelukast reported by the US authorities here. And it's psychiatric. Actually it's not new but for some reason it's just hit the social media.

The range of effects includes "agitation, aggression, anxiousness, dream abnormalities and hallucinations, depression, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, suicidal thinking and behavior (including suicide), and tremor. "

I can't say I had noticed - I was like that (irritable and restless) before I started taking the drug so I will ask members of my family. If these effects exist they are nothing like the side-effects of anti-histamines. I had a relative who went through a period of temporary madness and lost the ability to distinguish between dreams and reality. That was how anti-histamines, taken in high doses regularly, felt. Deep, realistic and frightening dreams.

I wonder if some of those who have reported side-effects have confused them with the effects of anti-histamines which they might well have been taking also.

* In fact I think I'm much calmer now than I was five years ago, perhaps thanks to giving up caffeine. Can I report a beneficial neuro-psychiatric side-effect?

RAS

Wasp sting

2011-08-14T20:18:00.001Z

After five years of avoiding them, a wasp got me on the head today. I was at an event so went to the First Aid tent to see if they had any anthisan. They didn't so they stuck an icepack on my head and kept me under observation.

When I got home an hour later I took a montelukast and an antihistamine tablet. I wasn't going to die from it - but a flush had spread across my face, my lips were tingling - as was the back of my hand where the C made a faint reappearance.

It could have been worse - it could have been a jellyfish. I've been on holiday and meant to report. I took montelukast daily when I was on holiday - and enjoyed the occasional wine and other dishes that were not strictly "allowed". And there was plenty of sea and sunshine. I came back and stopped the daily pills and a week later, even prior to the wasp sting, I felt as if I was going down hill fast. Was it the pills - or the sea and sun?

RAS

Jellyfish alert

2011-07-19T20:09:00.003Z

The C on the back of my hand stayed itchy for several days and grew , becoming more welt than weal. It's now scabby but is not obviously fading. And I'm reminded the jelly fish season is approaching. Last year on holiday we kept a high alert for jelly fish - without either letting it spoil our fun or having a clear idea what to do. If a flea bite can bring me out in weals, what will a jelly fish do? And what on earth does this have to do with salicylate?

My plan on holiday is to take a montelukast daily. Last year I drank quite a lot of wine - and suffered for it throughout the autumn. It will be hard to resist temptation - especially if it's cheaper than water.

RAS

Weal bad news?

2011-07-12T15:43:00.000Z

I think I must have had an insect bite on my right hand. I had forgotten what insect bites can do. It itched a little and then went scaly. That was alarming as I thought I might be getting hives on my right side.

Over the last couple of days it has grown into a large C branded on the top of my hand. It's astonishing how useful this diary is - as I had completely forgotten about weals and welts. This happened two years ago when I was attacked by fleas and I identified the problem as papular urticaria.

In the light of today's news linking allergies to protection against cancer, it's maybe reassuring to know I can still get these bizarre reactions. However this particular welt itches like hell and I am wondering whether to try an anti-histamine cream, as I did before. I just hope it's not something worse - like scabies.

RAS

Cabbage and canaries

2011-06-30T20:15:00.000Z

I was thinking that red cabbage might be the canary of our civilisation. Or possibly that its mysterious absence from the shelves is linked to the German e.coli outbreak. The Germans, I believe, love their red cabbage. I cannot think of any other reason for its disappearance - and nobody has been able to suggest an explanation apart from e.coli.

Anyway tonight I found some in Tesco's - there were two red cabbages on the shelves. They were organic. But that's good news. They say you should mix red, orange, green and yellow fruit and vegetables in your diet to get a full range of nutrients. Well, red cabbage is the only red fruit or vegetable I can eat.

So maybe the canary has not croaked yet.

RAS

Giving up chocolate

2011-06-23T21:10:00.000Z

Well, not entirely, but I'm giving up slab chocolate. A few days ago I had an acute pain all up my left arm - and it then spread down the left side of my chest. It was a little bit frightening.

I took a paracetamol and it subsided.

I knew I had eaten some sandwiches which were a little mixed - and had also had one of those breakfast croissants with fruit in it. I thought it was pain au chocolat but it turned out not to be - and it was so tasty I could not stop eating it. In the sandwiches, which came with a working lunch the same day, was onion and other oddities.

On its own that's not enough to provoke an extreme reaction. After a little thought I realised I had changed my chocolate type the previous week. It was the final see-saw in an issue that has been bothering me for some years. Mild chocolate seems okay and can be tasty and quite stimulating - in the absence of coffee. However it's rich in fat and sugar. Now this year I've been steadily putting on weight. Not enormous amounts and I'm not fat but it was beginning to feel a little out of control, especially in the light of my NHS Health Check.

So I decided to try, again, switching from the cheap dark chocolate - which is about 60 per cent cocoa - to proper dark chocolate, which was about 85 per cent cocoa. It's bitter and should deter over-consumption. It's also rich in caffeine - as I found out two years ago. Silly even to think about trying the stuff.

My arm is still a little stiff. I've tried finishing my bar of dark chocolate. That's probably a mistake - especially since I have run out of montelukast and have deleted the email address for a repeat prescription.

So I've got to stop snacking on chocolate things. If they're safe, they're too fatty and sugary. If they're lean, they're unsafe. I'm now getting through pints of decaf coffee as a substitute. Then it will be back to chewing carrots I think.

RAS

Bazuka!

2011-06-21T15:34:00.002Z

The words salicylate acid suddenly flashed up on my TV screen. Actually I think it was salicylic acid. "Contains salicylic acid" said the footnote about a product called Bazuka! which is sold for verruccas.

For a moment I thought it was an allergy warning. Maybe it was - or maybe they were advertising a magic ingredient.

I have been on their web-site and think I have solved the mystery. There's an "about" page which says the gels do contain salicylic acid - between 12 and 26% - "which gently removes the infected skin tissue, thereby eliminating the virus". So it's not an allergy warning - as if!

That's fine - but it makes the Frequently Asked Questions problematic.

Nuts and lactose are mentioned. So is asthma - and the answer, if you have asthma, is "In the unlikely event of signs of hypersensitivity, or if there is known sensitivity to an ingredient in the Bazuka gels, then application should be stopped immediately." Okay so far as it goes - but you have to search around to find the ingredients.

Then there is this FAQ:

"16. How much aspirin is absorbed from the Bazuka gels into the main circulation?
None, there is no aspirin in Bazuka."

But it does contain large amounts of salicylic acid, which according to Wikipedia is the "main metabolite of aspirin". The denial does not ring true - there may be a scientific distinction but are they sure of it?

I am sure this product is excellent if you need it. But if it's worth a web-site, surely it's worth a decent and full page about the allergy risks?

RAS
PS Has anyone found any red cabbage? I am told I am getting anaemic

New Euro-allergy site

2011-06-13T21:55:00.001Z

I was hoping to commend this new allergy site, http://www.infoallergy.com, launched as part of the European Allergy Conference which has been bringing together specialists all week.

The conference, run by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, has been impressive with some impressive findings. The news service is picking some of them up.

I've thought this organisation is a little mercurial and the incomplete nature of the web-site tends to confirm this. Even worse it's definition of allergy is a little incomplete - and guess who barely features?

Yes, salicylate hypersensitivity is, kind of, not there. In fact I have found it - and that's where there's a big inconsistency.

For there is a section on "allergic" reactions to NSAIDs - that's medical-speak for aspirin and nurofen and similar drugs. And from this I learn you can suffer from "non allergic hypersensitivity reaction" - which gives reactions similar to allergy. I also learn there's a relationship to Samter Triad. If you have it you are "specially at risk". You probably knew that if you knew you had Samter Triad (the Triad is a runny nose, nose polyps and asthma, caused by salicylates).

The difficulty is the real and daily problem comes from salicylates in food, not in aspirin. And when you turn to the food section of the site there is no mention of this at all. So if your food is giving you hives and runny nose and swollen lips and throat - and all the other symptoms - you may well be stuck.

Euro-clinicians, you can do better than this!

RAS

Where's all the red cabbage gone?

2011-06-08T08:50:00.004Z

Does anyone know? Red cabbage is a staple of my diet. It is in fact pretty well the only red fruit or vegetable that I can eat, which is supposed to be salicylate free.

For several weeks now it has been unobtainable in the main supermarkets. I checked tonight in Asda again - plenty of white cabbage but no red. Where on earth has it gone? Is it some kind of seasonal thing? Are the Germans using it as a salad substitute. It is a mystery.

RAS

Hedging

2011-06-07T19:17:00.002Z

I've employed someone to do my hedges in recent years but he's quite expensive, leaves it late and doesn't shape it quite the way I like.

So I got in before him this year. I have electric trimmers but they are on permanent loan somewhere. So I used hand shears and got about half the hedges done to my satisfaction. On reflection I realised this was a good move. An electric trimmer causes a spray of dust, wood and leaf. Just the thing to cause a pseudo-hay fever reaction. With hand shears there was no spray and no hay fever.

My gardener was not too pleased and did all my work over again. But the hedge is the shape I wanted it.

RAS

Burger King

2011-06-06T19:07:00.003Z

I was in Burger King and, as always, it was quite impossible to find a salad. I thought I would risk a Chicken Royale. The plain version seems to come with lettuce and mayonnaise and seemed fine. There was no taste of pepper on the chicken.

Then I spotted their diet sheet. It's an impressive document which has 20 columns setting out the content of all the menus. It tells you about carbohydrate and proteins, vegetarian choices and even sulphur(sulfur to my US friends) dioxide.

In fact there are 11 columns devoted to allergens, including milk, fish and crustaceans. There is egg and celery. But inevitably there is no mention of salicylates. Why is this always the case? I have met dieticians socially several times recently and they are all primed to deal with the problem. Not expert but they know where to look for advice.

So good marks to Burger King for producing a low-salicylate choice, good marks for trying and bad marks for not finding a column for this one.

RAS

A dose of sunshine

2011-06-05T19:07:00.000Z

England had a brief spell of summer in the last week and, unexpectedly, I found myself at the seaside all day. I had forgotten to pack any hyposensitive sun cream - after all there was little reason to believe we would have unbroken sunshine.

I popped into the beach shop and scanned the ingredients of a limited range of sun tan lotions. Carrot seemed possible - except I have no wish to sprout orange skin. They had an Aloha! oil made from aloe vera and promising Factor 15 protection. Apart from aloe there seemed nothing in the ingredients to cause problems and I reasoned an oil would be purer than a cream. I had studied a Nivea children's cream, which explicitly contained salicylate for some reason.

Now I have always avoided aloe. It doesn't appear on lists because you don't eat it but I tend to assume any unknown vegetable matter is risky. Without having a chance to check anything, I hoped it was made from a flower rather than anything else. I have now checked and that doesn't seem to be the case.

So does anybody know whether aloe contains salicylate?

Possibly not. I followed the instructions and applied it liberally throughout the day. There was no hives but when my knees reddened I could not be sure whether it was the cream or the sun.

Sometimes a gamble pays off. No sunburn and no discernible reactions, apart from a slight runny nose for the last couple of days - but that could be triggered by several factors.

Now I can look forward to the rest of the summer. Aloha!

RAS

Trying blue cheese

2011-05-13T22:01:00.000Z

Some blue cheese appeared in our fridge. I used to eat a lot as it seemed like the only thing food I could eat with any taste.

Then The Splodge appeared on my chest. A dose of penicillin for a tooth infection led The Splodge to grow, covering much of my chest - and that led me to discover that the blue bits in Stilton cheese are actually penicillin. So blue cheese had to be abandoned and the Splodge became Australia before finally being burnt off by the sun during our holiday last year.

With The Splodge well and truly gone I thought I might be safe to try a little cheese. Well The Splodge has not reappeared on my chest. But a red, scabby rash about the size of a finger-nail has appeared on my tummy. It could be a coincidence but I don't think I will risk it. No more blue cheese for a while, I think.

RAS

Pink fingers

2011-04-24T23:01:00.001Z

Easter weekend was going to be challenging as we have had a great deal of family festivity. And we are enjoying an astonishing bout of late April sunshine - the air is awash with various kinds of seed, blossom and pollen. I don't get allergic hay fever, so I'm told - but I seem to get pseudo-hay fever caused by exposure to floating vegetable matter.

I've been taking montelukast daily for the last few days - and have also concentrated on eating fish - following the reappearance of the speckled rash on my belly as well as the odd symptom of sinusitis.

We went to a Thai restaurant, where I ordered prawn crackers, trout and egg fried rice. You never know for sure what other spices and herbs have been added - I was hoping not too many to these dishes.

When I pressed anything against my fingers during the meal, a bright pink rash appeared. At first I thought it was just my index finger, which I'd burnt on a light bulb the night before. I thought it was a kind of blistering - but it did not last long. However these rashes appeared on the fingers of both hands. They were a kind of bright pink - I tried to find the colour and consulted this site http://www.december.com/html/spec/color4.html. Spicy pink perhaps? Well it was a Thai restaurant.

Today there is no sign of this happening. Weird.

Using the ever-helpful Wikipedia I've found a benign condition called dermatographic urticaria. It seems the best explanation for the moment.

RAS

National Allergy Week

2011-04-12T20:27:00.000Z

I've just discovered it's supposed to be National Allergy Week in the UK. That's the week after World Allergy Week - now that's excellent timing. In fact it's so well co-ordinated that the nation's allergy specialists declared their backing for World Allergy Week last week, missing out their own National Allergy Week.

Is it too much to hope that a national week is truly national and involves all parties? Even better that the national week takes place at the same time as the world week? If you follow these things even a little, you will know there's a surplus of special weeks and days - sometimes they seem little more than a PR stunt. So to make an impact, a Week needs a lot going for it. Two weeks on the same topic one after the other are guaranteed to flop.

So far as I can tell National Allergy Week centres on Allergy UK. I checked their Facebook page but there's nothing there. However their web-site has a press release, which reflects what the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology said last week.

In fact their entire PR strategy seems to centre on Weeks - three of them in the last year. This is the list of press releases on their site for the last 12 months. There's just five of them:

National Allergy Week: 11th - 17th April 2011
Food Allergy Intolerance Week: 24th - 28th January 2011
Indoor Allergy Week: 25th - 29th October 2010
Allergy Friendly Hotels
National Allergy Week: 10th - 14th May 2010

For the record here is a list of the proposed weeks for the coming year:

Indoor Allergy Week: 14th -20th November 2011
Food Allergy and Intolerance Week: 23rd - 29th January 2012
National Allergy Week: 23rd - 29th April 2012
Indoor Allergy Week: 12th -18th November 2012

RAS

#worldallergyweek

2011-04-04T12:01:00.000Z

I've been asked to support World Allergy Week by using the hashtag in the title. It doesn't seem to be getting going - and that's a shame.

Looking into this, I get the impression the week is driven by the World Allergy Organisation - which is mainly doctors. As these problems affect millions, especially at this time of year when hay fever gets going, isn't it about time the victims helped to get things going?

It's interesting when you look at the statement from the British Society for Allergy, reported here, that they are still at the stage of training GPs in diagnosis. Isn't that alarming? Most GPs probably do a little better by giving people prescriptions also. But I noted the World Allergy Organisation refers to "multiple organ" problems increasing. Now if you have salicylate hypersensitivity you know what that means .... everything from the eyes to the knees. That can mean a host of minor symptoms and, if you have to take them to the GP, you really need the doctor to understand the underlying issues.

RAS

World Allergy Week

2011-04-01T15:00:00.000Z

Spring is stuttering into place in the UK. The trees and flowers are budding and blossoming while the weather alternates between hot and cold.

So, yes, it's a good time for World Allergy Week, which starts on Monday. To mark the occasion, I've remembered to get my repeat prescription, which I have managed without for several weeks.

Details here
RAS

Baked well tart

2011-03-17T00:32:00.000Z

Much classic cooking is simply about creating different textures and combinations from basic ingredients such as flour, eggs, milk and water.

So we set about making a salicylate-free equivalent of the Bakewell Tart. And it worked.

Actually my other half did the work. I'm told this is what you do.

Partly cook a thin layer of pastry on the bottom of a baking pan.

Lay sliced Golden Delicious apple on top - and then plain cake mixture on top of that.

Bake.

Delicious!

It's not quite as jammy as proper Bakewell tart. We need some ideas. Perhaps prepare the apple beforehand and add some sugar?

* Talking of apple, we bought some cut-price green apples from Asda's. I was wondering why I had symptoms today - itching in various places and a strange bleed on the lip tonight. Then I realised that although they looked like Golden Delicious there was no guarantee they were. They tasted a little stronger than GD. They were probably something else such as Granny Smith.

I tend to live with mild symptoms without complaining - but maybe I should make more effort to identify what is causing them.

RAS

Cheap bananas

2011-03-05T23:55:00.000Z

A few weeks ago I bought a big bag of market-price bananas from Tesco's. If you're lucky with these bananas they are edible. If you're unlucky they go off fast or fail to ripen properly. For a few pence, it's hit and miss.

These were large bananas and apparently just about ripe and at first quite edible. We put them in the fridge, where the skin turned brown but the inside stayed white.

Usable bananas are usually quite expensive and that's put me off experimenting with them. This was different. As time went by the flavour changed - they began to taste like the banana you get in tinned fruit salad, so far as I can recall tinned fruit salad. Not especially pleasant to eat raw.

I've tried cooking with bananas before. This time I fried up a mix of banana, golden delicious and tuna, with a little cabbage - then adding soy sauce for more flavour. I ate it with spaghetti. It was delicious, and, surprisingly, it tasted like curry. So maybe it would be even better with rice. I wonder how I can make it even more like curry. There is still the outstanding mystery of why tandoori appears on the diet list.

I used one for a banana split meal - with ice cream and cream. You could add chocolate sauce as well, I suppose.

After nearly two weeks, we used the last few bananas to make banana cake. Delicious and it lasted for a long time.

Now I wonder about fruit salad. I could make it with banana, golden delicious apple and green grapes. But I wonder where the juice would come from. Commercial salads often use a syrup - but the better quality ones use a fruit juice. Does anyone know how you could make a juice? I am thinking of a fruit salad with ice cream and cream. I am thinking and salivating.

RAS

Dark chocolate

2011-02-16T21:43:00.000Z

I'm not addicted to chocolate - I'm not - but without coffee it's the only stimulant that can help with working. I've been trying to eat plain, dark chocolate because it's supposed to be better for you. And I tend to buy cheap 200g bars from Tesco or Asda.

The visit to the GP about the health check still hasn't happened - but fitness and weight are now serious matters in my mind.Maybe some very dark chocolate would be the answer. It kills the appetite quicker than smoother, sweeter chocolates and should contain as much kick. It should be a way of cutting down fat and sugar intake. So a bar of Tesco 75% cocoa chocolate seemed a good idea.

In all this the research I did two years ago was forgotten. The problem is the darker the chocolate, the more the caffeine. 200g of plain chocolate is said to be equivalent to two cups of instant caffeinated coffee. Let's say the plain chocolate is 50% cocoa. So 40g of 75 per cent cocoa chocolate would be about 60% of a cup of caffeinated coffee.

And that's how it felt. Yes it killed the appetite and gave me a kick. It also gave the digestion a kick. It may be responsible for the ulcers in my mouth. It may also have triggered a bout of left-side syndrome (with gout in the left arm and leg and soreness in the eye.) It felt like the after-effects of drinking defac, filter coffee - which always seems to contain quite a lot of caffeine.

Tesco are now selling another brand of cheap, dark chocolate by Ryelands, and it's cheaper than Tesco's own brand. It claims to be about 50% cocoa. That's probably too strong but I'm trying it.

Depending how I get on with the doctor - if I ever get round to it - I may have to find a way of doing without chocolate.

RAS

Cookies

2011-02-08T14:24:00.000Z

Sometimes I need a sharp reminder there's a problem. I normally assume cookies are okay. After all they are just dough and chocolate chips, aren't they? I've always loved them and cheap cookies from Tesco or Asda don't cause a problem.

Someone gave us a packet of Maryland cookies and I have been happily munching them - even in spite of the visit to the doctor I must arrange to discuss the health screening. I was wondering about the crunchy bits, especially as my throat is getting lumpy and my tongue feels funny. I have checked the packet - they are indeed choc chip and hazelnut cookies.

Reminder to me: nuts are a problem, a real problem. Now to find a montelukast.

* Ref that health check: a friend had an identical scary letter from the screening company received on the same day. He went rushing to his doctor only to be told his cholesterol was mildly elevated. No pills, no exercise prescription, nothing. On the other hand....I must do something about it.
RAS

Bad news! Health check results

2011-01-29T21:13:00.001Z

It's well over three months since I had my NHS healthcheck. So I was gob-smacked today to get a letter telling me I have failed it. The letter actually says some of my indicators are 'outside the normal range' and that I need to see my GP, who will tell me about it. No information about which indicators.

I've been in a bad mood all day. My first thought was to write straight back and demand they give me the indicators before I see the GP. I was out walking for three hours this morning. At first I got really hot - which suggested to me I was about to have a heart attack. In truth I was too well wrapped up against the cold. Then I felt nothing - and that's been a problem with walking recently. I don't feel like it achieves anything - probably because I'm fitter than I was and stepped up my walking during the cold and snow, while others stepped down.

Now I feel all sorts of twinges in my chest - so I must definitely be developing angina and diabetes. I dare not eat anything.

The letter may just be recycling the body mass index measurement . This told me to lose a stone and I discussed it with the nurse at the time. Or they may have found something in the blood test. So I've been trying to find out what they test for. Certainly cholesterol and probably glucose. It would be a shock if those were high - however I've been on a restricted diet for nearly five years and there was always a risk. Although I work hard to consume at least five a day and eat lots of fish and cook in omega-3 oils, the truth is much else in my diet is not especially 'healthy'. And because I cannot take caffeine, I use chocolate and glucose to stimulate my brain. So that is worrying me. If there is a problem with cholesterol and glucose, what else can I do? And in spite of stepping up the exercise rate, I still feel as if I've put on weight since Christmas. I certainly am having little success in working up an appetite to justify the food I eat.

Somewhere I got the impression they also test for inflammatory substances, such as C-reactive protein. And she dug the needle straight into my left arm which was solid with gout at the time. So could it just be a freak result. But how on earth could I convince the doctor - who now will have all sorts of targets to stop me dying from heart disease, stroke or diabetes. I have checked this and so far as I can see the blood test was only for cholesterol.

I subtitled this blog 'How the British National Health Service deals with allergy'. I thought of removing the sub-title - but after today it stays. First of all why has it taken over three months to send me a letter that is no more than simply alarming. Secondly I still have little confidence of having a sensible discussion with a GP about how to manage the situation. The government has promised to extend patient choice of GPs. It's being resisted by doctors and frankly, when I tried to check out private GP services, I gained little confidence that the kind of doctor I need is out there. But more choice might help...

RAS

Tomato, tuna and tummy

2011-01-19T13:50:00.000Z

I tried my home-made tuna and tomato sauce. As I'd got a supply of tinned tomatoes I made the rest of the family a bolognese sauce at the same time. I cook for others like Beethoven wrote music - I have no idea what it tastes like and cannot taste as I go along. It's all pure guess work.

We also obtained a pack of shallots - which are allowed but we very rarely use. It was the last pack in Tesco's and reduced in price to 75p. I feel I could do more with them - can you pickle them like onions?

That was about two weeks ago and I may still be suffering. I had severe tummy-ache for several days following the meal. The Italian restaurants must be using a magic ingredient that counteracts the tomato - perhaps olive oil? This needs to be investigated further. I used about a third of the tin of tomatoes on myself and gave the rest to the others.

So I cannot recommend tuna and tomato as a way of getting tomato into the diet. However in case you have to cook bolognese sauce for the rest of the family when they refuse to share your sardine/mackerel/tuna and cabbage sauce, here is what I did:
brown mince in rapeseed oil;
stir fry some leek, cabbage and shallot in separate frying pan (and that formed the base for my own meal);
add the fried vegetables to browned mince, along with tin of tomato;
add a liberal dose of Italian herbs;
add a little bit of soy sauce;
add two beef stock cubes;
simmer and add some water from the pasta saucepan. If still too runny add a little flour to thicken.
I did not taste this once but they assured me it was delicious - and I did not catch them making faces behind my back.

RAS

Trying tomato

2011-01-03T02:31:00.012Z

Sometime ago I reported eating out in an Italian restaurant and having to eat a dish packed with tomato and herbs. The dish seemed to be fine because it was fish, rather than meat.

I've now had the same experience again. We found a reasonably-priced Italian restaurant with a good variety of choices. The dish I chose was linguine and king prawn. I didn't expect it to have quite so much tomato in it - that wasn't advertised. But it was delicious, really tasty. And there have been absolutely no side-effects, zero side-effects. I did leave most of the chunks of tomato - but there was plenty in the pasta sauce also.

It helped no doubt I took a montelukast that day and also helped I was eating a sea-food meal. But after a Christmas season which was quite difficult - and that may have been down to drinking white wine - it's fun to enjoy a meal with strong tastes and suffer absolutely no after-effects.

Now, if I remember right, my last list suggested tomato was low in salicylate - not high and not zero. But I've avoided it as I've avoided onion (see a current discussion on this site), because it seemed strongly implicated when problems first started. I vividly remember that meal of celery and cherry tomato when I was on a near-starvation diet and how my mouth just swelled up. The allergy consultant was also impressed by that story.

And Italian food was strongly linked to my initial symptoms. My body could not handle spaghetti bolognese and pizza. So should I try to introduce more tomato into my diet?

RAS

Coping with Christmas

2010-12-20T01:27:00.000Z

I love this time of year - but every year now I have to check my anticipation. As I approach the season I think of stuffing myself with mince pies, a rich, dark Christmas pudding and turkey laced with cranberry sauce, stuffing, parsnips and rich gravy - followed somehow by taking the first bite of a rich dark Christmas cake.

It is all fantasy - and now I'm saying to people that Christmas is a time I lose weight when they put it on. I've been circumspect this year. I used to love those early Christmas dinners with work colleagues, friends and associates. Now I'm avoiding them. If I won't be particularly missed, I don't go - it's just too awkward to keep asking for the turkey to be served without gravy and for an alternative dessert to the Christmas pudding. I'm trying to persuade the family mince pie maker to make Golden Delicious apple pies with the same texture as mince pies. I'm still waiting.

There's flu around. I wonder if I could pick up the swine flu virus on Thursday in time to allow me to drink loads of wine to see it off - as I've done for the last couple of years. No sign of it coming anywhere near me so far. Perhaps I'd better go and sit in the doctor's surgery and see if I can pick it up...

RAS

No bananas?

2010-11-28T22:07:00.000Z

This Danish study alarmed me as it says what I've always feared someone would say - that bananas aren't that great for you. Nor grapes.

The authors claim it pretty well settles the question of which diet to use to lose weight - low-carb, low fat and high protein. That seems to have sense, but what about fish - which surely is quite heavy in fish fat? I rely on bananas for my five-a-day, I find Golden Delicious apples increasingly unpalatable and probably rather more expensive than cheap bananas.

The conclusions of the Danish study are interesting but I'm not sure it settles the question of diet. For a start it involved barely a thousand families. I am certainly still stepping up my consumption of fish. I've just discovered the joy of grilled sardines. The grill helps to heat the house on a cold day and they make a reasonable quick snack for lunch or a light dinner.

And the good news is that my left arm has all but healed - no doubt thanks to grilled sardines. It has taken weeks but now it is no more than a little stiff - and it is getting better not worse in spite of Britain's icy weather. It's been a slow process and that's my excuse for only posting once before in November.

RAS

Fish oil toothpaste?

2010-11-02T22:13:00.002Z

Scientists seem to have confirmed what some of us have known for a while - that fish oils can prevent gum disease.

http://www.englemed.co.uk/10/10nov022_fish_oil_gums.php

This is the story that we know: gum disease is not only caused by infection but by inflammation;

if you have salicylate hypersensitivity you know that eating fish will reduce reactions and reduce inflammation.

What's interesting about this sort of study is whether it is, in fact, picking up and averaging out the impact on a sub-group of people who react badly to omega-6. Or whether everyone benefits from this kind of effect. In the research 8.2 per cent of people had gum disease.

There could even be other explanations. For instance that eating oily fish or cod liver oil kills the appetite and deters the consumption of sugary foods - Atkins diet style. Just a thought.

Toothpaste made of fish oil anyone?

RAS

Arm and leg

2010-10-24T13:33:00.000Z

By Friday night I had painful gout in both my left arm and my left leg. It was probably aggravated by drinking a little whisky at a party and tasting some nibbles which turned out to be somewhat spicy. Yesterday, Saturday, it had gone away again - but the arm did not take long to get sore. My left eye is also a little sore - confirming that the left-side syndrome is raging again.

Two months after developing this sore arm I'm beginning to think I need to take it seriously, quite seriously. So I got my montelukast renewed and plan to take it daily. I've been eating oily fish, sardines last night and salmon with cabbage and rice for Sunday lunch today. I had a heart health check last week - apparently commissioned by the NHS. I was told I probably need to lose a stone in weight. The last time I lost weight was when I thought I had wheat allergy and I lost half a stone. That was miserable - although it might have been the anti-histamines. I lost a few pounds on holiday and I guess I've put that back. I'm afraid my healthy meals probably won't help - they're far too filling. The nurse recommended exercise - she's right and provided I can stop my limbs going stiff I need to do more. If I "lose" my left arm and leg it's going to be challenging - right-handed table tennis possibly?

She took some blood and promised to get it tested for enzymes. As she took it from my left arm - which was full of gout - I wonder what enzymes they are going to find. I'll await the doctor's summons.

RAS

Elbow and fish

2010-10-15T13:13:00.000Z

My left elbow is still a little sore and that's after about six weeks. I nearly got rid of it. Over five days earlier in the week I ate six meals of fish and just one of chicken and at the end the arm was just about back to normal. That shows the power of fish. Indeed the meals included a McDonalds fillet o'fish and other catered items.

Mostly it's not stiff - just a soreness which feels like stiffness. Regular readers will know most of my problems are on the left and it's quite worrying as I'm left-handed. I'm trying to make myself ambidextrous. Typing is an amidextrous activity and maybe I need to move the mouse to the right hand side - like everyone else - in order to prevent RSI on the left. Just to be clear, this problem is not at root RSI. As well as the stiffness there's a red rash indicating that's where the salicylate reactions are concentrating at the moment.

RAS

Good caterers!

2010-10-07T05:11:00.002Z

I went to an event and gave them my dietary requirements. Yes, the caterers will do salicylate-free, I was told.

So there I am waiting for my dry tuna and cheese sandwiches. Then I glance at the hot-dishes from which they are serving food. That looks good, I think. It looks like salmon, spinach and leek?

Sure enough it is. And everyone is eating a healthy salicylate-free meal. Now that's what I call good catering! Congratulations. (I wonder whether they got the idea from this site?)

RAS

But this is bad news...

2010-10-07T00:06:00.003Z

http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/NationalPressReleases/2010PressReleases/100929SalmonellaBariellybeansprouts/

Not long since I kept a packet of bean sprouts in the fridge for quite a long time. Has anyone ever successfully managed to cook bean sprouts?

RAS

Too much fish oil?

2010-10-06T22:11:00.001Z

Well too much of anything is always bad for you.

http://news.msu.edu/story/8389/

RAS

UV therapy

2010-09-14T09:50:00.002Z

Several weeks since I returned from holiday and The Splodge has not returned. It's tried once or twice - the odd bit of itching and small rash - but no sign of it making a come-back. So that's the benefits of sunlight therapy.

On holiday I ate fish and seafood and drank wine and ate olives and swam in the sea and was mostly healthy. Now back in the real world, small abuses build up. I've tried keeping fish in my diet and tried drinking wine. I blame the wine for the arthritis creeping up my left side. For there is the question of maintaining fitness. Walking is fine but time-consuming and not possible daily. Jogging is out of the question as my left knee gives way fast. So I tried some upper body exercises. I had done this successfully before going away but now all of a sudden my left elbow has gone stiff and swollen. I'm pretty certain it's salicylate because there's also a slight rash on the elbow, my left eye is a little sore and the left index finger is a little painful.

RAS

Sunburn?

2010-08-05T12:59:00.001Z

On holiday in a hotter place than normal and pushing the limits. White wine every night. Liberal doses of children's hypoallergenic suncream.

Then at the end of one day my left shoulder and left chest glowed bright red with a specific pattern of redness stretching around the Splodge. It was odd as nowhere else was sunburnt and I wasn't conscious of having sat still in one position, although it was possible my left side had more sun exposure than the right after swimming.

It seemed to have something to do with the Splodge, which was unaffected. In fact a red pattern, roughly the shape of a stag's head, with antlers, spread around it. Now if I'm right part of the redness you get from sunburn is an inflammatory reaction, caused by the body seeking to prevent damage from burn. So I wondered, in view of my slack attitude to the Diet, whether there was an extra inflammatory reaction. Probably a bit of both - the shoulder has browned while the stag's head remains - and what was The Splodge seems a lot better.

I took a montelukast but did nothing else. However yesterday a flea bit me under the same shoulder. I maybe scratched it once or twice and by the end of the day a huge red weal had emerged, as if stung by a jelly-fish. I wondered if something was going on earlier as the index finger on my left hand started to become stiff and sore. That's usually a sign something's swelling somewhere.

I thought for a minute it might be a jelly-fish - but once I mouthed the word "weal" I remembered this had happened before. As I didn't feel great, emergency procedures swung in - montelukast plus a fast acting anti-histamine plus a ban on alcohol. I don't feel great today.

RAS

Ear clear!

2010-07-24T14:23:00.002Z

I was thinking of getting some Swim-Ear, which apparently you administer before swimming to protect your ears. Then I was in Tesco and saw some earwax remover drops. The ingredients are based on camomile - which is okay - so I thought I would give them a try.

I tried in my left ear, which tends to be worst. Half the drops spilled out over my face. I tried swallowing to open the eustachian tubes to see if anything would flush through. I think something came.

Later, as instructed, I rinsed the ear with warm water. Some definitely dribbled through to the mouth. But then the ear hurt, quite a lot.

Whether there was any wax there and whether it's been cleared I have no idea. However a few hours later the pain has subsided. So I'm testing it by playing some music. I like music with mandolin, dulcimer and flute, which is ideal as it's the high frequencies you lose when the ears are blocked - I think. I've put headphones on for max quality and it sounds great!

RAS

Giving up a dream

2010-07-18T19:55:00.002Z

I've almost given up the idea of going scuba-diving. It's been a life-time dream. I did a trial run round a Cornish bay once - but this year we were going to a location where I could go on a course.

Firstly there is the problem of getting a medical certificate. Secondly I've begun to question whether I should really attempt it, that in fact having symptoms of sinusitis and blocked nose may be the worst possible thing for a diver.

British divers seem to have adopted a new medical certificate system which looks very good on paper. It should hook you up to a doctor who is reasonably expert.

Problem 1: I emailed a local doctor who is on the list of the UK Sport Diving Medical Committee and have had absolutely no response.

Problem 2: It is not clear to me whether the new system is intended for casual divers or only diving club members. Maybe that's why the doctor has not replied.

Problem 3: I checked a dive centre where we are going and they are using a completely different medical form.

I considered lying and declaring myself medically fit. Maybe I could declare myself cured just as we go on holiday. In some ways I've been doing quite well recently, especially when I eat fish. I went to a dinner with a set menu the other day and ate most of it - including all sorts of bits of green mixed in with starters and sauces. In spite of that the Splodge is calm and my left eye hardly hurts. But sadly my nose is quite blocked.

I considered taking the form to my local GP. Then I began wondering whether I could reasonably ask him to sign it - or even if he would.

So I've spent the weekend reading up on the issue. This was the best and the scariest page, with a good link to a very detailed pdf. During diving you have to make sure air flows between the air, the sinuses and the nose so you can deal with increases and reductions in air pressure. That's why they don't like allergies and hay fever because it creates mucus that can block the connections. As I've seen in the past, the ears can fill up with wax quite quickly.

I think I could master the most sophisticated techniques for equalising pressure. I've used some of them for years for underwater swimming. But the guide says you should get a click of the ears when you practice. I can't get that click and frankly I can't pretend I'm not a little gummed up and have been quite gummed up in the past. In short, the risks of getting it wrong are too great and could cause major damage to my hearing.

I'm currently thinking I shall do some surface-diving for a couple of days and see how it goes. But really and truly this is beginning to look like a dream that will have to wait to the after-life.

RAS

Cashews and spices

2010-07-08T13:45:00.001Z

I was walking round with a splitting headache this morning and wondering why. Eventually it subsided and I realised it centred on my left eye, which was yet again sore and bloodshot.

Then I remembered I visited a lovely Asian family last night and they insisted on giving me hospitality. Brown rice, I thought, and tucked in - only to discover it was highly flavoured white rice. They assure me their food was quite plain - but the word is relative. They produced some meat which they told me was unspiced. Maybe - but highly flavoured.

The food was delicious and I tried not to eat too much of it. When I got home I took a montelukast.

Sadly someone had also stocked the house up with cashew nuts, which I also snacked on yesterday. Cashews are meant to be okay but are in fact rich in omega-6 oil, which, of course aggravates any reactions.

When I got up this morning I felt utterly drained and could not manage my normal morning exercises. Then the headache. Thankfully it seems to have passed and I have stocked up on bananas and cheese for lunch.

RAS

Rash about radish

2010-07-03T21:33:00.001Z

For some reason I got it into my head that radish is okay. I even picked up a bag of the round red crunchy vegetables at the supermarket. I like them but, boy, did they sting my mouth.

That may explain why for the last couple of days the Splodge - which is now the Strawberry - has been itching quite a lot and why my left eye got quite sore and blurred. In fact my left jaw also got quite sore and I began thinking, yet again, it was probably a tooth infection.

Then as I crunched a radish for breakfast - sometimes I do desperate things - I thought I had better check. The list does not say radishes are low in salicylate. In fact it says they are "very high". So I've had to abandon the bag of radishes and try and persuade someone else to eat them.

The list does say beetroot is low and I've tried it recently without obvious effects. I think I should try more beetroot.

RAS

Montelukast!

2010-06-16T21:23:00.001Z

Montelukast - at last!

I popped in to the doctors' at midday and there was no queue. Nor was there a repeat prescription waiting. The receptionist admitted there had been some problems with email - in fact I think they've changed the address.

However she was very helpful and printed off a repeat prescription and then went off to find a GP to sign it. So I take everything back.

I popped a pill as soon as I got home. I certainly feel better now - the eye's not so sore, the jaw's barely aching and the Splodge is hardly itching. Maybe another tomorrow.

RAS

Summer problems

2010-06-15T11:46:00.001Z

It all started when we went to a wedding in rural England at the weekend. It was in the heartland of rural England, green, lush fruit-growing country and rolling hills. Wonderful - but as we drove out my left eye began to itch. When I touched it, I could feel it swelling. And I hadn't had a chance to take montelukast.

It seemed to calm down but today is awful. The eye is sore, so's my left jaw and the Splodge (on my upper left chest) is itching. I emailed for a repeat prescription last week but haven't had an acknowledgement. This morning I tried to pop into the doctor's surgery to see if they had it - but there was a queue stretching out of the door at reception. It always amazes me how long it takes GP receptionists to log that people have arrived and invite them to take a seat. It might not be their fault - it might be a patient.

I've tried a salt mouth-wash in case there's a gum or tooth infection aggravating it but it's not made the slightest difference. I don't want to take anti-histamine as I have a busy day and need my wits about me.

And I've still got to get my scuba-diving medical sorted out. I need the montelukast.

RAS

Strawberries and splodge

2010-06-10T10:13:00.002Z

One or two people have noticed I've been a little erratic in posting over the last few weeks. In fact I had wanted, time permitting, to do some commentaries on some of the allergy news that has been around. I thought the report that burgers aggravate asthma - but fish relieves - it, was interesting and relevant, especially as the researchers did not really get to the bottom of the causes. The study found no link between meat and IgE allergy - the kind you can detect with a blood test and which causes normal hay fever. But the link between burgers, fish and asthma was strong. That may simply mean that children who eat lots of burgers tend to be overweight and do their asthma no good at all. Or it could reflect the impact of a smaller group whose problems are caused by salicylate sensitivity. Does anyone know how many people have problems with salicylate?

I've also been inattentive to myself. I've noticed over the last few days that the Splodge is no longer the shape of a reverse Australia. In fact it's beginning to itch a little. This may have been aggravated by a rare bout of sunshine and heat in England. Last night I was at a buffet and the "dessert" was a kind of chocolate-topped meringue nest with a strawberry cream in it - topped by a strawberry. I removed the strawberry and spooned out the strawberry cream. Not all of it, of course. Then I tried to eat around the edges. It wasn't very nice - like cardboard - so I had no qualms about giving up. But the reactions were almost instant and my left eye got quite sore for a short period.

Last night the Splodge was really red and itchy. This morning it had calmed down a little but still itches. I went to get a montelukast only to discover I had run out. The Splodge is now a splodge-shape, like a squashed strawberry. I think I had better measure it to make sure it's not growing. And must get some more montelukast.

RAS

Seaside!

2010-06-05T20:20:00.001Z

A week of glorious weather, by British standards, and I found myself at the seaside. I had no sun-tan lotion so I popped into the beach shop. As always the ingredients on the bottles of lotion are far too small to read. However I took a chance on a bottle of Aloha premium suncare, which claimed to have been "dermatologically tested". As it's been tested on a random and decent-sized sample of people I guessed any problems of salicylate sensitivity might have been exposed. Does anyone have any idea how many people suffer from reactions to salicylate? What sort of general sample would detect problems?

I sprayed it on my face and arms with no obvious reactions. It might have helped that I ate lots of fish during the week and hardly any border-line food so was enjoying quite a lot of tolerance. Also I suspect a bit of sunshine helps!

Later I put my glasses on and discovered it contained aloe. However no problems following the day out.

RAS
PS the spellchecker on my blogger has highlighted two words as doubtful: dermatologically and salicylate. Curious.

Salads

2010-05-26T13:14:00.001Z

I'm not one for spending time making salads but now it's summer, the cupboard is bare and I wanted a light but filling lunch. I normally keep a stock of crisp lettuce and celery.

I've noticed that commercial salads increasingly are fleshed out with red cabbage - and it's ok. We had some grated cheese sandwich filler in the fridge and nobody knows more about chopping red cabbage than me.

So that's what I've done - mixed red cabbage and grated cheese, eaten with a fork. Mmmm! It's been delicious and filling.

Perhaps I can come up with more ideas for tasty and easy salads over the summer. Any thoughts?

RAS

Was it the wrong tooth?

2010-05-21T20:27:00.001Z

To tell the tooth, I'm not sure. I thought she was meant to take out a wisdom tooth on my lower jaw but instead she pulled it from the upper jaw. I questioned this and she said this was right. It came out fast with a satisfying crunch. Maybe there are no wisdom teeth on the lower jaw. The problem is the ache on my lower jaw is still there.

It probably wasn't helped by my indulging in Shloer fizzy grape juice yesterday. I took a montelukast beforehand but my lower left lip has been thick and my teeth aching since. Yesterday my left eye was quite sore and itchy. It's still sore but a little better today.

No harm done. As I managed to get it on the NHS, it cost less than £30, a fraction of what I was spending last year. And it didn't take much of the dentist's time - she has a reputation for pulling wisdom teeth. You may realise that I am increasingly wondering whether my allergic-style symptoms have been aggravated by gum problems. Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

The operation seems to have solved very little. I now need to get on with sorting out my scuba diving medical and see if the medical expert passes me to dive or not.

RAS

Sore eye, no tooth

2010-05-17T22:38:00.001Z

Now my left eye is really sore. That's because I had the wisdom tooth removal today. I was told to expect soreness and pain - but in reality it's no worse than I've had to put up with at different times in the past few years. I'm hoping it's the last time and this will remove a source of inflammation. I'm hoping.

So far I've taken just one paracetamol.

The stop-start British spring has reminded me of horrors to come. Saturday was a lovely warm muggy day and as I was out in it it felt as if hordes of insects were alighting on my skin. I don't know if it's the bugs or the heat irritating the skin or reactions to vegetable matter in the air. Even though it's mid-May the volcanic ash and whatever else is going on with the climate has made spring cold in Britain. Maybe we won't have a long hot summer after all.

The dentist told me I could not exercise for 24 hours so my original plans to do some gardening today had to be put to one side.

RAS

What difference does a wisdom tooth make?

2010-05-01T00:16:00.001Z

It's early the end of April and I didn't realise it was so long since I last posted.

I went to the dentist and she confirmed that a wisdom tooth on my right jaw is playing up. It only needs a filling but we agreed we might as well take it out. I used salt-water mouth washes and lots of flossing to calm my teeth down and haven't had any major problems for a couple of weeks.

My left eye remains a little sore so I'm looking forward to seeing the impact of the wisdom tooth removal which is booked in a couple of weeks.

RAS

Scuba diving and wisdom teeth

2010-04-05T11:52:00.001Z

I have found an NHS dentist and booked an appointment for the coming week. I thought by now I would be agony as for most of the last week I have been convinced a wisdom tooth on my left jaw was about to blow. Oddly, I have survived Easter and a great deal of chocolate and food - and some whisky - with minimal harm.

What happened last week was alarming. The left-side syndrome concentrated on my jaw, my ear, my left eye and my left neck. I wondered for a while whether it was in fact meningitis triggered by a tooth infection. Am I becoming a hypochondriac?

I assumed it was an infection, triggered by allergic inflammation, and took regular mouthwashes of warm salty water. I imagine that is what worked. My leg is a lot better and Australia (on my chest) is quite faint - which is what makes me alarmed that the current problems are caused by infection

I have now found the procedure for getting a medical certificate for scuba diving. It's been simplified recently - you start off with a telephone conversation with a local expert and you may be called for examination. However they are likely to be concerned about ear problems - and at the moment I have a faint sensation in my left ear.

If there's a wisdom tooth aggravating the problems, I want it pulled before I make that call.

RAS

Left-eye syndrome

2010-03-27T23:16:00.001Z

I don't know what I did. Maybe it was the pre-cooked "flavoured" chicken from last night.

Today I realised I've got a left-side syndrome. All the problems are on my left-hand side - a painful eye, aching tooth, stiff shoulder, Australia - which was The Splodge - on my left chest and gout in my left knee. By this afternoon I even had a headache in the left side of my head. When my fingers hurt, it's on the left-hand. You can explain some of it by sinusitis but not the knee and shoulder. I've wondered whether there might be a wisdom tooth problem also. My dentist doesn't think so - but the right side wisdom has been removed.

It's not just been today. My shoulder's been stiff all week.

I haven't taken many montelukasts recently and that may have allowed problems to build up. I took one last night and another tonight and am feeling a little better.

Is there any point in discussing the left-side problem with a doctor? I know the cause and what to do about it. It just means I have to police the diet more rigorously than I have been.

RAS

Pain and gain

2010-03-20T00:18:00.002Z

I think I overdosed on redbush tea.

Last night and this morning I had an aching pain in the index finger of my left hand - and a fair amount of aching on my left arm.

I took it to mean I had overdosed - and in fact when I woke up this morning there were few signs of the cold. And Australia, which was the Splodge, was quite red.

So I've given up redbush tea again and taken up decaf instant coffee - which doesn't taste too bad now. Tonight I took a montelukast and the ache has almost gone.

RAS

More dish-water

2010-03-17T23:34:00.001Z

I've been drinking redbush tea for the last 48 hours. This morning at breakfast it tasted like dish-water but tonight it's been okay.

It makes me feel a lot better, especially at breakfast. This cold, which may not be a cold, is complicated to make sense of. Tonight I'm feeling itchy, especially around Australia, and my nose is stuffy. The tongue's a little tingly but my chest feels wheezy and cold - like with a cold. That suggests hay fever- like reactions - maybe at the same time as a cold.

Last night I tried some instant decaf. It wasn't too bad but had absolutely no taste. There's another explanation for the dish-water taste - that is that my sense of taste was impaired before and has now been restored. Maybe I was just tasting instant decaf and badly brewed redbush for what it is - dishwater.

Tomorrow I may find out.

RAS

Drinking dish-water

2010-03-15T23:33:00.000Z

I made a cup of instant decaf coffee the other night and it tasted like dishwater. In fact I threw it away, thinking maybe it was dishwater.

The same happened yesterday at breakfast-time and I haven't dared touch the stuff since. You may say, of course it tasted like dishwater - it's not as though there's much original coffee left in instant decaf.

The trouble is I normally enjoy my decaf coffee. So something's gone wrong. Over the weekend I had to dine out. I took a montelukast - the first in ages - and let the brakes off a little, even drinking half a glass of wine.

No appetite for days so I've been wondering what's going on.

Tonight I think it might be another cold, another one! It feels like one. I'm sneezy and starting to cough and narcoleptic. Australia - which used to be The Splodge - is quite faint, but that could be the montelukast. Or could it be a hay fever type reaction?

RAS

Taking the brakes off...

2010-03-07T22:53:00.001Z

This weekend I took the brakes off. I drank wine with my meals. I had a pecular Chinese concoction when I went out for a pub lunch. It was based on bean sprouts and egg fried rice - which are all okay - but had other vegetables too, such as onions.

I thought last week's cold might have made a difference. And I wasn't sure whether it was still around. It seemed to turn into a chronically stuffy noise - but then I have lived with one of those for some years, and it's not caused by a cold virus.

I was wrong. When you take the brakes off, you slam into a brick wall. Today I have red blotches all over me. There's not been too much itching I'm pleased to say. But Australia - which was the Splodge and before that The Ring - has been quite red. And there is chronically stuffy nose.

It's helpful to be reminded sometimes that
a) there is a problem and
b) the diagnosis seems to be correct.

RAS

Australia fades

2010-03-02T16:05:00.001Z

As luck would have it, I was due to go to a Chinese buffet meal last night. As I've said before a cold should be a cause for partying, not for misery - as it was over the weekend.

I had some sandwiches at lunchtime yesterday and they were quite spicy. I'd love to say that last night I really indulged - but habits are hard to break. What happened was I didn't worry about what I was eating. I chose essentially low salicylate food - plain meat, so-called crab feet, chicken and sweet-corn soup, egg fried rice and banana fritter. And cheese cake, sweet, plain cheese cake.

In the last stages of a cold it's difficult to know, yet again, whether breaking the diet is going to aggravate the runny nose and sore throat. Today I'm still feeling a little sneezy and tired but it's mainly gone. My left eye has been sore, on and off, over the weekend. So is that the cold causing sinusitis - or sinusitis caused by attempts to get rid of the cold by drinking redbush tea.

The Splodge, which was The Ring, has been looking like Australia for a couple of weeks, almost so that I could uncover in the summer and pretend it was a tattoo of down under. Alarmingly over the weekend it seemed to darken in the area of New South Wales.

Today it's very faint, in spite of last night's excesses. In the back of my mind, I've been wondering whether the cold meant the allergic problems are going away - or even that the virus itself might solve them. If that happened, I wouldn't be able to write so much on this blog. But I'd be able to enjoy my summer holidays.

RAS

The thick of it

2010-03-01T10:41:00.000Z

This has turned out to be the mother and father of all colds. I feel like one of those unfortunate native Americans who were first exposed to the cold and flu viruses against which they had no immunity.

For the last four years, no cold has got past the tip of my nose. So why have I suddenly succumbed.

I have been drinking redbush tea all weekend. Each cup gives me a temporary fillip. On Saturday night I slept for 12 hours and stayed in bed until the afternoon. I did stir at 8am and had a cup of redbush and a paracetamol and then went back to bed. I had a couple of glasses of sherry before lunch - a good tonic but it burnt my tongue.

Despite a restful Sunday and another good eight hours sleep last night , I am still thick with cold today. Perhaps I should consume more salicylates - maybe try an orange - to stir up the immune system some more.

RAS

A stinking cold!

2010-02-27T00:09:00.001Z

I have a stinking cold! It really is a cold, I am convinced and not hay-fever.

It came on overnight and last night I wasn't sure. But this morning I checked and The Splodge was nearly invisible. And tonight it felt as if I was getting the shivers. So I had the pleasure of having redbush tea for breakfast and another cup tonight. Both cups made me a feel a lot better

A funny week. I've switched back to buying cheap, dark chocolate. In fact we came back with eight bars of it from the supermarket - that's a lot. The advantage is that I eat less of it than of dairy milk - which is far too addictive and fattening.

However my teeth and mouth have not been happy. Soreness around the jaw and an ulcer in the mouth. My dentist would say it's a return of gum disease and I did swill my mouth with salt water a couple of times, especially when my left wisdom tooth seemed to get sore. Is that the dark chocolate or the sugar in the dark chocolate? Maybe both.

I'm a little worried my immune system seems to be swinging from one extreme to another - from over-reacting to succumbing fast to a cold virus.

RAS

The search for shampoo

2010-02-20T12:48:00.022Z

Someone gave me a pack of Nivea "sensitive" products for Christmas. It's taken me a long time to report on them as it's taken me a long time to test them.

That's not quite true. There is a shaving cream, which is just fine. It's main plant ingredient is chamomile, which we know is okay, and some palm oil product.

So I have been thinking that Nivea might have solved the problem and produced a range of salicylate free bathroom goods.

This week I tried the shower gel. It seemed okay. The Splodge, which was The Ring, did not flare up. But in the light of day I have just checked the ingredients, which are written in incredibly small print. They are radically different from the shaving cream and include sodium salicylate, citric acid and I suspect quite a lot of coconut oil.

So why no reaction? If you remember the Imperial Leather test, that particular product is choc-a-bloc with salicylate, and long before I knew anything about this problem it used to leave me bright red and scorched after a shower.

As stated earlier we do have cold viruses around so my immune system may be a little low this week. And until my encounter with the Tandoori prawns I had been successfully observing a salicylate-free life. Perhaps I will try a little again sometime.

Some advice to manufacturers: you are not "sensitive" if you include salicylates; nor are you "sensitive" if you write your ingredients in tiny print.

RAS

Tandoori and curry

2010-02-19T12:42:00.001Z

In my search to make salicylate-free curry, I recently tried to find tandoori spice in our local supermarket, which serves an ethnically mixed population. No luck!

Finally last night I found myself in curry house eating with friends. My main course was chicken and chips, no spice, no curry. And I had forgotten to take any montelukast.

When it came to starters there were a number of tandoori choices. Time to give it a go, I thought. So I selected tandoori king prawns. Only two came on the plate. They were okay but pretty insubstantial..

No obvious or immediate consequences. We've had cold viruses around all week and I may have one. As always it's impossible to tell except by measuring The Splodge, which has been quite pale. So that may have helped prevent reactions.

Was it my imagination or were my lips strangely blue last night? I've just checked again and now they are red - they were definitely oddly blue last night.

I've now checked Wikipedia, which is the fount of all knowledge, and it turns out that "Tandoori" is not a specific spice at all. It is a method of cooking.

So what on earth is "tandori spice powder" (sic) doing on my diet list? Wikipedia goes on to explain that tandoori chicken is marinated in "garam masala, garlic, ginger, cumin, cayenne pepper, and other spices depending on the recipe. Cayenne, red chili powder, or other spices give the typical red color. Turmeric produces a yellow-orange color."

Presumably at some point a biochemist picked up a vial containing something called "tandori spice powder". But what was in it?

No wonder my lips turned blue and I spent half the night in the bathroom.

This is all very sad - as it seems to put paid to my hopes of ever eating curry again.

RAS

Caffeine!

2010-02-08T18:47:00.000Z

Someone slipped me a caffeinated coffee today. It appeared in front of me when I wasn't looking and I didn't think to check before I downed half of it.

I know it was caffeinated because
a) I've been buzzing round like a honey-bee all day;
b) my left eye became sore and painful and my tongue swelled.

It may have helped shake off the last of the flu-like virus. I haven't felt so stiff and sore today. However tonight the temperature's plummeting - and as I sit shivering that makes it hard to know whether it's me or the drop in temperature.

RAS

Flu scare!

2010-02-07T16:00:00.000Z

I am reluctantly concluding that I may really have flu this week. If so I've made a hash of it.

It started with a sneeze on Monday and by Monday evening I was getting shooting pains somewhere between the lungs and stomach. Then my shoulders got stiffer and stiffer. Now the aching is running all round my back and I've lost my appetite. On top of that my body seems to want more and more sleep - and even when I've had enough sleep I've been dozy. But there's been no obvious fever. And although I've had a snuffle all week there's not been any obvious coughing. And there's nothing new about a persistent snuffle.

I had a good walk yesterday and was then in bed by about 9pm. I slept through to 9am with one interruption but still felt rotten this morning. Maybe the result of too much sleep?

When it started happening I took montelukast for a couple of days. I thought someone had probably fed me caffeinated coffee rather than decaf. I don't suppose there's any official guidance on taking montelukast during flu but it seems to me it must be the worst possible thing - as it dampens down the immune system. I wonder whether that explains the absence of fever?

So this morning I had my old friend redbush tea for breakfast. It didn't make me feel any better, not nearly as refreshing as it normally is. The Splodge, which used to be The Ring, is still quite faint so that suggests the immune system is a little weak. I've got a swelling in my throat now - but I don't know if that was the redbush or if it's a virus. How can I tell?

I've just used the NHS Direct symptom checker. Its conclusion is "flu-like illness or swine flu". That sounds right, although I think the symptom-checker was confused by the absence of fever. I hope it's right because otherwise all these symptoms could be quite disturbing.

RAS

Scuba diving

2010-01-30T09:12:00.000Z

I have a life-long ambition to go scuba diving. I've done it once - a trial run round the bottom of a Cornish cove. Cornish coves are terrific - great underwater forests and a reasonable number of fish swimming in them.

This year I thought I might achieve it. We're planning a holiday in a bay with training centres and warm water.

It occurred to me to check the medical criteria. I've found the self-certification form used by one of the training centres. No chance! If you have allergies, sinusitis, rhinusitis or a history of ear problems, you cannot just turn up and dive. You have to get checked by a doctor. So your breathing has to be perfect.

Today it's not feeling perfect. I have chronic catarrh and my left eye is sore again. It's probably been aggravated by a glass of whisky last night. I am fairly sure none of this is the common cold. But I don't feel any difficulty breathing. And when I flew last year I didn't have any problems.

The way it seems to work is that you sign up to a dive centre, they give you a medical form and then tell you to go and see a doctor. We cannot risk that happening on holiday. So I need to get hold of the most official form I can.

I can imagine my doctor's reaction. I guess they could jump either way - don't do it because it will be their fault if anything goes wrong - or what's the fuss about? Really I need to find a specialist doctor who knows what the risks are. Do they exist? Should it be a problem?

RAS

How to miss the point and offend millions

2010-01-22T10:44:00.000Z

I can see what this report in Britain's Daily Telegraph was getting at .... but it, oh, so misses so many points.

The writer quotes experts as saying too many people are diagnosing themselves with food allergy and that food allergies are much rarer than people think. They then state that people are starving themselves of nutrients in pointless attempts to avoid food allergies.

Yes, up to a point Lord Copper.

I'm one who self-diagnosed with wheat allergy. I lost half a stone in a year. But I didn't give up wheat or gluten before seeing my GP. As I've said before, I was lucky - I developed obvious symptoms. My mouth and tongue swelled and my skin sprouted peculiar rashes. So I got a referral to a specialist. Before that I'd suffered from all those general symptoms associated with food intolerance. After a big meal of pizzas I spent about a week in the bathroom.

And when the wheat allergy tests came up negative, the specialist made another suggestion by letter. That was salicylate. Subsequently I was able to follow this through with a specialist hospital dietician. I understand not everybody gets this service, not everybody gets obvious symptoms.

The point it is wasn't wheat. It wasn't the pizza crust, it was everything else - the tomato, the spices, the herbs. I'd never liked tinned tomatoes.

Now there is no test for salicylate hypersensitivity. I understand there are other basic chemicals, such as sulphates, that can cause similar problems.

So yes, I accept that wheat allergy is rare. I starved myself of wheat and gluten unnecessarily for a year - but it was an experience and I lost weight. If somebody has allergy or food intolerance symptoms, it doesn't mean there's not a problem - just that there may not be an easy answer.

RAS

Onion and coleslaw

2010-01-13T12:54:00.001Z

I'm eating a cheese and coleslaw sandwich from Tesco and I taste onion. I have just put on my glasses and checked the ingredients, which are in small print. Sure enough there is onion and pepper. Why do they put onion in everything?

Really I should throw it away but it is snowing and I am hungry so I will continue eating it. I have not taken a montelukast today so I can expect to get itchy later. I must be careful for the next few days as a dentist appointment is due and I want to avoid inflammation in my mouth - so she does not prescribe all sorts of treatments and visits to the hygienist.

Yesterday I took a montelukast and ate a piece of black forest gateau. It was mainly chocolate with a little bit of cherry. Frankly, the unaccustomed taste of the cherry did little for me. I removed the cherry glace from the top. No major effects apart from a little bit of itching and a slightly embarrassing runny nose.

RAS

Gout and marzipan

2010-01-04T23:02:00.000Z

In the run up to Christmas I got occasional bouts of stiffness and mild pain in my left leg. I assumed it was a dodgy shoe-lace making me walk slightly off centre.

However, over the holiday, as I indulged for three glorious days in white wine, it came back - and the pain was all the way up the leg. Not too bad but enough to make me hobble a little. It's gone now - maybe the result of some vigorous walking in the snow and ice after Christmas and the New Year. I can only assume it's a kind of gout caused, ironically, by indulgence in white wine and probably a little too much whisky before Christmas.

Sometimes I manage so well I forget how susceptible I am - as I discovered at two New Year's parties.

At the first one, I thought there would be no harm in trying a blue cheese dip - after all what is it? Blue cheese and vinegar. It might make The Blotch - which used to be The Ring - flare up a little but not much else. I dipped a bread stick into the dip, put it in my mouth and tasted onion. My mouth burned and my throat choked and I rushed off for a glass of cold water.

Something similar happened two days later when everyone was dipping into a plate of Christmas cake with a layer of sugary icing on it. I dived in and sliced off the icing, just to get a taste of the fun. "It's marzipan," someone mentioned. Marzipan is made with almonds but it surely cannot cause too much damage. It was the same as the cheese dip - a rush for cold water to prevent the choking. When I say rush, I don't mean making a fuss about it - just making the tap the next port of call. Make a fuss and you don't get invited back.

RAS

Christmas report

2009-12-27T21:52:00.000Z

One glass of white wine on Christmas Eve, quite a few on Christmas Day and one on Boxing Day - and no serious ill-effects.

By this morning my skin was getting a little dry and itchy and red spots were appearing so I decided that was enough wine for this year. I still don't know whether I succeeded in getting a cold. I have had the snuffles over the holiday but it might equally be a mild reaction to my indulgence. I took a montelukast on Christmas Eve and one on Boxing Day and so far as possible avoided any other substances containing salicylate - no stuffing, no sausages, no caffeine and no dark chocolate. The turkey was tasty and I had sticky toffee pudding instead of mince pie - a suitably filling alternative. Somebody put pepper in the red cabbage so I had to avoid that - but there were plenty of sprouts and carrots.

All in all a good Christmas!

RAS

Mince pies

2009-12-20T13:33:00.003Z

Mince pies are everywhere and I cannot touch one. Bring back the Yule Log, I say, preferably made of chocolate!

I have pushed the limits with various seasonal nibbles and The Ring has returned on my shoulder, except it is not a ring anymore, it is simply a giant, red ink-blot. It does not itch so I barely notice it.

I continue in my efforts to catch a cold. I shook hands with someone who was just finishing off a cold today. So far, no luck at all. My hopes of being able to indulge in white wine over Christmas seem to be foundering.

Last night I drank some whisky and it tasted like ginger wine. So perhaps the alternative is to work on the imagination and turn water into wine and whisky into ginger wine.

* Update: I went somewhere tonight and there was a giant chocolate yule log in the middle of the table surrounded by mince pies. Bliss! I'm not sure if I inspired the idea or not...

RAS

Trying to catch a cold...

2009-12-16T12:15:00.000Z

I was sitting next to somebody with a stinking cold the other day. So I leaned into them slightly in the hope of picking up a virus or two.

I am starting to get worried that this Christmas will not be as jolly as last year when a passing virus enabled me to indulge in white wine for several days.

There is a moral dilemma here. Although I might welcome a touch of flu or cold over the season, other members of my family and our Christmas party probably will not. So I suppose I should behave myself and try to stay virus free and prepare to make the most of warm whisky and water.

RAS

The joy of decaf...

2009-12-15T12:18:00.002Z

Today's news about decaf coffee is ecstatic and amazing.

For it seems that not only do coffee and tea offer some protection against developing diabetes, decaf coffee may offer even more.

Along with some news last week about decaf and cancer, this is all very encouraging. One of the things that has worried me is that by never having caffeine I could be losing all sorts of benefits.

There is now a trend which suggests that it is the vegetable matter, maybe the minerals and the nutrients in tea and coffee, which helps human health. So by drinking a lot of decaf - and I do drink a lot of it as I can drink little else - I am doing myself a favour.

The reporter suggests there may be other explanations eg that people may be more energetic after drinking tea and coffee or that they may drink tea and coffee instead of alcohol.

You would think there might be an opposite effect - for many people like me like to have their coffee quite sweet. I try to use sweeteners in instant coffee. But real coffee can only be sweetened with sugar. Otherwise the taste is dreadful. So you would think it might increase the risk of developing diabetes.

Whatever, it's still cheerful news.

RAS

Getting ready for Christmas....

2009-12-06T18:43:00.001Z

The Christmas season has begun and I walk around the shops, looking at piles of mince pies. I can taste the sweetness and think of the satisfying fullness that comes from eating a pie or two. Then I remember I haven't eaten one for years.

I went to a works Christmas meal over the weekend. We had a turkey meal and I asked the waitress if she could bring the turkey without gravy on it. She pulled a face and then said she would see about it. Everyone else had almost finished by the time she produced a plate with plain turkey on it. Judging by the neat splodge of gravy on everyone else's plates, I suspect the meals had been frozen or cook-chilled beforehand. I'm guessing they had to take some turkey, wash the gravy off and then reheat it.

When the Christmas pudding came, I thought of asking for custard only. It might have required the kitchen staff to scrape custard off half a dozen cook-chilled puddings - so I decided the better of it.

I did have a thimbleful of white wine without any serious ill-effects. A year ago I caught a mild flu virus just before Christmas and was able to indulge throughout the season. It was reassuring to find somebody else coming on this site recently and reporting the same phenomenon - that having a cold can provide relief from allergic reactions. So perhaps I need to find a swine flu party ahead of the Christmas break...

RAS

Chef card?

2009-12-03T11:22:00.000Z

Here's an interesting project from Britain's Food Standards Agency launched this week. It's a guide to buying food when you have a food allergy and some advice on how to handle restaurants.

The on-line version here is probably more accessible than the pdf of the booklet accessible from here. Most of the advice is basic common sense and what you would do any way. I'm interested in the idea of using a chef card. It would certainly be a discreet way of passing a message to a waiter and a chef to check ingredients or, at the very least, to pay attention to what I say.

As I've reported over the years, service varies. If you're ordering on the spot, you need waiters and chefs to pay attention to what you say, for instance: "I'll have the pasta but no sauce, herbs or pepper." If they're a budget establishment using cook-chill or frozen dishes, they are not going to be able to oblige - so the best answer is usually fish and chips and peas, or maybe steak and chips.

So far so good. But then I followed through some links to the FSA's directory of food allergies, studied the list and what did I find? Nothing at all on salicylate allergy! No wonder it's impossible to explain to caterers.

I wonder how this can be redressed. Perhaps an e-petition somewhere?

RAS

Frying fish?

2009-11-23T21:06:00.000Z

I'm not sure what to make of this report, which says that frying fish reduces its omega-3 content. As it appears to have been conducted in Hawaii, it may depend on what fish is fried in. What do they use in Hawaii? Palm oil?

Tonight, in fact, I had baked trout. It turned out to be the only fish we had left in the freezer. The report says baked or boiled fish is the best - although to my mind boiled fish is awful and a sure way to kill any taste that is there.

Usually I sort of stir fry fish. Perhaps my fish sauces are only partially fried and partially boiled as I stir fry first and then add juices. So maybe that is also boiling it. In addition I'm using rapeseed oil, which is rich in omega-3, although maybe not the best kind.

This may put a dampener on my tuna con chips concoction - possibly. Again I'm not really frying the tuna in much more than its own oils.

As for good old English fish and chips. It's nice to buy occasionally, although increasingly expensive. And nobody ever said it was an especially healthy meal.

RAS

Genetically engineered soy

2009-11-16T20:56:00.001Z

I'm no fan of the idea of genetically engineered food but this release from the American Heart Association about soya is interesting.

http://americanheart.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=857

I use a lot of soy sauce for cooking as it's not meant to contain salicylate. Although it contains omega-3, I've noted in the past it also contains omega-6 oil, which aggravates the reaction to salicylate. There's no indication whether this genetic engineering would reduce omega-6 levels in soy sauce. Apparently, the aim is to make the omega-3 content even "healthier" and a substitute for fish.

In truth it's probably not much of a solution if fish stocks run out. I need to eat fish as a substitute for meat. Is soy an acceptable vegetarian alternative to meat? Maybe it's time to find out.

RAS

Revised caterer guidelines

2009-11-09T15:45:00.003Z

This is the revised version of the guidelines I sent through to last week's caterers.

"It's salicylate hypersensitivity, which you may not be familiar with.

In general:

no pepper, spices or herbs. Most fruit is out and quite a few vegetables.

Banana and golden delicious apple are okay as are chips, baked potato, cabbage, peas, sprouts, lettuce, leek and celery.

All meat, dairy, plain cheese and fish is fine, although fish is especially good. Not sausages.

Small amounts of chocolate as in cake or pudding are fine. No nuts, except cashew nuts if necessary.

Only drinks are water or decaffeinated coffee. Nothing else.

The general principle I work to is that sauces and pies are dodgy. Plain meats, battered fish etc are okay."

Looking at this I suppose I could add:

"the only herb or spice that is okay is parsley and the only sauce is soy sauce, provided it has no additives."

And also:

"For cooking rapeseed oil is the best choice."

RAS

Caterer does well

2009-11-09T11:29:00.000Z

They really made an effort at the event I was at last week.

At lunch there was a single plate of cheese and lettuce sandwich. It was not marked but I assumed it was for me. Unfortunately others also took a shine to them so I also had to try a plain cheese and onion sandwich. I removed the onion but the bread and cheese was stained with juice and I suffered for the rest of the day. My lip got quite thick - odd really, as onion is not suppose to be that packed with salicylate.

This was unfortunate as they had marked a plate for vegetarian and a plate for gluten free. This had celery and carrot sticks on it and as nobody seemed to be eating them I pinched some.

The evening meal was terrific. Not very tasty but they had tried ever so hard. The starter was cabbage, lettuce and cheese cubes. Main course was white fish and baked potato and the pudding was a plate with a golden delicious apple and a banana. It wasn't a great meal but was the first time someone had actually prepared a full meal according to the guidelines.

I'll post the revised guidelines that I sent shortly. The main thing is that they worked - far better than sending a list of dos and don'ts or simply assuming they can get their hands on salicylate avoidance guidance independently.

RAS

UK petition

2009-11-06T23:04:00.000Z

Sometimes I speak to friends and realise I'm incredibly lucky. My original symptoms were clear enough to get me referred to a specialist. I had a miserable nine months, doped up with anti-histamines and forever hungry. But I got a diagnosis and a prescription that work most of the time.

I've spoken to people who live with asthma and allergy together - taking multiple anti-histamines and montelukast with little effect because they cannot identify the allergy. In these circumstances you may be managed by, say, a chest physician and a dermatologist, if you're lucky. Or else just a GP. It's not just the disease - living with the pills is dreadful too.

On the specialist web-sites, salicylate hypersensitivy - my problem - is usually mentioned as a possibility. But GPs, caterers, the wider world knows little about it.

So I'm happy to urge support for this petition that's been posted on the website of 10 Downing Street, the British prime minister. So far fewer than 200 people have signed - it needs more!

It reads: "We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to take action to improve NHS allergy services and the inadequate care received by millions of patients living with allergic disease; and call for action to implement the recommendations of independent national reviews including the House of Commons Health Select Committee, that more allergy consultant and trainee posts be created, priority be given to commissioning of allergy services and for improved knowledge of allergy in primary care. "

Mandy East of National Allergy Strategy Group writes: "Around a third of the population have a condition where allergy may be involved and about 7 million have allergy severe enough to require specialist care. This creates a large burden for the patient and the NHS. There is a lack of expertise in allergy right across the NHS.Most doctors just don’t know, or know little, about allergy; there is a lack of expertise in hospitals and a lack of knowledge or understanding of allergy in primary care. This means that very large numbers of patients are being seen by a doctor who has little understanding of their disease; and things are made worst by there being a small number of full specialists in allergy."

RAS

Caterers and cheese

2009-10-29T13:29:00.003Z

I sent through my guidelines for caterers for an event I'm attending next week. Today the caterer rings me up.

"I've made inquiries," she says, "and I can't find out anything about this allergy. What can you eat?"

I stress the answer is plain food, maybe cheese sandwiches. We're doing a finger buffet and there will be cheese and onion somethings, she says. No, finger buffet is disastrous, I say. Plain cheese sandwich will be fine. After all, all I need is something to keep me going.

In fact I amended the instructions a little before sending them through. The trouble is I don't know what to say about cheese. Plain cheese is okay - but I've been eating plain, salicylate free food for a few days now and The Ring is back. As I write, it's even itching - so I need to take a pill.

I'll take another look at the revised instructions and post them again.

RAS

The little things

2009-10-22T11:08:00.001Z

A couple of weeks' silence here means a couple of weeks struggling with the little things. For instance I put some cashew nuts and a couple of bars of cheap Tesco chocolate into the pantry.

Although cashew nuts are meant to be near zero salicylate they are of course rich in omega-6 - which means they should only be eaten as part of a salicylate free diet. I don't believe chocolate is zero salicylate as it can be quite rich in caffeine - however my lists say cocoa is low salicylate. But a bar of chocolate is far too nice, especially when working. So a couple of squares soon becomes the whole bar - and that is too much chocolate and too much caffeine. I need to revert to not buying chocolate, even if the supermarket brands are incredibly cheap.

It all means flurries of disturbance and the occasional rush for a montelukast to calm down some itching or irritation.

Then there are the snacks that people provide. I dipped into a bowl of cashew nuts the other day - the trouble is they were coated in spice. So that was salicylate in the spice and omega 6 in the nuts. I took a montelukast when I got home. Then there was the beef sandwich. It looked plain but tasted far too nice. Was that mustard?

After one of these episodes I sat down in the evening and got up. My left knee was weak, the finger and thumb of my left hand ached and the old left eye felt sore. I took a montelukast and the problem faded away.

What about Jack Daniels? My illusions that it might be any better than Scotch whisky have been shaken. Somebody told me it's matured in hickory wood. I looked into this a little further and discovered that whisky's golden colour is acquired from the wood in which it matures. All I can say is that Jack Daniels never causes too much harm - but maybe I should keep it to the occasional tipple.

It's all little things that can suddenly build up into a big problem if they are not taken care of.

RAS

Fish and rheumatism

2009-10-10T21:41:00.001Z

I'm intrigued and encouraged by this recent analysis of allergy prevention, suggesting that eating fish is one of the best ways of dealing with problems.

There doesn't seem to be an explanation for this. In the case of salicylate hypersensitivity, there appears to be a very clear explanation as I discovered a couple of years ago. This is that the condition is caused by a reaction between omega -6, found in meat, and salicylate. So substituting fish, which has omega-3 fats, for meats can help prevent these reactions.

This is not necessarily what happens in classical IGe allergy (in truth, I don't know.) So are the benefits of fish thrown up because studies of diets include a number of people with salicylate problems? Or does it provide other benefits for allergy sufferers, eg in reducing inflammation?

Today I went for another Chinese buffet. I forgot to take a montelukast before going. A few days ago I wrenched my arm. I had picked up one of those cheap plastic containers full of papers and one end broke. The container slumped down, twisting my arm. It seemed to recover with some minor aching, but tonight my left hand aches like Hades, just about on the index finger. I thought I had a pretty safe meal at the Chinese - but if you eat anything remotely processed you cannot be sure what's in it. My feast today included cauliflower cheese, plain chicken in batter and biscuit pudding - plenty of opportunity for odd chemicals and components to creep in.

I really do not want to get rheumatism in my hand so I have now taken a montelukast.

RAS

Celery and beer

2009-10-06T21:38:00.000Z

I threw some red cabbage, leek and celery into the steamer tonight. Nothing new about that. I was surprised when the delicious aroma of curry came from it.

It can't have been the pans - you don't cook curry in a steamer and I don't think anyone in the household has eaten anything that spicy for ages.

I savoured the smell, which continued to fill the air after I served up. It seemed to come from the celery. There was no taste of curry in the food - but the smell gave some added spice to the meal.Memo to me: I must do something about making that home-made curry.

In contrast, I was listening to a report on beer on the radio the other day. I was never a great beer drinker but there have been moments in life when beer has been delicious, mainly on the European continent. I enjoyed chilled lager in the Italian heat and exotic strawberry-flavoured beers they serve in Belgium. There seems no possibility of enjoying those tastes and those moments again.

RAS

A virus

2009-09-29T09:35:00.001Z

I'm not even going to kid myself it's swine flu this time, although it probably is. Tiredness and fatigue, a sore throat, a stuffy nose, plunging gloom and blowing hot and cold all the time - all I've been missing is a consistent high fever.

The ring had all but gone today - a good sign the immune system is struggling. If this was swine flu, this was a nasty little virus as it played with my head and made sure I did not do anything apart from grabbing a couple of hours of extra sleep.

Today my throat is still sore and I could be fairly confident it was not an allergic reaction. So it was time for the miracle cure - redbush tea.

I made it weak - I have forgotten how to make it. But within a few minutes there was a satisfying itch all over as my immune system kicked in. My left arm has come out in red spots so I think I had better stop drinking it.

RAS

Punched in the face

2009-09-25T20:48:00.001Z

I was working away from home for a few days this week. There were lots of finger buffets and this is when I get reminded just how problematic food can be.

I tend to assume I'm safe to sample foods if I'm not sure. That's not really true. And also if a nibble is tasty, it's hard to stop eating it, especially if I don't collapse on the spot. After a couple of days of this I felt as if I'd been punched in the face. My lip was sore, my tongue was swollen and my throat was going sore. And my insides were not too happy either. There was the beef sandwich that looked plain - but of course the caterers could not resist the temptation to add mustard. There was the prawn on a stick that again looked plain - but was in fact soaked in curry. And memo to me, chicken strips are always laced with pepper.

The upside was a visit to an Italian restaurant. They offered dish with pasta, spinach, tiger prawns, chilli and red onions. I asked them to serve it without the chilli and onions and they did. The prawns were plain and it was delicious.

RAS

Fried banana

2009-09-25T20:39:00.000Z

I tried adding banana to the stir fry tonight. I mixed cabbage, banana and sardine, using the same techniques as with "tuna con chips" and ate it with fried potato. It was okay and the banana fleshed out the sardine nicely - but I could not taste it at all. I won't be adding this to my list of recipes yet.

Does anybody know how to fry banana to make a sweet and sour? I've eaten plenty of plantain in my life but feel that banana should be useable.

I had more success the other night. I did a stir fry to eat with pasta from bacon, cabbage, leek and soy sauce. It tasted very Chinese.

RAS

What is salicylate free?

2009-09-13T15:25:00.000Z

While I was under hospital care I had three different lists of foods and substances with and without salicylate. The first was sent out by the consultant and had been compiled by the British Allergy Foundation. The later ones were compiled by the dietician.

There are some big differences. By the end of the period, the dietician had split foods into negligible, low, moderate, high and very high. The original British Allergy Foundation merely classified them as high and low.

Mostly I try to keep to a diet high in fish and some basic near-zero salicylate foods such as cabbage, leek and banana. Other foods have crept in however.

I eat grapes. The original list said they were "high" and to be avoided. The last list says low. I don't find a problem.

The first list said broccoli was low. The last one says high. I avoid it.

The first list said pineapple juice was high. The last list says low. When I tried it I was quite ill. I avoid it.

The first list said sweetcorn was high. The last list said it was moderate but that corn on the cob is low. What's the difference? I've been eating it but I did notice the other day, it left me with a burn a little like curry.

The first list said all tomato was high. The last list says fresh tomato is low and may be okay. I avoid it.

The first list said cherries were high. The last list says canned cherries are low. I've been avoiding them - maybe I could try cherry products such as Black Forest Gateau.

The last list says green beans are okay. The first list didn't mention them and I've been avoiding them - although I love them.

The first list says parsnips are low. The last list says moderate. I've given them up quite recently.

Both lists say onions, mango and lemons are low, yet I've always avoided them. Maybe I just don't like onion and found it a good excuse to get everyone cooking with leek. I don't know why I would choose to avoid mango and lemon. I must find the second list - because that's maybe when I gave up on these two.

Perhaps I should try to find an even more up to date list. Or perhaps there simply isn't enough research on the subject.

RAS

Salicylate free eating

2009-09-10T11:32:00.002Z

A few months ago I promised to list here all the salicylate free meals I have devised and reported. Here they are, just half a dozen, so far, along with the guidance I have drawn up for caterers and friends.
Meals involving fish are also low in omega 6 and especially safe, both in theory and in my experience. So there's a lot of fish. Some of these "recipes" are more detailed than others.

I have kind people who attempt more ambitious meals for me, such as fish pies and pizzas. You always have to check they don't accidentally sprinkle pepper on the food.

I have promised myself to step out and attempt a low salicylate curry some time. My list says it would have to use tandoori spice. I'll add to this list as recipes come in.

Tuna con Chips - when you hanker for a chilli con carne
Apple and Tuna Sauce
Fish pasta sauce
Roast chicken and gravy
Salmon and spinach
Salicylate free pasta sauce with mince
Salads
Guidance for friends
Instructions for caterers

RAS

Good news about cabbage!

2009-09-07T23:45:00.000Z

I eat a lot of cabbage. It has no salicylate and it is easy to store fresh. I have found ways to use it as a base for sauces and all sorts of dishes.

And it's worried me because it seems such a bland vegetable. The signs in the supermarkets say to mix your colours, to eat red and yellow and orange and green fruits and vegetables. Well, cabbage comes as red or white or green so that's not too bad.

So I'm celebrating the latest news about cabbage. It says that cabbage contains a chemical sulforaphane that has special properties to protect against heart disease. There's not as much as broccoli, which I can't eat, but I eat a lot of cabbage.

It's also in brussels sprouts, which we also eat a lot of. We tend to buy them frozen. It's also in cauliflower, which I do eat but I'm not sure I should.

We usually mix cabbage with leek when we cook it. I'll be eating a lot more!

RAS

Green bananas

2009-09-06T21:15:00.000Z

We ordered our shopping on-line last week, including our usual large amount of bananas. Without exception, every banana that came was green.

I was desperate, and others were tucking in, so I ate the green bananas. I have read in various places that unripe fruit may be richer in salicylate, also that bananas contain pseudo-histamines. These are unscientific and unchecked comments - it is what I recall. All I know is that the bananas played havoc with my insides.

Today my throat is sore, my tummy is sore, I am running hot and cold, I've slept far too long and my limbs are throbbing. I fear I may at last be about to succumb to swine flu - or it could be just green bananas.

Next time we're going to send the green bananas back.

RAS