Shampoo!

I've finally got round to purchasing and using a baby shampoo and conditioner. I'd been a little embarrassed about going into a shop and buying the stuff so I persuaded my wife to get it. It was my hairdresser who first suggested this and the response to an earlier post finally persuaded me I had to do something about it - so thank you, Laura! No obvious reactions or burning of the skin - as I had from Imperial Leather - but my left eye is a little sore again today. That could be from the glass of whisky I had over the weekend. I'm still not sure about whisky.

I still need to get my glasses out to read the ingredients on the shampoo. The conditioner seems okay - apart from various gums and cellulose additives, which I have wondered about before.

Coffee

I crave a cup of caffeinated coffee!

Anthisan

Well I struggled awake tonight to get some work done and got around to looking up some information on Anthisan.

I found the Boots patient information leaflet which states: "Use on large areas of skin may cause drowsiness and confusion."

Now they tell me.

Hives!

Well six months down the line and I've got hives big time - I'm itching all over. It's the first time I've had this kind of itching since an incident during a summer holiday a couple of years ago before I realised what was wrong. At the time I put it down to unwelcome insect attentions. I've just spread anti-histamine cream all over me.

This is odd because I have not eaten anything dodgy for days. Today we had carrots and green beans with lunch and I drank a glass of cheap lemonade mixed with whisky. Also had a glass of whisky last night and had sausages for dinner.

However last week I had a couple of "Mediterranean" lunches because I was away from home. Although I chose carefully - eating fish, steak and lettuce, undoubtedly some herbs and peppers were used by the chefs. At one restaurant I also had an Italian ice cream covered in chocolate sauce. It turned out be made with fresh fruit, orange, lemon and raspberry. Delicious but totally illegal - although I think I am meant to be trying lemon. But that was Thursday and there were no obvious massive ill-effects as a result.

So what's the theory, doctor? I suppose it could be some kind of overload. Carrots and green beans are meant to be low salicylate, but not salicylate free. I'm meant to be trying them as part of reintroduction - and have remained a little uncomfortable with them. And sausages, even cheap ones, may also contain herbs. So if I used up my quota of salicylate last week, even very small amounts may have pushed me over the edge. And I do wonder whether whisky is really salicylate free - after all brandy is not.

I haven't written much here for a while as I have been busy. I do have some eating ideas I want to share and will post them soon

Juiced up

I think I got a little carried away at the suggestion that I try some pineapple juice.

Fruit juice for breakfast! It was months since I'd had such a treat so last Saturday, a week ago, I started off with a large glass of sweet, translucent, yellow juice.

Unfortunately the next day somebody produced some pomegranate juice drink they had obtained from Morrisons. Now I've been looking for pomegranate juice because, as previously recorded, this fruit is meant to be virtually zero salicylate. Most pomegranate juices mix in other berries which make them out of bounds. This drink was delicious and addictive and I drank almost a whole packet within 24 hours.

The problem is that this is a drink, not a pure juice, and according to the packet, made from concentrated pomegranate. At a guess I would say this means pulped fruit.

This time the big reaction was on the skin in the crook of my arm under my elbows. A spreading blotchy rash. There were other consequences too, I think, but I won't go into those. So during the week I returned to a pure diet of water, cabbage, meat, leek and celery. By Saturday morning my skin was clearing and my eyesight was so good I could read the A-Z properly for the first time in about two years.

So on Saturday I tried a small tot of pineapple juice. Well, once my skin has cleared again I will try some pomegranate drink and see if it was only the pineapple or both juices that caused the problem. It maybe I need to find a way of consuming smaller quantities of juice - perhaps diluting it in lemonade or sparkling water or even using it to make sweet and sour sauces or bolognese.

Wikipedia

Oddly enough, the best summary of the problem I have come across is on Wikipedia where there are brief but excellent articles on salicylate hypersensitivity and salicylate.

These seem to confirm that the substance is used widely in toothpaste, cosmetics and food preservatives.

Also a decent attempt to explain what the allergy is.

Redbush tea

The dietician wants me to start reintroducing some very low-salicylate foods, such as carrots, mushrooms, mangoes and maybe even onions.

She's also unable to say whether redbush tea is any good. Most herbal teas are dangerous but caffeine-free tea is okay.

Redbush is a caffeine-free, low tannin strain of real tea so should be okay. So yesterday I had a cup of redbush and a raw carrot, followed by carrots for lunch today.

One or other does not work, almost certainly the redbush tea. By yesterday evening my vision was blurred and print was out of focus. Today I have had to apply Anthisan cream to my midriff as large itchy red spots emerged. And I have a tummy ache.

"May contain nuts"

...has been revealed as an issue in Britain this week after Cadbury's was forced to withdraw a host of chocolate products for failing to include this statement.

This is becoming a growing problem because food manufacturers are apparently utterly scared of being sued if they fail to declare a nut risk and somebody suffers a reaction.

Sources tell me that schools are having problems finding food suppliers because only a few will declare their products are uncontaminated with nuts.

Something needs to be done because this is limiting the amount of foods people with food allergies can eat. The food industry had better pray that salicylate allergy does not become fashionable - because contamination with pepper, tomato and other herbs is also a major problem for those of us who occasionally have to eat processed food.

Chocolates and sour cream

It started with Rose's chocolates. We were travelling and I was peckish - having watched the rest of them scoffing doughnuts and other goodies. "Go on", she said. "This one is just plain toffee". I bit on it and bit into a solid nut. Whatever it was, it was not a cashew nut. To be fair, I too had a feeling that Rose's had some plain chocolates - clearly not. That was Saturday.

On Tuesday we decided to beat the Valentine's Day rush and went to a steakhouse. That should be as plain food as you can get commercially. I have never had a 16oz steak before and enjoyed it enormously even though it seemed undercooked. It may have been the sour cream with the cheese and bacon starter - or the fact it was on potatoes in their skins - that caused a problem. The cream had some kind of herb in it - which I tried unsuccessfully to pick out.

So by the middle of the week I had a thick throat, a sore eye and spots returning on my tummy. And other symptoms. They did not feel like big breaches and I had been hoping to tell the dietician that I was coping with small breaches of the diet. That seems unlikely so I now fear she will put me on a weighing and measuring diet as she threatened.

I've had a stiff neck for a couple of weeks and just hope this is not some vitamin deficiency.

So for a couple of nights I have cooked for myself. I also started on the last of the pomegranates, which spurted out red juice, making the shirt I was wearing unwearable. I turned some frozen prawns into a white spaghetti sauce - mixed with cabbage - one night and I'm unsure about the effects of that. I am finding a use for my remaining gluten-free flour as it makes a good substitute for cornflour in making sauces. It seems very absorbent and not very lumpy.

Papaya and fish pie

Papaya is proving a disappointment. The first papayas I had were delicious but every single one we have purchased since then has been tough and unripe.

I bought three for a pound in a local greengrocers and saved the third to see if it would ripen. It has started to go off but has not ripened.

My wife insisted on serving a supermarket fish pie the other day. It must have contained various herbs and pepper as well as carrots and sweetcorn. As with other recent breaches of the diet, the reactions have been mild but real.

I've also got another appointment with the dietician so the NHS is keeping an eye on me. She wrote recently with some answers to outstanding queries and that means that:
redbush tea is still out but she thinks yeast extract is okay. Rapeseed oil is also okay, as I thought, since I cook everything in it.