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Death by Chicken Pot Pie - well, not quite.

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Posted 1/20/2012 8:28 PM (GMT 0)
It was so hot and delicious-looking, so fragrant.  I took the store brand (made who knows where) Chicken Pot Pie home and ate the whole thing.  Within ten minutes of starting to eat my heart rate was 156.

I chewed an aspirin and an atenolol, did some Valsalva maneuvers, and the rate came down to the 130's after a while.  Then I read the ingredient list, tiny print, stopped counting at 85 items, chicken skins? There it was: Sodium bisulfite.  If a sulfite is listed it's probably over 100ppm, which is a lot!

It took me a couple of hours to get the heart rate to normal and for the chest pain to subside to a tolerable level.  I was exhausted the rest of the day and evening - an expected reaction to a long tachycardia episode. 

There were a lot of other ingredients which are known to have sulfites, modified starch, carmel coloring, and "dough conditioner" which can be a name for more sulfites.  There were also two other preservatives, so I don't know why they had to put in the NaHSO3.

 

 

Posted 1/21/2012 4:47 AM (GMT 0)
They can't be too careful anymore and that's why so many preservatives are used, don't forget
salt is a preservative...don't know why they have to add all those others...Did you get that from
Whole foods? If not then Try looking for foods at Whole Foods Stores, it might be safer for you.
Hope your doing better soon, and no more scares...you need some good vibes and I'll
send you some...
Posted 1/21/2012 2:17 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds scary! I hope you feel better soon!
Posted 1/21/2012 4:44 PM (GMT 0)
Chartreux and Sherry -

I'm fine, but one of these days I could be triggered into another heart attack from my allergy, eating something I didn't suspect to be preserved. My esophagus and stomach react to the food/preservative trigger; in turn they send the signal via the vagus nerve to the heart, which reacts with coronary vasospasm. This can trigger rupture of a cholesterol plaque, blocking the vessel - heart attack.

No, not from Whole Foods, but a big chain store. Whole Foods isn't any better as far as I can tell. I can't find any jams or jellies anymore I don't react to - all use sulfited lemon juice. I'll have to make my own again this summer. Companies don't have to list ingredients added by their suppliers, just the ones they put in.

It's also nearly impossible to find clean tortillas. I got a reaction yesterday after eating 2 slices of toasted store bread - one that looks home made. I bought it because my local store for non-preserved bread closed. I recently found sulfite listed on some brands of frozen fruit pies, especially peach. Prepared food just isn't safe, even in restaurants!
Posted 1/22/2012 1:50 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks sayyadina, for the suggestion. Unfortunately, Amy's kitchen frozen foods are not "clean" either. I looked up the sulfite content in my book (from the no sulfite website). One piece of organic cheese enchilada has 94 micrograms of sulfite. The safest thing I noticed was mac and soy cheese at 30 -- eewww!

Prepared foods just aren't safe for sulfite sufferers. Food prepared from scratch is the only route to avoiding a reaction. It's the only way we can control the ingredients, or often, even know what's in our food. As much as I dislike cooking, I eat better at home. Food doesn't have to be organic, just low in sulfite-containing ingredients.

One trick I learned from my mom is to use only single spices, not the mixed ones. A small pinch of marjoram on zucchini, or oregano on chicken, or basil on fried chicken, and you don't need anything else. I'm getting back to preparing a week's main courses on weekends to keep from being tempted to grab something at a fast food or deli.
Posted 1/29/2012 8:20 PM (GMT 0)
You are so right about the prepared food junk. Some days I catch myself in a hurry and eat some horrible nasty prepared food with 50 ingredients, and I feel so yucky the rest of the day. If I take my lunch to work most days at least I know whats in it. and you can control whats in it. Those vending machines are full of overpriced high sodium Chemical junk.
Posted 1/31/2012 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome, allergygirl, to the forum. You are so right about feeling bad after eating junk food, and it doesn't even have to be from machines. If you haven't done it, I hope you will start a new thread of your own to introduce yourself so others can welcome you too.

I emailed the head of the prepared food marketing dept. First he said they had changed the recipe so no sulfite preservative, then another email said the original recipe was still correct - after I told him I believed the original recipe because I wouldn't have reacted to a small amount as found in the starches and corn sugars.

I still can't believe ingredients like Chicken Skins would be something they would even dare to put in the pot pies!
Posted 2/1/2012 1:19 AM (GMT 0)
Believe it, if they can and do, they will use every part of that chicken or cow or pig, so
that nothing is wasted, plus they figure only a few people have these allergies, so they
will deny everything of course...which is weird cause don't know why they just can't use salt
Salt in it's self is a preservative and so is sugar...but I guess since they are afraid more
people will "sue" them should they get sick off their products, they can then turn around
and say not from us we did everything right...Home made canned jellies and jams are so
much better, we used to do that too...every summer Strawberry jam...Last year I went and
picked Blueberries it was wonderful and they are oh so good, froze a lot....
Anyways, hope your doing better Alcie, you did have us concerned about you...
Many well wishes...We have Blueberry, Strawberry and Peach Farms here in Texas...
not just oranges...
Posted 2/2/2012 1:08 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much, Char - I take the blame for not reading ingredients. I know my sensitivity fairly well, and I've had symptoms that sent me to the ER a few times. I should have learned the first time!

I was born in Tx, a little town called Velasco which is not on the map anymore.

I complained to the company to let them know their preservative is toxic to some people. I wouldn't get far suing because there was no bad outcome, but some people are lots more sensitive than I am, and that's why I thought it my duty to bring the subject of unneeded preservative to the company. I hope since the company is now informed, that like road departments, they are now liable after they have a chance to remove toxins from their food. They sent me a nice gift certificate.

You're so right about homemade jams. Commercial ones are really not good tasting anymore, and they all make me sick. I used to make them when I had kids. I still grow 2 grape and roma tomato plants in my flower garden for the grandkids.
Posted 2/2/2012 4:02 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds, like you did all you can, now the change is up to them...
The soil here in Texas does make it harder to grow things, and the fire ants don't help..
I grew up in Michigan and miss some of the things we had up there, lilacs can
grow in Michigan....but I don't miss the "SNOW"...Nice winter's here in Texas...
Posted 2/4/2012 1:27 AM (GMT 0)
We moved to MI when I was 1, so I grew up there. Small world.

I hope to encourage others with allergies and intolerances to contact companies that make foods that are harmful to us.
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