Sulphites, the silent killer

Welcome to the forum.

There is literally a ton of information on this forum about sulfite (sulphite) sensitivity and allergy. If you have a question, the place to start is the search box at the top of the page. It will keep you reading for several days, at least.

Your friend sounds like she has the actual allergy. I don't, but some here do have it.

You are right, avoidance is the only "treatment."

You have one mistaken thing - sulfates are not the problem, except possibly in soaps and shampoos. It's the sulfite group that causes the reaction. We can't live without certain sulfates. There are some links in the archives with great information.

There are plenty of foods we can eat. We mostly just have to avoid processed and preserved things. I can't eat deli meats because of the artificial coloring but am fine with meats, other than pork, if I cook it myself without adding garlic or onions and mixed spices. Vegetables are mostly OK in my diet except for the ones in the onion or cruciferous groups. Individual spices are mostly fine, but avoid ones labeled with sulfite. Fruits are all good, but lemon and lime juice in plastic bottles are all sulfited unless they are frozen.

Some restaurants are just fine, some use processed foods, like canned or frozen potatoes. Eating out can be hazardous.

Bottom line is read labels!

If your friend has the "true" allergy, she needs to be under the care of a good allergist who has experience with sulfite patients. She can carry a pack of Epi pens in case she gets life-threatening swelling, but will need to get to a hospital if she has to use them, because those are preserved with sulfites too.

Tell her Best Wishes from us!

Yes, epi pen is sulfited, but it can stop a reaction to something else long enough to get to a hospital where one can get treated. Actually, they come in 2-packs, and it usually takes both of them to last long enough to get rescued.

IVs don't all contain sulfites. There's no preservative in a saline bag. Frozen veggies don't have sulfites unless they contain onions or garlic or sauces. Frozen juices are clean too, although bottled non-frozen lemon and lime juice are heavily sulfited.

Eating in an Italian restaurant is chancy because they use a lot of garlic. I have to avoid them too.
Bakeries today often buy their products frozen. If they cook from scratch you can ask if they use "dough conditioners" which do contain sulfites. Deli meats contain caramel color, which is sulfited, but it's OK in moeration if you only have the mild sensitivity. Yellow #5 is even worse than red. The Lake colors are OK. Rice vinegar is clean. Unsulfured molasses is OK for most people.

For more complete lists there are many good websites. Ignore the ones that just post copies.
www.learningtarget.com/nosulfites/index.htm is a good place to start.

Sulfites can affect people in many ways. Each person has their own symptoms.

Some people get horrible migraines.. These people can have this effect as much as 2 days after consuming their trigger level.

Some people, the ones with true allergy, can have the throat closing, difficulty breathing, etc - which why those people need to carry an epi pen. Those people may also have problems with sulfites on skin, as in detergents or skin creams or shampoos. There's a link, on the link I gave you, to Housemouse's story.

I get gastrointestinal issues which can go on to affect my heart. If I would go out to dinner and eat some delicious barbecued baby back ribs my stomach and esophagus become unhappy and I start heaving. If I eat more than a single bite I can plan on getting tachycardia because the vagus nerve runs to the major organs and what triggers one can trigger any or all. Often my large intestine gets moving and I can have diarrhea. The stomach-heart reaction is called cardioesophageal reflex. (That reaction can go the other way too. But that's another story.)

At the hospital all they can do is teat your symptoms. I can give myself heart meds, from my cardiologist. But if my tachycardia continues and I can't get it under control I have needed to have my heart reset. Once the reaction from just eating some cereal with dried fruit got my stomach going and then triggered a heart attack by causing the coronary arteries to spasm. I needed a couple of stents from that.

There is a lot more information on the readingtarget link, explanations, how to calculate the amount of sulfite in the foods you eat and how to figure your tolerance. I tolerate about 2000 micrograms.

Thinking of seafood, since the sulfite is on the surface, it's easy to wash it off. I get along fine with seafood if it's been cleaned well. Don't count on that though! I wash shrimp after I peel them, not just before. I take the skin off fish if I cook it myself and don't eat skin when eating out.

Here's how you find your tolerances and indeed, if in fact you have a sulfite problem in the first place:
Keep a food journal! It's easy and free to just keep a notebook on the kitchen counter and list all the foods, beverages, medicines I eat every day, along with the time. Then, if there's a reaction I note that with time too. There's lots more on that - see the archives - search box at the top of the page.

Happy reading!

Are there any particular reactions you are asking about?

Your friend's reaction is a "true allergic" reaction, not just the sensitivity most of us have. Even though epi pens have sulfite, this person should carry one to be able to make it to the hospital where they can support breathing. It might be that Benadryl or other antihistamine will be effective, but if the throat is closing it might not be possible to swallow them. The liquid forms of Benadryl contain sulfite. I don't know about the IV liquids, so research that!

All a hospital can do is treat symptoms. There is no "cure" other than avoidance. There is no specific treatment for sulfite reaction. For a throat closing allergic reaction there are IV antihistamines. If you have a migraine you may be able to get something for pain. In my case, with supraventricular tachycardia, I get heart meds to slow it. If that doesn't work I've had "chemical cardioversion." I've been lucky to avoid needing getting shocked. Some people may just get really bad stomach pain, vomiting and there are meds for that.

As far as I know you can wash off most of the sulfite that is sprayed on fish and shrimp on the boats. At least I've had no trouble with seafood. Of course, it's possible to have an allergy to some seafood that is not related to sulfite! If one has a reaction to seafood the person should get tested by an allergist! The allergist can't really tell if you have a reaction to sulfite, but can eliminate shrimp or some types of fish. I would not eat fish that is deep-fried with shrimp in a restaurant. I would not eat shrimp unless I was assured it was washed, peeled, and washed again, and I was tested for a regular shrimp allergy.

The only way to find your food intolerances and your reactions is to keep a food journal.

For more kinds of reactions please read Rick's book which is in the link I posted previously.

I am glad that that kind of Benadryl works for you. I would like to know where to get that kind to see if it is alright for my friend as well as that spray B12.

So Razzle, how bad is your sulfur, sulfa, sulphite(sulfite), sulfate allergy?

If this is your reaction, why to you ingest so many sulphites when you can stay away from them? If my friend was to take these products, she would be dead!!! Your comments are not making sense to us.

I am sorry but Razzle mentions that Benadryl helps and that the need for Magnesium, iron and zinc could be needed. All of those contain sulphites, most in the form of cellulose which you may know is made from wood fiber broken down with the use of Sulfur. I too am trying to help people by use of the knowledge and research we have done. I just want to make sure that we are on the same page as she has found, from a Doctor at the hospital, (she went in when she was in a bad state), and the Doctor went through this book and said there was nothing they could do for her. Everything they had contained sulphites. We are reading the ingredient list of everything we may buy to see what it contains and 90+% of products contains some form of sulphites, as does most medicine, in the non-medicinal ingredients. Thank you for your concern.

Thanks for clearing that up, 12Linus17!

I need help please

Dear Supermum,
What is your problem? Lots of us on this forum have allergy/sensitivity to sulfites. If you put some keywords in the search box at the top of the page you can find just about any sort of reaction or food containing sulfites.

There is no cure and not many treatments for sulfite intolerance. Avoidance works well though.

I saw a comment earlier that Ventolin has SULFITE in.... this is incorrect it has SULFATE in it, which is not related to SULFITES (sulphites) it has an entirely different structure. If you are Asthmatic you need to stay away from SULFITES (SULPHITES) and carefully study SALICYLATE foods (eg: CORN and if you are GLUTEN FREE you need to be very careful as MOST GLUTEN FREE PRODUCTS CONTAIN CORN. I am Sulphite, Nitrate, Gluten and Corn free after lifelong struggles. Severe joint pain, Asthma, Diarrhea, chronic stomach pain and bloating.......very debilitating. Just recently decided to try Apple Cider Vinegar honey and warm water before meals because I was told I had IBS (Dietician and Gastrologist said it won't hurt you) and finished up in Emergency with Asthma. Very little off the shelf products are suitable if you are Gluten/Corn free, best to go all organic and cook your own foods, sadly no eating out as I have been sick many times having been accidentally Glutened ordering a so called Gluten Free meal due to the fact people aren't aware just how easy it is to cross contaminate. I do hope some of my information helps someone else.