Hi,
Has anyone been able to cut down on salicylates?
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have severe sensory processing issues, including hyperacusis, and what seems like flicker vertigo, but may be a kind of visual dependence. I also have trouble with mint, which makes me vomit, vanilla, aloe vera, nsaids, etc. I also have polyuria and have trouble with gabapentin and other meds building up in my body, and may have kidney issues. I suspect I may have salicylate sensitivity and/or salicylate poisoning due to them building up in my body.
This discusses salicylates and a few other possible causes of fibro-like symptoms, in a rebuttal of the guifenisin theory:
http://web.mit.edu/london/www/guai.html
So over the past few months, I've been trying to cut down on salicylates, while living with my brother who craves them. It's not easy. Staple foods and spices tend to contain a lot of salicylates. Standard antiandrogens here tend to be flavored with salicylates. I've also been hit by a car, and by construction noise, and have trouble coping with the pain. I'm also limited by my allergies, fructose intolerance, caffeine addiction, ethanol and sorbitol intolerances, etc.
So far I've cut out everything which uses olive oil, everything which uses turmeric, etc. - there go 5 out of every 6 dishes - introduced some Chinese dishes, and tried to cut down on other spices, substitute black pepper for other peppers, usually substitute hot water for tea, etc.
Any other ideas?
Comments
FWIW,
from Wikipedia:
Treatment[edit]
Completely eliminating salicylate from one’s diet and environment is virtually impossible and is not a recommended course of action by many immunologists.[citation needed] The range of foods that have no salicylate content is very limited, and consequently salicylate-free diets are very restricted.
Desensitization involves daily administration of progressive doses of salicylate. This process is usually performed as an inpatient, with a crash-cart at the bedside over a six-day period, beginning with 25 mg of I.V. lysine-aspirin and progressing to 500 mg if tolerated.[8]
end of quote.
I had to eliminate all drugs which contain salicylates after an eschemic storm and and bleeding ulcer following a triple bypass. it left me with no painkillers except opiates, but the worst was not being able to take pepto bismol for diahrea.
Apparently dietary sources weren't enough to be a concern. As they are with you, if I were you, I might look into the desensitization thereapy mentioned in the article. It seems more sustainable to me than dietary restrictions.
This might be old news to you, and if so my apologies for bringing it up. I wish you well in your travails in any case.
Liz
p.s. Giving up caffeine is the best thing that I ever did for my health!
I had allergy shots as a kid.
I had allergy shots as a kid. I don't think they worked. Even the thoughht of the things makes me hurt.
Desensitization might make sense if it's something I'm hardly ever exposed to, but salicylates are something I'm always exposed to.
I am cutting back caffeine, and rationing both tea and caffeine pills - 1 mug of tea or 1 100mg pill, on alternating days.
And the withdrawal symptoms
And the withdrawal symptoms are getting worse. In my experience they tend to get worse and worse for the first couple weeks, rather than pass in the first couple days.
did a google search
Found a list of low medium and high sources. I eat a lot of everything on the high list. So not gonna cut down now.
Dayna.
Go on an English food diet.
Go on an English food diet. What that means, is bland, and lots of root vegetables.
You'll have to stop eating out _at all_ for a while. Two to four weeks is generally long enough to purge your system.
Turnips, radishes, carrots, parsnips, rampion. turnip greens and mustard greens for flavouring. Make lots of stew, and freeze it. It thaws out and reheats fine. Potatoes if you can tolerate them. Oats/oatmeal, rather than normal wheat bread (rye or pumpernickel bread, for the extra roughage, if you don't have a problem with rye or barley). The point here isn't to cut the salicylates out of your diet, it's to try to purge out anything else in your system (drink lots of water). Also, if you can, cut down the caffeine at the same time. If you go cold turkey, you'll have a headache for a week, but it'll be done after that.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Caffeine withdrawl
your headache will only last 2 to 3 days at worst and only then if you were a serious over-indulger.
I used to drink JOLT cola by the 2L bottle. When they stopped making it for a while we all had to withdraw... mein gott 3 days of hell!
We used to drink 3 or 4 2L bottles every day.
oh and don't take over the counter pain meds... they won't work. Nothing is inflamed... its your brain that is aching.
Years ago, a doctor
Years ago, a doctor prescribed nsaids for my rsi.
I was taking one pill a day, and they made my head and my guts hurt, but they were supposed to help, so I kept taking the gorram pills for months.
I would also drink a lot of tea for my asthma. Both the caffeine and the hot water help there. And there's something else that triggered withdrawal symptoms for a couple weeks as I switched from tea to caffeine pills. I went back on tea for my pain after being hit by the car. Nsaids never helped me with the pain, but tea did, and it didn't trigger a much new pain.
Any problems with acetominophen? I don't have liver issues.
Nothing wrong with
Nothing wrong with acetaminophen, but it won't affect caffeine withdrawal much. Same with Ibuprofen.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I haven't been able to eat
I haven't been able to eat out for years. I have hyperacusis, and multiple severe allergies, and I haven't been able to get comprehensive tests. So I can't take public transportation, can't go to restaurants, and can't eat anything there anyway.
I can eat carrots, but they're awfully sweet. I don't think I can eat too many carrots or other sweets without triggering more migraines.
Try getting heirloom
Try getting heirloom varieties if possible. Those are simply the older seed stocks from before the mass commercialization breeding of vegetables. (They're still "GMO", because as long as we've been farming vegetables, we've been doing selective breeding. ) The main thing is that they usually aren't as tasty, but often have more vitamins/minerals.
My point about going with the simpler foods (rather than chinese, etc) is that you want to drop _all_ additives out of the food for a couple of weeks. That includes excess spices. Basically, a system flush. (lots of water and sweating can help too - don't forget that you DO need salt to replace what you sweat out. Powdered Gatorade is better than the bottled stuff)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.