Why do all things delicious have to be coated in Red Dye?
So one regular EEG and one sleep deprived EEG, and they are no closer to figuring out why I had a seizure at work last September. In short, they are pretty well leaving it as a freak happenstance and the neurologist is sending me back to the rheumatologist to get tested for Fibromyalgia (finally), so on August 28th, we will see how that goes.
Maybe she can find an explanation for the most recent craziness that has cropped up in the last year or so. For some reason, I stopped being able to take the red coated tylenol without my tongue going number and my throat swelling slightly; uncoated tylenol, however, was no problem. Not thinking too much of it, and figured there was just something weird in the coating I was sensitive to, I shrugged and went along my way. About a month ago, I consumed a tomato wrap the one day at lunch. About an hour later, my entire body started itching and my throat felt weird. I came home, took an antihistamine and it seemed to pass. At that point, I sat down and went through the list of everything I had eaten that day. The only thing I could think of was the tomato wrap, and the tylenol issue cropped back into my head. After searching for the ingredients for the red coating in tylenol, I found one ingredient listed that would have been likely been common between the two: FD&C Red 40 (which is found in many, many different food, drugs and cosmetics). From them on, it was a suspicion of mine and I kept my eye out for it. About a week ago, I sat down to a candy apple (not thinking about the red coating it had) and about and hour later, my right sinus down to my throat went tingly and numb and my throat swelled a bit, followed by crazy itchiness so bad that I had a hard time getting to sleep, 3 hours later after taking my antihistamine, followed by two days of feeling sick. It was at that point that I realized, it is definitely the Red Dye (also known as allura red and is essentially the red food coloring many of us use). Doing some reading on the product, I've come to realize that it is in far too many products and have since learned (the hard way) that Cheetos also contain red dye and that avoiding it as much as possible is likely a good thing. Craziness I tell you.
And while I can no longer eat Swedish Berries, I have found that a large portion of Dare's Real Fruit Candy is dye free and yummyearth.ca also makes dye free hard candy, which makes me happy. (I am still awaiting my order from them in the mail and I will let you know how it is). Not that I consume large amounts of candy, but I do enjoy cherry/strawberry flavoured candy when I get the craving and thought I would have to give it up completely, but happily I do not. As far as other food goes, it has amazed me how many products do contain dye, many labeled vaguely by the word "color". I have also emailed some of these companies that list only "color" in their ingredients, and get responses like "the only colour they contain is the Certified Color listed on the label". Umm, yea, cause that isn't as vague as the label. I still haven't gotten a response from my reply of "But is the Certified Color artificial or vegetable based?".
On the upside, I no longer work in a call centre which has decreased my stress level considerably and has led to far less sick days. I actually enjoy going to work now and I think that has made a huge difference in how I have felt in the last couple of months. And Ian is coming home at the end of the month as well, which always makes me feel better as well.
But I am going to go make some cookies for my co-workers and use the M&M's that have been taunting me in the cupboard (ooo, look at us, you know you want the red dye we are swimming in). Sigh.
Take Care all,
Maybe she can find an explanation for the most recent craziness that has cropped up in the last year or so. For some reason, I stopped being able to take the red coated tylenol without my tongue going number and my throat swelling slightly; uncoated tylenol, however, was no problem. Not thinking too much of it, and figured there was just something weird in the coating I was sensitive to, I shrugged and went along my way. About a month ago, I consumed a tomato wrap the one day at lunch. About an hour later, my entire body started itching and my throat felt weird. I came home, took an antihistamine and it seemed to pass. At that point, I sat down and went through the list of everything I had eaten that day. The only thing I could think of was the tomato wrap, and the tylenol issue cropped back into my head. After searching for the ingredients for the red coating in tylenol, I found one ingredient listed that would have been likely been common between the two: FD&C Red 40 (which is found in many, many different food, drugs and cosmetics). From them on, it was a suspicion of mine and I kept my eye out for it. About a week ago, I sat down to a candy apple (not thinking about the red coating it had) and about and hour later, my right sinus down to my throat went tingly and numb and my throat swelled a bit, followed by crazy itchiness so bad that I had a hard time getting to sleep, 3 hours later after taking my antihistamine, followed by two days of feeling sick. It was at that point that I realized, it is definitely the Red Dye (also known as allura red and is essentially the red food coloring many of us use). Doing some reading on the product, I've come to realize that it is in far too many products and have since learned (the hard way) that Cheetos also contain red dye and that avoiding it as much as possible is likely a good thing. Craziness I tell you.
And while I can no longer eat Swedish Berries, I have found that a large portion of Dare's Real Fruit Candy is dye free and yummyearth.ca also makes dye free hard candy, which makes me happy. (I am still awaiting my order from them in the mail and I will let you know how it is). Not that I consume large amounts of candy, but I do enjoy cherry/strawberry flavoured candy when I get the craving and thought I would have to give it up completely, but happily I do not. As far as other food goes, it has amazed me how many products do contain dye, many labeled vaguely by the word "color". I have also emailed some of these companies that list only "color" in their ingredients, and get responses like "the only colour they contain is the Certified Color listed on the label". Umm, yea, cause that isn't as vague as the label. I still haven't gotten a response from my reply of "But is the Certified Color artificial or vegetable based?".
On the upside, I no longer work in a call centre which has decreased my stress level considerably and has led to far less sick days. I actually enjoy going to work now and I think that has made a huge difference in how I have felt in the last couple of months. And Ian is coming home at the end of the month as well, which always makes me feel better as well.
But I am going to go make some cookies for my co-workers and use the M&M's that have been taunting me in the cupboard (ooo, look at us, you know you want the red dye we are swimming in). Sigh.
Take Care all,
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