Day One of My Sulfite-Free Life

I've always had a problem with some foods and beverages.

Red wine for example; actually, any alcohol.

I was the only one of my friends in high school and college that could get a vicious hangover including headache, vomiting and diarrhea just from having a single drink.

I could never eat coconut, strawberries, walnuts or broccoli without having an extreme reaction.

As a child I even hated chocolate ~ it gave me terrible stomach aches.

Over time I learned the hard way that these foods would totally mess me up both digestively and systemically. They just weren't worth the trouble.

I stopped even attempting to drink wine and beer with my friends in 2002, after vomiting six times in front of my new boyfriend (now husband) after drinking only two drinks. I felt so embarrassed and humiliated, I never wanted to go through that again.

He kindly supported me throughout the years in my struggle with food and drink. Many nights after we would come home from a restaurant, he would sit with me as I lay on the floor for hours doubled over in pain after eating. I never knew why I had these reactions.

We married and began to have children. I gained 60 lbs and ballooned from a petite 120 to a rather impressive 184 lbs with the birth of our second son, never getting down below 145 no matter how hard I tried or how much I dieted.

In late 2007 I learned about the gluten free diet and tried it based on the advice of my then-naturopath, due to my Hashimoto's thyroiditis and subclinical hyperthyroidism.

To my joy I felt much better, and I lost 25 lbs and had increased energy and strength! I returned to my "normal" weight of around 120, and everyone commented on how much better I looked and how much happier I seemed.

Then came an exceptionally rough third pregnancy in 2009, with premature delivery exactly 22 hours after the death of my father.

From 2009 to 2011 my health slowly started to decline.

"But I'm gluten free!" I thought. "How can I be living and eating so carefully and still getting sicker and sicker?"

I gave up dairy, sugar, nightshade vegetables. Things got a little better. Every now and then I would cheat with a little ice cream or some french fries.

Still, during the same time period I ended up with a raft of autoimmune issues. I found out that I suffered from many chronic bacterial infections, along with environmental exposure to mercury and other heavy metals. One of the worst choices I made ~ a flu shot. That one left me tingling and getting progressively worse neurologically for a year.

At last I made some discoveries that began to turn life around. I joined the Road Back Foundation and found out about the use of low dose antibiotics to counter bacterial allergies that can provoke autoimmune responses including Rheumatoid Arthritis and Scleroderma. I met the best rheumatologist in the world, who began to treat me with a low-dose doxycycline. I was also diagnosed with lyme disease and co-infections.

As I began to treat my infections, I got better in many ways. I also took supplements to facilitate detox and used an infrared sauna as often as we could afford it.

Recently though, my allergies have gotten worse and I've been experiencing many asthma type symptoms. Coughing, wheezing, throat tightness after eating or drinking certain things.

Here are the foods that have been setting this off:

Sea Salt
Eggs
Quinoa
Potato chips and French fries
Some cheeses
Dried ginger powder
Garlic
Black pepper

The other night I burst out in hives after taking a supplement that combines garlic with ginger - two supposedly wonderful things for the human body and immune system. I began to wheeze, my throat felt tight and my heart was racing.

With my husband out of town, I called my mother to sit on the phone and talk with me so that my children would not be alone in the house if my reaction got worse. After about 30 minutes she said,

"Good honey, you aren't wheezing any more."

I hadn't realized that she could actually hear the wheezing over the phone.

Two days ago my husband and I were out to dinner for burgers and fries at the Burger Lounge, a local chain. The food was fantastic but by the end of our meal, about 40 minutes after arriving, my throat had that locked up feeling and my breathing was labored.

As we left I approached the cashier.

"This is an odd question, but what kind of salt do you use for your fries?"

"We use sea salt!" she smiled, as though bestowing wonderful health benefits upon me.

"Thanks."

My husband and I exchanged knowing glances.

That same night I came home and really went to work researching. What was the common thread? What was the problem with the sea salt? I have been allergy tested to seafood and did NOT come up positive with a IgE mediated reaction. So why the extreme wheezing and swollen lips with the salt?

After an hour of diligent Googling, I finally had the Aha! moment.

"If you're having a reaction to sea salt," someone had written on a blog, "You may be allergic to sulfur, sulfites or sulfates. The ocean is full of sulfur."

My eyes widened and flashed. Suddenly I remembered my lifelong problems with sulfites and sulfur containing foods. Everything started to make sense.

Then I remembered my allergist mentioning sulfite sensitivity when I told him about my problems with red wine. At the time it didn't seem very serious, he'd just told me to stay away from red wine and that the sensitivity would probably stay mild. This was a year ago, and since I don't drink alcohol anyway (thanks to how sick it makes me) I hadn't really thought about what he'd said.

I started to research sulfite sensitivity. Amazingly, all of my disparate reactions to so many different products, foods, drinks, soaps - all fell neatly into line.

Even more amazingly, I learned that some of my autoimmune problems like Hashimoto's and adrenal problems can be helped a lot by avoiding sulfites and salicylates!

This is so exciting! (It is also so challenging!)

So while I am a little anxious about needing to avoid so many new foods, I am simultaneously kind of hopeful about feeling better, getting rid of my allergic-type sensitivity reactions, and having my thyroid and adrenals come back online!

In celebration of the bright future ahead, I am creating this "Tasty... and Sulfite Free!" website as a companion to my "Tasty... and Gluten Free!" project.

In closing...

People used to ask me if it was hard to be gluten free, since I had to follow such a restrictive diet.

My answer always bubbled up straight from the heart -

"Not at all! I feel and look so much better now, it is actually a joy and a pleasure to eat the foods that my body likes instead of dealing with the challenges of eating things my body didn't like at all."

So here's to a sulfite-free life, and together (if you face this problem too) we will navigate the path to health, happiness and a sulfite-free diet.