Allergic reaction today- almost went to the ER!!!

[alex3619]

Sensitivity reactions are best thought of as poisoning rather than immunological. Its poison for you. Its a direct chemical alteration of some body biochemistry, which varies depending on the substance. It varies person by person because of variations in detox genetics, health status, and whatever genes are involved in the specific pathways.

These kinds of reactions are dose dependent, so a tiny dose might not do much but a large dose might be very dramatic.

 

[Hanna]

@Gingergrrl , I am sorry to read what you have been through, and it rang a B-I-G B-I-G bell for me.
I am quite sure your reaction is linked to the candy - to the yellow dye in fact- as some have suggested here. And I will explain.

Last week I went through an allergic reaction too, 2 mn after taking a caplet of prednisone 1 mg. My throat closed up totally in a spasm of the larynx that left me without any oxygen at all for a minute. Muscles of the larynx didn't respond and I was in a panic state untill the muscles began to relax and let some air go in. I had also flush + tachy etc.

After reviewing all the food, supplements, drugs, that was the only drug I took for the FIRST TIME. I have taken with no problem the 5mg, 20 mg version and also the aero version of 250 mcg.
The 1 mg tablets is the only version which has a yellow-orange colour (the rest are white).

So I googled today to see what is there in this prednisone which is different, and of course, what popped up was the dye : SUNSET YELLOW #6.

SUNSET YELLOW belongs to the AZO DYE GROUP, like your TARTRAZINE, and is known indeed to cause intolerance reactions in sensitive people, especially those who have a preexisiting sensitivity to aspirin.

So, watch-out carefully, beeing sure, there is no such dyes in your food/supps/meds. The one who belong to the category are :
- turmeric/curcumin dye E100
- riboflavin dye E101
- Tartrazin dye E102
- quinoline yellow E104
- Sunset yellow E110

Thanks again @Gingergrrl , I will be wiser too now.
Just one caplet, and it was total hell for me. So it may be powerful this stuff.

Edit :
"Sunset yellow looks like an orange-red powder. It is another azo dye, similar to tartrazine, and allura red. An azo dye is a chemical compound where two hydrocarbon groups are joined by two nitrogen atoms. The letters azo are derived from the french word for nitrogen, azote."


... Watch out also for the red colour (allura red), as hubby confirmed me immediately on the phone. I am going to dig deeper.

 

[justy]

I am very much like Misfit Toy - randon things cause itching and ive given up trying to worry about it overly. Im on a low histamine diet tho and also taking H1 and H2 blockers daily but still get these reactions.

I would like to point out something no one seems to have mentioned yet which is that allergic reactions to drugs can happen many weeks after starting them - it happened to a friend of mine the other day. Even anaphylactic reactions can happen weeks into a particular drug.

If your histamine levels are high then you may have become reactive toa lot of things. The way the Mast cell people talk about it is that we all have a bucket with some histamine in it. Throughout the day there are things - foods, inhaled pollens, drugs that may add more histamine to the bucket. What we need to do is avoid overfilling the bucket and having it overflow. If your is already fuller than most peoples then you need to be careful to keep your histamine laod low.

My Mast cells have become activated by a drug I took last year and then perpetuated by another one. My immunologist had me stop all non essential drugs and take loratidine at up to 4 times normal dose daily and Zantac. This is helping as long as I stick tot he low H diet most of the time as well, but the itching is still breaking through m,ost days. We don't know if my situation is temporary and will resolve or itf I have Mast Cell actiavation syndrome, but the advice would be the same anyway.

 

[Hanna]

From Wikipedia (I known, there is some better source , but just a beginning...)

Allura Red AC is a red azo dye that goes by several names including: Allura Red, Food Red 17, C.I. 16035, FD&C Red 40, E129,[1][2] 2-naphthalenesulfonic acid, 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo)-, disodium salt, and disodium 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo)-2-naphthalenesulfonate. It is used as a food dye and has the E number E129. Allura Red AC was originally introduced in the United States as a replacement for the use of amaranth as a food coloring.[citation needed]

 

[WillowJ]

I would like to point out something no one seems to have mentioned yet which is that allergic reactions to drugs can happen many weeks after starting them - it happened to a friend of mine the other day. Even anaphylactic reactions can happen weeks into a particular drug.

If your histamine levels are high then you may have become reactive toa lot of things. The way the Mast cell people talk about it is that we all have a bucket with some histamine in it.

I didn't know those things. Thanks.

 

[alex3619]

allergic reactions to drugs can happen many weeks after starting them

Most people do not have an allergic reaction to new things immediately. Allergy takes time to develop. Its the second or later time that is the issue.

 

[Hanna]

That makes me think about all the multivitamins we often have a bad reaction to. Most of the time they appear with a yellow tint. One more reason to have a look at the composition (especially riboflavin dye).

 

[justy]

SorrybGinger - its mothers day gere and my family made me breakfast and I was called away - will pop in later if im feeling up to it. Hope you are OK?

 

[Sherlock]

You might look into having an epi-pen to always carry.

 

[Debbie23]

Hi, ginger, I don't have any wisdom or insight to offer I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what you are going through and hope it improves soon.

 

[MeSci]

5) I tried a new cream this morning called "Icy Hot" for my neck and arm pain but this was 3-4 hours before the reaction and it contains menthol which is the same ingredient in my pain patches (Salonpas) which I have used for years.

Sorry to hear of this nasty reaction.

I am very suspicious of creams, lotions, etc., and will not use them unless I have a full ingredient list, which the manufacturers of 'Icy Hot' appear unwilling to provide here.

But they do give the following 'active ingredients':

All Icy Hot® products contain varying levels of Menthol. In addition, Icy Hot® Advanced Pain Relief Cream and Icy Hot® Arthritis Pain Relief Lotion contain Camphor while Icy Hot® Pain Relieving Balm and Icy Hot® Pain Relieving Cream contain Methyl Salicylate.

 

[Gingergrrl]

Thank you so much for all the additional info to every single person who shared their story or did research for me. This is the best little corner of the entire internet and I you guys.

@Hanna I am so sorry about what happened to you and remember reading your post re: your throat closing up for a few minutes but had no idea until now that Tartrazine was the potential culprit! I am so thankful that you are okay and your reaction was much worse than mine. My throat got scratchy but the main reaction was my skin turning bright red and hot and the hives on one knee. I have to admit it scared the hell out of me b/c I thought if we wait and do not go to the ER, what if my throat does close up (which has never happened to me.)

My dtr has an Epi Pen b/c she was allergic to peanuts as a young child (she is 13 now) and although she avoids peanuts like the plague, if she were to accidentally eat them, per her doctors Zyrtec should now be enough as her allergy has lessened but nevertheless we do have an Epi Pen in the house for her (but have never had to use it.) We don't know what it would do to me b/c of my tachycardia but I guess if my throat closed up, I would have no choice.

Hanna, thank you for posting all the different names of the yellow and red dyes. I am going to be researching this very thoroughly today and post what I find here. Are these dyes carefully labeled in France and Israel (or other places you have lived?) In the US, this stuff is not on the medication labels but is on the food labels. I found that we had a jar of pickles in the fridge with Tartrazine which is used to make the "green" color! Yesterday I had some in my gluten free sandwich at lunch- the same time I ate the candy so that must have added to the reaction as well.

We normally buy organic products at Whole Foods & Bristol Farms (but sometimes get regular products b/c of the cost) but now I think we need to just stick with the organic and natural products. I never really felt it was worth it until this incident.

This got so long, I am going to post it and respond to everyone else in a new message!

ETA: @Never Give Up Thank you for posting a list of some of the dyes as well! I really appreciate it!

 

[Gingergrrl]

@alex3619 and @zzz Thank you for explaining some more about the science behind what happened to me and I really appreciate it. You both explain things very well for the non-science people like me.

@zzz I was wondering re: googling meds to find out what dyes are in them- my husband found a website called "Daily Med" (from the NIH) in which you can get the full drug info. Is this the site that you use when you get the prescribing info?

Also, it says that (brand version) of Valcyte has a red dye called "Ferric Oxide." Do you think this one is okay for me? It does not seem to be in the group that Hanna listed as an "Azo dye." Right now taking 1/16 to 1/8 of a pill, it seems to be fine but if I do increase it in the future, if I have a bad reaction, I don't want it to be from the red dye and then blame the Valcyte itself!

@justy Thank you for explaining about the Histamine and this is something that I need to explore further and that my doctor feels is important (although I do not get any itching.) Please go celebrate Mothers Day and don't worry about responding here further today! I learned from another friend on PR that today was Mothers Day in the UK and had no idea since it is not until May in the US.

@Forbin- I checked and the candy I ate did not have HFCS but thank you for the warning. Ugh, so much to look out for!

 

[justy]

Hey Ginger - trying to think fo the best way to describe my experience. It may be the dye that caused it, but it may not. This is what happened to me:

Doxy made me itch, I stopped it and eventually the itching went away. then other drugs started making me itch, then ANY drug I took, then some foods. It seemed most likely that I was allergic to Titanium Dioxide because its in nearly all drugs and is a common allergen. I had a blood test to see if I was allergic to this, alongside other metals and it came back absolutely clear.

What is actually happening - as my histamine is high because me Mast Cells have become over activated and are pumping it out is that certain drugs, foods airborne allergens can cause my histamine bucket to overflow and. What I mean is that I am not actually allergic to anything specific, just that my body is producing too much Histamine in general, so it LOOKS like im allergic to specific things.

My skin prick testing that the immunologist did a few weeks ago showed reactivity to EVERYHTING tested- even the negative control, with histamine and dust being the most reactive. I am not allergic to everything, but am generally primed to react with my high histamine. I hope this helps you in tracking down what happened.

Strangely my youngest son came out in hives the other day for no reason we could find and was covered in red wheals by the end of the day and complaining of being very itchy. We gave him Loratidine for two days and it went away - no idea what caused it or if it may happen again!

 

[daisybell]

Ferric oxide is just iron and oxygen so should be fine...

 

[NK17]

@Gingergrrl I'm just reading your post now.
I really hope you're doing better today.
Sending you all my best thoughts.

 

[Gingergrrl]

@Gingergrrl I'm just reading your post now.
I really hope you're doing better today. Sending you all my best thoughts.

@NK17 Thank you and I didn't want to bother you with this although I am sure you are not surprised that I had yet another obscure mutant reaction to something LOL. I took all my meds and supplements today and all are fine so I am as close to 100% certain as possible that the reaction was from the Tartrazine dye in the candy. I guess it was good that this happened so I can avoid it in the future.

It was difficult to find the info for all the inactive ingredients and dyes in my meds on-line (b/c they are all generics except for one) but I called CVS and the pharmacist was very kind and is preparing all of this info for all of my meds for me to pick up tomorrow.

Best wishes for your journey this week

 

[Hanna]

Since the closing-up of my throat I am struggling with various pseudo-allergies/ intolerances several times a week, and I wonder if what I am experiencing now isn't a variation of what you have @justy.
Yestersay afternoon, it was a few minutes after lunch (salad, lentils- all organic food, no vinegar)...

I spend some time in researching on the internet -@Gingergrrl in Israel, some pharma feel comfortable just writing "colorant" on the meds pack , and some others give the full info - if there are some more "azo dyes" in the meds I take, and I was flabergasted.

1. Tetralysal (Lyme) : quinoline yellow !!! and also a non-azo but allergenic red colorant named erythrosine (E127) (every mom of autistic child avoids it like the plague)

2. Minocycline is not better (switched to tetralysal) : sunset yellow + quinoline yellow

3. Protocide : the generic version of Tinidazole (antiprotozoaire) : FD&C yellow (azo - non specified : number 5=tartrazine, number 6=sunset yellow), opadry orange (may countain E110= sunset yellow) ---> better to import the original drug Fasigyn, no colour.

4. Zeto : generic brand of azythromicine in israel, contains yellow-orange colorant. No info !!! but exactly the same colour as sunset yellow.---> better to import the original drug Zythromax, no colour.

It appears, that lots of firms that produce generics, use a lot of problematic stuff and don't go through all the tests a new original drug goes through. Whenever possible, it is better for sensitive people to use the original drugs.

 

[Gingergrrl]

@Hanna Your post is making me wonder if there have been meds in which I could have tolerated the brand version but will never know b/c I got the generic and reacted badly to a filler ingredient or color/dye.

The cost difference in the US is outrageous and I can get a generic for $5/month versus a brand will be several hundred and sometimes even thousands of dollars. I got the brand of Valcyte b/c I felt it was worth it but have 6-7 other meds that are all generics.

I also learned from my research today that there are pills that appear white but still have different dyes listed in the ingredients! This is why I am getting a complete print out from CVS Pharmacy on all my generic meds tomorrow to get the full story.

Even the generic Zyrtec that I took yesterday to counter the allergic reaction is a white pill but has a blue dye in the ingredients! Thankfully, I did not react to it and it was fine but why on earth does Zyrtec need ANY dyes? It is an allergy medicine FFS!

 

[Hanna]

Good point @Gingergrrl , before putting a drug into the allergic drugs list, it would be worth to know if one reacts badly to the active component itself or to an excipient.

There is a wonderful French study from Dr Blain -sorry it is in not in English- that deals with the problems of generics versus originals. Sometimes pharma firms even modify the active molecule itself, not only add some dangerous excipients. This is a real jungle here.

There are some good examples in this study.
For example, I thought I am allergic to penicillin because I had a bad allergy to amoxycillin in september. But once again, this was a generic from Teva, and not the original. Now, I am frightened to test the original, in case I would do an anaphylactic reaction, and it is written on my medical file 'allergic to penicillin", but it might not be the reality, and I am cancelling for he future the use of a useful drug.

This is the link to dr Blain's study :
https://www.google.co.il/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http://www.indecosa.cgt.fr/z_4647/images/rapport_dr_blain.pdf&ei=1ZAGVYDDM435aJODgsAK&usg=AFQjCNHbucvrisdb_iSnoFPR6ZzlYjCL9Q&sig2=zPWtlj5egeWR9TND-7hHDQ&bvm=bv.88198703,d.d2s