Tell anyone you have a salicylate intolerance and you are likely to get a blank look, or “What’s that?”. They are usually surprised that someone could have problems with something which is in most fruit and vegetables. After all fruit and vegetables are supposed to be good for you.
About five years ago I started to have unexplained swellings particularly around the eyes as puffy bags. It usually cam about during the night, so the first thing I did was replace my pillow assuming it was the culprit. Advice from my doctor was it was urticaria triggered by unknown causes and to take anti-histamines. Increasingly I had swellings/rashes at closer intervals. I visited an allergy clinic and had lots of scratch tests but no trigger was apparent.
It all came to a crunch point when I was in China on a working trip. I woke up in the middle of the night with my throat and tongue swelling up. Thoughts rushed through my mind as to what to do. I had seen a hospital just a few blocks away from the hotel. Should I go straight there and check in. The night before I had problems communicating with hotel staff when trying to get my laundry done, so didn’t like the chances with the language divide. Also I had no idea of the room numbers for the people I was traveling with. I ended up taking a wait and see approach. Luckily the swelling went down after about four hours. I had ongoing problems while on the trip but no drastic reoccurrences.
Back home I revisited an allergy clinic and was asked to write down exactly what I had eaten for the last week. Within 10 minutes (nice one after three years of uncertainty) the doctor concluded I had a salicylate intolerance, and unfortunately there is no test for it. The next step was to minimize salicylate intake and then re-introduce it as food challenges.
Easier said than done as salicylates are in most fruit and vegetables, but the low salicylate diet was actually very similar to the evening people had in the 1960s. Meat, potatoes, peas and carrots but definitely no pepper.
Within three days the change was dramatic. No upset stomach, sore back disappeared, and I stopped snoring. The diet was very bland with no herbs or spices except: garlic, chives or onions. Salicylates are basically what plants use as a defense mechanism against disease. It is usually in the skin of the plant of the aerial parts of the plant. Plants in the onion family use sulphur based compounds to achieve the same thing. Vegetables that are peeled (e.g. peas) or grow under ground (e.g. potatoes & carrots) are usually lowest and spices are the highest (The diet I am on is very similar to Fengels diet for ADH kids only it goes further. Salicylates are what is in Aspirin.
Life became much easier when I read Sharla Race’s book “Salicylate Handbook” as it provides advice and listing of the salicylate content of most foods. Basically I don’t have any symptoms if the salicylate levels are below a threshold. I can temporarily raise the threshold by taking anti-histamines, but it takes about three days to reduce levels significantly, and up to two weeks to completely get rid of the salicylates out of my system. It appears I am missing a particular enzymes that most people have that breaks the salicylates down so for me they reach toxic levels.
Mostly I know I have reached my threshold when I feel a quick build up of wind, then my skin becomes itchy. Far better to avoid by being careful about what I eat. Salicylate intolerance isn’t an allergy and can’t be cured but it can be managed. An occasional indulgence with something like a peach can cause me problems but sometimes it is worth it.
Tags: Salicylate
