When my son has a sulfite reaction we have found he gets better the quickest when we give him nothing except water (be wary of water that has been through de-chlorination or reducing/removal of chlorine in water it could contain sulfites) to help flush things out of his system and when he's hungry we give him stewed apple no skin (apples are very low in methionine - a sulfur containing amino acid. ("Metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids also result in the production of sulfite, but the enzyme sulfite oxidase, present in tissue, detoxifies sulfites by oxidizing them into sulfates." a quote from a website that I'm not allowed to post external links on this site).  Just a note yeast can produce sulfites through fermentation. The yeast that is used in baking is Saccharomyces Cerevisiae if you look up this yeast name and sulfites you should find info.

Hope this helps anyone with sulfite allergy/intolerance

The key for us was supporting methylation pathways. Reducing sulfites in the diet, being aware of foods that are high and low in sulfur containing amino acids. 

Regards Theresa

Quote from: bentleysmom on January 16, 2014, 10:54:58 AM
The week before Christmas,  I was given the antibiotic sulfur,  since then I have been to er 4 times, have been living on steroids and benadryl.
I had a BAD reaction to sherbert on Saturday night, read the label had e preservatives,  and four food colorings. (Mymhusband brought it home because I had been feeling so sick, without reading the label I ate a small bowl)
ever sinse then I react everytime I eat. I have been eating only oatmeal w/cinnamon,  milk, sugar and whole milk, homemade bread(contains yeast), chicken,  rice, salt pepper, air popped popcorn with butter. ALL ORGANIC FROM WHOLE FOODS AND TRADER JOES.
I have been using benadryl is there anything else that I can do to get rid if the toxins?

Okay-- allergic reactions and detoxification are unrelated things.  Period.  Any conflation of the two should lead to an immediate understanding on your part that you are dealing with someone who doesn't know the FIRST thing about the human immune system and its overzealous and occasionally self-destructive tendencies. 

ORGANIC has nothing to do with allergenicity.  Eliminate that thought if you want to stay alive and still plan to keep eating food.  Yes, I realize that this is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but you should NOT trust someone with that mentality if you have food allergies because their ignorance is dangerous to you.

Know that Trader Joe's has NOTHING like a lock on food safe for those with food allergies and sensitivities.  They also don't always label well.  Last ingestion of cashew traces that my DD14 had, it was from something bought at Trader Joe's that read fine as per the label.  Shared lines.  Undisclosed.

SO.

Treat a reaction that seems to be anaphylactic as though it IS anaphylaxis.  Just as the others have said.  NOT treating those symptoms that way is dangerous.  Just so you know.

What do you consider "bad?"  I'm assuming that your reaction which resulted in steroids and ongoing antihistamines was severe.  So how bad was this in comparison with that?

  Presumably there were OTHER things in this bowl of preservatives and food coloring, yes?  Maybe other things eaten NEAR then in time, too.  You might be looking at preservatives on the basis of what you BELIEVE about food and what is good or bad for you... rather than what your body is actually responding to.  Keep an open mind for now, that's my advice.

Secondly keep a food diary, and quit eating things that made you sick.      My apologies if I've misunderstood that point in your post-- it SOUNDS as though you're saying that you keep eating a very restricted set of foods, and that they KEEP making you sick.  Well, don't keep eating those things, then.  I don't mean to sound rude about this, but given the elapsed time involved, either you are not being very careful, you might have a GI virus that is making you sick (not allergies), or maybe your gallbladder is freaking out or something.   It is possible that you are hyper-reactive in the wake of a huge reaction-- but you should be able to eat a VERY controlled and restricted diet more safely than it sounds like you're managing right now.  It's also possible that something in your house is so contaminated with a (newly developed) allergen that you are getting small doses of it on an ongoing basis.  Keep a food diary-- include ANYTHING that goes on your body or in your mouth, times and amounts. 

Get thee to an allergist.  PRONTO.

Quote from: twinturbo on January 16, 2014, 11:32:04 AM
My understanding of sulfa antibiotics is that they are unrelated to the food additive sulfite. An anaphylactoid reaction is treated the same as an anaphylactic reaction. Allergic reactions are not toxins.

In the wake of a really bad reaction many things your body would normally tolerate set it off making it seem like you're reacting to many things. To sort out the subjective from the objective you should see an allergist that ideally has a good understanding of antibiotic as well as food allergies to help you sort this out in a clinical setting. Chasing down the idea of toxins and organic foods won't help you pin down the proper allergens to practice avoidance. Although familiarizing yourself with IgE-mediated allergic reactions and keeping a food diary would help once you get the right board certified specialist.

What symptoms presented during the sulfa drugs? How were they treated?

Succinct and sensible.     I recommend that course of action.  Highly.

"sulfa" as in the antibiotics?  This refers to a "sulfonamide" moiety in chemical structure:




The classic example of a "sulfa" antibiotic is:

Sulfanilamide:





can you spot the sulfonamide function within that structure? [spoiler]It's at the right.  [/spoiler]


Allergy to so-called "Sulfa/Sulpha" drugs is completely real, completely well-recognized, and has been relatively common for the past fifty years or so, since the drug class become widely used after WWII.

However--

  it is not related to allergy (or anaphylactoid intolerance, perhaps more correctly stated) to SULFITES.


Sulfite, on the other hand, is a simple inorganic anion (that is, it is negatively charged):



Sulfites are used as a food preservative or enhancer.  They also occur in nature.

They may come in several related forms, such as--

    Sulfur dioxide,  (not a sulfite, but a closely related chemical oxide that can, in solution, be interconverted to sulfite)
    Potassium bisulfite or potassium metabisulfite
    Sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite or sodium sulfite

---

Sulfa drugs work because they impair a particular enzymatic pathway in bacteria.  Well, in non-resistant bacteria, anyway. 

In bacteria, antibacterial sulfonamides act as competitive inhibitors of the enzyme dihydropteroate synthetase (DHPS), an enzyme involved in folate synthesis. Sulfonamides are therefore bacteriostatic and inhibit growth and multiplication of bacteria, but do not kill them. Humans, in contrast to bacteria, acquire folate (vitamin B9) through the diet.

Sulfite sensitivity is slightly more common in those with salicylate sensitivity-- many asthmatics already know if they have such a sensitivity.    It can also occur as a result of a particular genetically caused metabolic disorder which is usually fatal in early childhood.

Any questions? 

I have treated my sulfite reactions like I have IgE-mediated reactions--with Benadryl. I have had what I believe was an anaphylactoid sulfite reaction.

Mine tolerance has grown over the last few years. I am now able to have a glass of non-domestic white wine--unthinkable for me a few years ago.   

I'm sorry you didn't get what you were looking for here.  It wasn't my goal to sound sarcastic or roll my eyes at you.  I was shaking my head at the drivel posted on the site you linked to.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there about allergies and allergic-like chemical sensitivities.  There are many sites that post a bunch of pseudoscientific information that is not correct.  My hope for you and all who come here is to receive the very best, most scientifically accurate information possible. Those who are having reactions need to find out the real reason so that they can be as healthy and safe as possible.  Following the advice and pseudoscience offered by non-reputable sources could just mean avoiding things unnecessarily but it could also prove to be harmful or dangerous for some conditions.   

Considering the reality and danger of anaphylactoid reactions the onus is upon you to not indulge personal theories under the philosophy Do no further harm.

We and our loved ones live with life threatening autoimmune reactions that are acute and have known causes. We do our best to help, the same we extended to you, to help people who live with our allergic disease how best to cope. You have chosen to turn a blind eye to our help or really to accept anything.

There are other links, and the sarcasm and eyerolling isn't really necessary.

It is very frustrating to have others discount what we are going through.

I joined this morning to perhaps assist the OP, not to argue about a condition from which we suffer and how it originated.

The fact remains, we have this sensitivity now, regardless of how it developed. I would like the OP to know there are many websites and links available to read about this condition and how best to handle it, and they're all available via Google search.

I truly just wanted to OP to know she was not alone in her suffering and wanted to share information with her. Apparently, this was wrong of me; I apologize. Thanks.

Pax.

Can you please cite a reputable source that has that same information?

The source you cited can't even use proper grammar. 

QuoteThis site suggests several research studies that would provide evidence to traditional Doc's on how to proceed with CFS/FMS patients. These would help move the CFS/FMS battle from Integrated to Traditional (Traditional is based on double-blind studies), which is the bulk of the nation's Docs. If you have been hit with CFS/FMS and are very wealthy, you might consider printing out this list of research studies, calling up the major medical organization or university in your area (or CFS/FMS clinic), asking for an appointment with the person in charge of Research and Development, get the appointment, walk into their office, place the printout on their desk, and ask them how much it would cost to do the studies. Expect numbers between $100K and $5M, depending on how many subjects you want in YOUR study. This would help the world, help yourself by connecting with medical researchers, help you compare results of your own tests with others, and help you make decisions about your own treatment by observing how others respond. And, you may actually enjoy being involved in tracking down the cause of a terrible condition that effects 500,000 people, according to the Center For Disease Control. So if you are wealthy, please consider this.

If you would like to discuss Research with our Directory of Research, Ray Saarela, please email Research@BeatCfsAndFms.org and place "BeatCfsAndFms Research" in the subject field. Ray is responsible for researching the more complex biochemical issues discussed at this website.

They may not be related, but there are many for whom the sulfite sensitivity started after taking a course of these antibiotics, such as the OP and myself. Perhaps they were preserved with sulfites, as many medications are.

http://www.uic.edu/pharmacy/services/di/faq/sulfa.php

QuoteOne of the more common drug allergies is that to sulfa drugs. Sulfa drugs are more appropriately labeled sulfonamides and are derivatives of para-amino benzoic acid. Table 1 lists common medications that contain a sulfonamide component. A sulfonamide allergy is different from a sulfite allergy because sulfonamides and sulfites are distinctly different chemicals. A person allergic to sulfites is no more likely to be allergic to sulfonamides than any other individual.

It may be possible you are reacting to both sulfites and sulfonamides, but please understand they are not related.  Reacting to sulfa drugs is an allergy - reacting to sulfites is not.

Thanks. Yes, PPD is dangerous for some, but most permanent hair dyes are loaded with sulfites, too, unfortunately.

And you're correct that doctors say the two are unrelated (two ER doctors have told me this), but in my research I've found that many sulfite sensitivity sufferers started with a sulfa drug reaction. For me, my reactions to both were exactly the same and I was healthy and had never reacted to anything before that particular course of antibiotics. (Also some antibiotics have sulfite added as a preservative.)

Do you have sulfite sensitivity? Would appreciate any links you might have regarding this. I'm going to peruse this great site for information this morning. Thanks again.

Hair dyes often have PPD which is a known to be highly allergenic.

Sulfa and sulfite are not related, though it is still possible to react to both. It's not doctors as much as chemistry is my understanding. But both can be very serious reactions. One is a drug, the other is an additive. Like bell pepper and pepper are botanically distinct. Nutmeg is not a nut, etc.

Also, here is one link for you. http://www.learningtarget.com/nosulfites/index.htm

I also developed a sulfite sensitivity (it is not called a true allergy) after taking a course of SMZ-TMP (sulfa antibiotic) in the fall. Have also ended up at the ER and at the urgent care clinic as a result. You will read (and many doctors will say) they are not related but IMO they are. (I've had two doctors tell me I was just suffering from anxiety!)

I'm sorry you're suffering from this, too; it is awful. I can't even color my hair anymore without an ER trip! I am currently on the hunt for an allergist, but in the meantime I am avoiding sulfites as much as possible, taking B12, cooking organic, no longer eating out, and carrying Benadryl with me at all times.

I recommend a site with a free e-book. Google "Headaches, Asthma, Fries, and a Cola" for tons of information to help you. Good luck. I know what you're going through, unfortunately.