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1666434 tn?1325262350

What else contains Sulfites?

I have been allergic to Sulfa medications since I was younger but I never ever knew this extended to foods or to drinks for that matter.  I recently discovered that this is in epinephrine which is what is in an epi-pen used to help an allergic reaction.

I had no idea that I even had an allergy or severe reaction to epinephrine until 2 weeks ago when I went to the dentist and was given a novacaine with this in it called Septocaine.  I immediately broke out in a cold sweat, started shaking and felt like I was going to pass out.  The after effects were a swollen throat and swollen face.  It looked like I had a stroke on the side of my face where I was injected.  This normally does not happen to me at all.

When I came home I immediately looked it up online to find out more--- apparently if you have high or low blood pressure or are allergic to sulfites you should not have epinephrine.

Wanted to share this to see if anyone else has a similar experience.
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Avatar universal
I just read today that soy and corn products often contain high levels of sulfites! No wonder people with sulfite allergies also have intolerance to soy based products or corn starch and corn syrup. Which is in everything! So frustrating. I have already been making all our food from scratch, but now I have to remove half the ingredients in my pantry and today I am looking up how to wash my hair with all natural ingredients. I give up looking for a bottle of shampoo! It will be cheaper and less time consumingto just make my own. The hours wasted on the internet searching and ordering products that only make my head itch more! Thanks for sharing all your wisdom, guys and gals. I thought I was alone in this mess.
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681148 tn?1437661591
I found a good link to finding sulfite free products:

http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/sls-free-products.html
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1666434 tn?1325262350
Yes we did buy it from a big chain and it was not frozen, it was a ***** turkey.  We didn't save any of the packaging though with the lot number on it.  
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681148 tn?1437661591
Oh, crud, maybe I should have suggested getting it at the co-op, even if it does cost a bit more there.  It hardly seems fair that an almost vegetarian got stuck with a bad bird.  Yeah, that would put a sour note on the whole affair.  Wow, which store did you go to anyway?  Was it one of the big chain stores?  What was the brand label?  Did you report that you and others in your neighborhood got sick from possible bad birds to the health department?  It's still not too late to do so.  They need to know, so they can look into the possibility that there were bad birds sold and if they were all purchased in the stores in your immediate neighborhood or if the problem was more widespread.
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1666434 tn?1325262350
Ugh nearly everyone that ate turkey in my family was almost sick afterwards, so were others in our area.  Wondering now if it was a bad turkey.  It turned greenish about 3 days after.  I usually don't even eat meat but I did, now I wish I hadn't grrr.
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681148 tn?1437661591
You did well.  You got the fresh and not frozen kind.  That is certainly sufficient for avoiding sulfites.  Yep, turkey does have a strong odor both in consumption going in as well as when it leaves the system.
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1666434 tn?1325262350
Ok so I ate turkey and amazingly enough I can smell turkey in my urine... that's just odd!  I don't normally eat a lot of meat but I thought well this year I will.  I am also breastfeeding too and it it affecting our little guys diapers as well.  I have had turkey years before but do not recall such a strong odor.  We didn't have an organic turkey though, it was a "fresh" turkey and not frozen.

I hope everyone had a safe allergic reaction-free holiday :D
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681148 tn?1437661591
This year, limit how much turkey you eat, unless you know for sure the bird doesn't have saline solution added.  The problem is the solution added to poultry.  Try to get a bird that is fresh and never frozen.  And, make sure it's organic.  That reduces the chances of there being a problem with sulfites.  With chicken, don't buy those bags of individually frozen chicken parts.  Those do have sulfites.
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1666434 tn?1325262350
Anything special I need to stay away from on the holiday?  Turkey doesn't contain sulfites right??
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1666434 tn?1325262350
Yay I like carob! :D
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681148 tn?1437661591
Here's a great link I actually forgot about that someone else told me about.  There are other internal links in it.  It's mainly about sulfites, too:

http://www.housemouse.com/sulfites.htm

Good news, I did find out from this site that carob is a safe alternative to chocolate.

http://www.housemouse.com/sulfites.htm#Food Substitutes
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535822 tn?1443976780
whoa Chit Chat I don't know but good suggestion I am going to do some research that would be nice ..
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168348 tn?1379357075
Maybe Carob?  Anything with Carob available?  Does Carob contain sulfites?
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535822 tn?1443976780
yup and chocolate aswell I seem to have a sweet tooth nowadys, that doesnt help.well whoever said life was easy ...just got to to what we can ..Is there any choc or wine without them, it'll be a sorry Thanksgiving and Christmas without that super Irish coffee we make ...
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1666434 tn?1325262350
ugh Margy on the wine I know the holidays are coming around and its getting colder a glass of wine would be nice, but now I know why it makes me feel like crap the next day it dampens that idea lol

Still struggling with giving up the coffee :(
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535822 tn?1443976780
Yup still have some of it, not as bad though and I think you are right FurballsMom it is still in my diet I am getting better at reading labels but some of the print is so small I have to carry a magnifying glass around with me ..I still drink some wine in the evenings ,just with dinner but theres another goody will have to go..  
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681148 tn?1437661591
As far as the itchy scalp goes, you might still have things in the diet you're unaware of that has sulfites or some other ingredient you're not aware of being sensitive to.

I still deal with recurrent itchy scalp, but like I said before, what seems to help a lot is getting in the shower or bath and just massaging the scalp without any shampoo at all.  A lot of times, this actually relieves the itching for a while.
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681148 tn?1437661591
Yeah, that's the point right there.  At least that way we know what we're dealing with.  It means more cooking from scratch, but I would so rather do that than get sicker.  Besides, in many ways, it's less expensive.  Crock pots are great for busy working families.  Different sized crock pots for different purposes really helps.  I only have me to deal with, but I still really love my really large crock pot.  It's a great way to make pot roast. It works well in the summer for cooking a whole chicken when I don't want to use the oven, too.
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1666434 tn?1325262350
I had no idea on the tocopherol argh, gotta check everything it seems.  I am trying to go with more whole foods too.   It seems the more simple the food the better it is for us.
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681148 tn?1437661591
Yeah, ever since I read the information on Mercola's website about soy, corn and canola, I've been more and more aware of what that stuff is in.  It's in everything!  Including the stuff that is supposed to be safe for the gluten free diet.  Grr!  There's an added reason to go on a whole foods type of diet.  It helps a lot.  This type of thinking just helps to limit how much label reading is necessary.  It's also helpful, because you end up knowing better what is in your food.  An easy way to think of whole foods is to consider whether or not our ancestors just two or three generations back would even know what that "food" item one is considering or not.

It is so true that soy is included in many supplements.  Fortunately for most people we don't need to supplement vitamin "E".  That one is especially tricky, because tocopherol is one of the ingredients that is almost always just another word for soy.  This is very important to know for anyone who is avoiding soy.  I learned this from another member who has such a severe allergy to soy that it has the potential to kill her.  So, clearly she would be forced to know what she is talking about.
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535822 tn?1443976780
I don't take any supplements now although I am sure I should do, but I seem to get side effects from most ..also they are removing a lot from the shelves here as there are new laws about them being sold , put in place many are hard to find .
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Avatar universal
Not only is soy in a lot of foods but it is in a lot of supplements.
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1666434 tn?1325262350
soy literally throws off my menstrual cycles and makes me dizzy.  I used to drink soy milk all the time, then my cycles were delayed for about a few months.  Then I started to read about the phytoestrogens and eliminated it from my diet and everything returned back to normal.  Now soy is in a lot more foods as just a filler, all comes back to labels.
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535822 tn?1443976780
thank you archilles I will... I am not good with soy it upsets my stomach and I see they put it into a lot of foods.
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