What else contains Sulfites?

[seattlemom2plus]

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.

[FurballsMom]

I know someone who is allergic to Neosporin and Polysporin both.  Now I'm wondering if it was actually sulfites all this time she was allergic to or if it was something else.  All I know is that if Neosporin bothers you, you should undoubtedly avoid Polysporin, too, since these are nearly the same medicine.

[seattlemom2plus]

I forgot to say thank you indeed for all your explanations and responses, they are insightful indeed.  This explains why I only had a reaction when they used the septocaine with epi for me getting prepped for crowns because it takes longer than normal dental work.  Both times upon injection I had to ask the dentist to grab me a soda before I passed out.  My blood sugar just plummeted.  Or this could have just been because of my low blood pressure too?

[seattlemom2plus]

I am so glad you mentioned the neosporin, I just that on the ingredients it said that it contained a sulfate and I didn't realize this till after I used it on a cut which is still there.  I don't seem to break out or anything from it, but the cut doesn't heal either.

I do try to use shampoo and conditioner and toothpaste that does not contain sodium laurel sulfate, but this was just for health purposes and not because of my allergy.  I am being amazed at how many items actually contain sulfates.

I was even reading that some coffees can contain sulfates that are not organic but your reactions to ingesting them can be delayed by 10 hours.  Have no idea on the truth of this but definitely something to read up on.  I am learning more about this daily.

[achilles2]

Sorry about your reaction. I am allergic to sulfates/sulfites and some non-food items include Neosporin, detergents, and soaps. I learned this when I had a cut that would not heal. I went to the doctor and she saw that I was allergic to sodium laural(th) sulfate and said that I was reacting to the sulfates in the Neosporin and that from now on I should only use bacitracin zinc.

achilles2

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hi,

Actually, epinephrine is added to the local anesthetic to prolong its action. For the most commonly used local anesthetic (lidocaine 2% with 1:100,000 epi) numbs for one hour, but without the epi, it only numbs for 5-10 minutes. But if there is an allergic reaction to the preservative, a local anesthetic without epinephrine can be used. Because the usual local (lidocaine) doesn’t numb for very long without epi, mepivacaine or prilocaine without epi can be used.

Hope this helped.

[seattlemom2plus]

I actually did have an allergic reaction to lidocaine when I was about 20 and went into vascular shock.  But as you said perhaps it is just the preservatives in epinephrine (which includes sulfites) that triggers my issue.  I was reading that there is epinephrine that does not contain sulfites but you have to actually have this administered in a hospital via vials v/s an epi-pen.