Salicylates

The past month I flared up again in massive hives. Now in the past, I would get them and they would be so bad that the only relief I can get was from Prednisone.  I've had hives coming off and on for several years and I thought this year I may have finally got to the bottom of it.

I'm allergic to Aspirin and have known this for years.  So I've been avoiding it for years.  However, I had no idea I also had to avoid the naturally occurring salicylates in foods as well.  I am paleo and I looked at the foods I'm eating and realized they are mostly high on salicylates.  This past month I've learned a lot(no thanks to my doctors) and have decided to tweak my diet even more.  On some days I feel so desperate that there's nothing left for me to eat! It's very hard. But the good news is the massive hives went away on it's own after removing foods that are high salicylates. I do believe I'm on my way to recovery.  I didn't have to use Prednisone this time and for that, I'm so grateful.  Prednisone messes me up very bad. I have a love-hate relationship with that drug but it's been necessary for me too in the past.

I believe the salicylates have also been the cause of my asthma flare up and doing much research on it, found that that is very common.   So I've ventured into changing as much as I can so I can reduce my salicylate exposure.  I've changed my toothpaste, soap, shampoo, lotion, lipbalm and of course removed the foods that are moderate to high.  I am feeling much better.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm still paleo but there were times I was so hungry that I've eaten rice.