I have CFS/ME, and I feel I am 80% well from CFS/ME.  Sometimes I feel 100% well.  So when I have what I call a blip I think “O well only 80% well, bound to feel lousy sometimes.”

But this last blip has been going on for some time.  “O probably winteritis and lack of Vitamin D” I told myself.  (Don’t be taken in by all this lack of vitamin D talk either, yes Vitamin D is important, yes we get it from the sun – if we avoid sunscreen creams.  We also obtain it from foods like eggs, milk, animals and oily fish, but we also store vitamin D so it is possible to get too much and this would cause a lack of calcium in our bodies because Vitamin D demands Calcium, so don’t go consuming mega amounts of vitamin D, there is a balance to consider.)

But the symptoms were making working tricky, and . . . I love my work, and . . . I certainly didn’t want to go back to where I was before 80% wellness.  So I struggled on.

Then as time reduced me further to illness, I began to look at what I was eating.

Trouble is with my diet I have to make everything from scratch.  And with more work, I have less time to do this.

So I began cutting corners and rather than chop up fruit got my Vitamin C etc from freshly squeezed fruit juices.  I ate more seeds, raisins and nuts.  All simple easy to prepare and good for you food. Then because it is nice I thought corn chips (tortilla chips) (plain I hasten to add) and plain crisps would make an OK snack.

O . . . did the symptoms increase.

After a particularly bad weekend after a particularly busy week I then wondered about sulphites.

Now I know sulphur dioxide has been used for some time but I didn’t think it upset me.  Sulphite comes in many forms and generally has the word sulphite in it, sulphur dioxide is sulphite apparently.  Sulphite is generally taken from sulphur dioxide so perhaps that is were the confusion is.

I went onto the Allergy UK website for some more information.  Their list of symptoms for a sulphite intolerance is quite short.  Yes I did have some of the symptoms, but there are others I have not listed. Swollen glands in the neck and general aches and pains which make enthusiasm to do anything difficult and makes a happy girl a very dull girl.

I think there is an epidemic of sulphite use.  I think this is because if it is under a certain percentage it does not have to be included as one of the substances in a product.  I suspect you don’t have to use much sulphite to get the preserving or bleaching effect.

And if a tiny amount has an effect as powerful as maintaining the colour of the product and preserving it, it is going to have an effect on me.

So here is an extensive list of probable foods that have sulphites on them:

Olives including organic olives because the Organic association allows copper sulphite

Pineapples; chopped and packaged fruit including mangoes, apples; raspberries, strawberries, fruits from foreign parts, all fruit juice whether freshly squeezed or otherwise, dried fruit, frozen vegetables including potatoes, chips from chip shops, crisps, snacks, rice cakes and of-course all pre-made foods ie soups, pies, cakes, biscuits and bread.

It makes eating virtually impossible for me.

So I think the use of sulphites should be banned.  Personally speaking.