how to survive a nickel allergy.

i found a study here that tested the correlation of 
nickel and iron metabolism in rats.
on page 1285 at the bottom left, it says: 


 "high intake of nickel was toxic [100 mcg]...these rats exhibited the lowest hematocrit [percentage of red blood cells - if this is low, your RBC's are low] and hemoglobin [this is the iron-containing protein that delivers oxygen to the RBC's - each heme contains 1 iron atom, so if your hemoglobin is low, your iron is low]...manifestations were not seen when the rats were given 100 mcg iron with the 100 mcg Ni/g diet."


this means that they correspond to one another.
so eating a diet high in iron [or supplementing]
will prevent impairment of iron metabolism.
vitamin C fits in because it enhances iron absorption.

i also found a study by the FDA

[total diet study]

that looked at the different amounts of elements in food from 2006 - 2008.

nickel is documented on pages 106 - 116.

looking at the mean, some of the higher nickel-containing foods are:

pinto beans

lima beans

granola with raisins

whole wheat bread

avocado [awesome, just yesterday i thought it was fine]

oat ring cereal [i don't know what that is, but it sounds weird]

sunflower seeds

...

creamy peanut butter [0.474 mg/kg]

plain milk chocolate candy bar [1.00 mg/kg]

this has milk in it.  which dilutes the chocolate a bit.

so dark is higher.

which is what i eat.

...

ohmygoodness i am going to die.

i am going to detox for a couple of weeks,

then slowly introduce things that i'm used to eating.

this will allow me to see what in particular is causing my reaction.

then i can always eat a handful of vitamin C with a handful of pb m&m's

or my pb chocolate chip cookies 

[or as my friends call them, "crack cookies," because they are so so so amazing].

men and women should consume no more than 1 mg/day of nickel,

found here.
so that means that 1 milk chocolate candy bar is your day's worth
of nickel.

i feel a little better.

and a little less chicken-little-esque.

the sky is not falling.

worrying about what to eat is crazy.

we are told in matthew 6:31 - 34,

"so do not worry, saying 'what shall we eat?' or 'what shall we drink?'

or 'what shall we wear?' for the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. but first seek his kingdom and his

righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about

itself.  each day has enough trouble of its own."

so to all you chicken little's out there,

the sky is not falling.

today is a new day.

nickel-free?

this is going to be a fun post to write...

and long.  so i'm sorry in advance.

ever since i was 12, 

i have been very intuitive about what i put into my body.

i've driven both parents crazy with my "weekly diets,"

as they would call them.

if dad was grilling steak - it was steak or nothing.

so i chose nothing.

mom would make something for me to eat & eat it with me,

just so she knew i was eating.

fast forward 4 years.

sitting in high school i have itchy hives all over me.

the wheals would dissipate as soon as i rushed to the doctor.

three visits later, i finally got those suckers to stick around

only to be told that it was urticaria.

what?

"we don't know why you have it," my PA said,

"too tight of clothes, stress, fragrances in laundry detergent..."

i wasn't really sure how a t-shirt fit into the "too tight of clothes" column,

so i assumed it was the two later.

so all free clear was bought & that was that.

fast forward 10 hive-filled years and i go to the allergist

allergies to cats, grass, dustmites, cockroaches, pumpkin and maybe cinnamon.

fast forward 6 months later,

still have 'em.

and added to that, i have the worst case of "athlete's foot"

i've ever seen.

i even decided to take it with me to africa,

where it spread to my hands.

i went to my dermatologist upon returning last july,

and she ran to get her book.

"did it look like this?" she asked,

after i described the nightmare i'd had three weeks earlier [itchy, painful,

embarrassing, debilitating blisters].

"YES!" I said

"that's not athlete's foot, that's dyshidrotic eczema," she said.

awesome.  makes sense.  i have eczema in the winter.

i have asthma, i have seasonal allergies.  i should also have that.

no cure, just creams.  avoid wet hands, avoid things that irritate it.

so three ago i welcomed it back [hooray!].

and yesterday it was exacerbated as i was frequently using 

the hand sanitizer at the hospital.

and last night, i did some fun research:

dyshydrotic background, epidemiology, etiology, etc

this site mentioned nickel.

i remember seeing that last year, and thinking "i'm not around a lot of nickel,

that can't be it..."

well, haha joke's on me.

what foods contain nickel?

apparently nickel is basically in everything that i eat.

since i have decided to be quite the health-nut & picky eater,

i consume an abundance of nickel. 

basically because it's in the water, which is in the soil, which nourishes the foods that i eat.

i found this article that interviewed a super cute doctor in ohio:

rash of nickel food diet linked to healthier diet

symptoms: rash on palms of hands [check], elbows [check], fatigue [check], nausea [check], headaches [check], joint pain [idk]

so sistercat, when you say "you're always nauseous and tired", 

turns out that it makes sense for me to be, and i'm allowed to say that.

my mom two weeks ago: "do you think your skin allergies have anything to do with your diet?"

me: "NO mom! of course not!  what could i possibly be eating that would cause this?? i eat so healthy!!"

ok.  i'm glad i asked myself.

while i've found conflicting websites (high amounts on one site, low on another),

here they are:

[from the MELISA MEDICA Foundation - dedicated to the science of metal allergy & its diagnosis when treating so-called "incurable diseases, such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS or ME), Mutiple Sclerosis (MS), or other autoimmune and allergic diseases."]

this list is from Sweden - so what's high there could be low here & vice versa.

again - dependent upon the soil.

athena allergy [the nickel allergy experts]:

from america: huntersville, nc to be exact [my home state!]

other dietary nickel to avoid:

chocolate & cocoa powder [especially dark - the best for you]

all nuts [walnuts, peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, soy nuts]

all seeds [sunflower seeds, linseed

licorice [nooo problem avoiding this]

baking powder [they have aluminum free...i wonder if i can get nickel free]

gelatin 

marzipan [almond paste, makes sense]

margarine [maybe because it's made w/ soybean oil/plant sterols?]

commercial salad dressings

vitamins containing nickel

canned foods

stainless-steel cooking vessels used for cooking acidic foods 

[ex: cooking oranges/strawberries/apples in stainless steel pot will allow nickel to seep into foods - so either don't do it or use non-stick pots/pans - caphalon, tefal, rachael ray, paula dean, etc.]

the first quart of tap water drawn from any faucet in the morning 

[hopefully water filter will help this, need to look into it more what it's actually filtering out.]

ways to prevent your body from absorbing nickel from each meal:

eat vitamin C supplement with each meal

eat high-iron diet
vitamin C helps iron absorption

the vitamin C apparently binds to nickel,

preventing your body from absorbing it.

do i have a nickel allergy?

i don't know. 

but i'm willing to avoid foods to give it a shot.

what will i eat?

um...good question.

still working that one out.

maybe just avocados, apples, oranges, salmon, coconut milk yogurt, celery, and salmon.

those are the only things i can think of that i currently have in my refrigerator 

that don't show up on the second list.

the good news: i LOVE coconut milk more than almond milk.

i have the creamer, the yogurt, the milk, the kiefer.

the bad news:  no more almond butter, no more beans, no more

soy anything, no more hot buckwheat cereal, no more nuts, no more chocolate, [insert 

anything else yummy that love to eat and that's healthy]

also, i need to avoid alcohol on my hands for work.

so i am investing in some more of this stuff: 

cleanwell all natural hand sanitizer

i've used it before.

it smells "earthy,"

but i guess it's worth smelling like that

than getting blisters all over my hands. 

day 1 of food diary starts now.

more helpful websites:
national skin centre
livestrong