Friday May 27, 2005
Onions
I was checking out the ingredients of Mederma (that scar medicine) to see if what I heard was true. I found out that the the key ingredient in Mederma is CEPALIN®, a proprietary botanical extract derived from onions. I had heard that in passing one time, but wanted to make sure. I am SO glad I never purchased any…I guess it is one of the advantages of being poor. lol. I need to remember to add that to my “allergic to medicine” on my medical charts. Can you imagine if somebody tried to put that on me to ‘help’. Ugh. I would have blisters on top of scar tissue.
That prompted me to see if onion was the key ingredient in other products. When I googled “onion allergy product”, one of the first links that came up was this, 43 pages of testimonials of people who are sensitive or allergic to onions. WOW.
A lot of them also commented that most people thought they were just being picky and ran into a lot of problems of people thinking that they were being over dramatic. I have certainly run into that problem before. I have had numerous meals served by people who always give me a hard time about it where I have gone home to spend hours in the bathroom and I highly suspect that they put in ‘just a little’ because they thought I was lying about it or something. Potlucks are a nightmare…lots of bread and Jello on my plate because it is about the only thing I can trust. Lots of “oh, I am not all that hungry”. Taking a bite of something and tasting onion because it was cooked on the same grill/fry basket as onions and having to let the plate just sit there.
I also found a yahoo group dedicated to people with onion allergies and sensitivities.
It was really cool for me. The only other person I have met IRL with onion allergy is my dad. After reading some of the testimonials I wonder if my mom is also sensitive to them. She has some of the same reactions as other people (notably, migraines), but I know that when she compares herself to Dad, it seems pretty small. Onions was also number 3 on a list of being linked to gall bladder problems. (Milk was number 5…I also have sensitivities to milk, although not lactose specifically I think, so I found this interesting).
Really eye opening for me. I wish somebody would do a study on it and it could be recognized on food labels. The ‘natural flavorings’ is really a stupid and dangerous labels for anybody with food sensitivities.
They make me itchy and sore. I can’t tolerate them at all raw and have less and less trouble the longer they are cooked. I’m going with the theorythat I’m sensitive to whatever that gas is that makes eyes water, since cooking them makes that go away. My eyes are blood red for hours after exposure to raw onion fumes, so much so that Sean goes outside to cut them.
I remember planning a meal for you et al. and trying to come up with some really good ‘company food’ that didn’t have onion. Not that that’s difficult – but this entry made me think of it. It was scratch chicken parmesan with hot French bread…. mmmm! Pity we never did cook it for yall! All you ever got at my house was coffee, I believe
Keeping you and Le Bean in our prayers. ANd those other two galoots you live with, of course
i like your site
Wow! Good thing you found out about some of this stuff.
My family has always been big onion eaters so we wouldn’t really notice or even think about small amounts of onion or onion as a hidden ingredient. I guess we should be more aware.