Vinegar Allergy!

I've noticed a reaction to most all vinegar products myself, but I'm becoming more convinced it's not just vinegar but actually a food sensitivity to "Sulfites" (sulfur derivatives found in vinegar/wines and often used as a preservative) which include quite a bit of common foods such as: Cornstarch, Glucose, Corn Syrup, Wine, Vinegar, Dehydrated and frozen potatoes, Potato flour, Gelatin, Molasses, Chocolate, Dried fruit, Processed/Preserved Foods (often pickled & canned products).

I am also allergic to vinegar. I don't break out in hives but even the smell of it makes me nauseous instantly and if I have ingested it with food I get sick to my stomach instantly. For some reason rice vinegar doesn't seem to bother me as I am able to eat sushi, but malt vinegar is the worst. I have found that it is very easy to avoid though. I don't ever really eat condiments anyway and have developed a new love for a salad dressing made from olive oil, lemon and spices. Don't be sad, I mean should something that you can clean your house with be good for you anyway? :-)

I thought I was crazy for sweating like a madwoman when eating anything with vinegar. Glad to know I'm not alone. My face gets extremely hot and only very recently did I actually start to break out in a full blown sweat when eating anything with vinegar. I always used to have a reaction to vinegar but certainly not as severe as in recent years. Now I even start to sweat if I smell vinegar. Salad dressings, ketchup, sauces.... I agree with the person that thought it might be an allergy to sulfites. Red wine is a no-no as I break out from it and get a knock-down drag-out headache with even a little sip. Medicated creams and ointments cause a rash, and I can't touch matches. I already have a confirmed anaphylactic shock reaction to sulfur, it would make sense that other sulfur based compounds would cause a reaction as well. Thanks for the food for thought and knowing that I'm not alone in this "sensitivity".

i think vinegar is the only thing i am allergic to. it makes my nose itch - on the outside. and often it feels like it scratches my throat and causes a coughing fit, the kind you can't stop and you have to excuse yourself from the table. awful, because it's such an essential culinary item!!!

I start sweating all over my head after eating vinegar. The funny thing is that it only concerns my head. I can feel cold and dry at my hands/entire body, but my head will be a mere fontaine. I have never met anyone wih the same problem and my doctor couldn't explain why it happens. so if anyone has a response to this phenomene please let me know. cheers

I have a similar issue where my face sweats when I eat anything containing even the smallest amount of vinegar. I also sweat when I smell a trace of vinegar, but I have even taken it to the next level (not through choice obviously!) where my face sweats even upon the thought of vinegar!!! I have broken out into a sweat while typing this - no joke - wtf?!!

Vinegar and the emergency room! I was standing in my kitchen and I was going to pour some vinegar into a bowl, when the bottle slipped out of my wet hand and landed on it's side onto the counter and vinegar spilled out of the bottle onto my lower end of my foot, The bottle did not roll off the counter and hit my foot. .Within minutes, my foot began to swell and I started developing pain. After about an hour, the pain was horrible. I tried to take some pain meds that I had from something else to stop the pain but that just did not work at all. I just never put the two together, the pain and vinegar. I mean why would I, but at my age of 57, I just was not sure what had happen to me. So thinking I had maybe a blood clot, why, I don’t know, I went to the emergency room for help. By then the foot was very hot and red, and swollen, and oh the pain. First they took an x-ray, thinking I had broken a bone in my foot. OK, x-ray clear. And then they decided to do a blood test for a possible blood clot, OK, I even though about that one. But nothing. Test Clear. Then they began asking me questions on what did I do different tonight as opposed to any other night, I said, I spilled vinegar on my foot. No that cannot be, the skin on the foot is so thick that could not have caused this problem. OK, I said but what is the problem. Well after 3 hours in the emergency room, they ended up saying that I sprained my ankle. WHAT! SPRANGED MY ANKLE! Are you nuts? I did not spring my ankle, the swelling and the redness and the pain is above my toe area, not on or in my ankle. And then they said, well, then you sprained your foot. OH MY GOD, I thought these people are idiots. So they bandaged my foot and my ankle and oh yes, they ended up sending me home with the notes to follow up with my MD for a sprained foot/ankle. WOW, that was some bill for a 97 cents bottle of vinegar. Now has anyone else ever had a reaction to vinegar spilling on them. Not that would happen to most people but it did to me. So now it is 24 hours later and the redness is still there and it is still swollen, but the hot is gone, and only a small amount of pain is left. So I decided to check out the Internet and all I can find so far is when people eat food with vinegar on something. So any one have any help on this one? 8-|

I actually just get a really bad sick stomach when I have too much vinegar (and by too much, I mean, more than a tablespoon or so). I've only just decided to call it an allergy within the last year and a half, but I've always gotten sick after eating something with vinegar. I've never been able to handle pickles, meat salads, mayonnaise, buffalo wings, etc. It's annoying, b/c some things look really good, but then I can't get the fork past my nose - it's like my body does everything it can to keep me from ingesting it. I was in Japan for a year, which stunk, b/c a ton of things are made with vinegar. Such is life. I've never had any of the symptoms that the others are mentioning (hives, migraines, flushing, etc).

I also get sick to my stomach if I eat anything or smell anything with vinegar in it. Another effect is sometimes, not all the time, I have involuntary muscle spasms, and have even passed out.

VINEGAR HAS SULIFITES IN IT . AT AGE 52 AND COUNTLESS ER VISITS AND STAYS IN THE CIC W CARDIAC SPASMS I WAS DX W/ANAPHYLACTIC REACTION TO SULIFITES WHICH IS A PRESERVATIVE IN JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING! EYEDROPS, MEDICATIONS, FOODS. NOW IT EXPLAINS ALL THE YEARS OF HUGE HIVES AND SWOLLEN EYES.SEVERE STOMACH CRAMPS ITCHY THROAT WITH SWELLING AND CARDIAC SPASMS .THE STRONGER THE SULIFITE CONTENT THE STRONGER THE REACTION. SINCE THE DX AND A LOT OF RESEARCH I HAVE NOT HAD ANY SEVERE REACTIONS . THE CHANGE HAS BEEN AMAZING. THANKS TO AN ALLERGIST WHO WAS FAMILIAR W/ THE ALLERGY. LOOK ON THE INTERNET FOR A LIST OF SULIFITE CONTAINING PRODUCTS.

What other sulfite things do you have to avoid? I didn't know anything about it and I think that it would be helpful to have a list of things to avoid. Let me know okay?

I also am allergic to vinegar. I turn red and start sweating really bad. Forehead, under eyes, neck all start sweating even if I just smell it. Red wine will do the same too. I also found out that I am now allergic to cinnamon and mint. These will make me break out in a rash on my face kinda like a heat rash.

To the last poster: I get the same thing too! I first noticed that when I ate certain spaghetti sauces that my face would get red and my head and nose would start sweating. I LOVE tomato sauce and only have that reaction to certain ones. It wasn't until recently that I started thinking it was vinegar though. I noticed when I ate a certain buffalo sauce this happened and then when trying to cure a sinus infection, I tried inhaling the vapors from boiled water and apple cider vinegar and broke out into tiny itchy hives all over my face. I am wondering why this only happens sometimes with certain products. Possibly I only have an allergy to one certain vinegar?

I have just realized that it must be vinegar that makes me get all hot and start to sweat on my forehead. It happens with Mustard and I made a salad dressing with vinegar in it and it happens again. This has been years and I never knew. I don't think it should be called an allergic reaction, but maybe so. My dad can eat a jalepeno or anything hot like that and starts to sweat very badly on his whole head...does help that he is bald!

I always thought i was just wierd... i love salt and vinegar chips but when i eat them (or even when i think about vinegar or smell it) my forehead starts to sweat. Anyway I find that certain types of salt and vinegar chips dont make me sweat as bad as others.