Google has failed me :(

I am trying to find a list of alcohols that contain Sulphur.

I know Cider & Sparkling Wine have it in them. I have also been told most beer contains it as well.

Trying to get a generic list of what alcohols to avoid and which ones are safe for us sad f***s who are allergic to sulphurs

Check the bottle for preservative E220. That is sulfur dioxide which is what I assume you are talking about.

Damn. How did you find out you were allergic?

Many people attribute their own headaches to 'sulphur' in wine, but there has so far been no link made scientifically I thought.

fpot: I know it's 220. I am trying to get an overall idea of what is safe and what isn't, rather than spending hours in a bottle shop reading labels.

Pinky: I have severe sinus problems and they always seem to flare up after drinking, it took me a while to put two and two together that certain drinks gave me a bigger flare up than others, specifically sparkling wine and cider. I stopped drinking them and then on Xmas day I drank Corona and boxing day was hell and I am still in pain. So after finding out beer isn't safe either, I would like to know what is because I can't drink any of my favourite alcoholic drinks any more without serious pain.

I have already tried weeks of antibiotics to get rid of my sinus infection and I have had one for going on 3 to 4 months. If it's just a matter of me cutting out certain alcohol I can hopefully avoid surgery. So long term I wouldn't mind knowing what is safe and what isn't.

last edited by Kat at 19:58:20 27/Dec/09

I guess it probably would take you hours to read labels.

google failed you because there isn't a list of what contains E220 and what doesn't on the internet. So you'll have to check the labels. Pretty hard to understand I know.

No good champ.

TBH, if I had those sort of probs with alcohol I'd stop drinking. I didn't drink for roughly a period of 4 years. Stopped for a second year uni exam and then never started again. It sort of separates you from the crowd a bit, having to explain to everyone why you *shock horror* don't drink. Gets a bit annoying.

Anyway, reformed alcoholic signing in! S'all happy endings here!

You wouldn't need to check everything, just check the stuff you like most. Move down the list until you find one that doesn't have E220.
Then you can stop looking, you found your drink.

I stopped drinking at Uni too, saw a friend get really messy one night and shocked me into not wanting a drink at all. Come uni graduation a few mates put a jug in front of me and told me that I wasn't allowed to leave till I drank it. I drink semi-regular now but rarely (if at all) past the point where I could still (legally) drive.

sux2balergic to stuff

my brother is deathly allergic to certain shell fish but not others
so at Christmas time there's more bug for me because he can't eat them, but he can smash prawns no worries?

one time I thought I was allergic to weetbix because I threw up after eating them
turns out I just ate too many and I was all good

Look for 'No Preservative' wines - Dan's/First Choice have a few.

pinky just say you're muslim. everyone goes "oooohhhhhh" as if they completely understand.

and if they ask, just tell them you hate jesus.

Ahaha. I rang my Auntie Xmas eve, forgot she was Jehovah's Witness. Said, "So! What are you up to for Xmas!?" - whoops...

On Muslims, I was recently in Indonesia teaching about 10x students. Everytime prayer time came around 7 of them disappeared. Was really damn annoying. Islam is so inconvenient.

Kat, unfortunately a lot of alcohol (particularly wine) has sulfur in it as a preservative/finishing agent (along with a heap of other weird s*** like milk and fish oil). From what I understand it is very difficult to produce commercial alcohol without it. Don't be fooled by people telling you French/Italian wines don't contain it - their labeling laws aren't as stringent on this sort of stuff as ours, so more often than not they will contain it without actually listing it on the bottle.

btw kathleen, you've gone to the doctors about this right?

...right?

Zak, I'd like to know why milk requires sulfur. i think you're mistaken. you might be thinking powdered milk.

greazy: yes, I have and I am going back to the guy early in the year to talk options.

In regards to milk, he is talking about it being used as a preservative. A lot of wines have fish and milk in them.

Any one know if spirits have sulphurs in them?

Going dry is definitely an option if it removes the pain (and need for surgery).

Yes Kat is right, I meant milk and fish oil/products are used as finishing agents in the production of commercially sold alcohol.

With regards to spirits, it might come down to experimentation. Again, due to foreign labeling laws, you may not have any clue. Maybe look at vodka as a beginner - try a few different brands to see if you get that same feeling.

glad you didnt self diagnose.

I know Cider & Sparkling Wine have it in them. I have also been told most beer contains it as well.

As pointed out above I would have guessed that most beer that has no preservities/additives (ie, is just hops / water / barley / yeast like Heineken is) would be OK?

See, that's bad news. Because if beer doesn't have any sulphurs in them then it's alcohol in general that I am allergic to

do you mean sulphers or all sulphites?

or is that the same thing :/

Hm, I get really bad phlegm in my throat and a stuffy nose after a big night drinking cheap Aussie beers, but not if I drink scotch or German beer with its strict purity laws.

Would it be worth getting checked for a sulphur intollerance? I know I could just avoid cheap beer, but I really enjoy icy cold VB on tap at UJ's on a Friday arvo. $6.25 jugs for 2 hours; who could say no?

$6.25 jugs for 2 hours; who could say no?

That'd be me.

I used to be allergic to sulphur and managed to improve my immune system by drinking lots of beer.

True story with medical records I will never disclose to just about anyone...

logical choice - don't drink ever again!

That's interesting, because I definitely feel different depending on what kind of booze I've been drinking.

I've recently switched to drinking Scotch and feel about a million times better than all my years in the past drinking other random stuff, and I never get hungover on scotch either. It seems like a much cleaner booze for me, maybe there's some addatives in cheap nasty boozes that don't agree with me.

Alot of the aussie beers have gone down the no preservatives/additives route -
4x bitter/gold, vb, etc.. I would give them a try..
(offtopic -I went to a presentation @ 4x brewery milton by their head brewer about this change to all their beers - was interesting plus scored heaps of free beer :))

Some of the foreign beers probably don't conform to this standard - though you would assume german beer would be safe (as stated above)

RockitMan - totally agree!

Most beer usually gives me massive headaches, same with premixed s***, and cheap spirits..

I usually stick to Makers mark/jack daniels - no hangovers :)

One good side-effect from going dry is that you save a s***load of money. That's sorta one reason I went dry for so long.

On Muslims, I was recently in Indonesia teaching about 10x students. Everytime prayer time came around 7 of them disappeared. Was really damn annoying. Islam is so inconvenient.

got a mate training eho's in riyad, and yar he said its bizaro how everyone just shuts down a couple of times a day for prayer sessions

I feel rough the next day after drinking, I assume this is called a hangover and not me being diagnosed as alergic to alcohol

Just checked my favourite lime cordial. Sulphites :( Even my dry drink has it in it.

Boo

Anyone know the cost of an allergy test? I am guessing it's done through a specialist and not a simple hospital test?

^ didn't you say you've already been to a doctor about this?

I have been to a specialist about my sinuses and I also had a ct scan. He asked my if I had any allergies and I said sulphurs and explained why. There was no more interest in my allergies from either my local gp or my specialist.

The last time I saw my specialist he said he would give me an extended course of antibiotics to hopefully get rid of the infection. It did nothing and I actually had a major flare up in the middle of the course unrelated to booze. I was trying the antibiotics to hopefully get out of surgery. Looks like surgery is the only way - followed by no alcohol *sigh*

antibiotics + booze = winn4r

the real question is, what were you drinking when you made kat.zip?

I thought your GP could give you a simple allergy tests? Don't quote me on that though, maybe nubbin can shed some lights on the matter. I guess you can ask your GP if he can do the tests otherwise he'll be able to tell you where to get it done.

edit: just re-read what you said about your GP and lack on his interest on your allergies... that sucks. But surely if you pressed them about getting tests done they'll be able to tell you etc?

last edited by Opec at 12:06:42 28/Dec/09

Yeah GP can give you an allergy test. They prick your arm with various things and if you come up red around one then you're allergic. They do common things like hayfever and bee stings and whatever. My mate had one done a few years back.

Sulfite Allergy - The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy

The main allergy symptom seems to be asthma rather than sinus issues? Have you had your allergy diagnosis confirmed at all?

Most people with sulfite sensitivity do not have positive allergy tests. There is currently no reliable blood or skin allergy test for these patients. At times, it may be important to undertake a deliberate challenge with sulfites in a graded fashion under medical supervision to confirm or exclude sensitivity.

That page has a list of booze makers who claim to produce sulphite-free product. Red wine seems like a goer.

last edited by Hogfather at 12:22:46 28/Dec/09

I have been to a specialist about my sinuses and I also had a ct scan. He asked my if I had any allergies and I said sulphurs and explained why. There was no more interest in my allergies from either my local gp or my specialist.

So you don't actually know and haven't actually been tested. The Doc's probably just partially ignore it because everyone loves to self diagnose.

If you really want to know, you are probably going to have to pay for it out of your own pocket. It could cost a lot to do a skin prick test, or more fora RAST test. With no medicare rebates (some tests can set you back over $200). They are also not conclusive.

Try this for free:

Cut back on all foods and drink. Just drink water and a small selection of foods that have little processing, fresh fruit, vegies and beans. Nothing with preservatives or anything else along those lines. BLAND.

After you have done that for a good week or two. Slowly start introducing foods back into your diet until you get your reaction. Do it all again to make sure it was that particular food that did it.

Then at least you have a much better idea of what is causing it then doing a random guesstimate based on what you may or may not have had along with everything else you may or may not have had.

gah splat

last edited by Kat at 12:58:10 28/Dec/09

Red wine seems like a goer.

dur, nice work on that one!

I tried "Big Head" beer the other day, not too shabby. It says it has no preservatives, all natural and best of all 0 carbs and stuff all calories. Almost too good to be true. It's drinkable.