How often we do things and do not think of the consequences. We put things in our mouths and it doesn't enter our heads to question whether it is safe or not. In fact, we don't think of them at all. But chemicals are not made for the body, so it is not surprising that sometimes our bodies eventually react in unpleasant and, perhaps, even fatal ways.
18 months ago I developed an arrhythmia in my heart. It was called pre-ventricular contraction, or PVC, which meant that my heart would beat twice at once, and then miss a beat to make up for it. It manifested itself to me in chest pains, a thudding in my heart which was painful on its own, breathlessness, weakness, dizziness, lowered blood pressure which made me feel faint. At its worst I could not even walk around the garden. If I took the dog out, I had to stop walking every few minutes to catch my breath and calm my heart. It was very distressing.
I was a hospital job, and on the ECG it looked like my heart rate had dropped to as low as 30. It should be between 60 and 80. They put me on beta-blockers which made things even worse. I did not think they would let me out in time for the Memorial last year. But they did, although I was still very unwell. More tests followed. My doctor took me off the beta-blockers and things improved marginally. I had a very unpleasant MRI scan at Papworth. And they could not find the cause. No blocked arteries, etc.
Roundabout the end of August last year I had a mild 24 hour fever, and didn't feel like eating. All my heart symptoms vanished! I felt I was on to something here, so when I felt better, I began introducing food one thing at a time. If I ate a certain food that disagreed with me, within half an hour I would be getting my arrhythmia again.
In time I found a whole list of food I could not eat. (Including bread, which was very inconvenientIt didn't help that I reacted to Gluten-free bread.) But most of all I reacted to additives in food. I made absolutely everything by hand. I thought I'd cracked it. My diet became very restricted, and I scrutinised absolutely every ingredients label. And some days I would be well. But most days I would react to something.
But then the days when I was well became fewer and fewer, and in the end I had no respite days at all. This year in September we went on a self-catering holiday. When we came back, I picked up a glass for a drink of water and noticed a smell - a lemony smell. It was dishwasher rinse-aid. On holiday we had washed up by hand, so I expect that was why I noticed the smell. And suddenly I wondered, 'Could it be rinse-aid?' After all, nearly everything I put in my mouth had been touched by something cleaned in the dishwasher.
I re-washed all the cutlery in the drawer and rinsed absolutely everything else before use.
End of symptoms!
Foods that I had cut out I started to reintroduce, one at a time. That's on-going. I have been two months now with no symptoms. I still avoid chemical additives in food. And that is another subject. But who would have thought that the residue of rinse-aid on cutlery, cups, glasses, plates and cooking equipment would make me so ill? I have since switched to a different brand of dishwasher detergent that does not contain rinse aid in its capsules or tablets.
I am telling you this in case anyone else is suffering and it helps them. It took me well over a year to discover what the problem was, and the solution was simple in the end - without the help of the medical profession who did not have a clue, although they tried.
Evelyn Tidman.
