mikered

I have thought about what I have been eating since I posted the above reply. I have been eating A LOT of chicken lately. I stated above that I have Chicken, green beans or corn and instant mash. I am a horrible cook and this is something simple that I could make quickly and easily. Lunch is usually a deli sliced chicken breast and cheese sandwich. Lots of Yogurt too. Trying to eat healthy and now all these odd and sudden symptoms start. My burps seem to smell of popcorn/sulfer, so I am looking at all the ingredient lables of my usual dinners. The spice I use, Montreal Chicken, has an ingredient that raised some curiosity. The last ingredient is just labeled as "sulfiting agents". And I load it on to kill the blandness of the chicken. I read up on this a bit and found this at http://www.allergyexpert.us/food/sulfites.html. "Sulfite Sensitivity The vast majority of adverse events related to sulfites occur in asthmatic individuals. Some believe that as many as 5% of asthmatics are sensitive to sulfites. Usually, this occurs in patients with difficult to control asthma. Respiratory symptoms. (shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing) usually develop within 15-30 minutes of ingestion. Other symptoms, such as rashes (including hives and angioedema), nausea, abdominal cramping, and diarrhea have been reported in non-asthmatic individuals, but this is rare. While they are often blamed for wine headaches, sulfites are not felt to be the cause. While the cause of sulfite reactions is unknown, the majority are not allergic in nature. Allergic reactions to sulfiting agents are extremely rare, with only a very few cases reported in the medical literature. One explanation is that sulfite is metabolized into sulfur dioxide which irritates the lungs of some asthmatics." I did not mention in my first post that I have the Abdominal Cramping lately and my skin seems to get itchy at times and when I scratch it, it leaves a raised, red, rash like marks where I scratch. I am not asthmatic and the "non asthmatic" symptoms seem to sum up many of the symptoms have been experiencing lately except the burping. My mother can not drink wine due to bad reactions from Sulfites too. I did not think the rash like reactions and cramping could be related to the "burps", but after a bit more reading...Maybe it is. I used to eat a lot of fried foods, pizza and all that good stuff and felt fine, but changed my diet due to high chlosterol and triglycerides. I was taking Crestor for a few years and got my numbers down to good, healthy levels. I do not like being on meds, so I asked my Dr. about getting off of Crestor. He took me off, cold turkey for 3 months and I will be getting bloodwork done in june to see the off Crestor/diet change results. I never had any issues until I made all these supposedly healthy lifestyle changes. Man, am I confused. Going to try and cut out the Montreal Chicken spice and cut down on chicken all together too and see what happens...

Hello. I have been getting this odd temporary illness for a few monthes now. The first 2 times were the worst. Constant vomiting, stomach aches, horrible diarrhea and this strange rancid popcorn smelling burps. Also my stomach constantly growls during these episodes. Embarrassingly loud too. As others stated, once I get a "burp" I know the other symtoms will start shortly and last from 4-12 hours. This all just started happening to me recently. 2-3 months ago I'd say and I have had about 4 bouts of this. As I stated, the first 2 times were the worst. I am a pretty healthy 42 year old man who rarely gets sick, (knock on wood) so this is really worring me... The first time I had this I did not worry at all. Just thought it was a bug/virus that would run it's course. It started on a Friday afternoon and by Saturday afternoon it just went away and I was fine. Even went out that night to meet friends at a bar. Odd. Then the following Thursday it came back and I started to get very worried. I called out of work to see my Dr. He sent me to get an ultrasound of my stomach. Nothing. Then went to see a gastroenterologist. He did not do much other then ask what the symptoms were, felt my stomach and asked if I had been on antibiotics lately? I said yes. A few weeks prior to (I will call it "The Burp") The Burp I had been put on Amoxicillin after a root canal. I only took the Amoxicillin for about 2 days. It made me feel nauseous, yet I didn't vomit. I took myself off of it and I was fine after. When I told the gastroenterologist this, it almost seemed like it was a closed case to him. He said it was most likely a reaction to the Amoxicillin. I told him it was weeks since I was on the antibiotic, and he said it is not unusual for a delayed reaction like this to happen. I asked If its unusual for it to repeat back to back like this. He said yes and that was it, but was unfamiliar with the burp smell. I did not feel comfortable with this diagnosis...About 2-3 weeks went by and It did not come back, so I figured the Dr. Was correct. Well, it came back a few weeks later, but it came and went quickly this time and did not seem as severe. I woke up with it at about 6am. during my 3rd bout and decided to try going to work. Had all the usual symptoms...but a bit more mild then usual. No diarrhea this time. At around 9am I had to run to the bathroom to throw up. And I threw up A LOT. But after that it went away and I felt great. Burps stopped too. So a few weeks go by and yesterday, Sat 4/20/13 I ate Moe's brand (frozen) empenadas for lunch(Noon time). About 2 hrs after I ate them(2 pm) the Burps started and I felt slightly nauseous. No diarrhea this time either. So I just continued to try and ignore it and went on with my day. Around 6pm that evening I still had the burps but the nausea pretty much went away, not completely, but enough that I could eat dinner. My dinner was leftovers. Reheated Purdue Chicken Tenderloins with chicken gravy. Canned Del Monte Green beans and Idahoan buttery homestyle instant mashed potatoes. At 9pm that evening I was able to go out with friends. I had a Woodpecker Cider and then a few pints of Guinness at the bar. Around 11pm I suddenly had a bad hot flash and felt like I was going to vomit. I was able to hold back the vomit...It was hard to do but I did somehow and saved myself from the embarrasment. However the burps lasted all day and didn't go away. I actually had to go outside, or to an area of the bar where there were no people to burp a few times. I came home around midnight and I started to feel better again. When I woke up this morning, 4/21/13, I felt fine. I even burped and no popcorn smell, so I knew it was gone...For now anyway... Also to add, I have been drinking a lot of Crystal Light and using Equal in my coffee for the past 5 years. About 2 weeks ago I quit any and all Aspartame products and went back to sugar after doing online research of this poison. I dont know if this relates to this subject, but I might as well add this. Who knows... The diarrhea and vomit both usually look the same. Light brown slightly chunky looking liquid. During my second bout I noticed carrot slivers, or what looked to be carrot in my vomit. Some time after my second experience I was at work and was going to get some kind of Asian noodles that I like. Not lo Mein...Cant remember what it was called, but I will update when I see it again. when I looked at it I noticed the long carrot slivers that resembled what was in my vomit and remembered that I ate this meal around the time of my second bout. So I passed. I have been trying to pick my brain about what I ate before the first bout and I think I ate the same noodle dish. Not definite, but pretty sure. I cannot remember what I ate before the 3rd bout. Last night I decided to start keeping a journal about this. Thats why I have a detailed description of my day and what I ate. I am hoping it is a reaction to something I eat and can eliminate whatever it is from my diet. So I will document what I eat or do to see if there is any similarity so I can possibly narrow this down and have better info for my Dr. One thing I have noticed, is that it seems to be getting less severe each time. I am really happy I found this forum and can write to people who can relate with me.Its been a GREAT help. When I ask other people I know, they have never experienced this strange burping illness. I feel bad for all of you because I know what you are going through and hopefully we can get some answers someday.