Dermatitis and the Guessing Game
IHateNickel Posted on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 1:11PM I’ve been suffering from a form of dermatitis for over two years now. I know that I am allergic to nickel, but the dermatitis is never in a spot where I’ve come into contact with nickel. What could be causing this? Conversations with my doctor and a lot of research later, I believe it’s a nickel allergy reaction, brought on by nickel in food that I consume. So I started a low nickel diet in hopes of alleviating my itchiness.
I just have to say how DIFFICULT it is to pinpoint what may or may not be causing my discomfort. No amount of charts, graphs, or instructions from doctors can really tell me how much nickel is in every piece of food out there. There is no magic scale or scanner that I can use to keep a running tally and find my **magic** number. The Danish say a daily intake of anywhere from 600-5600µg of nickel can cause eczema in nickel senstive patients.[1] That’s a large range! Never in my life have I wished so hard for a Star Trek medical tricorder, so a doctor could just wave a little scanner over me and tell me what that number is for me…
I’ve been following the low-nickel diet for one month now. The results are promising, but not conclusive. The itchiness tapered off a lot, and I had two whole weeks where I was barely itchy at all! I had dreams of ridding myself of my dermatitis once and for all! It was awesome. It felt good. Unfortunately, it only lasted two weeks. This week I am back to full itchiness. What changed? I don’t know! Tracking down all the potential variables is overwhelming. I was keeping a daily health journal – food, exercise, health, etc – but silly, silly me, once I started feeling better, I neglected to write in my journal every day! That means I can only guess, based on memory, what may have changed. This is what I have:
- Over the weekend, I ate out a lot. It’s impossible to stick to a diet while doing that.
- I had bananas this week. Bananas are listed on the low-nickel diet as “in moderation”. Since there is no measurement for “in moderation”, I have no idea if I ate too many.
- I wasn’t home the day the water filter guy was scheduled to come out and change our whole-house water filter. Presumably, it’s now a week past due and not filtering very well anymore.
- I made pasta for dinner using tri-color rotini, not realizing until after dinner that the green pasta is spinach. Duh. Spinach is on the do-not-eat list.
- In general, I was under a lot of stress this past week.
- I had dental work done last week. I had a root canal and a temporary crown put on. There shouldn’t be ANY nickel in anything the dentist is using, they wonderfully re-assured me, but I remain respectfully paranoid.
I’m listing all these things, not to bore you to death, but to emphasis how difficult it is to find a single culprit in a slew of possibilities! For all I know (and most likely), it is a cumulative combination of all of the above items - making it even more difficult to narrow down what NOT to do.
I'm fortunate enough now to know that I have a nickel allergy. I can be 99% certain that my dermatitis is being caused by nickel. This helps to narrow down my clues and suspects, but it still feels impossible to really find anything out. It still feels like I'm throwing darts blindfolded, hoping to hit something, hoping to land on the answers that I need. So many other people out there don’t have that benefit. They’re just blindly guessing, or worse, blindly medicating, hoping to hit a target in the dark that will fix their illness.
I don’t have an answer for this one yet. Does anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
[1] Flyvholm, Mari-Ann, Gitte Daslgaard Nielsen and Allan Anderson. "Nickel Content of Food and Estimation of Dietary Intake." Zeitschrift für Lebensmitteluntersuchung und -Forschung A, 1984, Volume 179, Number 6, Pages 427-431.
Reader Comments (7)
Wow! So excited to find your blog! I have been dealing with dermatitis for a year now and have recently been told it is due to nickel in my diet. I just started the low nickel diet yesterday and am finding it very difficult to follow. One problem I have is that every website's list contradicts the others. Have you found a list you find to be most reliable accurate? How is your dermatitis now and are you still following the diet?
I feel like I could have written this post myself- as well as the comment above from Beth! Thank you - AGAIN- for at least making me realize I am not alone. I share these same frustrations....right at this moment I am sitting here like a deer in the headlights, trying to figure out what to make for dinner. I have three different lists of unacceptable foods in front of me...which is right? What CAN I eat??? What can I cook in? Are these posts safe? Is my water safe? Should I just give up and eat ice cream for dinner (although with chocolate not allowed, is that even worth it?)
Beth, the best list I have so far is the Penn State list. I like it because it gives examples of foods that are OK to eat. It's by far not perfect, but it's the easiest to follow initially, I think. See Starting a Low Nickel Diet
Amy, I hope you didn't have ice cream for dinner!! At least not chocolate ice cream - vanilla is supposed to be ok. :)
I can't tell you how many times I've done that exact thing, however - stood in my kitchen completely lost (and hungry). I'm still researching and trying to figure out how to create a better meal plan. I'll let you know if/when I find out anything new. Thank you!
So glad to have found this blog, can really relate to the frustrating mysteries of this problem. I just had the titanium screws removed from my failed shoulder surgery (the 4th time i've had surgery there!) and am trying to start a low nickel diet but all the info is confusing-any good recipes around? I can't imagine how I'm going to feed 3 hungry boys while avoiding everything I've always eaten! Have you tried taking Vit. C and iron supplements? supposed to help .
Thank you!
Hi everyone!
First off all, thank you for creating this site! I appreciate your perspective and sharing what has happened as you have sought to reduce the nickel intake in your diet.
While I have not had a doctor confirm it, I am 99% positive I am suffering from dyhidrosis dermatitis due to a nickel allergy. I knew I had a nickel allergy since I was a kid (contact dermatitis, from things like belt buckles), but I did not link the eczema on my fingers to the the high-nickel content in everyday foods. And I thought eating whole wheat was healthy!
Like many of you, I am trying to figure it what is safe to eat (and what is not). There are so many conflicting reports on the Internet. I found the following meta-analysis that contains a comprehensive chart of foods to avoid from a variety of other studies (see p. 7). Here's the link to anyone who may be interested: http://www.mattioli1885.com/onlinejournals/index.php/EurAnnAllergy/article/download/717/484
It appears that chocolate is reported to by high in nickel in EVERY study. Other foods with consistently high nickel content include beans, lentils, nuts, oats, soybeans and soy products, peas, licorice, and whole wheat flour and related products.
Good luck! I am adjusting my diet today to see if this helps me. I am tired of how my nickel allerg is negatively impacting my life!
Geoff
I have a nickel allergy. It took me quite a while to get it figured out, because, like the OP, it wasn't the classic contact dermatitis where you touch nickel and the skin on your fingers peels. It turns out that my 2 main ways of coming in contact with nickel were guitar strings and -- irony alert -- darts. When I'd play guitar, two or three days later my right eye would puff up. When I'd throw darts (made with a mixture of tungsten and nickel), two or three days later I'd get an itchy patch on the right side of my neck. In other words, left hand contact = eye, right hand contact = neck. Weird, huh? It gets better. My wife was telling her friend about this while they were soaking at a Korean spa. This Korean lady overhears, and says "I got a guy." Her guy is an acupuncturist. A miracle worker acupuncturist who can knock it down in one or two visits. Maybe any acupuncturist can do it; I don't know. But if you live in the Los Angeles area... I got a guy.
BTW, in my case, diet seem to have nothing to do with it.