Flushing food intolerance trigger from body?

May 20, 2021 7:18 PM

I just ate a lot of food containing soy, which I am extremely sensitive to. In about 2-3 hours I'll have some stomach distress, and tomorrow I will get painful acne like bumps all over my neck, around my mouth, and along my jaw. Is there ANYTHING I can do to flush my system right now to lessen these side effects? The stomach stuff goes away quickly, but the bumps will last at least a week. YANMD.
posted by Hermione Granger to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Benadryl might stop or reduce the skin reaction from occurring. Ymmv.
posted by AlexiaSky at 7:38 PM on May 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

If you don't have issues that might prevent it: vomit?
posted by deludingmyself at 8:05 PM on May 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Activated charcoal tablets are used to absorb poisons from the body in ER situations and in my house when someone ate anything questionable or regrettable.
posted by Atrahasis at 8:12 PM on May 20, 2021

Antihistamines. Take an H1 agonist like cetirizine (Zyrtec), loratadine (Claritin), or fexofenadine (Allegra). Then take an H2 agonist that works in the gut like cimetidine (Tagamet) or famotidine (Pepcid). Do that for the next few days.

Drink as much water as you can. Avoid alcohol.

This may or may not help, but it's what I do when I've exposed myself to something I have a known obnoxious reaction to, since my doctor's recommendation to try that combo about 10 years ago. It helps me. It may or may not help you.
posted by erst at 8:21 PM on May 20, 2021 [16 favorites]

I'm guessing that the bumps are cysts, which I similarly get if I eat dairy, so I'm unsure whether antihistamines would be of any help.
posted by Dolley at 6:50 AM on May 21, 2021

erst has it. The combination of an H1 and H2 agonist works well for my food allergy issues.
posted by bedhead at 7:53 AM on May 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Hermione Granger described the problem with soy as a food sensitivity, not a food allergy. They are different animals. Most of the above comments are looking at this as a food allergy. I am sensitive to milk protein and get cysts if I consume it, but I don't have any kind of allergic reaction. This is why I think that antihistamines won't help.
posted by Dolley at 3:48 PM on May 21, 2021

Seconding erst on this one . My food offender is a sensitivity not an allergy, however it responds to the H2 and H1 antagonists. Zyrtec is much much much more effective for the skin stuff than the others but it also has much heavier side effects. I take a prescription med called hydroxyzine in these situations, which is basically Zyrtec++, in that it is both more effective for the skin issues and has side effects like a kick in the head. Don't take it if you have any plans to be alert within the next 12 hours.

And due to this thread I learned I can replace ranitidine (which is now off the market) with cimetidine or famotidine! Thanks - this has made my life heaps easier.
posted by rednikki at 6:08 AM on May 22, 2021 [1 favorite]