Hey, #neurodiverseaquad! How many of you also have #foodadditive allergies? Artificial “Sunset Yellow” colouring (called F&DC Yellow in the USA; E110 in Europe) makes me wheeze and swells my throat, face and hands.

AFAIK it didn’t *cause* my #ADHD, but while the NHS recommends avoiding foods containing #e110 https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/food-colours-and-hyperactivity/ it’s an ingredient in generic pink supermarket Ibuprofen and half my prescription medication, including antibiotics. https://e110free.tumblr.com/post/186409066498/medicine-uk-containing-e110

I was so swollen and wheezy my midwife was worried I had a DVT, after my first emergency C-section in 2015. But no. It was just the bright pink #e110-coated ibuprofen I’d been given on the maternity ward — 4 times a day, for 4 days.

And to receive every dose, I had to state my name, my date of birth, AND MY ALLERGIES. It’s hospital protocol. I’m only really allergic to #e110. It’s in my medical notes. listed as an ingredient on the Ibuprofen box. But no one checked because it’s not A Thing.

And #e110 is in so many PRESCRIPTION medicines that my local pharmacist has asked that the GP makes a special allergy note WHENEVER I’m issued ANY prescription, and the GP who says “GPs don’t do that”.

Meanwhile I’ve been dealing with a persistent skin infection for six months now, because it didn’t get treated for two weeks thanks to GP/prescription requests/pharma delivery failures etc, just to antibiotics without petroleum based dyes in.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist anti-vax-“-Lizard-People-Flat-Earth-Covid-denier. I just think that if you advise people to avoid an ingredient, DON’T PUT IT IN MEDICATION. And if you do, definitely develop some transparent protocols for people to access safe treatment.