Fibromyalgia:
How I Check for Salicylates in Topical Products
1. Write the new product, the bar code, the size of the product (eg"400ml"), the date of purchase and the entire list of ingredients into a notebook that you keep exclusively for the purpose of checking products. Write one ingredient per line, one product per page.
Here's a picture of a typical page from my notebook.
2. Check each ingredient; when you have confirmed it is sal-free, put a tick
next to it. The places to check are:
a) Guai-Support Group - this is the first place to check. Start at their
search page , this will give you a list of all the pages at their site where
the word(s) you searched for are mentioned (see the
Help Page for assistance with using the search facility). You will then need
to check the listing on at least one of the pages found, to confirm the
salicylate status (eg there may be a warning on the
Sal-FreeTM
Ingredients List
about something that is *not* salicylate-free).
If you find information here that the ingredient is salicylate-free, then that
ingredient is fine and you don't need to look any further at it. Move on to the
next ingredient.
If you find in this web site that the ingredient is salicylate-FULL then it is
NOT okay, and the whole product is salicylate-FULL and will block your
guaifenesin.
If the ingredient name has two words, and you can't find the two listed
together, look for them separately. Once, I was looking for Sucrose Laurate -
it wasn't shown on the list like this, but each of the words were listed on their
own, and this means the whole thing is okay (I checked this with a Sal-mentorTM
at the time, before I became one myself)
b) Guai-Support Group's
Archives - you will need to
log into this
the first time you use it. Go to 'Search the archives' and type in the name
you're looking for. Check through any posts that are asking about the ingredient
you're trying to check, and look for the approval of a *Sal-Mentor.
c) Check the chemical structure for yourself. You don't need a degree in
chemistry to do this, follow the simple guide at Guai Support's
Understanding the Molecular Structure of Ingredients
If you fail to confirm (or deny) the salicylate-free status of any ingredients,
post a message to the Guai-Support Group asking a Sal-MentorTM
to check for you
(you must be a member of the group to do this;
click
here to sign up).
3. When all the ingredients are confirmed as salicylate-free, put a big tick in
the top corner of the page, so you know the product is safe and you can use it.
If an ingredient hasn't checked out, put a cross next to that ingredient (so you
can refer back in future if it comes up in something else) and put a line
through the page so you aren't tempted to buy the product in future.
4. Send a private message to a Sal-MentorTM
giving the name, list of ingredients,
bar code and when you purchased it, and ask for it to be added to the
Sal-FreeTM
Products List
, if it is not already listed there. The more
products listed, the easier it will be for others starting the protocol to find
products, and for 'old-timers' to change to new products. This is especially so
if you are in a country outside of the USA.
Click here for instructions on submitting *sal-free products to Guai-Support
Group.
* A trademark of Guai-Support Group
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