Lots of Pepper, Lots of Itch

[Forest Walker]

In his first time trying to make a new dish, my husband inadvertently added 1.5 teaspoons of black pepper to a recipe that made four small crabcakes.  Additionally, another seasoning in the recipe, Old Bay Spice, has a mix of ground peppers in its ingredients.  I ate one of the cakes (smothered in plain yogurt to cool it down).  

Very soon, patchy areas that rarely itch began to itch like crazy.  And this morning, several patches are a little more active.  

I think the excessive pepper caused this reaction.  Has anything like this ever happened to you?

[Fred]

First off got to love it when a new recipe goes wrong.

I've given up trying to work out what makes psoriasis react or flare, but I don't recall pepper doing it to me but "Capsicum" is a nightshade and some say they effect them. Black pepper however is from the family "Piperaceae"

Get the chef to try it first next time.

[Turnedlight]

Very interesting - I’ve never correlated eating black pepper with itching but then I don’t think I’ve used that amount! There’s a dish I make that I grind lots of black pepper into but I can’t think what it is right now - I will keep it in mind and see if I itch.

[Caroline]

According to the “old” Dutch oriented Psoriasis diet, originated by old publications of dr. Van der Upwich, known triggers of psoriasis are:

Pepper, nutmeg, cloves, mustard, kummel, anise, cinnamon, paprika and everything in which they are processed, such as ready-made spices, sausage, pate, canned soup or it packets, stock cubes, curry, sauces, mayonnaise and the like.

That doesn’t mean that everyone will have problems with them, but you “may” find effects. E.g. myself I don’t see effects if I eat paprika, but e.g my sister has immediate effects when she eats tomato’s.

[Raxyl]

1 1/2 teaspoons, sound about right  . I eat a lot of pepper and I do mean a lot.  I have never found it to be a trigger for me (that's just me though, we are all different)

[mataribot]

Either something you're allergic to, irritates you, or dehydrates is going cause flares.