Personally, I haven't had any problems with artificial colors.  My generic Zantac is pink... my Synthroid and Singulair are yellow (and there's no alternative to that one yet).  

IMO, unless you know for sure that dyes are a problem for you, doing a hard core elimination of dyes seems like a weird piece of advice.  There are much more important changes to make with a mast cell disorder: low histamine diet, reduce stress, figure out what antihistamines work best for you, etc...  How did your dermatologist arrive at such a specific cause for your flushing and blotching??  Some people with mast cell disorders are able to take aspirin to tone down the flushing... it helps to get rid of the excess prostaglandins in your bloodstream.  Otherwise, the flushing and blotching should improve as you become more stable.

This is the kind of thing that contributes to my low opinion of dermatologists...

Heather

Yellow #6 and Red 40 are high in Salicylates.  Salicylates open your mast cells up without going through your immune system. I'm very sensitive to all high and very high salicylates. I have had lots of trouble with artifitial colors.  I even had trouble with the pink benedryl. (red 40)
Pam

You are wecome!  Here is the Salicylate forum link very helpful!
  http://salicylatesensitivity.com/forum/    
Pam
here is a list of products containing Salicylates:
Products

There are a variety of different products containing salicylate and it is sometimes difficult to determine if a product is salicylate free or not. Hopefully this page will help.


Products that often contain Salicylates:
•Acne products
•Air fresheners
•Alka Seltzer
•Breath savers
•Bubble baths
•Cleaning products
•Cosmetics
•Detergents
•Essential oils
•Fabric conditioners
•Fragrances and perfumes
•Gums
•Hair sprays, gels and mouses
•Herbal remedies
•Lipsticks and Lip glosses
•Lotions
•Lozenges
•Medications
•Mouthwash
•Muscle pain creams
•Pain relievers
•Pepto-Bismol
•Razors with aloe strips adjacent to the cutting edge
•Shampoos and Conditioners
•Shaving cream
•Skin cleansers or exfoliants
•Soaps
•Sunscreens and tanning lotions
•Supplements derived from rose hips or bioflavoniods
•Toothpaste
•Topical creams
•Wart or callus removers


Terms/Ingredients to Avoid:
•Acetylsalicylic acid
•Aloe Vera
•Any coal tar derived dye
•Artificial flavorings
•Artificial food colorings
•Aspirin
•Azo dyes
•Benzoates (preservatives)
•Benzyl salicylate
•Beta-hydroxy acid
•BHA
•BHT
•Choline salicylate
•Disalcid
•Ethyl salicylate
•Eucalyptus Oils
•Isoamyl salicylate
•Magnesium salicylate
•Menthol
•Methyl Salicylate
•Mint
•Nitrates/Nitrites
•Octylsalicylate
•Oil of Wintergreen
•Peppermint
•Phenylethyl salicylate
•Red Dye (#40)
•Salicylaldehyde
•Salicylamide
•Salicylate
•Salicylic acid
•Salsalate
•Sodium Salicylate
•Spearmint
•Yellow Dyes (#5 & #6)

Brand Names of Common Drugs containing Salicylate

This is not a complete list of all drugs containing salicylate, but it is a start and hopefully will aid and help you in avoiding drugs/medications that contain salicylate. If you are taking a medication and you are not sure if it contains salicylate or not check with your pharmacist or doctor. Never start the elimination diet with out checking all medications and first and consulting a professional. Never start taking a medication with salicylate in it directly after the elimination diet and shock can occur from introducing too much salicylate into your body after it has gone a long while without salicylate. This list was put together by the Mayo Clinic.
•Acuprin 81
•Amigesic
•Anacin Caplets and Tablets
•Aspirin Regimen Bayer Adult Low Dose
•Aspirin Regimen Bayer Regular Strength Caplets
•Bayer Children’s Aspirin
•Bufferin Caplets and Tablets
•Disalcid
•Extra Strength Bayer Asprin Caplets and Tablets
•Mobidin
•Mono-Gesic
•Norwich Aspirin
•P-A-C Revised Formula
•Regular Strength Ascriptin
•Salflex
•Salsitab
•Sloprin
•St. Joseph Adult Chewable Aspirin
•Tricosal
•Trilisate
•ZORprin

Doozlygirl,
I use the name brand Zantac and the equate brand of Allegra.  Although the Zantac has color I think that it is iron oxide red.  The generic allergra works best for me because the Name brand has pregeletinized starch.  I can not have geletin. So I stay far, far away from it.  I really don't know the difference between iron oxide red  and red 40 but I have just noticed that I can't do the red 40 or yellow5 & 6.  Iron oxide yellow seems to be okay for me too.  Hope this helps some, sounds kind of confusing!

Thanks Lyn!  I am interested in finding out what the difference is!
Pam

Lyn,
I don't know if I have ever been tested for aspirin, but knowing that I can not tollerate salicylates... I don't take aspirin or nsaids (advil). I rely on Tyleno for my pain.  My doc tested me for many things but couldn't find any allergy, even though I was having anaphalatic reations to so much.  It was a long process figuring out the salicylate problem.  My worst anaphilatic reation was from eating a piece of pumpkin pie....not from the pumpkin (it is moderate in Sals.) but from the spices in the pie. Nutmeg and Cinnamon are very high...DAH...I wasn't thinking about the spices.
I have changed the way I do everything from bathing to the way I do laundry, the saliclate are every where! I have used baking soda to brush my teeth for about 10 months now.  That was my first hint...the toothpaste was setting me off, but I didn't have a clue why.  Then when I figured it out I started reading every lable and it all started to come together! The salicylates open my mast cell almost instantly!
Thanks for the web site....makes since why the iron oxide doesn't hurt me and the other does!

Thanks again!
Pam

Ana,
I think we ALL lucked out that the iron oxide dyes are not associated with not known issues, unlike the FD&C dyes.  Gives us a few choices.  I havne't been able to find fexofenadine or ranitidine without out a dye.  

Pam,
Oh, this salicylates business is staring to fill in some pieces of my puzzle.  I once went into anaphylaxis from a menstrual med (can't remember if it was midol or pamrin, but the formulation I reacted to had aspirin)  

Have you run across the Environmental Working Group website yet?  they have this amazing database of over 69k products with ingredients listed.  Check out the toothpastes.  There are tons of them.  Maybe a fennel or tangerine/citris or blackcurrent toothpaste would be an option?   You could spend days going through this database, so have fun.

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Keep up posted,
Lyn