I know they are in most healthy foods and are essential for life. That is the problem!!
I think that has been my problem for some time. I remember years ago I had Vivix (resveratrol) set me back for weeks. I was almost too weak to stand up. Then later I had some Noni juice and later some Thai Go Juice. Both made me the same as did the Vivix. Dark chocolate, blueberries... most fruit in general makes me feel bad. A couple of months ago I almost ended up in the hospital from Citrus Bioflavonoids (a vitamin C supplement which I need to take for the collagen issues with EDS).
Then last week I did go to the hospital after taking quercetin.
I'm thinking that it could also be a problem with the P450 gene and not making an enzyme to be able to use the flavonoid properly.

Pam,

It never hurts to repeat ideas that might help others avoid the long searches we had to do to find relief!  But I know what you mean.  Sometimes I feel like a broken record (and old enough to remember what a broken record sounded like!). Hahaha!

I had heard salicylates are a trigger so I had cut them out for some time. But the other night I actually accidentally spilled salicylic acid on me. I almost panicked but nothing happened. There was no reaction. It seems I used something with salicylic acid in it a few times about a year ago on my face and my face turned quite red. But I used it other times with no reaction. I can only guess that it is a cumulative effect of when I'm on the edge of an attack when I am exposed. But this week has been so bad that I would have thought the other night would have got me.

Deb,
What you are talking about, we refer to as out "bucket".  Seems like thoughout the day our buckets fill up and when it is full we all have that on the edge feeling.  
I am glad to hear that you have looked into salicylates.  Hopefully they will not be an issue for you.
It usually is a trial and error situation when figuring out our triggers.  
How are you will fragrances??
Hope your week gets better!

I used to have very mild symptoms when around fragrances. This past year or so it has gotten worse and worse. I have meetings twice a week where people come in with perfumes on and it will make me so sick. I don't know what to do about it but it is a serious problem. Last week I ended up in a back room alone with the door closed so I could lay down on the floor. The pain kept flowing through my body in waves and I was crying and it would pass a little, then it'd hit again. It lasted about a half hour. This has happened twice in two weeks and I think there may be a new perfume - maybe a cheap type of perfume.

This probably won't help, but  there in only one brand of green tea I have discovered that I can tolerate (and only that if I prepare it in a certain way).

Years ago, I started drinking green tea because I thought it was healthy.   It gave me a few muscle aches at first, but I eventually developed a tolerance for it.   The brand was Long Life Organic Green Tea.   Of course, the company went out of buisness.   And I spent over a year searching for a brand I could tolerate, with no luck.   Literally, on my final try, I found a brand I could tolerate (it was apparently the brand Long Life had been using before they folded).   I now use it as a "mouthwash" for healthy (albeit horribly stained) teeth and gums.

And I've found I can only tolerate it if, I don't crush the leaves before preparing, which makes the brew stronger.  

There is some research which seems to show that plant flavinoids may be only useful as a hormesis effect, i.e. they are not acting as anti-oxidants, but as irritants which the body tries to rapidly eliminate.   Similarly, I've heard that small regular doses of tylenol can actually raise glutathione levels rather than depleting them, through the same hormesis effect, and thus improve liver function and health.    Who knows if it's true.   Just interesting mind candy to play with.   I believe it is very likely true that endogenous antioxidant systems are far more powerful than anything we ever consume (SuperOxyDismutase, Uric Acid, Glutathione Peroxidase, Melatonin, etc.).   Things that promote gene expression for the endogenous anti-oxidants may be ideal (?)

Todd in Tenn.