Check your food labels for sulfites. Your symptoms are about the same as mine when I accidentally eat sulfited food.

MSG or the "free glutamic acid" that is in it, is in sooo much of our food.
we think that msg is an old food issue, that if we avoid chinese food we will avoid it, but we are so wrong.
MSG is in almost every processed food. its under lots of guises and even "natural" or "healthy" processed foods, like protein bars, crackers, soups, along with all the other "food" (poison) that most of america eats...

as far as i understand it, glutamate is naturally occurring in lots of foods (like milk), and is not harmful in that form, however, highly processed, heated or deconstructed glutamate becomes 'free glutamic acid' -- that's the harmful element in MSG.

it is called an exitotoxin-- aspartame is one of them-- and when you consume these exitotoxins (artificial poisons), your brain gets overly, unnaturally excited, and actually causes brain damage. they are starting to link msg, or free glutamic acid, with the rising obesity and lethargy problems in americans and children especially.

msg is also called: natural flavors, seasonings, whey protein, anythinh "isolate" and "glutamate", yeast extract, yeast flavor. it is often in carageenan, gelatin, and thus in our vitamins as fillers and coatings, and in our baby formulas and baby food. this can actually physically dumb-down our children, even though acute effects can take a long time to emerge, perhaps later in life.

also, the reaction you experienced was very likely msg-triggered. some people are more sensitive than others. my boyfriend and i both reacted with hives upon eating large quantities when we didn't know what it was. in thailand and laos it was served along with salt and chilis, and it looked like a long-grained salt. we poured it on our food by the spoonful, having no idea that it was MSG! yikes.

anyway, check out this website for more info. www.msgmyth.com

we just discovered how omnipresent msg and free glutamic acid is, and are totally shocked by its prevalent use and concealment. this information can be overwhelming, however, it just leads me back to a stronger conviction to eat whole, organic, simple foods that come from local community as much as possible-- to eat more like grandma.
we really have to think about our food, since, ultimately, we are what we eat.
check it out for yourself....