Managing Chemical Sensitivity & ER Visit

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The discussion centers on the challenges faced by individuals with severe chemical sensitivities, particularly to fragrances. Participants share personal experiences of adverse reactions to scented products, including asthma attacks and high blood pressure episodes, often requiring emergency room visits. The conversation highlights the inadequacies of medical responses to these sensitivities, with many feeling their conditions are misunderstood or misdiagnosed. There is a consensus that the fragrance industry is inadequately regulated, allowing manufacturers to conceal harmful chemicals under the term "fragrance." Participants express frustration over the lack of effective testing for specific allergens and the need for greater awareness of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). The discussion also touches on the psychological aspects of chemical sensitivities, suggesting that past negative experiences with certain scents may condition individuals to react strongly in the future, even in the absence of a direct allergen. Overall, the thread emphasizes the serious impact of chemical sensitivities on daily life and the necessity for more comprehensive understanding and support from the medical community.
  • #31
Art said:
I hasten to add I am not suggesting everybody be exposed to massive levels of pollution as a form of inoculation :smile: I am just remarking on how it is peculiar that in this day and age when the environment is 1000s of times cleaner than it was then the prevalence of illnesses such as asthma seems far higher. Is there perhaps such a thing as a problem with the environment being too clean?

p.s. Astronuc you'd have got on well with my grandmother she had 3 kidneys :biggrin:
Our total general exposures to pollutants may be lower (that is definitely NOT the case in Maine, since we are being inundated with heavy metals and ozone from mid-west power plants) but our exposures in micro-climates (home, work, school, public buildings, stores, etc) are increasing daily. People complain about the incidence of Asthma, ADD, etc rising in our younger population, but they don't give a crap about reducing the exposures of these vulnerable people to the air-borne chemicals that may be causing them.
 
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  • #32
I've been exposed to a variety of so-called hazardous chemicals (toluenes, xylenes, methyl chlorides, gasolines, . . . .) and radiation (much more than the average person), yet I show no deleterious effects. On the other hand, my youngest brother developed an aggresive leukemia at 33 and died in less than a year, and he probably had less exposure than me, at least to radiation.

Populations in urban areas, particulary near freeways, which have a lot of truck traffic, have a higher indicence of respiratory illness.


Some people like George Burns can smoke all their adult lives, and live to a ripe old age, but others will develop lung cancer within a decade or two.


Over the holidays last week, one of my nieces has family members do a taste test. Apparently the ability to taste certain chemical compounds is genetic. I couldn't taste any of three chemicals (my family thinks my taste buds have been destroyed by my consumption of hot sauces). My kids said one of the compounds tasted like earwax - but I couldn't taste it. So possibly people have different predispositions or sensitivities.
 
  • #33
Well, I can't be killed by poison mushrooms or any other alkaloids. Is that a bright spot? My sensitivity to the taste of alkaloids is so highly developed that I experience gut-wrenching nausea at the taste.
 
  • #34
Different people have different sensitivities to taste, this is a good brief overview http://www.ific.org/foodinsight/1999/ja/tastefi499.cfm

There are people that think cilantro tastes like soap. I can see how they could be confused if you really stop and think about the flavor of cilantro. I happen to like it.

I know people that won't eat certain foods because of how they feel in their mouth. Then there are people that won't eat certain foods because they were told they wouldn't like it, but have never really even tried it. These people really frustrate me. I will at least try something before passing judgement on it.

A lot has to do with culture. Think about how many foods are considered delicacies in other cultures that would make the average American puke.
 
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  • #35
As a child, I have helped make and/or eaten foods that many of today's US citizens would call repulsive. Killing pigs and saving the blood and large and small intestines and scraps so that we could have sausages throughout the winter was a given. It had to be done, and we had all invested so much (scraps, peelings, breads, etc) into these pigs that we needed to get everything back. Not just the meat, but salted fat (salt pork) and the scraps, like the brains, organ meat, etc. Getting ordered around by a couple of French-Canadian great aunts for a weekend in such slaughtering get-togethers will clear your mind very quickly.
 
  • #36
turbo-1 said:
As a child, I have helped make and/or eaten foods that many of today's US citizens would call repulsive. Killing pigs and saving the blood and large and small intestines and scraps so that we could have sausages throughout the winter was a given. It had to be done, and we had all invested so much (scraps, peelings, breads, etc) into these pigs that we needed to get everything back. Not just the meat, but salted fat (salt pork) and the scraps, like the brains, organ meat, etc. Getting ordered around by a couple of French-Canadian great aunts for a weekend in such slaughtering get-togethers will clear your mind very quickly.
That reminds me of a friend of mine from years ago. He worked as a butcher but after a few years very suddenly developed an allergy to raw meat. When he handled it his hands looked like pieces of raw meat themselves :eek: Eventually he had no choice but to give up that line of work.
 
  • #37
I'm new, surley not unique.
Bleach, pinesol, etc get me going with headaches.
But when I'm around certain friends, they "send me".
Lately, even ignoring the scents, I react like the incredible huk!
You won't like me when......
So I get serious personality changes.
Even if I don't seem to get the scent right away, within a half hour, STAND BACK!
Anyone else affected that way?
Sure will take suggestions.
My friends would appreciate it too! (let alone my wifie)
John
 
  • #38
My wife can sense the mood-changes in me right away. And yes, I can get very frustrated, dopey-feeling, and angry. I can suppress angry, but end up being a bit curt and withdrawn at best.
 
  • #39
That is sooooo true!
They say that smells go directly to the brain.
Unfortunatly, I must go out tonight, and be among "smellies"
I ordered a mask from and it does help, amid jeerinng.
I ask, I don't know how my wife puts up with "the hulk" alias Bill Bixby at times.
Someone suggested liver detox, since the chemicals can bulk up in that organ.
No magic bullet, I suppose.
 
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  • #40
Dryer sheets, brute, and I was watching NBC which had Dr Nancy Sneiderman on today,
talking about "3rd hand smoke. which leaves chemicals in the air and absorbed in carpet,
clothing, and everything around which can absorb the smoke. WHY DON'T THEY MENTION THE 3rd HAND CHEMICAL DEPOSITS ZFZROM ZFRAGRENCES?
 
  • #42
Thanks for the link, Woolie, but for the record, I have been seen and treated by the most respected chemical-injury doctor in New England (he now teaches at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and his printed-out CV is an inch thick.) I think I'll pass on buying the e-book.
 
  • #43
The only way to win out is to infect all who aren't NORMAL like we are?
 

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