The discussion revolves around various chronic diseases and illnesses experienced by participants. It includes personal anecdotes and reflections on the impact of these conditions on daily life, with a focus on both physical and mental health challenges.
Participants share a range of chronic conditions, but there is no consensus on which is the "worst." The discussion reflects a variety of personal experiences and opinions, with some humor and light-heartedness, but also serious concerns about health and societal awareness.
Some claims about the effects of certain medications and conditions are based on personal experiences and may not be universally applicable. Discussions about the societal implications of fragrance chemicals and their health effects remain speculative and unresolved.
binzing said:ED not priapism...
George Jones said:I have a 50% chance of having oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy. Symptoms are late-onset, and, if I have it, they should start showing up now, plus or minus a few years. So, far, I haven't noticed any.
turbo-1 said:How would you feel if when you were exposed to fragrances in people's cosmetics, personal care products, laundry products, etc, you got severe breathing difficulties, migraine headaches, and immune-system flare-ups that make standing or walking horribly painful (triggering arthritis reactions?) What would you feel if your blood pressure went from 135-80 to 205-90 because of such an exposure?
I have been living with this for years, and nobody aside from my wife and a few other people seem to give a crap. People wearing clothes scented with "Bounce" or wearing "Unscented" Oil of Olay moisturizing lotion can put me in the Emergency Room. Our society seems to regard fragrance chemicals as a "free-for-all" - meantime, the incidences of childhood asthma and ADD and autism soar.
turbo-1 said:I have been living with this for years, and nobody aside from my wife and a few other people seem to give a crap.
I do not expect the world to change. I feel, however that people like me are the canaries in the coal mine. If you will do some research on multiple chemical sensitivity, you will find that the EPA (many years ago) sampled fragranced products and found that most all of them contained chemicals that are neural stimulants or neural depressants, some of which are carcinogenic and some of which have been banned for such use. Due to antiquate perfumery laws, the companies making such products do not have to disclose the use of these chemicals.Cyrus said:How many people share your condition, 1 in 100,000? Should the entire world change their habbits because of it? Your last sentence is pure speculation as if there is a direct cause/effect.
Thanks, binzing. I have a friend (a young woman working as a research assistant at Harvard) who has a child with this condition, and her life is hell. There is no treatment - only avoidance, and that's nearly impossible these days.binzing said:Well WE care for one...
turbo-1 said:Thanks, binzing. I have a friend (a young woman working as a research assistant at Harvard) who has a child with this condition, and her life is hell. There is no treatment - only avoidance, and that's nearly impossible these days.
In addition to the classic vanilla Smoothie, you can choose from a range of four fabulous fruity flavours each impregnated with it's own subtle fragrance: Banana, Blueberry, Strawberry or Lemon & Lime.
Just what you want in the lab when you are doing mass-spec assays or chromatography! Volatile organic compounds to contaminate your work-space. What an idea.lisab said:Why, why, why?
George Jones said:I have a 50% chance of having oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy. Symptoms are late-onset, and, if I have it, they should start showing up now, plus or minus a few years. So, far, I haven't noticed any.
I don't know if I really would have invaded your space last week, turbo-1. But once I learned of your condition, I abandoned any such thought immediately.turbo-1 said:I do not expect the world to change.
Holy moly, jimmy. I passed a stone while on a VERY long road trip through the south for a business presentation. It was really painful. I can't imagine passing 9 in a year. Luckily, my project manager was driving so I could stretch out my leg to take pressure off the stone. When we got to the motel and got our rooms, I had him go to the nearest package-store and buy a couple of 6-packs of beer. I drank beer and let the urine build up until I felt I was going to explode, and managed to pass it that way.jimmysnyder said:I don't know if I really would have invaded your space last week, turbo-1. But once I learned of your condition, I abandoned any such thought immediately.
I suffer from kidney stones which I pass on a regular basis, 9 in a year was my record. Also, I lose consciousness often and my body is unable to absorb all the things that I eat.
No. I love the smell of fresh-cut pine, cedar, fir, spruce, etc.Proton Soup said:turbo, do any aromatic plants like pine or cedar make you ill?
turbo-1 said:No. I love the smell of fresh-cut pine, cedar, fir, spruce, etc.
The things that make me sick are volatile organic chemicals that chemical companies use to simulate these smells. The cedar-smelling fabric softeners are among the worst offenders - they really lay me low.
I have no idea. I have never had a problem working in the pulp and paper industry, nor (as a college student) working summers in a mill that made laminated birch veneers. I built a new woodbox out of rough-sawn white pine this year, and I love the smell of the boards.Proton Soup said:well, trees are full of volatile organics, which is why i wonder what the actual trigger is
http://www.sisweb.com/referenc/applnote/app-41.htm
turbo-1 said:I have no idea. I have never had a problem working in the pulp and paper industry, nor (as a college student) working summers in a mill that made laminated birch veneers. I built a new woodbox out of rough-sawn white pine this year, and I love the smell of the boards.
I cannot determine what chemicals I am sensitive to because our laws (based on antiquated French perfume laws from long ago) let manufacturers list "fragrances" on the label with no details. This is pretty stupid, because anybody with a well-equipped lab can analyze a scented product and figure out exactly what is in it. This is how copy-cat perfumes can hit the market so quickly.
Ivan Seeking said:How did they make this determination?
This is reassuring. All those syllables had me worried. I wish you the best.George Jones said:My mother's mother, my mother, my mother's two brothers, and at least two of my mother's sisters had it.
It's not such a terrible thing. Symptoms show up late, and, once they do, quality of life is only very, very gradually affected. Life expectancy is hardly affected.
bsodmike said:I contracted Labrynthitis during the end of my MSc year @ King's College London. Unfortunately, it was around the time I was building my robot and working on my thesis ~ however, with much effort I did most of the theoretical dev. whilst propped up in bed and glued to my laptop.
Due to the severer vertigo, I could not move much and my head felt like it was 'odd' for a good two months. I ended up flying to Geneva to my Aunts place (for a change of scenery) and to do the final LaTeX compile of the thesis...
It all ended very well of course, even demo'ed the robot to my Professor.
Back to Labrynthitis ~ simply aweful, I sincerely wish no one else ever has to experience it!
If you'd like to see my robot, click here and here. Robot project photo gallery over http://www.bsodmike.com/gallery2/v/projects/complete_projects/Omni-directional+Robot_001 .
My brother-in-law said that even when he was lying down with his eyes closed, he would feel like the room was spinning. It really laid him low - he lost a LOT of weight (that he could ill-afford to lose in the first place).jimmysnyder said:I was diagnosed with labrynthitis many years ago. I forget what the symptoms were, but judging by the chatter here, I expect it was a misdiagnosis. I don't remember anything severe.
Proton Soup said:sinus medication? pseudoephedrine is what they give people for priapism, you know. shouldn't last more than a few hours, tho.