Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes. At age 40 I suddenly had a bad reaction to my moisturizer. It burned my face causing redness, swelling and peeling. I also found fragrances caused my eyes to water and my skin itch. I went to a dermatologist and he said my skin was angry at me. He did an allergy test.
Turned out I became allergic to synthetic fragrance and 3 other chemicals. It surprised me. Now I have to read labels on anything I put on my body. I never want to feel that burning sensation again. It was awful and I looked awful.
It's scary when it first happens. Some people won't believe you either so you're lucky your dermatologist understood. "Angry" is a good descriptive terms for it. Your skin is sort of angry because that ingredient is wrong for you. Be careful of other ingredients too--you may develop more sensitivities. You can even make your own lotions and fragrances. I have found Burt's Bees moisturizers to work for me--about the only brand I can use from the drug store. But natural foods stores sell lots more that I can tolerate. Just be careful, understandably you never want that to happen to you again.
I have had a bleach/chlorine (mercury?) since childhood in the 50's. If Mom washed my clothes or bedding with bleach, I would be up all night scratching myself raw. Today after a lot of trial and error, I also think there might be a connection also with fluoride in the water system. It was in our water when I was growing up. Whenever I would take a shower growing up, I would itch right after. Sometimes I would break out in hives even as a child and teen.
We moved to a different area, which did put fluoride in the water. We lived there for over 25 years. No more itching or hives, until we moved back to an area with fluoride in weather system. Once a year in the Fall they flush out the entire water system with chlorine. Safe to drink they said. It was so bad, purely from smell and drinking, we bought bottled water. I broke out in hives from head to toe, including on my eyelids, even after the water flushing was long done. Only chlorine?
I noticed that when I went back to visit my daughter in the area where we used to live, my hives went away completely. Different WATER without that fluoride. When I went home, they came back.
Putting a filter on the tap drinking water was not enough because I was still SHOWERING in that same water. So we now not only filter the drinking water, but on our shower head also. No more hives.
I suppose you could say that these chemicals do a number on my skin. I also cannot use anti-bacterial soaps or hand sanitizers, but that is easy to know. Immediately after using them my hands get red, raw, and bleed. When I worked in public schools, I had to bring in my own hand soap because all they have in the schools are those anti-bacterial cleansers.
Is there a chemical connection between all these products? Or is it simply if you have a reaction to one chemical you might have an allergy to others?
Ive never had the York test orthe hair test Trichology as I think they are quite expensive but its not the point.. I know all the chemicals Im made ill with, and get no help from the NHS in the UK... I believe its to do with food and leaky gut that needs attention... Im also interested now in Oxygen therapy.. but dont know if its given yet for MCS or similar conditions.. does anyone know... I did have the patch tests done about 20 years ago , but after the results I was given no help so why bother to do them I thought... can someone maybe know a bit about this HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY as I feel it could help MCS sufferers a lot...
Ive never had the York test orthe hair test Trichology as I think they are quite expensive but its not the point.. I know all the chemicals Im made ill with, and get no help from the NHS in the UK... I believe its to do with food and leaky gut that needs attention... Im also interested now in Oxygen therapy.. but dont know if its given yet for MCS or similar conditions.. does anyone know... I did have the patch tests done about 20 years ago , but after the results I was given no help so why bother to do them I thought... can someone maybe know a bit about this HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY as I feel it could help MCS sufferers a lot...
D, have you gone onto Phoenix Rising? It's an online help forum for sufferers of CFS/ME, Chemical sensitivities, and such. There's a lot of information on there. It helps to get information from them because mostly nothing at all is available through doctors anywhere in the world. Sometimes some very rich person is able to see a very expensive doctor and learns things that they are willing to share. Also, there are some people on that forum who are very knowledgeable from studying or reading and they can help people.
There are theories that the normal detox pathways are blocked in people with chemical sensitivities. I don't understand. It's complicated but maybe with enough reading there is hope.
D, have you gone onto Phoenix Rising? It's an online help forum for sufferers of CFS/ME, Chemical sensitivities, and such. There's a lot of information on there. It helps to get information from them because mostly nothing at all is available through doctors anywhere in the world. Sometimes some very rich person is able to see a very expensive doctor and learns things that they are willing to share. Also, there are some people on that forum who are very knowledgeable from studying or reading and they can help people.
There are theories that the normal detox pathways are blocked in people with chemical sensitivities. I don't understand. It's complicated but maybe with enough reading there is hope.
Perfumes and colognes produced with natural oils are expensive to manufacture; therefore, companies switched to synthetic chemicals to cut costs. The result is products that are unhealthy. The list is very long, and includes products placed on the skin and products sprayed in the air, either way we still ingest the harmful chemicals into our bodies.
Back in the early 80s I was assigned to a project that required me to work with a male coworker who wore musk cologne. I explained about my sensitivity to fragrances and requested he not wear the cologne while we worked together. He was very accommodating; and here is the best part: after a couple of weeks he told me that after he stopped using the musk his migraines disappeared; he was amazed that a fragrance was the problem and he said he threw the cologne in the trash.
One HR manager turned a deaf ear to my request that employees cease wearing fragrances; that was until one of her close friends had the same problem. . . then it became a major issue and employees were requested to cease wearing fragrances in the workplace.
Funny you should say that about musk as it was the very first ever perfume in the 70s that I felt sick with... although cleaners and polishes had affected me by then.. perfumes didnt.. but I can still remember being on a bus that was crowded and a lady having musk on.. I had to get off the bus I felt so sick and after that all perfumes started to affect me badly.
Funny you should say that about musk as it was the very first ever perfume in the 70s that I felt sick with... although cleaners and polishes had affected me by then.. perfumes didnt.. but I can still remember being on a bus that was crowded and a lady having musk on.. I had to get off the bus I felt so sick and after that all perfumes started to affect me badly.
One of these days I'm going to make my own perfume to replace my beloved Shalimar that I had to throw away many years ago. Someone posted a recipe for it. It includes vanilla, which I love. It used to be fun to wear a signature fragrance.
MCS became more and more common as more chemicals were introduced into our environment. I was extremely fortunate to get treated by one of the few experts in the field back in 1989 but it was already too late.
My illness was caused by living in a house with a leak in the roof that caused mold and a faulty furnace that was spewing soot into the house through the duct system. I was in graduate school at the time, trying to save money, so couldn't afford to get things fixed.
If this hadn't happened to me I don't think I would ever have believed it.
I did move out of the house, someone told me about a doctor after I had seen many doctors who said there was nothing wrong with me, and it took many years to get somewhat better.
During this time I have met people who got MCS from building a new house and then living with the out-gassing chemicals, especially the formaldehyde from the carpeting. I knew one couple who had to sell the house and they sued the carpeting maker because testing revealing very levels of toxic chemicals. People had good jobs and had to go on disability due to MCS.
I still get allergy shots because you usually develop all sorts of allergies too and my doctor told me to lower "the total load" on your body. Getting the allergy shots gives your body a few less "enemies" to fight off. I never use chemical cleaners, I don't do oil painting anymore, I use only unscented products, make my own laundry detergent, and avoid several foods to which I was very allergic. With the foods that I was only slightly allergic to, I eat them on a rotational basis.
Finally, after many years, I am able to live right next to the ocean where the air is clean. I avoid cities and the car fumes that give me headaches and make me feel weak.
I can now go into stores but in general, I don't. I can now walk down the horrible detergent and fabric softener aisle in the grocery store without my legs turning to jelly but I don't. Mostly now the offending chemicals don't sicken me anymore, they just smell bad.
If I were to get exposed to more perfumes, fabric softeners (which are toxic to anyone), cigarette smoke, paints, varnishes, air pollution, new building materials, etc. I'd get sick again. This time at least I would know the cause and what to do about it. Best healing wishes to all who have this malady and let's all keep working to get the word out so that these chemicals will be taken off the market and so that people will become aware of the hazards.
Hi. I just read that you met with a DR. that help with your chemical sensitivity. May I ask who? I just moved from a house that I lived in for 13 years on June 3, 2015 and now I can't breath in the house I just bought! It is terrible. I am fine in other houses. I had an environmental tester come who thinks it is the paint. Any idea what I should do next or who I should see. I am trying to find a test panel for blood in paints but I can't find one. I found a blood testing facility in Norwell MA Alletess who will test for any chemical that I identify - but I don't know what the common paint chemical sensitivity chemicals are. Thanks for any help.
Laura
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In-newengland - i'm looking for your dr.
