i haven't read the whole thread...sorry...

but remember..things that smell...can be doing so by oils that get airborne. that oil can get on your skin. stick to the hairs in your nose...stick in your lungs...absorb through your skin.

also items that don't have to be fda approved...who knows what they have in them. like the insoles cathie. and yep..that spandex rubbery threads...they are in lots of clothing.

i'm not trying to be paranoid, but with all the recent lead and other contaminate problems with items shipped from china..i'm staying clear of them.

ok..let me go start from the beginning.
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There seems to be a link. I remember my very first exposure to an uncomfortable odour was a foot powder a relative was using that was staying with me. I threw it out, I couldn't take it anymore. I had PN for about 1 week at that point,and I've been chemical sensetive ever since.


http://world.std.com/~habib/thegarde...soverview.html
http://www.mcsrr.org/resources/biomarkers.html

I read an article I think about how on some fibers or clothing items you have to get your body to adjust to them slowly. I'm trying to do that with socks at the moment. The smells have always been an issue for me. Especially like at food courts it mkae me nausea or when people where super strong perfume. A big thing too to watch is how you wash your clothes. I did my laundry with different soap once and I wanted to jump out of them all day. It seems like your right our bodies are super sensitive. Its the same with food. If I have something that tastes nasty it takes like a year for me to get over it.

I was just going to add this too Danielle. Last night, my daughter was cooking some beef steaks and I kept saying, "What is that smell?" "Do I smell sour cream?" She says, "I made that mistake once mom, never again!" Yet, I couldn't get this terrible scent out of my head. I went outside and watered my flowers, talked on my cellphone to someone and when I came back in, it hit me--it was just the odor of cooked beef! I no longer can eat beef, no red meat, for that matter and must be I can't smell it either. Was weird!

Just wanted to revive this for a bit. Wed the doc I work for decided the carpet smelled musty--heaven forbid he have it steamed cleaned 2 times a year. So, he gets out the Resolve and sprays the bad spots, then he sprinkles Glade Carpet Fresh on the rest of it. Glade products always bother me, yet I have to believe mixing the 2 was not a good idea to begin with. Well, I had to get out of the building!!!!

One lady comes in an hour early and cleans on Thursday mornings. When I came in at 9, it was all vacuumed, yet the scent was still in the air. I wasn't there 5 minutes and the coughing began. I can feel it invading my system, as I breathe, I can feel a coldness running through me. The doctor asks, "Are you coming down with a cold?" I responded that it was the carpet cleaner/powder scent and he just kind of looked at me like I have 2 heads and says, "Then go home." WELL, that was too easy and I told him it would be fine once the air conditioning got it cleared out, which should reinforce in his mind that I am not telling lies. The man has seen me react, out of the blue to things, I just do not understand why he seems to doubt my reactions. He then asks me why other scents do not bother me--well, how do I know? No, bleach doesn't bother me, no, nor does windex, 409, fantastic, oxi-clean--yet some things do and sometimes it's the perfume they use in them, not the actual product. Straight acetone set me off a few weeks ago. Why do I have to explain this to a doctor?

The coughing let up after about an hour, but the sniffles continued. Around noon, the optician and I were discussing some frames and I got a dizzy spell like I have never had before--if he had not steadied me, I would have been on the floor and just when I thought the storm was over, it hit again. After returning from lunch, my right cheek started to burn, no redness--just a burning--I had to wonder if now the nerve was involved--same type of pain as when I have neuropathy pain in my face--could just be sinus pressure--who knows. Yet I know it's all connected and I do not know how to get it through to him. I guess I will just have to annouce it will be a Deb Day Off whenever they use that stuff!

Rant over!

I can totally identify with that. Probably not many in the medical community recognize hypersensitivity to these things... And, if they are not bothered by this, they don't understand why you are... I had a doc once, who wore the most overwhelming aftershave or cologne. When I tried very nicely to call this to his attention, he acted all offended.

How about laundry detergent and fabric softeners? Do those bother any of you?

Like you, some of the cleaning products really bother me; others don't.

My husband likes to burn incense in his lab at school. I cannot even stand to be in the same car when he brings it home from the store. It better be double and triple wrapped...

I don't see how some of these people stand to work in places where the smell is so overpowering. Makes me think of some of the old time photographers who began to develop Parkinson's after working for years in darkroom chemicals...

Cathie

to chemicals and exhausts/smoke.

The stuff floors are stripped with sets me off rapidly. So does airplane diesel
exhaust, bus exhaust, gasoline fumes, stuff like that. So I carry an albuterol inhaler everywhere with me.

I don't like the scents of most perfumes these days... either. I don't know why people douse themselves with them!

I've never connected this to PN however.

I don't understand it either, Mrs. D. When I worked in a hospital, there were some threrapists and nursed who wore strong perfume. I was dumfounded when I talked to my superiors about making a rule not to wear it. They acted like I was a nut! So many patients with nausea and allergies, and we had such close body contact with them. I sugggested to my co-workers that we not wear it, but that didn't stop the ones who were offenders. I don't understand the psychololy behind this....

I also have an asthma that is super sensitive to hairsprays, scents and mens aftershaves, a small amount doesn't worry me to much but some put a ridiculous amount on and just makes me feel like i am going to be sick, cuts my breath and blocks my sinuses straight away.
City pollution is another, since moving out of the city 7 years ago it has made a huge difference to my sinuses and asthma , never related it to PN either, but i can easily see how they really could affect some, though.
Brian

I am absolutely miserable right now because I had lunch out with friends. We were in the non-smoking section, and I could not physically see anyone smoking, but the fumes wafted across the restaurant, and I began to cough and my eyes began to burn. It has been more than 24 hours, and I still feel like I am breathing fire.

fanfaire