Toxic stuff in our homes
 

Off gassing/outgassing.
Mrs. D mentioned hard wood floors from China. Ours are premade hardwoods, but I don't know if they are from China. I thought they would be a much safer option than doing all the finishing work here. Maybe not. Formaldehyde seems to be the issue with this type of floor, but I can't find any info on neuropathy/nerve damage from formaldehyde. It mostly seems linked to cancers.

I have always been so careful of buying furniture and safe carpeting made of wool because I was aware of the off gassing toxins. Never thought about premade bathroom vanities and floors.
So, I am doing my homework. I came across this great website and they have 4 sizable free download books with tons of information on hazardous materials. Really great stuff that we should all be aware of especially us idiopaths;)

Here it is http://www.healthyhouseinstitute.com

I believe aldehydes are harmful to the nerves. They are the by products also of alcohol metabolism. Antabuse (the drug used to deter alcoholics) actually causes buildup of aldehydes in the body and makes people sick. It also we know now causes PN.

To help clear these chemicals, thiamine or benfotiamine would be the supplement to help with this.

At work, one of my friends was accidentally exposed to formaldehyde daily for a period of several months. He was getting headaches, nosebleeds, and I think he was even coughing blood. No nerve damage and it's been a few years now. He is worried about his cancer exposure.

I've worked with formaldehyde a little bit in my prior job. It is carcinogenic and mutagenic; you would likely see CNS damage and not peripheral....but you never know.

I wonder if the build up of formaldehyde/ other of gassing would be what is causing my complete inability to process alcohol. I am pretty sure that my liver is extremely burdened from what ever I was exposed to. I used to be able to have a drink for a pleasant buzz and then have another for a good old time. Since this neuropathy, I can't even take a sip of it with out becoming rapidly drunk in a terrible way.

This is all very interesting. My small Fiber Neuropathy issue seemed to come on suddenly last year after there wa a build up of water in the roof of our house. Over time the water filled down into the ceiling sheet rock, the entire thing collapsed, ceiling caved in and roof was redone. Had the house demoisturized. Lots of repairs, etc.

All of a sudden the neuropathy started acting up. All kinds of food that never bothered me before triggered insane attacks. Buzzing, itching, burning and more. My first trip was to the dermatologist because i thought I had some skin disorder like pruritis. They did all kinds of skin allergy tests. The only thing that came up was formaldehyde allergy. So, i began to think, maybe something was released into the air and got into my system? But, why was I the only one in the house who experienced anything. I gave up any kind of aspartame because that converts into formaldehyde into the body (and giving up aspartame is extremely difficult, as bad as quitting smoking).

i still wonder to this day, since I am idiopathic and have had nearly every possibility ruled out (beyond the fact that i was on a statin and an acid controller - I still blame the statin), if there was something toxic that got to me. I have been tested for a lot of contaminants in the body but i am sure a good inspection of my house will surely turn up some contaminants, mold for sure. With all the water damage.

Thanks for posting this.

Using thiamine properly is genetically driven. There are ethnic peoples (mostly in Asia) who lack enough of the enzyme to process the alcohol and aldehydes it creates in the body. These people get ill very quickly if they drink alcohol, and some drugs cannot be metabolized properly either and require much lower doses. (Crestor is one).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC303676/

Since this is a mitochondrial defect, it follows that if the mitochondria are damaged, then metabolism may be impaired for aldehyde removal and other functions.
And many of the drugs used for PN symptoms interact with alcohol, leading to increased sedation. Cymbalta in fact damages the liver and if used with alcohol, can lead to serious damage or death even.

Interesting
 

Wow. This is really interesting. I also had a problem with a water leak in my home two years ago that had to have mold remediation. About three months later I started having the idiopathic neuropathy and skin rashes. I also have the buzzing and burning sensations. I am going next week to have allergy testing to try to find out what the weird skin rashes are because I have no clue. But I also get bad stabbing in my feet, toes and ankles.

I am surprised i don't see more people here talking about the benefits of Inositol. It helps with liver detox, is good for the cells and a very good blood sugar stabilizer. In higher doses helps with anxiety and insomnia issues. Its part of the great B-Vitamin family. I have especially noticed its ability to help with blood sugar issues. I have used it for years even before the diagnosis and swear by it. one of the better supplements I have ever taken. Dr. Atkins was also a huge proponent of it.

WOW! Now ya got me really thinking! keep me updated on this.

Here's more
 

Another link here. I wonder how many of of with otherwise normal blood work who had/ have toxic exposures or chemical sensitivities. I'm on a roll. This basically describes how little they know yet on this topic, but how real it is.

http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/75/suppl_3/iii29.full

Floors redone
 

Also, when they were doing the repairs for the water leak, they had to re-do the wood floors in my entire living room, kitchen, and hallway. We had to move out of the house for a week while they did that, but I wonder if there were toxic fumes when I moved back in. That was 3 months prior to the onset of the neuropathy.

Do you get any RAST testing or iGe testing? i had Ige and showed normal levels. They can show allergy in your system.

Here's another

Bioaccumulation is how all these toxins ie, pesticides, stack up because their half life is longer than our ability to expel them
CVD is cardio vascular disease
CDC is center for disease control
MRL is minimal risk level- govt acceptance of hazardous substance
Xenobiotic is foreign material to body

https://www.doctorsdata.com/FlipBook...nsitivity.html

No, I haven't had any of these tests.

When I had the water leak, they also replaced the carpet in my bedroom. The insurance company had it done. I wonder if they used some cheap carpet from China like the Lumber Liquidators laminates that were featured on 60 Minutes recently. I wonder if that is causing off gassing that made me sick. I am trying to find someone who can test it, but I wonder if it is too late and the damage is already done.

Personally--
 

--I suspect that, given the cornucopia of chemicals we are all now exposed to regularly, and how little is known about some of them and their interactions, there are more neuropathies that have a toxic origin than is generally believed.

Some toxic neuropathies are well-documented, and a number of these come from studies of workplace exposure, such as to mercury (think of the phrase "mad as a hatter"--mercury poisoning was observed earliest among haberdashery workers). But there are probably a lot of toxic neuropathies we don't suspect and which would be very difficult to test for.

One small hope of expanding this knowledge, ironically, lies in the studies of toxic exposures that happened during the incidents of 9/11--the follow-up over time has revealed a lot people with neurotoxic symptoms, both peripheral and central. Echoes Long Ago on these boards is very knowledgeable about this, as he suspects, as a first responder, this is how his neuropathy developed, and he has been a very strong advocate in the suits and court processes to get neuropathy recognized as an effect of the exposures there.

If you're concerned about formaldehyde, stay away from those Magic Eraser cleaning sponges. :eek:

It's just shocking the toxic products our governments allow to be sold as household cleaners. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/.../the.....aning-products

More on this... with a cryptic explanation from the manufacturer:

http://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-...-formaldehyde/

I would wail disappointment to lose my magic eraser! It even has a wonderful place in watercolor painting. It will lift paint easily without damage to the paper, to correct areas. I use it to clean stains off my palette. (some pigments are "staining").

Try going to your doctor and explain the situation with having an idiopathic disease and say you want a full allergy screen (RAST, Allergen-specific IgE Antibody Test) as well as blood test that check for toxins or deficiencies, (lead, mercury, copper, zinc, etc...). There are also blood tests for mold and fungus, they are more specialized though. And not always covered, but why not ask? A good general practitioner will dig for you. Yeah, these tests often can come up negative (they did for me) and you could still have an allergy but it should be done regardless. Skin allergy testing isn't a bad idea either. There will always be something that comes up and they'll try to get you to go on immunotherapy which usually is an absolute waste of time. regardless, its good to know what things could set you off.

I say, with an "idiopathic" disease you need to tell the doctor to dig and search every corner, not gonna sit around waiting for something to progress. I tell my doctors, KEEP LOOKING! Idiopathic means they haven't found the cause is all. It's a BS name to say they can't figure it out.

Just Scratching the Surface
 

Here's a few more:

1) Did you have your hardwood floors installed by a contractor? I ask only because as we all should know by now, the manufacture of Asbestos products was outlawed decades ago, but most of the public is unaware that the supplying and installation of these products already produced had been, and may still be legal. It was considered unfair (does anybody smell industry lobbies?) that supply companies who stocked their warehouses should lose their investment.
Small pieces of flooring cannot be nailed because of splitting so the are glued, usually with the industry standard most reliably durable asbestos-based adhesive, which over the years through ambient humidity changes releases the chemical in vapor form.

2) Because of energy conservation concerns in our quest to construct the "green home," the International Energy Conservation Code requires dwelling to be built so tight so as not to allow any natural infiltration. If a wall is unable to "breathe" from one side or the other, "vapor lock" is created which through the course of the annual temperature cycle promotes condensation inside the walls giving rise to the certain production of mold. Our good old drafty houses never had that problem.
As a building official I personally have seen walls opened up for remodeling less than a year after they were built (folks with too much money whom after 6 months got tired of the 75k kitchen that came with the house) and the inside surface of the wall sheathing was solid pitch-black with mold.

3) Another serious problem that we have now (depending on the delineated zone site) that older homes didn't, is Radon. Don't even get me started on that one.

4) Gypsum in its natural state most often has a Sulfur content, the degree of which varies from one area mine to another. China's veins contain a notoriously high level necessitating wide openings at opposing ends to create a constant airflow--as Gypsum can somewhat quickly release the Sulfur through evaporation.
The end of August 2005 brought the southeastern US Hurricane Katrina, coincidentally in the midst of a home-building boom. With all of the necessary rebuilding and reconstruction, coupled with the new construction already underway, there existed a severe shortage of US produced sheetrock, creating a huge demand for imported. China shifted into high gear opening new mines and cranking out high sulfur-content drywall by the cargo ships loads. The immediate inpouring of orders did not permit time for the usual precautionary pre-ventilating, shipping millions and millions of tons of the tainted boards to our suppliers.
An estimated 100,000+ homes were built, between 2005 and 2010, as well as countless remodeling with the drywall. Now particularly in the southeast, with its warmer climate and higher humidity, along with the already present mold, the released SO2 combined with the in-the-wall condensation to manufacture Sulfuric Acid which proceeded to eat up any and all metal inside, while releasing the toxic mix into the living space. Instead of my going on with this and turning it into a 200 page volume, just Google: Tainted Chinese Gypsum Board the next time you have nothing to do for three days.
There was no tracking of the geographical supply distribution so any of us who did any home improvement during that time or who knows how much later involving applied new sheetrock could have used the product.

These are just the items I can just come up with off the top of my head. It's scarier to imagine what is yet to discover.

Ideopathic
 

C'mon, Patrick, let's be a little PC here. It's not BS, it's called euphemism.(yeah, right)

Another possible - the electronics in and around our homes...:(

Electromagnetic fields (EMF)
http://www.emfs.info/health/
http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/Wha...en/index1.html
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/emf/
http://www.best-emf-health.com/emf-emissions.html
http://www.lifeenergyshields.com/sto...ons-dangerous/

Reduce EMF Exposure-
http://holisticsquid.com/8-easy-ways...-emf-exposure/
http://www.emfanalysis.com/basic-steps/


Something to think about and maybe try to limit excessive exposure.

Toxin in our home
 

In the past year we have had a lot of work done.
A year ago we discovered that the mains water into the farmhouse was through lead pipes. We had that changed but for the past ten years the water has come from the high pressure mains into our house thru lead pipes.
We have had our kitchen ripped out this year to complete the remedial works started last year. Everything updated, plumbing boiler structures. We also had our bathroom done as my son put his arm thru the wall, it was tiled and the sheet rock stuff had gone slimy and rotten with mould. We had to wait about 2 months for our landlord to start the work as he was getting quotes to get both rooms done.
My whole family have been exposed to toxins without me having any awareness.
I think I may need to let the neurologist know about these extras on my next visit.

That is a lot off the top of your head! Thanks!

Sorry, but I think I'll get you started. :)

I've just learned of some radon problems in my development. Some have had their houses remediated...or whatever the word is. I started looking into testing, and am a little confused. Are any of the inexpensive test kits worth it?

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_6p9599z3sk_e


______________________

I live in Wisconsin and some of my friends who have a home in the country got their place tested for radon last year. The cost was about $700 dollars and I think a technician had to come to their house.

Neurologist
 

Absolutely! Particularly regarding the lead piping.

Radon
 

When I suggested not to get me started it was for several reasons, mostly involving economy and degree of relevance to the geographical conditions, legal and procedural, to the Post specific situation. If it sounds like i'm attempting to weasel-out I'm not. Laws and codes regarding testing, detection response, and prevention/remediation requirements and methods vary, sometimes significantly, from state to state.

Not being a certified or even qualified Radon specialist by any stretch, I could merely relate my experiences enforcing NJ regulations and system designs acceptable in my state alone. So far as the effective accuracy degree of the results from one of these OTC kits, our laws require receipt proof of on-site testing by a state certified lab--usually with the total costs line being redacted, and we officials are not allowed to request a viewing of the test results. Readings from store-bought kits are legally irrelevant. My responsibility is to witness that the installation of the design professional's approved solution was completed in strict accordance to the specifications.

I suggest Googling: Radon Laws, {your state}. In the process of wading through sites ultimately with the purpose of selling a service or device, you could still sift out more pertinent info than I could supply, unless of course you live in NJ, but don't hesitate to be curiosity driven. Radon is a gaseous form of radiation caused by the degeneration of trace amounts of Uranium usually found in igneous rock and surrounding soils--and is pegged as the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US!

Close to Home
 

My daughter-in-law is full Japanese, born and raised just outside the Kobe main metropolitan area. She and my older son met while both were in their Doctoral programs at Purdue U. Her main project was spearheading research on a noise-reduction systemic problem for Samsung, under whose grant she drew some of her financial compensation not to mention Doctoral credit.
Corporate dinners Eri was obligated to attend usually included a ceremonial toast at some point in which she was obligated by corporate manners and protocol to participate. Without fail, one mere sip would make her deathly ill, sometimes for days.
She managed to educate Jordy into a Sake quasi-connoisseur through her cultural second-hand knowledge, while never partaking herself, seeming possibly victim of that particular genetic chemistry.

Friends of mine in Colorado are going through radon-remediation right now. Bob is a retired electronics test engineer, and after a lot of experimentation with kits and looking into a professional contractor, he purchased one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Safety-Siren-S.../dp/B011ACOMK0

He said its readings agree with the industry-standard test kits.

They're attempting to do their own remediation first and will be using this detector to gauge improvement. If they can't get it to safe levels, they'll have to put a pump in.