I love shower time because my mind is allowed to wander aimlessly. Occasionally, it comes up with good ideas.
I don’t usually like to even think about living my life over type questions. I think they’re pointless, and can often lead to negative thoughts. BUT, sometimes, it can be a good learning tool for yourself or others, so here goes:
If I had my life to live over, I think I would have avoided ALL fragrances. I was 16 when I had my first migraine. I was able to trace it to a single perfume and deduced that I was allergic to it. (Which wasn’t technically correct, the response is not an allergic reaction.) Other perfumes didn’t bother me. At first. Then, over time, more and more fragrances began to bother me. I eliminated all perfumes and colognes from my life. I found unscented hair products, deodorants, laundry products, etc.
I kept adding to the list. I used to make a huge batch of spaghetti sauce a few times a year. I’d start it early in the morning and let it simmer all day. The aromas filled the entire house. Then I’d freeze it in dinner-for-two size portions. It makes a pretty quick meal. But in late ‘03, I wound up with a bad migraine from smelling the sauce all day. And trust me, everything in that sauce was natural.
It’s one thing to have to (try to) avoid fragrances. It’s another when you have to avoid natural smells such as cooking smells.
A common migraine theory is that the triggers for a migraine are additive. So that if I get enough in my system, I wind up with a migraine. My personal theory as to why I began having migraines all the time a few years back is that the is an accumulation within the body. Thus my system reacts more readily to things that never used to bother me. So, IF I could live my life over again, here is what I would do different:
- I would avoid all perfumes and fragrances in the products I used.
- I would try, as much as possible, to avoid places that purposely put fragrances in the air. (Especially those I could avoid - malls, Disneyworld (yup, they do!), certain stores.) This one would be hard since in today’s world you encounter them in grocery stores.
- I would avoid all artificial sweeteners. I used to drink a lot of diet sodas. But now they all bother me. No matter what allegedly natural sweetener they use.
- I would avoid all nitrates and nitrates - the preservatives that allow your ham, bacon and lunch meat to seemingly last forever. I had a friend years ago who would preach against these. At the time, I thought he was a bit “over the top” about it. Turns out, he was right - there’s nothing good about them.
- I would never touch anything with MSG in it.
- I would definitely not have started smoking.
Would all this help? Can’t say for sure. But perhaps it is worth a try. I have a good friend who has bad reactions (worse than mine) to one or two perfumes. I think she believes I’m a bit “over the top” with all my preaching against perfumes. Except that she hasn’t really put together the fact that, in the 7 years I’ve known her, I’ve watched her add more than one fragranced product to her list. Hmmm….
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Most people are likely to say, “No.”
The prevalence of fragranced products makes it hard to isolate them as a cause. I first determined I had a problem with fragrances in 1970. There were not near as many fragrance products in our envinonment back then!
Before you answer “No”, answer these questions:
Do you or a family member have:
- Frequent headaches or migraines?
- Frequent “sinus” headaches?
- Asthma?
- Unexplained “allergies”?
- Frequent colds or respiratory infections?
- COPD or other breathing disorders?
- Emphysema?
- Fibromyalgia?
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
- Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)?
- Autoimmune Disorders (MS,Lupus, and others)?
- ADHD?
If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then you may want to look at fragranced products as a culprit. At the very least, fragrances can often make any of the above conditions worse. Many of these health issues are on the rise in our country. The chemicals in the modern fragrance play a bigger role in these than most of us think.
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The first time I read this article “Visiting Kathy - A Severe MCS Sufferer“, I literally cried. But that was only one of many reactions I had. I wanted to print the story and send it to every one I know - friends and family. By the grace of God, I’m not there, yet. But I fear I may be someday. It can be very frustrating trying to explain to people why you don’t want to visit their house, or get in their car, or ride in a car with them.
I would also like to talk with Kathy. To find out how she finds the strength to keep going. My guess is that Kathy doesn’t go out much. There’s so much you encountered when you go out in public. Vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, perfumes and other personal products. And then the “air fresheners” as they are so (mis-)named.
I’ve had to severely limit the places that I go, but I still get out. My reactions seem to get worse, in spite of the doctor’s best efforts. I’m afraid that one day I will become a prisoner in my own home.
And yet, we still keep going.
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The love of my life just asked if I had been reading “The Piranha Club” in the comics this week. Seems the whole series has been on perfumes. Hard to believe I didn’t know about it til Thursday. We only have Wed. & Thurs. papers in the house.
So in today’s comic (3/15/07) we have Ernie and his girl Doris Husselmeyer standing by Ernie’s canary cage. Doris has on enough “Eau De Toillette” that there’s a cloud around her. Reminiscent of Pigpen from Peanuts. Ernie has a gas mask on and Doris is trying to pop the question. When suddenly, there’s a BANG from the canary’s cage and Ernie says “My canary’s head just exploded”.
Interesting that there’s a canary in the comic. I read something recently that suggested that those of us with MCS are like the canaries in the mine. When we stop singing, everyone’s in trouble. Thankfully, so far, I’m still singing. Though I have changed my tune of late.
I wonder if the cartoonist, Bud Grace has a problem like MCS? Did you know that he was an atomic physicist as well? I tried to find the comics online and was led to here: The Piranha Club
But they only have the first week of the previous month online. Unless you want to subscribe…
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