I'm super sensitive to teflon/non-stick pans. And I keep pet birds, which non-stick pans are notorious for killing. So I don't allow non-stick stuff in my house. Most of our circle of friends, however, do use them. It's not usually a huge issue for me, but last night was terrible and I hope any of you have suggestions on how to avoid such a situation in the future. We visited our friends in their home last night, and being of a culture where feeding guests a ton of food is a requirement, our hostess began making snacks in her non-stick pans the second we arrived. When snacks were done, her MIL proceeded to prepare her own dinner, again using the non-stick pans for everything. The pans were being used for one thing or another almost the entire time we were there (just over 4 hours). The kitchen opened to the living room, where we all were sitting, with me closest to the kitchen. I began getting a terrible headache, but dismissed it. But I was feeling worse and worse as the evening went on. By the time we were on our way home, I was feeling absolutely horrible, raging headache, very weak and shaky, lightheaded, nauseous, muddled thinking. I finally realized it was teflon poisoning, much worse than I've ever had before. I don't usually say anything as we are going to friends places about such things, but after last night, I am kinda scared to go visiting where I may be exposed! I think if we were visiting these people again, I would have to request the hostess to not use non-stick while I'm there, my experience was severe and I don't want to ever feel like that again.
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What would you say? If anything? How do you handle it when you know you may be risking exposure to something you're sensitive to when you visit friends? or especially, people who are acquaintances rather than close friends?
