i think i'm having a problem with chemical sensitivities and i'm trying to assert i'm not losing what's left of my alleged mind. the last 2 or 3 weeks have been like something out of a nightmare and with the exception of my husband and my mother i am not getting much support. i have always suspected i have allergies. i mean i have this sneeze that everyone makes fun of that sounds something like several firecrackers going off in quick succession, i break out in rashes after using a lot of soaps and shampoos and lately even after showering in heavily treated unfiltered city water. once in a while i have a reaction to a blood pressure medication. but about 2 weeks ago all hell broke
loose, and we are still trying to figure out what happened, although we have a few guesses now. this is just a hypothesis:
a few years before ds was born i was lving by myself in this scummy shoebox studio apartment, & while i was in the process of moving to a new place (sleeping elsewhere, most of my stuff still at the old place) the slumlord who owned the building bugbombed it without my knowledge or consent, and when i came to pick up a load of things to be moves, i walked right into the chemical mist.
fastforward many years to now. i'm away from the scummy slumlord. things are a lot better even though i'm still broke, i've got 2 super-wonderful kids, an awsome husband, and am living in a totally different neighborhood. i've been shopping mostly organic at the local co-op, less than a block away, but, as dd has recently arrived, we decide to cut costs by shopping at the public market. i buy broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, orange pepper... i figure, broccoli is probably safe right? i'll wash it.
well, the broccoli and the cauliflower at least were sprayed with something, in spite of what stats say about them being a safer crop. a lot of something, something oil-based that didn't wash off. (i guess this grower didn't read the statistics.) because after that, my body just went crazy...
i the evening i first ate the broccoli i got an all expense paid vacation for one to the hospital's ED for hypertensive crisis (i have a family history of high BP, both my kids were born early by emergency c-section due to high BP, and at 30 i've already developed chronic, VERY high blood pressure, but i have never been to the emergency room for it before!) following a severe bout of the runs. the broccoli was in a sauce, and i didn't notce it tasted funny then no one thought to ask what i'd eaten.
immediately after i developed these horrible symptoms, tingling in the hands, feet, and face, swollen glands, post nasal drip, numbness, dizziness, inability to focus on anything at all, anxiety, nervousness, loss of sleepnausea, just to name a few...i called my doctor's office several times a day and the nurses kept telling me it was stress or generalized anxiety (but i wasn't anxious until i got the symptoms!) i got hit with a horrible flu at the same time, and also began to experience a nasty reaction to my blood pressure medication, which i have been on for a while, although have difficulty remembering to take. (forgetfulness is a listed side effect, i found out yesterday.)
my doc did tell me to go back to organic because she says that pesticides have additives that act as stimulants, and that's probably what landed me in the ED. it took awhile for us to figure out there might be pesticides on the broccoli. when the symptoms worened everytime i ate something from that vendor my doc told my husband and me to measure my bp and pulse every time i ate a suspected food and sure enough, up it went. however, she is turning a deaf ear to the possibility that i could be having an allergic reaction to my toprol xl due to a recently triggered sensitivity.
i did a little homework - thanks to the help of a friend who had similar symptoms and got help. i'm wondering if the pesticides in the bug bomb and the broccoli could have contained toluene and if those exposures could have triggured a sensitivity? does my medication contain toluene? i'm trying to find out. i called the pharmacy, and it's not listed as an active ingredient of course, the manufacturer's web page wasn't much help & when i called their 800 number i found that they're closed for the thanksgiving holiday _until tuesday_ (probaly because they must have so many turkeys working for them they'll be short-staffed.)
i talked to my doctor about a referral for an allergist & she doesn't give referrals for allergists. no big whoop. the priestess who did our handfasting was allergic to everything up to & including air & now she has a cat & eats at diners so i'll just ask who she saw. I AM NOT LETTING THIS GO. i can't let this go. the dizziness got so bad wednesday that, when i was stooping to pick something up at the co-op, my baby tumbled right out of her sling!!!!
my head was humming like a swarm of bees, i still feel like it was all my fault, and that i'm an awful mommy! i mean, i thought i had my hand there to hold her in, but i was so out of it from the med i really wasn't sure wherewhere my hand went. i feel like it's all my fault. i should never have let it get this far. i shouldn't have even been at the co-op. i should have just canceled thanksgiving dinner instead. it's just that no one seems to believe me about this, and i keep wondering if they might be right & its all in my head.
i have had enough of this, i can't stand it any more. i'm cutting the toprol in half & tapering off, & demanding something else for my blood pressure - like the hydralazine. i have to take it more often, but maye without the toprol meking me dopey i'll be more likey to remember. that's safe for nursing & has almost no side effects. i'm planning on switching docs, this one's been my doctor since i was 10 and i don't think she sees me as an adult yet even though i'm 30, married & have 2 kids. and i call a woman from the co-op for better instruction on the use of the sling.
i also called poison control, and told them it was a non-emergency that, i was requesting information aboout chemical sensitivities to pesticides found in foods. i was told, by a rather emotional woman, that it was impossible to get exposed to pesticides through foods, that all the poisons used in pesticides were "safe" amounts, that anything sprayed on broccoli would come right off if held under a steady stream of water for a minute or two, and that i was only trying to get her to tell me there was a government (or terrorist) plot to put formaldehyde in my broccoli.
she yelled at me until i was in tears. i hung up. citizens of rochester, ny, this is the same woman responsible for helping you save the life of your child should he or she eat some weird berries or swallow a household cleaning product or something.
am i crazy? does anyone here think i might have a shot at being right about this, or am i just coming up with crazy convoluted rationalizations because i don't want to take my meds, which is what my doctor thinks. my body still feels pretty miserable. please tell me i'm not just cracking up !
loose, and we are still trying to figure out what happened, although we have a few guesses now. this is just a hypothesis:
a few years before ds was born i was lving by myself in this scummy shoebox studio apartment, & while i was in the process of moving to a new place (sleeping elsewhere, most of my stuff still at the old place) the slumlord who owned the building bugbombed it without my knowledge or consent, and when i came to pick up a load of things to be moves, i walked right into the chemical mist.
fastforward many years to now. i'm away from the scummy slumlord. things are a lot better even though i'm still broke, i've got 2 super-wonderful kids, an awsome husband, and am living in a totally different neighborhood. i've been shopping mostly organic at the local co-op, less than a block away, but, as dd has recently arrived, we decide to cut costs by shopping at the public market. i buy broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, orange pepper... i figure, broccoli is probably safe right? i'll wash it.
well, the broccoli and the cauliflower at least were sprayed with something, in spite of what stats say about them being a safer crop. a lot of something, something oil-based that didn't wash off. (i guess this grower didn't read the statistics.) because after that, my body just went crazy...
i the evening i first ate the broccoli i got an all expense paid vacation for one to the hospital's ED for hypertensive crisis (i have a family history of high BP, both my kids were born early by emergency c-section due to high BP, and at 30 i've already developed chronic, VERY high blood pressure, but i have never been to the emergency room for it before!) following a severe bout of the runs. the broccoli was in a sauce, and i didn't notce it tasted funny then no one thought to ask what i'd eaten.
immediately after i developed these horrible symptoms, tingling in the hands, feet, and face, swollen glands, post nasal drip, numbness, dizziness, inability to focus on anything at all, anxiety, nervousness, loss of sleepnausea, just to name a few...i called my doctor's office several times a day and the nurses kept telling me it was stress or generalized anxiety (but i wasn't anxious until i got the symptoms!) i got hit with a horrible flu at the same time, and also began to experience a nasty reaction to my blood pressure medication, which i have been on for a while, although have difficulty remembering to take. (forgetfulness is a listed side effect, i found out yesterday.)
my doc did tell me to go back to organic because she says that pesticides have additives that act as stimulants, and that's probably what landed me in the ED. it took awhile for us to figure out there might be pesticides on the broccoli. when the symptoms worened everytime i ate something from that vendor my doc told my husband and me to measure my bp and pulse every time i ate a suspected food and sure enough, up it went. however, she is turning a deaf ear to the possibility that i could be having an allergic reaction to my toprol xl due to a recently triggered sensitivity.
i did a little homework - thanks to the help of a friend who had similar symptoms and got help. i'm wondering if the pesticides in the bug bomb and the broccoli could have contained toluene and if those exposures could have triggured a sensitivity? does my medication contain toluene? i'm trying to find out. i called the pharmacy, and it's not listed as an active ingredient of course, the manufacturer's web page wasn't much help & when i called their 800 number i found that they're closed for the thanksgiving holiday _until tuesday_ (probaly because they must have so many turkeys working for them they'll be short-staffed.)
i talked to my doctor about a referral for an allergist & she doesn't give referrals for allergists. no big whoop. the priestess who did our handfasting was allergic to everything up to & including air & now she has a cat & eats at diners so i'll just ask who she saw. I AM NOT LETTING THIS GO. i can't let this go. the dizziness got so bad wednesday that, when i was stooping to pick something up at the co-op, my baby tumbled right out of her sling!!!!
my head was humming like a swarm of bees, i still feel like it was all my fault, and that i'm an awful mommy! i mean, i thought i had my hand there to hold her in, but i was so out of it from the med i really wasn't sure wherewhere my hand went. i feel like it's all my fault. i should never have let it get this far. i shouldn't have even been at the co-op. i should have just canceled thanksgiving dinner instead. it's just that no one seems to believe me about this, and i keep wondering if they might be right & its all in my head.i have had enough of this, i can't stand it any more. i'm cutting the toprol in half & tapering off, & demanding something else for my blood pressure - like the hydralazine. i have to take it more often, but maye without the toprol meking me dopey i'll be more likey to remember. that's safe for nursing & has almost no side effects. i'm planning on switching docs, this one's been my doctor since i was 10 and i don't think she sees me as an adult yet even though i'm 30, married & have 2 kids. and i call a woman from the co-op for better instruction on the use of the sling.
i also called poison control, and told them it was a non-emergency that, i was requesting information aboout chemical sensitivities to pesticides found in foods. i was told, by a rather emotional woman, that it was impossible to get exposed to pesticides through foods, that all the poisons used in pesticides were "safe" amounts, that anything sprayed on broccoli would come right off if held under a steady stream of water for a minute or two, and that i was only trying to get her to tell me there was a government (or terrorist) plot to put formaldehyde in my broccoli.
she yelled at me until i was in tears. i hung up. citizens of rochester, ny, this is the same woman responsible for helping you save the life of your child should he or she eat some weird berries or swallow a household cleaning product or something.am i crazy? does anyone here think i might have a shot at being right about this, or am i just coming up with crazy convoluted rationalizations because i don't want to take my meds, which is what my doctor thinks. my body still feels pretty miserable. please tell me i'm not just cracking up !
:
your way and hope you find a good doctor, get better meds, and feel better VERY soon!
should i just give in and pop some benedryl? i think that'll mess with my milk supply and dd is going through a growth spurt but this is so awful!
: (pathetic) i did another scratch & i think my histamine went up JUST HOLDING THE CAN! the cheaper nail polish has got to go, but i think my tish-n-snooky's is safe. we're also getting rid of anything with sodium laurel sulphate, since i strongly suspect that's a problem too. should i allow hubby to keep his shaving foam even though i don't use it or should i snatch this opportunity to force him to keep the fuzzy adorable sexy teddy-bear beard he's been growing?
my poor husband. i hope this isn't going to get to be too stressful on him. he's already pretty wonderful and puts up with so much, even if he buys toxic garbage bags. 
(hope he keeps the beard!)
