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I understand that this is a common problem, yes I react to mold it gives me a prickly sore throat etc, feel tired and drained after a while, sometimes I find it around window frames at other peoples houses ( black mould ), its annoying but not super bad. Theres a lot of mould underneath my bath at the moment and its hardly noticeable, its not enough to stop me going there for sure, so mixed results there.
Since having the illness I've found that my garage is no longer somewhere I should go, I hold my breath when I go in there until I've opened the big door. My worst period seemed to coincide with trying to exercise ( thanks NHS / PACE ) and spending time in the garage, burn like hard itchy places appeared on the sides of my fingers. I seemed to get more and more tired over the period of a couple of monthes until I got really very ill ( nightmare situation level ) but I can't say for sure it was MCS or exercise related, it was in the first year of being ill.
I became more sensitive in the last year, particularly to VOCs or synthetic chemicals in general. Chairs my dad bought ( cushions have some sort of foam in ), the carpet that was in my room ( ended up getting rid of it and swapping it over ) hardwood flooring that we got put down downstairs in place of the carpet i Iiked ( thought it would be fine because we have the same wood in the kitchen and hallway no problem ), nope, couldn't use the room anymore, it seems to be clearing up now though and I can just about use it.
The chemical I seem to be the most sensitive to is 'comfort ultimate care fushia passion', can't even be in the room if its in the washing machine, most other washing products don't seem to be much of an issue though.
Perhaps the biggest problem and example of a 'no go ' room I have found is my summer house, its a simple building about 2.5m by 2.5 m made of various wood, its not plasterboarded or anything like that, its simple. There are various paints and the rubbery material on the roof, possibly some damp or decayed wood but nothing major.
I could use it no problem in the first 3 years of being ill, up to about 2018, then something changed and I slowly started to become super sensitive to it, theres like an 'earthy' smell that maybe only I can smell ( I become hypersensitive ), it makes the air seem 'stuffy'. I thought it was just the old carpet I put down had gone mouldy because water came in the corners of the room when it rained ( sorted now ), so I removed that, but the issue persisted, tried sanding down the floors and walls where mould might have grown, varnished over it. Filled gaps in the walls with wood filler, varnished over. Whatever I do though i've had no luck trying to remove whatever it is i'm sensitive to, its mad.
What i've noticed though is that with some triggers, the effects go away as soon as I go back to fresh air, whereas others like my summer house, seem to have a lasting effect on the body, they cause crashes and symptoms I wouldn't usually have, I spent some time in the room or the doorway ( with big ventilation ! ) I felt disorientated hours after and I still feel a bit off today, plus my brain now feels 'lazy', if I try to read its like the same thing as 'in one ear out the other'.
If anyone has had a similar experience and eventually managed to find out what they were sensitive to please let me know, I want to try and fix my summer house but I have no clue, i'm thinking of using plastic sheets to seal parts off to try and get a clue where the problems coming from. Also since this is so reproducable it makes me wonder if the scientists could do some sort of study on these MCS effects, it could perhaps give a clue whats going on with the disease, maybe measure the metabolomic or MRNA expression changes, immune activation, brain inflammation or something.
Since having the illness I've found that my garage is no longer somewhere I should go, I hold my breath when I go in there until I've opened the big door. My worst period seemed to coincide with trying to exercise ( thanks NHS / PACE ) and spending time in the garage, burn like hard itchy places appeared on the sides of my fingers. I seemed to get more and more tired over the period of a couple of monthes until I got really very ill ( nightmare situation level ) but I can't say for sure it was MCS or exercise related, it was in the first year of being ill.
I became more sensitive in the last year, particularly to VOCs or synthetic chemicals in general. Chairs my dad bought ( cushions have some sort of foam in ), the carpet that was in my room ( ended up getting rid of it and swapping it over ) hardwood flooring that we got put down downstairs in place of the carpet i Iiked ( thought it would be fine because we have the same wood in the kitchen and hallway no problem ), nope, couldn't use the room anymore, it seems to be clearing up now though and I can just about use it.
The chemical I seem to be the most sensitive to is 'comfort ultimate care fushia passion', can't even be in the room if its in the washing machine, most other washing products don't seem to be much of an issue though.
Perhaps the biggest problem and example of a 'no go ' room I have found is my summer house, its a simple building about 2.5m by 2.5 m made of various wood, its not plasterboarded or anything like that, its simple. There are various paints and the rubbery material on the roof, possibly some damp or decayed wood but nothing major.
I could use it no problem in the first 3 years of being ill, up to about 2018, then something changed and I slowly started to become super sensitive to it, theres like an 'earthy' smell that maybe only I can smell ( I become hypersensitive ), it makes the air seem 'stuffy'. I thought it was just the old carpet I put down had gone mouldy because water came in the corners of the room when it rained ( sorted now ), so I removed that, but the issue persisted, tried sanding down the floors and walls where mould might have grown, varnished over it. Filled gaps in the walls with wood filler, varnished over. Whatever I do though i've had no luck trying to remove whatever it is i'm sensitive to, its mad.
What i've noticed though is that with some triggers, the effects go away as soon as I go back to fresh air, whereas others like my summer house, seem to have a lasting effect on the body, they cause crashes and symptoms I wouldn't usually have, I spent some time in the room or the doorway ( with big ventilation ! ) I felt disorientated hours after and I still feel a bit off today, plus my brain now feels 'lazy', if I try to read its like the same thing as 'in one ear out the other'.
If anyone has had a similar experience and eventually managed to find out what they were sensitive to please let me know, I want to try and fix my summer house but I have no clue, i'm thinking of using plastic sheets to seal parts off to try and get a clue where the problems coming from. Also since this is so reproducable it makes me wonder if the scientists could do some sort of study on these MCS effects, it could perhaps give a clue whats going on with the disease, maybe measure the metabolomic or MRNA expression changes, immune activation, brain inflammation or something.