# My chemical allergies are such a bother. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 15, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chemical-allergies-are-such-a-bother/621996 "2012-05-15T15:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chemical-allergies-are-such-a-bother/621996/1 "2012-05-15T15:44:57Z")
Not asking for advice. I just need to vent. 😛 I got sick last night after using penetrating oil (spray) on a chainlink gate latch. Chills, and just a general unwell feeling. As usual the symptoms went away after 8 hours. I must have washed my hands & arms twenty times getting the stench off me. Changed my shirt etc. I first started having chemical allergies in my early twenties. The most serious attack was actually my very first one. I had filled some cracks on a cabinet with DAP® Plastic Wood and sanded it in a closed, fairly small room with no mask. I woke up the next night sick with a high fever and got worse. I went in the hospital the next day with pneumonia. Middle of the summer, and no recent colds since the winter. Six days in the hospital. The first antibiotic didn’t work and it took a combination of two. A few years later I started noticing a reaction to Bounce dryer sheets. I get this catch in my throat. Chest is tight. Chills & sometimes a low grade fever. Same reaction to any fabric softener. No more fabric softener for my clothes. I use it only for towels now. I was using All laundry detergent and its not heavily scented like other brands. Eventually I switched to All Free and Clear unscented. Then deodorant and cologne started bothering me. I even gave up aftershave and use Witch Hazel instead. Sometimes just walking down the Soap aisle at Krogers will make my throat tighten and I walk faster to get out of there. Chemical allergies are a PITA. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chemical-allergies-are-such-a-bother/621996/2 "2012-05-15T17:39:00Z")
Have you tried to determine what chemicals are involved (it sounds like more than one, or perhaps some common family)? I consider myself lucky not to have any known allergies, except for poison ivy and mosquito bites. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chemical-allergies-are-such-a-bother/621996/3 "2012-05-15T23:22:25Z")
I’m lucky that pollen has never bothered me. I love the outdoors. I never have taken any allergy tests. I just learned the hard way what bothers me the most. Artificial scents like in fabric softener are the worst. The last time I wore shirts that had fabric softener used, I went into a major coughing and sneezing fit. Kept coughing up phlegm from the back of my throat. I had to rewash my shirts twice to get the stench out. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chemical-allergies-are-such-a-bother/621996/4 "2012-05-16T00:02:32Z")
I work in a factory, and I once had a co-worker who went around all the time wearing a respirator because all kinds of chemicals, smells, and fragrances made her sick. Suddenly, one day she didn’t need it anymore. Turns out she had finally decided to go to the dentist and get all her rotten teeth pulled and get dentures (I had no idea she had bad teeth, since I could never see them behind the mask.) Must have been her bad teeth making her sick. Or something else was going on. I’m not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chemical-allergies-are-such-a-bother/621996/5 "2012-05-16T02:52:50Z")
I haven’t used fabric softener or dryer sheets in years. You don’t need them, just a small amount of plain unscented laundry soap will suffice. You can even make your own laundry soap instead of buying it at the store. Then you know exactly what chemicals are in there. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-chemical-allergies-are-such-a-bother/621996/6 "2012-05-16T03:17:24Z")
aceplace, I have chemical issues as well. It’s amazing how much better I felt when I stopped eating at the salad bar at chain restaurants and stopped using fertilizer and chemical skin products. Yep. They are a pain in the butt alright. Especially when everyone around you starts labelling you as a hypochondriac when you insist that you absolutely cannot hang outside when the neighbor just had their lawn dosed with weed killer.