Hi...
I was wondering if anyone knows if SjS (MCTD) can cause or worsen hypersensivity to fragrances.
For the last year I have been sensitive to the point I get physical reactions like headaches and irritability.
Lately even the slightest hint of fragrance affects me...
Is anyone else really sensitive like me ? I'd like to hear from you...
Thanks <snif>
YES.....I experience the same thing, but I wasn't always like this..it has just gotten worse over the past several years! Certain perfumes and smoke REALLY bother me!
The bad thing about it is that it will be fall soon here in Illinois and I love this season....but that also means that there will be more fires in the area and people burning leaves and such which absolutely kills me and make my breathing really difficult!(http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/sick014.gif) (http://www.freesmileys.org)
Quote from: SeaBreeze on September 04, 2008, 06:05:07 PM
Hi...
I was wondering if anyone knows if SjS (MCTD) can cause or worsen hypersensivity to fragrances.
For the last year I have been sensitive to the point I get physical reactions like headaches and irritability.
Lately even the slightest hint of fragrance affects me...
Is anyone else really sensitive like me ? I'd like to hear from you...
Thanks <snif>
I have the same trouble. I actually start to cough and gag when someone around me douses themselves with perfume or cologne. Ever since my sinuses got so dried out, I'm really sensitive to smells. Even in the store, if a woman walks by me with really strong perfume, I cough and gag. I don't wear it myself anymore because then I wouldnt' be able to stand myself. ;D
One of the guys I works with love KFC chicken. I can't even go into the office when he's eating it, the smell fills up my nose and makes me gag. Weird isn't it?
Hi :)
With me it's some perfumes - but not all. What really gets me is anything out of an aerosol can. Room fresheners - deoderant0- that kind of thing. I can feel my eyes sting and my throat tighten up if I'm anywhere near them!
Take care - Scottie :)
Me too! One odd one is that I can't stand the smell of a Christmas Tree. When I used to work in an office my co-workers thought I was weird because I had such a high sensitivity to the smell of a Christmas Tree.
Me too! I haven't been able to wear perfume or use deodrant sprays or air freshners for thirty years or more. I'm also allergic to conifers, so the Christmas tree is out for me too.
A few years ago, we were running a new campaign at work and having a press launch in London. We had a reception booked in a really smart hotel, and I was doing one of the speeches. We were taken through the lobby into the room and the pollen from what seemed liked hundres of lilies hit me. I couldn't go inthe room until the lilies had been removed and all the windows opened. I just knew I would be so ill, and probably have an asthma attack too. The hotel staff were not impressed :)
Kathyx
I wish all perfume and smoking could be outlawed. It started causing me severe problems as soon as I started having symptoms. Curses on perfume!
I use all products with no fragrances. I'm glad they are manufactured now. I imagine it was difficult in the past to find them.
Amy
Same here. No fragrance anymore. I have no perfume at all that is not over 10 years old. And I need to ask people at work to tone it down or change to another scent. And the spray air freshener they have in washrooms that automatically spritz every 15 minutes AAGH.
Also seems that paint and drywall dust are really bad. How can we ever redecorate?
Annette
Thank you for your responses... It's good to know others in same boat. Do you think its related to our illnesses ?
Its a tough thing to ask people not to wear cologne etc when they see me. Some friends and most co-workers think I am a nut. Well, what I would like to say is "yes, that is true, I am a nut, but I'm a nut that is severely effected by YOUR perfume ! You dope !
I was very very popular at my office in 'cubicle-land' asking people not to wear their fav scent to work ...
I live in an apt complex. I quit smoking 2 years ago albeit 1 or 2 under extreme stress and in my car. People in other apts go onto their decks, close their sliders to smoke and the smoke comes in thru my open doors and windows, meanwhile their apt are fresh and sweet smelling.... most nights its a revolving door out there, 3-4 smokers rotating 3-4 cigs an hour all night long ... I have to keep my AC on May to October... I hate it ...
YIKES... that turned into a rant... Sorry...
I am with Scottie on this one!! lysol about kills me! And those cheaper versions are terrible. I was in wal-mart and somebody was testing them and I had to leave!
barbara
aka
solmom
Gosh, I never thought about my sensitivity to perfumes being connected to Sjogren's. Mine started some years ago and has just become worse each year. If I can't get away from it, it will cause a migraine. I am glad I read this.
nisha
I am very sensitive to perfumes, aersol sprays, and many cleaning products. It has gotten worse over the years!
Does anyone know why we are this way?
nisha
I cannot wear regular deodorant any more. I have to buy the kind at the health store. It's something in the product. Although I just tied this in with SS ane decided I needed to try something different, the allergy goes back quite a few years. One huge flareup every year or so wasn't enough to make me suspicious. After SS, I know now that's what it is/was.
Lucy
I have become sensitive to smells over the last few months. We were in Lowe's the other evening and we were in an area where there are a lot of chemicals. I felt so awful. I was almost dizzy. It felt like I was choking.
I have always been a person who enjoyed home fragrances and the like, but it is getting more difficult to have things like that around.
It's funny but I've become sensitive to all smells. I can smell things (good and bad) when no one else in my family can.
They always make fun of me and talk about Mom's nose. I read somewhere where this is a symptom of diseases like ours.
I,too, am hypersensitive to smells. Cigarette smoke (even on another person's clothes) gives me a headache, and so do some perfumes. Comes with the territory, I guess, that we either smell too much or too little!
Cheryl
Blimey what a coincidence - just a couple of days ago my hubby commented on how sensitive my sense of smell had become, smelling things around that no-one else seems aware of. Like the rest of you certain perfumes cause me to feel physically sick and give me headaches, and thank goodness smoking has been banned in public places over here as that could do the same too. Ooooh were sensitive souls us sjoggies!!!!
We had a chemical leak in the warehouse at my work. One of the silicone chemical strippers ate the can away and it leaked in the hazmat locker. When we opened it, paint thinner was pouring down the shelves. Myself and a coworker tried to mop it up with rags but the smell was so overpowering, I got dizzy, a headache and nauseous, I had to go home, I felt horrible. For about 2-3 days my eyes were filmy and would stick together in the mornings when I got up. The smell is mostly gone now, except towards the back of the warehouse. My desk is at the front of the warehouse so I was smelling it before we found out what happened. I thought it was just paint as someone was painting some aluminum the day prior.
My headaches lasted most of the week...What an odor, I'm surprised no one got really sick.
Wow! I hope your company is offering you some kind of treatment for the exposure. Have you gotten your eyes checked out, to be sure there is no damage to them? Yikes.
Genko
I've found that I'm not only sensitive to perfume on people - but also to anything that comes in the newspaper or magazines. I start having a sneezing fit (cigarette smell on peoples clothes does it to me too). I could never work in a Hallmark store or place like that . . too many fragrances . . gives me an instant headache.
Bucky
Magazines are killers for me, if I get the perfume on my hands, I can't get it off... I stopped buying and browsing most...
I hate those perfumed things they stick in magazines! Glad I am not alone.
Even the newspaper makes me sneeze - I don't dislike the way it smells, but it sets me off. I had forgotten about that until you mentioned magazines.
nisha
Nisha you would have been as troubled as I was a few days ago at my doctors office. I was sitting there, sniffing.. I knew there was something in the treatment room I didn't like... I was getting a headache and cranky 'my usual reactions' and sure enough there was a diffuser plugged in behind the table... OMG it was like a honeysuckle or something... I had to ask the nurse to remove it or remove me... I wouldn't mind a few mins, but doc was running very late. Nurse removed it immed and apologized.. :o But when I got home I had the smell on me somehow... on my pocketbook, jacket etc... had to 'air' everything out... I'm getting worse.. sux
Quote from: eyeamdry on September 12, 2008, 05:26:29 PM
I cannot wear regular deodorant any more. I have to buy the kind at the health store. It's something in the product. Although I just tied this in with SS ane decided I needed to try something different, the allergy goes back quite a few years. One huge flareup every year or so wasn't enough to make me suspicious. After SS, I know now that's what it is/was.
Lucy
Lucy - Do you mind me asking... What kind of deodorant do you use? My doc wants me to try a more natural deo. Toxins and all of that...
Today at work I thought of everyone here on this particular subject. I work in the school kitchen and they were cooking broccoli and it smelled AWFUL (it smelled like it was suppose to, I just mean it was overwhelming to me) - I really thought I would get sick from the smell. Mix that with the cinnamon smell they put in the applesauce . . . ewwww. I was not only going to "serve" lunch, I was going to lose mine!! hee hee . . .
It seems as the school year progresses everything in that kitchen is affecting me . . . too hot/humid for my eyes & mouth/throat, sensitive to all the smells, not to mention all the physical stuff it requires to work in a kitchen. I'm not so sure I can do this any more (this is my 8th yr.).
Ok, take a deep cleansing breath . . . b-r-e-a-t-h-e . . . . :)
Bucky
Bucky...
So sorry you had such a lousy day at work... I keep hearing that SjS makes either really sensitive or some 'lose' their sense of smell... I'm not convinced that I would be unhappy with loss of smell... Hope tomorrow is better, maybe the menu calls for carrots ;D
Quote from: SeaBreeze on September 29, 2008, 05:48:34 PM
Bucky...
Hope tomorrow is better, maybe the menu calls for carrots ;D
Nah, carrots are on Thursday (they'll be raw, not cooked) . . . lol :D
Thank goodness for raw carrots. Stick some vicks or something under your nose or lavender oil maybe that will help
Pud