BS: Oddball allergies

Subject: BS: Oddball allergies
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 02:54 PM

I have a few of the usual, hayfever, wool, etc. But lately I think I developed an allergy to a deodorant (no name brand, bought it on sale at the dollar store) It seems to be effecting me just like an overdose of caffeine.

Is this strange. Anyone ever heard of this? Feel free to add your own. I'm also allergic to pineapple, sets me sneezing and wheezing, but allergic to no other fruit. (I don't consider that a great loss however).

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Bee
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:02 PM

Horse Chestnut tree pollen. I've never heard of anyone else allergic to it, but come flowering season, a walk down one of the streets in Halifax which are lined with these beautiful trees leaves me sneezing, red-eyed, with sinuses in full revolt, simultaneously swelling shut and dripping mucus. It ain't pretty. Fortunately, they only bloom for a couple of weeks!

But no, no deodorant allergies.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:04 PM

I'm allergic to perfume so any deodorants, skin care lotions etc. that I use have to be non-perfumed. Also I find that if I use any cleaning products that are strongly fragranced or if I use any sprays then those cause me problems.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:06 PM

I'm allergic to fish.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Becca72
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:12 PM

I too am allergic to fragrance and most detergents, soaps, deodorant, dryer sheets...you name it. Luckily I have a couple brands of each that I can tolerate (except dryer sheets..all of them are evil)

I'm also allergic to Neosporin and Bacitracin (sp). Raw tomatoes but not cooked ones. I am also allergic to manilla and canvas, apparently. I leaned on a stack of manilla folders at work and got hives up and down my arm. I also carried in a couple of canvas bags with the handles slung over my arm and got the same result.

My sister often tells me I should live in one of those plastic bubbles...

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Emma B
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:15 PM

yup me too :(

Trying to find ANY detergent, washing up liquid etc that doesn't have names like 'avocado and mint' or 'cherry blosson on Mount Fuji by moonlight' (the first actually exists) is a nightmare.

Any one like to explain why folks wear realy heavy perfumes to go shopping?

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:18 PM

I'm allergic to celery. Don't know why because it's about 98% water.. it's that odd 2% that has me retching and heaving for hours after eating it.

Invention of the Devil, is celery.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Becca72
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:38 PM

Emma, I work for a hospital with a fragrance free policy and coworkers STILL insist on marinating in the stuff. I have complained countless times and once I get one to stop another starts in...

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: bobad
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:46 PM

Retching and heaving are not symptoms of allergy. A distinction should be made between allergy and sensitivity - horses of a different colour. An allergy is a very specific type of reaction.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 04:09 PM

I'm deathly allergic to strychnine, arsenic, cyanides, little pellets of lead or other metal traveling at high speed, and a host of similar things. Also some molds and pollens, but not many.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Emma B
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 04:33 PM

'marinating'!
LOL that's the word Becca

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Bee
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 06:27 PM

Just about every public place is 'scent-free' in Nova Scotia, has been for years. Doesn't bother me since I'm not a perfume wearer, but sometimes I am utterly confused about people who insist they are allergic to or sensitive to all things smelly.

I was in a scent free shop a while back, and the owner was remarking on someone having brought a bunch of carnations in and how badly their scent had affected her. Meanwhile, she was munching on her lunch, which included garlic, onion, ginger, anise, all highly scented plants. Curious, I asked her if those scents didn't affect her also, or if they did when raw, and she said no, of course not.

Well, that just puzzles me, chemistry-wise...

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Emma B
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 06:34 PM

'chemistry' is about it Bee
Some of the more modern perfumes have an ingredient that causes (my)soft tissue to swell and results in being completely unable to breathe sort of like a severe asthma attack.
It's particularly bad when put into the air in a fine spray.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Peace
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 07:01 PM

Over the years I have found I have a low tolerance for both bullshit and stupidity.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Peace
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 07:08 PM

Axe deodorant makes me want to puke. Really. It is the only substance that causes me to have that reaction. I work with body wounds, blood, vomit, bones sticking out of people--I can deal with that and have a cheeseburger five minutes later, no problem. But Axe? Keriste. Some people use it instead of washing. Go figure.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 08:01 PM

I'm allergic to the cinna-mint flavor in Tom's of Maine toothpaste and mouthwash. They make great products, but the cinna-mint flavor makes my gums peel. (Not at all pleasant.)

I'm also allergic to carnations -- make me sneeze my head off, eyes water, etcet. Had one fellow I was engaged to a million years ago take that as a personal afront -- especially as I was also allergic to an aftershave sample he had tried. Yes, I did finally figure oujt that ultimately I was allergic to HIM. (But carnations still make me sneeze.)

Blue mussels, penicillan, benzol peroxide and a bunch of antibiotics, too -- worse reactions than sneezing!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 08:10 PM

Hmmmm. So just what is axe deodorant, Peace? Brings all kinds of images to mind,

I'm sensitive to scotch broom blooms. (Say that 5 times fast: broom blooms broom blooms broom blooms broom blooms broom blooms... Makes me feel like a kid again. Hard to get the s out though.)

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: LilyFestre
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 09:56 PM

I am allergic to plastic bags...the kind you get at the grocery store (thank goodness for the non-plastic reuseable shopping bags). Rubbermaid or Sterile totes make my throat burn and hands break out.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Jeri
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:03 PM

I'm allergic to penicillin and something inside buildings in England. I never found out what it was, but it gave me asthma and made me sleep with the window open all winter. Never had a problem before or since.

As for smells, I'm in the same boat as Bruce. No problem with body fluids or human or critter, and don't get into a gross-out contest with me. I've been a vet tech and eaten lunch with doctors. Calla lilies are fairly disgusting, but I don't have an allergic reaction. Whatever died in a wall or under the floor smells pretty bad, but no allergy. I've never smelled Axe. (Ebbie, it's a line of smelly products that's supposed to cause women to jump all over the guy wearing it.) I'm allergic to something seasonal around here that isn't in any allergy test I've had.

Maybe it's the invisible long-haired flying wombat (eastern) dander that you only get when they migrate. Who knows.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Jeri
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:05 PM

Oh jeez-sorry! I just realized this was about allergies that were odd.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Riginslinger
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:23 PM

Oranges - but not lemons, limes, or grapefruit?

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:32 PM

My girlfriend is allergic to wild rice. And she's part Ojibwe. Beat that.

---Will

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Peace
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 11:20 PM

I have an oddball allergy in that my FOTLs are meant for an even number between one and three.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 11:31 PM

Linn, it might not be the cinn-amint in Tom's, but the sodium laurel sulphate. I loved and had used their products for years when I started having sores on my gums. My dentist told me it was probably from the SLS and recommended Biotene toothpaste. I missed the mint of Tom's, thought I'd try to go back to it and did I ever regret it! I couldn't believe how strong the taste was and really icky to me, plus it bothered my gums right away. I also have to use shampoo which is SLS free and, while that is becoming easier to find, it still is not very prevalent. I went through a lot of different ones before I found one I liked.

Bekka, me too on the dryer sheets. I wish there was one I could tolerate.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Peace
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 11:35 PM

Canada has the answer.


http://www.easilydone.com/static.html

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 01:02 AM

I had a patron in the Library bitch and moan about how bad Febreze was because she was allergic to it and could go into anaphylactic shock from it.

We don't USE Febreze or anything like it....

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Peace
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 01:25 AM

Someone used Axe.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 03:38 AM

So the celery thing... retching, heaving and puking for my country aren't an allergy?

Celery salt will have my eyes streaming and throat closing but I usually put that down to the retching and puking I'd be doing because of the celery.

Ho hum.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Peace
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 03:52 AM

WTF are you doing with the celery?

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 04:05 AM

Just eating it... it's not like I'm using it conjunction with a flying helmet and a copy of 'Sporting Life'....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Peace
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 04:05 AM

LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Becca72
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 05:50 AM

Bee,
I don't know what it is about scents other than perhaps the chemicals they're created with. There are some flowers I'm allergic to in that the pollen makes me sneezy and drippy and gross, but with fragrances it's worse. If I'm anywhere near a perfume I can't tolerate I get an instant, blinding headache, I become sick to my stomach, my airway closes up and if I'm standing close enough I have been known to break out in hives.

Bobad,
you're dead on with the difference between "allergy" and "sensitivity" but when I tell people I'm "sensitive" to fragrance they often times think I'm just whiney and don't like it...they don't realize it creates the above-mentioned problems. So "allergy" is a better word to use to get my point across that I can't be around it.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Bee
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 11:26 AM

Yeah, Becca, I sort of understand, and I try to be 'sensitive' myself - I don't argue with people IRL who claim an allergy/sensitivity. Perhaps it is a Nova Scotia phenomenon, but I find quite a few people claiming to have sensitivities or allergies to this, that, and the other, and for 'reasons' that simply don't make sense - to me.

There are, these days, plenty of pure scent oils available that contain nothing but distilled oils from the flower (say, roses). There are no 'chemicals' added other than the natural 'chemical' that makes up the scent molecules our clever noses encounter. Yet a person (not referring to you, but to a real person I know) claiming that they are allergic to the 'chemicals' in perfumes will still claim to be having an allergic attack if they smell one of these 'chemical'-free scents. The same person has no objection to a bunch of real roses from a garden or flower shop.

Also, a lot of such people live smack downtown in Halifax, which I assure you has its share of smells, most noticeable by us rurals when we have to drive in for some reason. A lot of those smells really are derived from combinations of proven toxic chemicals from vehicle exhausts, coal fired electrical plants (there is one visible from anywhere on the waterfront), the rail and container yards (also right downtown) and a wealth of other industrial sources. Now, I am willing to go with the possibility that exposure to these real toxic chemicals can make a person sensitive to other molecules which attach to our olfactory sensors, but the scents many people have identified as the cause of their problems usually have no relation to the real toxic smells endemic to their urban environment.

It has also been a noticed fact that quite a few 'scent-free' products actually use various chemicals to eliminate or mask the scents that are not added to the product, but are a natural odour of the ingredients. So the person is actually inhaling more chemicals from the 'scent-free' product than from the original product which had a natural scent. No scent, however, almost always results in no complaints from people who claim scent sensitivities.

I just find it odd that there are a lot of people claiming to be harmed by scents (not pollens, which are a known irritant and are different from flower to flower) that come directly from, specifically, various flowers (or leaves or roots, as quite a few scents are derived from plant parts other than flower heads) that have been part of the human environment for millennia, while not claiming harm from the known toxic chemistry of their personal urban habitat.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Becca72
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 11:36 AM

I don't understand it, myself. I just know what I react to. Now that I think of it, I have the same reaction to live roses (strongly scented ones) and to stargazer lilies...I dunno, I just live in here.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 01:04 PM

Herring - OK
Smoked herring (Kippers) - OK
Mackerel - OK
Smoked mackerel - doubled up with the eeby jeebys for two hours!

It's really weird. I love all and can eat any sea food including mackerel. I can eat any other smoked food or fish. But twice when I have had smoked mackerel I have ended up in bed doubled up with stomach cramps. Not going to risk it again!

Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Bee
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 02:08 PM

Dave:

herrings: not very oily
smoked herrings: bit oilier
mackerel: quite oily
smoked mackerel: very oily

For me, at some point in the range of fat/oil content, my delicate gall baldder and normally hearty intestines scream 'Noooooooooo!'. I love smoked mackerel, but have to limit consumption or my innards will protest.

But that goes for all concentrated high fat foods, in my case. And my mother's, but she ended up having the troublesome organ (gall bladder) removed. I'm trying to keep mine.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Bee
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 02:11 PM

I know, Becca. Everybody is different, and reactions aren't always explicable or predictable.

If you lived here, you'd understand what I'm getting at - the scent police in Halifax have only just stopped short of having the Public Gardens ripped out.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Little Robyn
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 03:09 PM

I've had common or garden hay-fever most of my life, brought on by grass pollen and not by any flowers but the other day the cat came in and sat on my lap and within 2 minutes my eyes were streaming. I guess he'd been out in the grass - our hay-fever season must be under way. The cat's not coming anywhere near me for a few months.
But I can't eat chicken - I get a massive migraine within a few hours and it lasts until the next day. And many processed meat products these days include a little chicken. Not much. Just a tiny bit and that's still enough to lay me low. Just a food intollerance, I've been told. But it means I hate going out for a meal because chicken is usually included somewhere, and even buying Chinese takeaways can mean some cross contamination. Greasy fish and chips will do the same thing.
Chocolate is another food my body can't manage. My brain goes fuzzy, my eyes won't focus and I just feel lousy. And I love chocolate!
Milk and dairy products give me a sore throat, lots of mucus and bother with my ears. Noises and balance problems. Tinnitus, they say.
So as long as I avoid milk, cheese, yoghurt, icecream, chocolate, chicken, fish and chips, and playing with ths cat, I'm OK!
Robyn

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Joybell
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 05:58 PM

Robyn, I've had migraines all my life. I've just come upon sulfite. There are a few good web-sites about it. I's an intolerance rather than an allergy and for for some of us avoiding it in more than small amounts prevents the triggering of migraines. I don't know about the rules in NZ but here in Aus. it's used widely. The rules are stricter in the USA (making imported icecream OK for me). It's listed here either under it's own name -- and it's a naturally occuring preservative so "natural" is not necessarily helpful on labels -- or as "preservative number 202".
It's in all margarine-type spreads (except one), fruit juice, cordials, dried fruit, fresh and dried bananas, grapes, some cereals, and in all glucose syrup (used in all icecreams, some jams, honeys and toppings, and many sweets). It's also in lots of processed food. It's a presevative in some medications too.
Hope this is helpful to others. It's been a happy revelation to me.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 09:15 AM

My two allergies are fish - anything with gills and scales - and Brazil nuts. I used to be allergic to horses but I seem to have grown out of that one.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: bubblyrat
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 06:09 AM

Little Robyn ---- Here in England we can buy,if allergic to milk /dairy products, a brand of ice-cream called "Swedish Glace". It is made from soya, and contains NO dairy products,and it tastes GREAT !! I prefer it to the "real thing" !! Go try (if you can locate some).

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: My guru always said
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 10:19 AM

Alkaline-forming foods - but I think it's more of an intolerance as my remaining kidney isn't 100%.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 11:50 AM

Many people have sensitivities, few have full blown allergies..or so my MD tells me. If I eat strawberries I break out in a rash, that is a sensitivity, if they caused me to go into a kind of shock, that is an allergy. My MD has also suggested that many current sensitivities are the result of underexposure and not overexposure. In other words, we have avoided so many things, particularly scents that we now have no tolerance for them. Sounds a reasonable theory to me. Public schools now note that nearly 60% of students claim to have allergies to a wide variety of things. Have we become to isolated from the world around us to tolerate it ?I just find this sudden "rash" (pardon the pun) of allergies a bit odd.

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Becca72
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 06:09 PM

I know "sudden" is all relative, but I've had mine since around 1974 so it doesn't feel so sudden to me. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Oddball allergies
From: Riginslinger
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 09:58 PM

I was allergic to women once, but I got over it!