Re: Where to buy menthol crystals - STICKY

November 30, 2008

Kihun,

Thanks for this link. I just ordered menthol crystals from the same vendor you used. For anyone interested, they're having a 10% off sale over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanks also to Willow who sent out the link to the Shanspirations (sp?). Every single story of someone who beats this fills me with hope. I don't post very often but I read nearly every new post every day and they have really been critical to my sanity. I cannot imagine how I would have survived this before the age of the internet (which was not all that long ago!).

Did anyone see the most recent episode of House (I feel guilty mentioning it because I know I should have been vacuuming instead of watching TV)? Anyway, in it, after seeing sixteen different doctors with no success or sympathy (sound familiar?) a patient desperate for a diagnosis of a mysterious ailment takes a doctor and a bunch of clinic patients hostage at gun point to force the doctor to figure out what is afflicting him. I may not favor these methods but I sure can sympathize with the frustration.

Finally, here's a quick update on the total eradication with dehumidifiers strategy. So far, it hasn't really achieved the complete success I hoped for. If anyone has any suggestions on what I may be doing wrong, let me know. My theory is that I myself have been the source of rehydration.

Here's what I did. I have had five (sometimes six) dehumidifiers running continuously for nearly eight weeks in a 1200 sq. ft. apartment. The overall humidity rarely gets above 20% except for brief spikes to just below 30% in the bathroom when I shower. In my worst-affected rooms, I have managed to keep the humidity as low as 2% and generally not much above 10%. (FYI, I have found that hot-water showers raise humidity much more and much more quickly than cool-water showers and that baths raise humidity much less and much more slowly than either type of shower). As for the overall temperature, it hasn't really dropped below 80 F (and often gets to be 100 F or higher).

Although there has been a slow-down in activity, I have not achieved anything close to the goal of total eradication. But, it may still be too early to conclude that dessication doesn't work. In some of the key success stories involving dehumidifiers that I have seen posted here, the living space has been left entirely unoccupied for several weeks at the end of the process. This may be a necessary step to make this strategy work.

Alternatively, it may be necessary to combine dessication with other strategies, like DE, Nylar, menthol crystals, steam cleaning (with close monitoring on the impact on overall humidity). I bought a very expensive steam cleaning machine just before we all began focusing on humidity and I haven't really used it yet (for fear it would make things worse).

I am considering a two/three-week hotel stay (a HUGE EXPENSE) to test whether I myself am the source of rehydrating.

Mark

From: kihunonline <kihunonline@...>Subject: Where to buy menthol crystals - STICKYbird mites Date: Saturday, November 29, 2008, 8:06 PM

This question keeps coming up over and over so here it is again.(I'm just copy and pasting snippets of past posts).Since we can't seem to "sticky" posts here, should we title these types of posts with "sticky" in the subject?Anuyway, places to buy menthol crystals:Yes $15.39/lb here: http://www.newdirec tionsaromatics. com/menthol-crystals-p-548. htmlClick on the Canadian flag if you are ordering from Canada. I get mine from www.lotioncrafter. com. $20.00 per pound plus shipping.

November 30, 2008