Re: Thanks for replies - sensitivities to odors - was muscle cramps

[Guest guest]

Thanks Kim, and thanks to others for their replies, too. I wish others didn't have these sensitivities too, but I take comfort in knowing that there are people who know how I feel.

I'm going to pay more attention to what I eat the next time after I'm exposed to smells that give me heart burn to see if that makes a difference with my digestion, too.

I've also noticed that it seems like synthetic smells seem to bother me more than natural smells, but I couldn't tell for sure.

I have noticed that my husband hasn't used pine-sol in a while, so I don't think I need to worry but, there are other places where I have to smell these odors, like where I work. One of my old co-workers (she's gone now) used to spray a well-known disinfectant in her area every morning as if she was going to battle against colds, flu, etc. Couldn't she see that she might cause others to be sick in another way at the expense of preventing that flu or cold bug?

To: BTVC-SCD Sent: Thu, December 24, 2009 9:36:21 AMSubject: Re: Re: sensitivities to odors - was muscle cramps

As a matter of fact I do react to strong odors and perfumes and fragrances. Can't use Pinesol at all, or be in a room where it is being used. I get a severe headache within a minute or two, and if I haven't moved away from the odor, I'll get a migraine. Both conditions always affect my upper GI as well, so the next meal I'll eat will cause more severe symptoms than usual. And my nervous system is off-kilter for a day or two, which also affects my entire digestive motility. So, something of a vicious cycle.

From what I've read about migraines, digestion and the connections to the nervous systems, this is a fairly typical reaction. That brain/gut/blood connection at work.

It is annoying, of course; and the people I live with tend to get cranky when I have to keep saying no to certain soaps and cleaners and perfumes [sigh]. My coworkers also suffer a bit as I have to leave the area when someone wearing a strong perfume or aftershave comes in (I work in a library).

So, it seems almost normal to me that you would feel heartburn following an exposure to a strong odor. Did you know there are abdominal migraines? You might be getting an abdominal migraine as a reaction to a strong odor while my migraines surface in my brain.

I just have to limit my exposure to strong odors and fragrances, regardless of the source. My experience has been that synthetic fragrances always trigger a worse reaction than natural sources, but I still avoid strong odors whenever and wherever I can.

My experience in the past six years, since my upper GI dysfunctions materialized, has been that everything tends to have an impact on my digestion [big sigh of resignation. ..]

Kim M.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I hope you don't think I'm being intrusive, but do strong odors (like pine-sol) give you heartburn when you're in the area where someone has cleaned with it? They do me. My husband cleans with it, and he doesn't understand why I object to it so much! Lysol spray bothers me, too. I feel like if it's giving me heartburn, couldn't it be affecting my digestion, too?

[Guest guest]

I'm going to pay more attention to what I eat the next time after I'm

exposed to smells that give me heart burn to see if that makes a

difference with my digestion, too.

I've also noticed that it seems like synthetic smells seem to bother

me more than natural smells, but I couldn't tell for sure.Â

Two things. Yes, synthetic chemical smells are much more likely to

bother us than " real " . I can go smell the lilacs just

fine. But chemical perfumes, no, awful. They not only make me sick

they smell dreadful to me.

One other point. My allergy doc of a few years back said that there

doesn't even have to be enough of the perfume or chemical for you to

smell for it to bother you. Wonderful for trying to figure things

out!