Life Long Allergy

VERY long story. I'll try to make it as short as possible. 

Last year Jon and I purchased a King Memory foam mattress at the RC Willey Memorial Day sale. 

Within about 3 weeks, I had developed a rash. A rash so bad I looked like I had a disease. It was all over my face, both arms, chest, and legs. I was beyond miserable, to say the least. I was literally bed ridden. Jon and my mom had to take care of Scarlett because I couldn't, it was THAT bad. (I could go on and on and on about how bad it was and how many different things I tried to get rid of it and/or figure out what it was from, but if I did, this post would be miles and miles long...). Oral steroids is what cleared it up eventually. 

Left Arm

Chest/Neck

Right Arm

After multiple visits to regular Dr's and no answers, then Dermatologist visits and still no answers, I finally went to an Allergist. SO glad I went to an Allergist. The regular Dr. was convinced this was from normal summer allergies. I thought "Are you CRAZY???? This is NOT from cotton floating around in the air!!"

Like I said before, long story short. We determined that our new memory foam mattress caused me to have a reaction. My mother-in-law is actually the one who brought this to my attention when she purchased a memory foam pillow, and the tags had warnings all over them saying to "air the pillow out to avoid any possible reactions" Well, just imagine laying on a slab of chemicals (yes, memory foam is filled with chemicals, including FORMALDEHYDE) for a month without knowing what was causing my HORRIBLE rash. How ironic, I was bed ridden and my bed was causing the problem. 

Thanks heavens I went to an Allergist who gave me the answers that I desperately needed. After multiple tests, finally one came back positive, to Methylchloroisothiazolinone. A preservative that is found in....pretty much everything. After we found out what I was allergic to, the Allergist gave me a packet of information on what exactly that really long word that I still can't pronounce, is. He also told me to go home and look at the ingredients in all the products I had been using to see if it was in any of them.

Sure enough....the FIRST thing I looked at when I got home was my bath and body antibacterial hand soap (that I obviously use many many times a day), it was in there. 

As I continued my search I found it in my:

-Hand Soap

-Dish Soap

-Shampoo

-Conditioner

-Body Wash

-Scarlett's baby wipes   

-Laundry soap

(to name a few....)

So here is the conclusion we all came to (including the allergist): I was exposed to a mixture of very strong chemicals from our memory foam mattress which triggered a reaction. The reaction was so horrible, that it has forever damaged me and I now have a PERMANENT allergy to Methylchloroisothiazolinone, which is found in SO many things. 

Life with this allergy is not as easy as you would think. The main problem is that pretty much every household cleaner and laundry soap, DOES NOT list the ingredients on the bottle. I have to go online to find lists of ingredients, which is not a big deal. The problem is when the websites of these products DO NOT list the ingredients either!!! Then I am stuck. If I don't wear gloves to do pretty much everything any type of cleaning, then my fingers/hands start to get a reaction that won't go away until I put topical steroids on them. 

Sigh..... I guess things could REALLY be a lot worse. This is just more of an inconvenience in my every day life. I can't use soap in public restrooms, so I carry my handy dandy Anti Bac with me. I had to RE WASH every piece of fabric in our house in new laundry detergent (baby clothes, bedding, towels, my clothes, blankets, etc) And not just things we wear/use currently, I had to wash anything that I will ever wear or come in contact with AGAIN. So....EVERYTHING. I obviously have to check the ingredients of everything I come in contact with (above mentioned) and also makeup. I have to bring my own shampoos and conditioners to hair salons and hotels. I can't touch any baby wipes that aren't ones that I have purchased (like from a stranger). Doing dishes is a big challenge.....this goes back to the stupid companies that don't list ingredients on their websites. I use "hypoallergenic", "dye free", and "sensitive skin" everything (and still end up with a reaction.) I still have reactions every other week or so. If I have touched something with that really long word in it, then my fingers start to look like this.... 

It's just difficult trying to keep track of EVERYTHING you may come in contact with. (Try it!!)


Anyway, I guess the reason I blogged about this is because I am reminded on a daily basis about this dang allergy. One of life's many challenges, Right?!