Allergens In Fabric / Hope

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AndrewF - 05 Jun 2004 23:38 GMT

Hi all from New Zealand,

After suffering in silence for a long time, I've decided to ask some
questions. First a hopefully short summary.

As newlyweds my wife and I moved into cheap rental accomodation, lived
there for a period of time and then began having headaches. We noticed
that there seemed to be a lot of 'dust' in the air which would settle
on things in the house. Soon the headaches became debilitating and
continuous and we decided
to move out. After research I realized that it was most likely
sinusitis of some kind. Now, almost four years later, we still get
these headaches whenever weather / temperature /pressure fluctuates,
but it is less than it used to be (Thank goodness for 10 days sick
leave)

Anything that we wore / used in the old house now makes us sneeze
and have immediate headaches and nausea. We've tried washing, ammonia
etc and nothing works. Whatever is in the clothing seems to stay
there. I'm assuming it's a sort of fungus, but nothing is visible on
the clothes. It doesn't seem to tranfer to anything that is newly
purchased, although we have seen a black mould like substance grow in
some circumstances in the right conditions around older clothes

1) Does anyone have any idea for getting the allergen out of the
fabric, or should we treat it like a lost cause ? It's not just
clothes unfortunately - anything fabric seems to be like this.

2) Has anyone out there outgrown an allergic sinusitis - perhaps the
body becomes desensitised the allergen ?

Thanks

Andrew

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Steven Litvintchouk - 09 Jun 2004 03:01 GMT

> Hi all from New Zealand,
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> purchased, although we have seen a black mould like substance grow in
> some circumstances in the right conditions around older clothes

Are you sure the contaminant is in the clothing?

You may have mold growing in your furniture. And from there, the spores
can transfer to your clothing. The fact that your older clothes are
prone to developing mold stains suggests you've got mold where you're
keeping the clothing. Maybe your bedroom dresser or hamper or drawers
or mattress has mold.

I suggest you contact a contractor who specializes in mold remediation.
Or maybe an industrial hygienist who can test your home and
furnishings for mold problems.

> 1) Does anyone have any idea for getting the allergen out of the
> fabric, or should we treat it like a lost cause ? It's not just
> clothes unfortunately - anything fabric seems to be like this.

You mean like upholstered furniture?
The mold or dust or whatever can be removed from the furniture--but
you'll need to get a professional contractor to do it right.

Signature

Steven L.

"Reagan bolstered the U.S. military might to ruin the Soviet economy,
and he achieved his goal."
-- Gennady Gerasimov (top spokesman for the Soviet Foreign
Ministry during the 1980s)

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NorthShoreCEO - 09 Jun 2004 12:03 GMT

> You mean like upholstered furniture?
> The mold or dust or whatever can be removed from the furniture--but
> you'll need to get a professional contractor to do it right.

Not just upholstered furniture, but rugs you may have brought
from the old house and window treatments made of fabric.

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AndrewF - 10 Jun 2004 00:34 GMT

<snip>

> > Anything that we wore / used in the old house now makes us sneeze
> > and have immediate headaches and nausea. We've tried washing, ammonia
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Are you sure the contaminant is in the clothing?

We did bring with us a dresser from the old place (and it's the one
I'm using) Newer clothing stored in these is perfectly fine, and in
the past (before I removed the older clothes) there was no transfer to
the newer clothes.

The stuff we couldn't bear to throw away is hanging in the closeet
(again, alongside newer stuff) with no transfer at all, but if we wear
any of the older stuff then pain / sinusitis immediately flares up

> You may have mold growing in your furniture. And from there, the spores
> can transfer to your clothing. The fact that your older clothes are
> prone to developing mold stains suggests you've got mold where you're
> keeping the clothing. Maybe your bedroom dresser or hamper or drawers
> or mattress has mold.

I neglected to say that the mold developed behing the set of drawers
(before we realized this and recleaned / moved it)

Unfortunately we're not quite rich enough to throw away our old (well,
brand new at the time) bed and furniture <sigh> I suspect it'll happen
over time.

> I suggest you contact a contractor who specializes in mold remediation.
> Or maybe an industrial hygienist who can test your home and
> furnishings for mold problems.

Um - unfortunately this is New Zealand, not the U.S. and we don't
quite have the proliferation of specialists that you guys do,
especially not in small cities (30-40,000 pop.) like mine.

> > 1) Does anyone have any idea for getting the allergen out of the
> > fabric, or should we treat it like a lost cause ? It's not just
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> The mold or dust or whatever can be removed from the furniture--but
> you'll need to get a professional contractor to do it right.

Well, furniture is one thing. Also duvets, sentimental regular
clothing that we still keep (although not in ourliving space).
Whatever it is, washing does not touch it.

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CanDo - 10 Jun 2004 03:34 GMT

I have a similar condition to yours. It is very confusing. I am very
sensitive to certain dyes in clothes, and many other things, and am also
sensitive to ALL materials, cotton, satin, etc.

I'm going to theorize that your exposure in that apartment has made you
chemically sensitive. That means that only a tiny trace of an offending
chemical, or mold, or must, or allergen makes you react badly, whereas
before it only had a moderate or minor effect upon you. So, even if you get
rid of ALL of the old clothes, you might still be faced with a problem.

Just a theory. I could be wrong.

So, your bad reaction to the "old" clothes might not get better because just
extremely small traces of whatever contaminated your clothes will always be
on them.

What I have done to improve my situation is: I no longer use fabric
softeners on my clothes. Fabric softeners contain many harmful chemicals. If
you have become chemically sensitive, using fabric softeners could make your
reaction worse. If you are using fabric softeners on your clothes, the
elimination of it might make the clothes wearable.

I also only have small rugs on the floor that can be washed. I do not have
upholstered furniture, only leather type furniture. I don't drink an diet
drinks because of the chemicals in the artificial sweetener.

There are many other steps I take, and I have made significant improvements
in my health due to these steps.

Do you find yourselves reacting more to smoke or odors or ink than you did
before?

If you have become chemically sensitive (MCS), then minor things that didn't
bother you before bothers you now. If you are, I have heard of no cure for
it. The only way out is to limit your exposure to chemicals, allergens,
odors, pollutants, etc. Hence, eliminating fabric softeners and diet drinks
will reduce some chemical exposure. My clothes are also washed in regular
baking soda instead of detergent to further reduce exposure to chemicals.

Just wanted to throw out a possible connection to MCS. I have no idea if
this pertains to you at all.

Regards, and best of luck to both of you!

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AndrewF - 11 Jun 2004 08:21 GMT

> I have a similar condition to yours. It is very confusing. I am very
> sensitive to certain dyes in clothes, and many other things, and am also
> sensitive to ALL materials, cotton, satin, etc.

Wow - nasty...

> I'm going to theorize that your exposure in that apartment has made you
> chemically sensitive. That means that only a tiny trace of an offending
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> extremely small traces of whatever contaminated your clothes will always be
> on them.

Well, so far it hasn't afftected any of the new clothes / fabrics etc,
so (hopefully) it's not transferring

> What I have done to improve my situation is: I no longer use fabric
> softeners on my clothes. Fabric softeners contain many harmful chemicals. If
> you have become chemically sensitive, using fabric softeners could make your
> reaction worse. If you are using fabric softeners on your clothes, the
> elimination of it might make the clothes wearable.

Currently we only use fabric softener on our towels (used most days)
and it doesn't seem to affect us, but thanks for the idea !

<snip>

> Do you find yourselves reacting more to smoke or odors or ink than you did
> before?

Absolutely - but not so much as with the 'old' clothes, and this
appears to be slowing over time. Unfortunately, the biggest factor
after 'old' clothes stuff is the climate - being an organic barometer
is no fun either

> Just wanted to throw out a possible connection to MCS. I have no idea if
> this pertains to you at all.

Thanks, at the moment I'm looking at almost anything !

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