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     Gayle asked me to pass these on to the whole list.  It really shows how
sensitive to chemicals we can be, and around certain solvents I am just as
sensitive.
 
>Dwight,  Your letter about being sensitive to solvents and various fumes
>stuck a raw chord with me.  When I was teaching junior high school English
>there were some busy-work projects that required the use of  marking pens
>and I began noticing that I just wasn't tracking after those pens had been
>in use in the class room.  Furthermore, I realized that the kids were
>reacting with bizarre behavior.  So I spent my own money and bought
>water-color marking pens that did not out-gas.  The problem was completely
>solved.
>
>If only that were the end of it.  If I took the  school newspaper to the
>printer, I was almost ill and definitely befuddled after just a minute or
>two at the printers.  I solved that by sending someone else to do the job.
>
>As a housewife, I have similar troubles with some cleaning and waxing
>products and have quit using those unless I can hire someone else to come
>in and work while I am out of the house and the windows can be left open to
>completely clear the air.  Gassing up the car is also a problem, and I make
>every effort to place the car in a row where I can stand up-wind of the
>open tank.
>
>The problem is more complex.  I always traveled the same route to work or
>to go into downtown Minneapolis, and many days I would become tearful and
>extremely depressed as I drove.  Finally I began to analyze what was
>happening, as I left the house feeling cheerful and happy just minutes
>before.  It became obvious in this case that it was at the same red light
>where the depression and tears would begin.  A Freudian analist would say
>that something had happened at that corner, but as the same thing did
>happen on other roads at odd times, I just began to keep mental records.
>Finally I realized that if I sat in a closed car at a red light behind a
>General Motors car - especially a Chevrolet - the utter despair and
>depression would be sure to follow in short order.  Stopping my car farther
>back, opening the windows (in a Minnesota winter(!) and forcing myself to
>breathe as little as possible until the car was in motion and clear air was
>flowing in the windows turned out to be the answer. Now that we have moved
>to Ithaca, NY and are living beside a lake where there is no traffic and
>therefore no fumes, I find my health much improved.
>
>Altho my husband has none of these symptoms, he has now learned to
>recognize the smell that will affect me, and will automatically run the
>windows down if we get stuck in a line of traffic behind an offending car.
>
>I don't know if this is of any help to you, Dwight, but it is my
>experience.  I do find that if I have been completely free of any form of
>sugar, no soy, no MSG, and no milk products, as well as no wheat, rye,
>barley and the whole extensive list of celiac no-nos, I am better able to
>hold out for a minute or so, but the fumes in all cases affect my thinking
>ability, my mood, and my general sense of well being.
>
>How could I forget to mention out-gassing from carpet and fabric...I had to
>move out of our house in Minnesota while a new kitchen carpet was aired out
>for a month, and now I'm having a similar problem with the carpet in my
>husband's den where this computer resides.  My eyes get watery, my nose
>stuffs up, and my head gets fuzzy.  The same is true with stay-press
>clothes, sheets, those awful synthetic blankets, etc.   It's a problem when
>we travel.  I carry sheets and blankets and our own pillows for motels.
>
> Dwight,  P.S. Reading some of your other responses makes me realize that I
>never mentioned perfumes - nor men's colognes.  I once bought a new,
>wonderful fragrance and went on a trip, where we were wining and dining and
>I was dressed up and using the cologne liberally.  By the end of four days
>I had such a dreadful "cold" I was unable to speak.  It took a month
>without using the cologne to get well - but this was years ago and I did
>not make the connection until I started to use the fragrance again.  Oops -
>Familiar symptoms.  I will walk all around the outside of a store to avoid
>the perfume counters, and where they are handing out little cards that are
>imbued with fragrance - of when magazines arrive with fragrant pages, I'm
>miserable.   After rehearsing for a concert for a whole summer I went to
>the dress rehearsal in a room that had just been painted with oil based
>paint ---- and missed the concert completely.  Not funny. This all seems a
>foolish exaggeration to those who have not experienced the symptoms.  I
>have never really thought about celiac and this out-gas problem as being
>related, because now that I am truly gluten-free I still have trouble with
>fumes, but I suppose they all fall into the category of sensitivities.
>
>I'm beginning to regret not sending these three messages to the whole group
>- would you be so kind as to forward them?  Thanks.  Gayle K