Synthetically Scented Dryer-Vent Fumes and Cardiac Peril

Hello, Friends,

When I visited France in 2007, I had a chance to sample French laundry products.  The ones that were available to our family turned out to be lovely.  They were not only lovely-smelling, but they also had no bad effects on any of us.  I had written a post a while back which detailed my remarkable ability, in France, to stand in the doorway of a laundromat:  Standing in the Doorway of the Laundromat.  Here in America, I can't even open the car windows driving through an area where scented laundry products permeate the air.  The difference between American laundry products now and those pleasant French laundry products of 2007 is obviously a huge one.

Yesterday, I tried to go to church.  Tried.  The church I attempted to attend* is in a residential neighborhood surrounded by homes with -- you guessed it -- dryer vents.  As I exited my car, which was parked behind the church, I realized I was walking through an invisible, newly-puffed cloud of synthetically scented laundry fumes.  The fumes were strong, sickeningly sweet, and inescapable.  They seemed to have been coming from the house next door.  This, for me, was an unusually "close" and consequently strong exposure. 

Arriving inside the church, I began to feel strangely weak and "green."  A window was open, for fresh air, but of course the dryer-vent fumes were also outside.  I felt almost faint, and very, very strange.  What was wrong, exactly?  I couldn't figure.  I felt shaky all over.  After about seven minutes or so, I realized it was my pulse.  It wasn't a full-blown attack of my usual tachycardia.  It was, however, a faster-than-normal heartbeat which would not calm down for anything.  My internal warning system said, "Get up and go.  Go home."

On the way home, I became certain that this racing pulse was related to the dryer-fumes exposure.  While driving, I began to get those old, familiar chest pains that I get when walking near laundromats and/or through neighborhoods where they've used pesticides and/or scented laundry products.  All the way home, I got those spasms of chest pain.  My entire body felt like it wanted to . . . squeeze.  In short, I felt as though I was on the verge of either a heart attack or a seizure.

The thought came to me:  What if I'd had a heart attack right then and there, in the church or in the church parking lot?  People would say, "Oh, yes, she was tired, she was carrying some extra weight, she had that strange problem with fragrances, you know.  She was not physically well.  So, that heart attack -- it was probably coming."

And if I'd lived through the heart attack, I'd say, "Have you considered the impact of synthetically scented dryer-vent fumes on sudden-death syndromes?"  One chemical researcher in the U.S. began her extremely helpful work when she saw a little boy go into seizures upon outdoor exposures to synthetically scented dryer-vent fumes.

Now, just to interject here an update on my iodine progress, I'm taking it every other day and did not take it yesterday.  I've had a pre-migraine headache all day today from my dryer-fumes exposure yesterday, complete with feeling wretched in every way (balance slightly off, movement more labored, etc.).  Still, having said that, I can also report that these post-exposure symptoms are a few notches lower in intensity than they could have been.  HOWEVER, some toxins, I believe, are just too powerful for my central nervous system and heart to surmount, even with special fortification (if the iodine can be considered a fortification).

Therefore -- and this is my own opinion here -- I truly believe there is a tremendous cardiac danger for at least some of us who are exposed to what others consider a "normal" amount of toxic laundry fumes (through dryer vents and via other heavy, close exposures) -- with or without supplemental iodine or whatever else boosts a given person's well-being and chemical tolerance.  There is a point reached where, no matter what, you absolutely have to get away from the chemical trigger.  The neurotoxins (nerve poisons) and other toxic substances present in synthetically scented laundry products can animate the nerves and demolish the body's defenses in some very nightmarish ways.

It has recently occurred to me that at least some of you readers who reside in countries other than America may not have ever smelled the types of synthetic laundry fragrances to which I'm repeatedly referring.  Had I been a reader from a country where they have "reasonably" scented -- and safer-scented -- laundry products, I would not understand what all the fuss was about!  So I thank, especially, those readers from other countries who have bothered to read my rants against synthetically scented laundry products here in North America.  If you have not yet smelled or been sickened by these products, then you must have an incredibly open mind.

I'd love to have some reader feedback on this!

Cheers!

~ Carolyn

*This dear little Latin Rite church of which I speak is small -- and rather cozy for those who can tolerate synthetic scents at very close range.  Unfortunately, there's not much ventilation, the church is usually packed with people, and the type of incense used there is one that I can't tolerate physically.  (I realize there are those who can't tolerate any church incense whatsoever.)  I end up trying -- and failing -- to attend Mass at this local little church in the evening when I've been too chemically sensitive even to attempt to attend Mass that morning.

I've noted different formulations of incense in different churches.  While I can't tolerate any kind of commercially sold home/store incense, I've done well with incense in the Eastern church.  Many times, this incense is purchased from the Holy Land and is of a more natural grade.  The Eastern church/parish I usually attend when I'm reasonably well is big enough and sufficiently ventilated for me to survive; and the incense makes me cough at times, but the scent is not aversive to me and coughing is the worst that ever happens.  Also, I sing up in a choir loft, which helps me avoid detergent scents in the pews.  Then again, the scents in the pews aren't much during our Mass because the congregation is small.   What a footnote.  It was supposed to be short.  :)       ~ Carolyn, July 7, 2014