My first clue that something was wrong revolved around cigarettes. For my out-of-country readers, I'm speaking here of American cigarettes.
For about seven years, I'd been socializing daily with chain smokers, sometimes with one chain smoker at a time, but even more often with groups, large and small, of chain smokers. If we went to diners for refreshments together, I always ended up in the smoking section with them. If I went to their homes, they smoked there, as well, indoors and outdoors.
I held my own but got frequent bouts of bronchitis and sore throats. These didn't faze me. I thought it was normal to get sick with that frequency, and in that way.
I had noticed, however, a few years before this, that if I sat in the cocktail section of a restaurant before dinner, by the bar where the most smoking took place (in those days), my eyebrows would get stiff and it became hard to move my eyes. I didn't connect this occurrence to the word "inflammation" or to anything medical whatsoever. I just wondered why my eyes would "get stuck" at such an inconvenient time. I'd get all dressed up to go out, I'd arrive at a restaurant all smiling and happy, and my eyes would start to feel like cement. Then my face would get stiff and it was physically hard to smile. I thought it was a psychological thing. A strange psychological thing. I mean, how many people go to a psychoanalyst and say, "Hi. I'm here because my eyes get stuck every time I socialize in the cocktail section of a restaurant"?
So this kind of thing had already been happening routinely, but what did I know or care about cigarette smoke? I was young; I didn't smoke. How could I be hurt by this?
By the end of seven years spent near chain smokers, however, something happened to me one night while I was in the smoking section of a diner. I got a horrible, horrible headache, so bad that I asked someone to take me to the hospital. Up until then, my early 20s, I was a person who never got headaches.
When we arrived at the emergency section of the hospital, the attending doctor seemed vague and baffled, and he offered me a strong painkilling drug. I didn't take the drug. I slumped outside and promptly threw up in the parking lot. Surprise -- there was the cure. That represented the end phase of the migraine.
I had to depart from every friend and acquaintance I knew, at that point, because they all smoked. This was a social death. I didn't know anybody else at that point, and it was getting nearly impossible to go out to restaurants or clubs or anything. Finally, it was completely impossible. This was before the anti-smoking laws took effect.
From there the chemical sensitivity mushroomed. I was to get migraines from cigarette smoke and scented candles and an increasing amount of never-before-thought-of chemical scents. I would get the migraines and throw up routinely for the next 10 years. Then, at the 10-year point, the migraines took a new turn and the vomiting phase was eliminated. This was a relief. But the migraines still kept coming in reaction to more and more chemicals.
I would like to write, next time, about the difference I found, in 2007, between American cigarettes and French/European cigarettes.
For now . . .
Cheers!
~ Daisies [Carolyn]
For about seven years, I'd been socializing daily with chain smokers, sometimes with one chain smoker at a time, but even more often with groups, large and small, of chain smokers. If we went to diners for refreshments together, I always ended up in the smoking section with them. If I went to their homes, they smoked there, as well, indoors and outdoors.
I held my own but got frequent bouts of bronchitis and sore throats. These didn't faze me. I thought it was normal to get sick with that frequency, and in that way.
I had noticed, however, a few years before this, that if I sat in the cocktail section of a restaurant before dinner, by the bar where the most smoking took place (in those days), my eyebrows would get stiff and it became hard to move my eyes. I didn't connect this occurrence to the word "inflammation" or to anything medical whatsoever. I just wondered why my eyes would "get stuck" at such an inconvenient time. I'd get all dressed up to go out, I'd arrive at a restaurant all smiling and happy, and my eyes would start to feel like cement. Then my face would get stiff and it was physically hard to smile. I thought it was a psychological thing. A strange psychological thing. I mean, how many people go to a psychoanalyst and say, "Hi. I'm here because my eyes get stuck every time I socialize in the cocktail section of a restaurant"?
So this kind of thing had already been happening routinely, but what did I know or care about cigarette smoke? I was young; I didn't smoke. How could I be hurt by this?
By the end of seven years spent near chain smokers, however, something happened to me one night while I was in the smoking section of a diner. I got a horrible, horrible headache, so bad that I asked someone to take me to the hospital. Up until then, my early 20s, I was a person who never got headaches.
When we arrived at the emergency section of the hospital, the attending doctor seemed vague and baffled, and he offered me a strong painkilling drug. I didn't take the drug. I slumped outside and promptly threw up in the parking lot. Surprise -- there was the cure. That represented the end phase of the migraine.
I had to depart from every friend and acquaintance I knew, at that point, because they all smoked. This was a social death. I didn't know anybody else at that point, and it was getting nearly impossible to go out to restaurants or clubs or anything. Finally, it was completely impossible. This was before the anti-smoking laws took effect.
From there the chemical sensitivity mushroomed. I was to get migraines from cigarette smoke and scented candles and an increasing amount of never-before-thought-of chemical scents. I would get the migraines and throw up routinely for the next 10 years. Then, at the 10-year point, the migraines took a new turn and the vomiting phase was eliminated. This was a relief. But the migraines still kept coming in reaction to more and more chemicals.
I would like to write, next time, about the difference I found, in 2007, between American cigarettes and French/European cigarettes.
For now . . .
Cheers!
~ Daisies [Carolyn]
2 comments:
Daisies, Ireland has long been the butt of jokes outlining how backward we are as a nation,'pigs in the parlour' and all of that. We were the first nation in the world to ban smoking in public places such as restaurants, schools, bars, hotels etc. It is now universally agreed, even among smokers that the legislation bringing the ban into effect is among the most enlightened in the world. Well done on your very important submission on the subject.
Thanks, patience and prodigal. After reading up on some European countries' legislation on public smoking (including their varying success or lack thereof), I made sure to give Ireland its due with the link in the "Cigarettes" tab, above.
Post a Comment