Medsarticles. Medical Weblog

Stop using chemicals that you commonly use on yourself, or around the home. For best results, get a box or bag and go around your home, putting in it anything you find – such as toothpaste, soap, deodorant, shaving gels, the contents of your bathroom cupboard or shelves, talc, all perfumes and aftershaves, bubble baths, hair gels, sprays, mousses, cosmetics, baby wipes and lotions. Include all cleaning products -soap powder and liquid, fabric softeners, bleaches, disinfectants, toilet cleaner, bath cleaner, oven cleaner, washing-up liquid, polishes, shoe polish, everything. Remember to include air fresheners and toilet fresheners; remove any that are stuck to surfaces. Collect up any DIY products, gardening chemicals, and glues, sticky tapes, felt-pens or similar stationery products. Take anything you see. You will probably be amazed at how much there is.

Put the box or bag in a shed or outside the house where the fumes will not reach you. Open the windows and doors and air the place right through for a short while – a few hours or longer, if you can. Keep it well ventilated.

Use only basic personal hygiene and cleaning products as listed below for the length of the programme. Persuade people who live with you to use the same things if you possibly can, to reduce your exposure still further. The same things can also be used on babies and children.

• For tooth powder, use sodium bicarbonate or table salt

• For soap, use Simple Soap or Kay’s Vegetable Oil Soap

• For shampoo, use Simple Shampoo or Crimpers Shampoo

• For shaving gel, use Simple shaving gel or soap as above

For names of products that chemically sensitive people tolerate well for laundry, dish-washing, general cleaning and toilet cleaners. Use the products recommended there for the elimination period, or:

• For laundry, use Borax, or sodium bicarbonate or washing soda

• For dish-washing, use washing soda

• For general cleaning, use washing soda

• For toilets, use Borax

Only use drugs and medicines during the programme that you absolutely have to have. Consult a doctor about whether you can leave out or change any medication before starting the programme. If you use emollients or ointments for eczema or dermatitis, try to do without them completely during the test period – you may actually be sensitive to them. Do not use home medicines. If you cannot do without a painkiller, use Paracetamol rather than aspirin or other compounds.

Avoid doing tasks that use strong chemicals if you can, such as DIY, car maintenance, or using glues and solvent-based writing materials. Do not use garden sprays or chemicals. Avoid solvent-based felt-tip pens and white correction fluid.

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Paint strippers are of two basic kinds – organic solvent-based ones which dissolve paint, and caustic strippers which are applied as a paste, allowing the paint then to be peeled away. Avoid using solvent-based strippers as significant fumes are given off on use. Using caustic strippers is probably preferable to using a blowtorch, where you will have to deal with the fumes of the blowtorch and of the paint or varnish being burnt.

Caustic strippers are based on caustic alkalis, and can burn the skin on contact, but do not cause sensitivity. Take all usual precautions with face, hands and body when using irritant materials and handle all waste carefully.

Langlow make Safer Paint and Varnish Stripper which is water-soluble, and does not contain caustic soda, or methylene chloride. It is less irritant than other caustic strippers, but still requires careful handling. It is available from DIY shops, and Do It All.

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No independent test reports have been done for air filters and cleaners. The following assessment is based on the judgement of doctors and nurses, and the experience of a range of users with allergies and sensitivity.

If you are exceptionally sensitive to particles, such as dusts, moulds and pollens, or if you are very sensitive to chemicals, you should only consider higher efficiency machines.

Smaller filters

If you are not sensitive to chemicals, nor very highly allergic, most of the smaller filters will be sufficient to take out a high level of particle allergens and will be fine for most people’s needs. Some of the best small filters include the Trion Electrion, the NSA 1200A, the Medivac F400 and the Mountain Breeze F400. These all have a thin layer of activated carbon filter which takes out some chemical vapours, but they are not highly effective against chemicals. For filters which are, see below.

The Trion Electrion has an electrostatic filter, a thin carbon filter and a permanent ioniser (see above). It is small, unobtrusive and very portable. It is very quiet to run and has three speeds of operation. It has a marked effect on particles and dusts, according to people who have used it. Its price (at 1992) is quoted between £80 and £100. Its electrostatic filter can be washed; its carbon filters need replacing every six months, costing £7 each. It is available from Air Improvement Centre, Beta-Plus or direct from Trion (addresses below).

The NSA 1200A is larger than the Trion Electrion but still light, unobtrusive and portable. It has an electrostatic filter, a fabric filter and a thin layer of activated carbon. It has an optional fragrancer which you should not use if you are chemically sensitive. It makes as much noise as a quiet fan heater. You can buy a carrying bag for it which is useful if you wish to carry it around with you. It has good reports from users and samplers, but it is more expensive – about £150 at 1992 prices. (At this price, a more effective, but less portable, medium-size filter [see below] would be a better buy.) Filters (£20 each) need replacing every six months. The NSA is available from Beta-Plus or NSA distributors (addresses on pages 241-2).

The Mountain Breeze F400 and the Medivac F400 also receive good reports from those who use them. (These two are virtually identical machines.) They are generally viewed to be less effective than either the Trion or the NSA devices, but nonetheless make a difference to air quality and are worth considering. They are cheaper in price (about £70), with replacement filters (£6) renewable every six months. These devices have an ioniser built-in, an electrostatic filter, and a thin activated carbon filter. They have an optional fragrancer, and three speeds of operation. They are as small and unobtrusive as the Trion, but noisier in operation. They have a stronger smell of plastic when new, but this does wear off. These are available from Air Improvement Centre, Beta-Plus, Medivac or Mountain Breeze.

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If you are extremely sensitive to a food or foods, you may react even to the smell or vapours of the foods, or to handling them. You may also be affected by other people eating them in your presence, or if you go into canteens, cafes or restaurants.

To protect your hands when preparing foods, wear gloves. Use cooking methods that minimise cooking times and fumes. Ventilate well. Keep chopping boards separate if necessary to keep juices off your own food.

You may have to avoid public places where food fumes are found if you are badly affected. Members of your family or household may have to modify their diet and leave out things that upset you. Avoid situations that you know upset you.

Tiny traces of moulds adhere to cut or just prepared food, vegetables and fruit, and in refrigerators and freezers. These may upset you if you are highly sensitive to moulds.

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