Study: Home air fragrance can contribute to asthma and allergy issues

A new study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) discusses how and why air freshners can affect our health.

The study talks about volatile organic compounds (VOCs) being found in numerous home fragrance products. Some VOCs include formaldehyde, terpenes, benzene, alcohols and ammonia. Certain chemicals found in fragrances contain ingredients considered toxic or hazardous under federal laws. VOCs can trigger headaches and respiratory tract irritation. There are also concerns about phthalates being discovered in fragrances which have been reported to cause hormone disruptions and cancer.

Statistics from the study “Is that Breath of Fresh Air Really Fresh? Do air freshners help?”….

• 20% of general population and 34% of asthmatics reported health problems from air freshners.
• 30% of general population and 38% of asthmatics reported problems when exposed to other’s scented products.
• 58% of people with chemical sensitivity report health problems from air freshners.

This presentation suggested that doctors consider fragrance exposure in diagnosis and discuss the problems of fragrances with their patients. They even recommended one patient stop wearing perfume and using home air fragrances as part of her allergy treatment.

Please look at the original study, here is the link

http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/0083-000282_handout_pres.pdf

If you would like more info from the ACAAI conference use this link

http://acaai.omnibooksonline.com/annualmeeting2011/index.html

What is a migraine and why do fragrances trigger my headaches?

When I often tell people that fragrances can give me migraine headaches, they say something about allergy issues. Most people do not understand that a migraine headache is a neurological disorder and can be triggered by fragrances.

I get migraines because my brain easily gets over stimulated. It’s this stimulation that tells my brain to increase production of certain chemicals. These chemicals can cause other reactions to happen which can result in nausea, throbbing pain, blood vessels dilating and constricting, difficulty concentrating, and a range of other unpleasant side effects.

The best way for me to manage my headaches is to avoid my triggers, keeping the stimulation under control. I think of it on a point system. It takes 100 points to get a headache. Not sleeping 7 hours is worth 25 points, eating poorly is worth 25 points, chocolate is worth 10 points, smelling strong perfume is worth 65 points, drinking 2 cups of coffee is worth 15 points, stress can be worth 35 points and so on. If I combine too many triggers in a day I’m done for. And yes, fragrances would be the trigger I assign the most points to.

With certain perfumes/ fragrances all it can take is a whiff of a passerby and my brain starts to tingle. I know I have to be extremely careful the rest of the day or I need to take Excedrin as a preemptive strike.  I am in complete control of most of my triggers except fragrances. People close to me avoid fragranced products but all the acquaintances I run into in a day, well that’s a different story. I don’t expect everyone to stop wearing fragrances but I would hope people would keep them a little more to themselves. You should not be smelling them unless you are in their personal space. When they walk past you and leave a scent trail, well that’s a bit much.

Why is my nervous system so sensitive? I suspect genetics has something to do with it but I’m not certain.

There are good resources out there that give more details about the chemicals involved in migraines, here are a few….

A short video that contains animation which shows the biological process of a migraine headache happening and explains which chemicals are involved… http://video.healthination.com/usnews/migraines.html

Magnum – Migraines awareness group detailed article about myths and facts of Migraines…  http://www.migraines.org/myth/mythreal.htm

HealthCentral- a website that has lots of good information on migraines…. http://www.healthcentral.com/migraine/understanding-migraine-000097_3-145.html

Doctor Questions Fragrance Industry Regulations and Toxic Dangers in Perfumes

Dr. Samuel S. Epstein,  Professor emeritus Environmental & Occupational Medicine at The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and Chairman of Cancer Prevention Coalition, wrote an interesting article about  how the perfume industry is regulated and the possible health risks associated with fragrances.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samuel-s-epstein/toxic-chemicals_b_625648.html

Did Your Perfume Make the List? Secret Chemicals Hidden in Fragrances

Ever wonder what’s in a perfume? I do, considering many of them trigger my migraines. And so did the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics who commissioned lab tests analyzed by the Environmental Working Group. They tested more than a dozen name brand fragrances like Chanel Coco, Britney Spears Curious, Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio (for men), American Eagle 77 and Calvin Klein Eternity (for women). The EWG says there were 38 secret chemicals found in these tests and on average the fragranced products had 14 chemicals not listed on the labels. They also claim that some of these chemicals can have ” troubling hazardous properties”.

See if your perfume is on list, learn about how these chemicals are regulated and  check out EWG’s charts that show which products had the most chemicals. It is very interesting read….

http://www.ewg.org/notsosexy

ABCNews took their research and did a story about it well. Here is the link to that article….

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/perfume-/story?id=10616697

I don’t know what to make of these findings. I really hope this will inspire more scientists to look into what is in fragrances and how it affects our health.  I would also hope that companies that use fragrances put a good effort forth to reduce harmful chemicals in fragrances. I buy fragrance free products and I hope more people will join me. If we show our concern with our dollars maybe companies will listen.

Phthalates in Fragrances, Harmful to our Health? 60 Minutes Investigates…

Researching my sensitivity to fragrances, I keep reading about Phthalates and how harmful some people believe these chemicals can be. They are supposed to be found in many fragrances, cosmetics and plastics. CBS News 60 Minutes did an investigation into this controversy. I found it quite interesting.

Here’s the link to the print story with links on the page to the video story. I highly recommend watching the full video story if your internet can handle it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/21/60minutes/main6506892.shtml