Perfume allergy...what to do?

[Rocknurse]

I am the charge nurse of an acute dialysis unit and I am stuck in a 4-bedded room all day. Over the past few months I have noticed that I have developed a severe allergy to perfume. It is so overwhelming that as soon as someone walks into the room wearing perfume I immediately recoil and start having breathing difficulties ( I have asthma too) and I literally feel like I can't breathe. Shortly after an exposure to perfume, I start getting a severe headache, nausea and fatigue. My trachea feels like it's been burned for a few hours afterwards. I have posted some signs around the room and on the door warning people to please not wear perfume in the dialysis room but people just don't notice or ignore it.

The problem is that my manager is not based in the hospital as we are contractors. I don't feel like I can approach the hospital management for fear of upsetting my own management and I don't think anyone is going to take this seriously. In a hospital you have no control over who is coming into the door. Thankfully we don't allow relatives or visitors but the issues I have had are mainly with doctors, other nurses and transport people. I asked a transport worker the other day to please not wear perfume if she was going to come to dialysis and she looked at me as if I was insane. She said "what can I do if I need to come to dialysis?". I said "maybe not wear perfume to work". She complained to her manager who called me and yelled at me as if I was asking for something outrageous. Luckily these people don't stay long, however the after effects of the chemical exposure last for hours afterwards.

Has anyone had any experience of dealing with this? I am feeling ill! :sstrs:

[GeneralJinjur]

I would solve the problem from my end, and be done with it. Be self sufficient. Bring air purifiers, fans, oust air neutralizer, they even gave some kind of air wave air neutralizer that uses ionic technology....... Bring alcohol pads and shove them under your nose, it will numb your sense of smell for at least 2 hours, if not longer......also works with Bengay or aspircream.

I've read similar discussions of Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, including a neat study which found that anti-anxiety drugs helped most sufferers. I just wanted to address the idea of solving the problem by reducing your sense of smell. I've gotten sick(er?) while completely stuffed up with seasonal allergies. It's annoying because I don't realize there's something I need to get away from and I'll wind up with a rash on my exposed skin and sometimes hives before the asthma catches my attention. I'm guessing that there's some other component that is causing the reaction, rather than my ability to smell the offender.

Sadly, the rest of your post was right on.

[Batman25]

I totally feel your pain. Thankfully we have a no perfume policy. I'd die without it. I worked in a non-nursing job where the woman practically bathed in Bed and Bath products every hour at work. I was so sick I finally told her and she stopped despite not being thrilled with my request.

I would work to implement this policy. I would also bring in a note in regards to your allergies and see if that helps. I keep menthol cough drops on me at all times in case I run into a situation like this. They seem to keep my chest a little more open. Also, put a little something under your nose. That can help as well.

Truthfully no one should be wearing a scent that strong at work anyway. I can't imagine being a patient with an upset stomach and being assaulted with scent after scent even if I wasn't allergic.

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

To me, this is surprising that people who work in a hospital and have pt contact are allowed to wear perfume..it's written into our policy..no perfume. Now, do some break this rule? Yes, but at least we have a way to remedy the situation if problems arise. We had a desk person in the OR who wore way too much aftershave..he was spoken to.

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

Thanks for all your replies. I do believe it is more a chemical sensitivity than a true allergy as I have systemic symptoms such as nausea, fogginess and a general ill feeling after exposure. There's no way I would take an anti-anxiety med. Not only am I not anxious, but this implies that it's all in my head! I have Endometriosis, and there have been many suggestions over the years that checmical exposure is a contributing factor to this disease. I fear that over the years my tolerance of this has become less and less and now I am starting to feel very ill. I have tried detox, I eat pure food and stay away from chemicals but nothing seems to help. The last place I expected to be exposed to a poison was in a hospital.

I wish it was a simple as asking my coworkers to stop wearing perfume, but actually it's not my coworkers....it's other staff from all over the hospital that come into my room. The last person, who actually I had the most severe reaction to, was believe it or not....a pulmonoligist! Ironic, I know. I think they best way to do this is have a quiet and respectful word wth repeat offenders, rather than going to management. I'll see if this approach works first. Peple really don't want to be responsible for making others sick and maybe if they realized, they would stop doing it.

[Lala27poodles]

Okay, so you refuse to take medication for your self diagnosed illness......?

So basically it's up to all of US to change.....

If I were you, I would fix the problem from MY end and not BOTHER other people because they choose to wear perfume. I'm sure your hospital has a no perfume rule, and if someone has on too much, report them.

I REAAAAAALLLLLY wouldn't tell people not to wear their scents.

A.) It implies that they stink (to you, at least)

B.) They'll probably ignore your request, and if you push the issue, they'll probably tell you to go fly a kite.

Seriously, why would someone change their daily routine that has never bothered anyone else because ONE person they come into contact with for a very tiny portion of the day doesn't approve? I know I wouldn't, unless that thing I was doing was PROVEN to make people really sick.

I wear a very light scented, non overbearing scent that is supposed to smell like rain and grass (nature, I guess). I think it's lovely, and it doesn't smell unless you get really close to me, like a deoderant. If someone asked me to stop wearing that, I doubt I would. I'd probably keep wearing and avoid that person in the future.

I'm just saying, by not even TRYING to fix the problem yourself, your basically making everyone else responsible for how you feel...and no one will even care as much as you do about your own health.

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

I personally witnessed another RN have an anaphalatic reaction to a strong aftershave. We had to take her down to the ER and eventually watched her be intubated!

The nurse had to retire she was unable to work effectively because you can put a policy in place for staff not to wear perfume but you can't stop patients or the general public

Thank you. You cannot make people do the right thing. You can post all the signs you want, get management to back you up, but you will never change the way people behave. I have a friend who has a strong peanut allergy. One of her students decided it would be funny to chew a bunch of peanut M&Ms and then breathe in her face. She instantly had an anaphylactic reaction right there in the classroom! Because the police deemed it an accident, nobody was charged and the students all thought it was hysterical. She eventually had to be moved to a different class to get away from these teenage monstors. My sister has serious problems with aspartame. She gets short of breath and has palpitations. If she doesn't lie down, she faints. And yet, I have seen people offer her food that I know contains apartame and when she asks if it has Nutrasweet or aspartame in it, I've seen them LIE to her face! DSis refuses to eat any pot-luck food or anything made in someone else's home for this reason.

People don't get that when you have an allergy, it's serious business. They sometimes think that "a little bit won't hurt you." If and when they develop allergies to something, THEN theyll care. But until then, it won't even cross their radar