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:

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Can you wear a mask?

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

I did contact the hospital Occupational health and the hospital do not have a policy on perfume. I wear a mask to start dialysis treatments but I can't wear a mask for 40-60 hours a week. That's just not practical. I never know when an exposure will happen and when it happens it's often too late to put on a mask.

[Meraki]

I have found that most people don't particularly care...

I don't know if it is so much that people don't care as it is that there are SO many allergies now that it is almost impossible to cater to everyone's personal triggers for reactions. Obviously for those you are close to you would expect them to go to great lengths to minimize any reactions, but for strangers (patients, visitors, workers that come and go) they are in contact with so many people that caring about everyone's allergies becomes almost impossible.

For example - myself! I am allergic to the smell of coffee - it makes my eyes and throat burn, my eyes and nose run, gives me a headache and makes me sneeze. It means sometimes I can't stay in report and that frequently throughout the day I am triggered - yet I accept that as the burden of my own allergy issues. I am also very allergic to cats and dogs and I react (including asthma attacks) to coworkers who come in with pet hair on their coats / clothes. I also have allergies to nuts, fruits, and perfumes...

Few people cater to my allergies - is it because they don't care - no, but it would be very disruptive to their lives to be expected to not drink coffee or be around animals in order to show me they care. I don't expect that from them at all. I have no issue with banning perfume in hospitals or in asking people to avoid wearing it, I just don't think that not catering means not caring.

[scoochy]

Have you given any thought to paying a visit to the Occupational Health Dept. in your facility to make them aware of your allergy? Someone there may be a catalyst with regard to this issue.

I worked with a nurse who had a severe allergy to peanuts. Just the smell of peanuts would send her into bronchospasm. MDs would walk into the PACU with peanut butter crackers, and we would inform them under no circumstances were peanut butter, along with food, allowed in the PACU. The nurse had to resort to seeking assistance from Occupational Health. Signs were placed outside the PACU doors, as well as in the unit re: PEANUT ALLERGY. It caused quite a "stir," but it did work!

[Sweetadelyne]

I had an allergic reaction to the chemicals in a temperpedic pillow. My husband was being sweet and thought I might like one and that night I had to go to the ER because of "chemical allergic reaction". I felt as if my throat was closing in and I couldn't get enough air. Apparently, in a chemical reaction it just feels like you can't breath because everything is irritated. I truly feel for you if this is what you are experiencing! This is very serious- definately get a note from your Dr. to give to your management.

[catshowlady]

If you don't get results by being reasonable, you may have to resort to a lawsuit. Not that I advocate suing over petty stuff, but your abiliity to breathe is not a trivial thing. (ABC's, anyone?) I just read a story yesterday about a lady in Detroit who won a lawsuit under similar circumstances.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/15/ap/strange/main6299178.shtml

:paw:

[Michaelxy]

If you don't get results by being reasonable, you may have to resort to a lawsuit. Not that I advocate suing over petty stuff, but your abiliity to breathe is not a trivial thing. (ABC's, anyone?) I just read a story yesterday about a lady in Detroit who won a lawsuit under similar circumstances.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/15/ap/strange/main6299178.shtml

:paw:

Before any action as you have suggested could be taken, the OP would need to have verification of this allergy, ie. Skin patch test, intradermal test, allergy blood test, and whatever else they test to confirm an allergy. Further, the OP would had to have demonstrated that steps were taken to mitigate the allergic response such as medications. And even after this, it would be a difficult at best to challenge as any good lawyer could dispute that the allergens were of origins beyond the hospitals control. To sue just because you have an aversion to Pepe Le Pew's Parfume will not get you anywhere but unemployed.

This is not to say that the OP does not have a valid complaint, but one must get all their ducks in a row before such drastic measures are taken.

Sorry, was that too harsh? I get irked by the sue solution so often spoke of in so many lunchrooms.

[catshowlady]

No, not too harsh, and I agree with you. Just too tired to write a long post last night. I dislike the "sue first" culture too. Just wanted to point out that there has been a successful lawsuit over a similar issue.

I see both sides of the issue. I love perfume, but I get migraines, and when I have a migraine, I can't stand to be around overly perfumed people. Every whiff makes the headache & nausea worse. Hospital workers shouldn't be wearing it anyway, there are too many pts who react to it for a variety of reasons.

Honestly, if the OP's coworkers would just do the right thing and respect the rules that are probably already in place, a lawsuit would not be necessary. It is shameful that people have to resort to lawsuits to get people to do the right thing.

:paw:

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

I am just shocked that there is not a "NO PERFUME" policy. Obviously there are good reasons to have such a policy in place.

I hope your inhalers work. Keep us posted.

[Lala27poodles]

Okay, yes, perfume can make you sneeze, eyes water, etc...

However unless someone has severe problems I highly doubt a perfume would make someone go into anaphylactic shock like someone mentioned earlier. Can you imagine how often the perfume companies would be sued if somehow someone could prove that perfumes make people sick? Think about it for a minute.....

Listen, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, and I'm sure you already know it: The reason you think people might not believe you is because often times people lie or exaggerate their "allergies". Of there are plenty of legitimate allergies, such as iodine, pet dander, pollen, etc... We know about these, they can be tested and proven. However, recently we have been dealing with "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity", which is a disorder in which patients believe that everyday household chemicals, perfumes, and basically anything that has a smell to it makes them range from allergy symptoms to violently ill. Many doctors have nixed the idea, saying it's more psychological (in other words, they made it up) than an actual physical reaction.

Let me quote from Wikipedia:

"Ronald E. Gots, M.D., an environmental toxicologist and frequent defense consultant in toxic tort litigation,[12] describes MCS as "a label given to people who do not feel well for a variety of reasons and who share the common belief that chemical sensitivities are to blame. ... It has no consistent characteristics, no uniform cause, no objective or measurable features. It exists because a patient believes it does and a doctor validates that belief."[13] In editorial in the Journal of Toxicology - Clinical Toxicology Gots wrote that "The phenomenon of multiple chemical sensitivities is a peculiar manifestation of our technophobic and chemophobic society. ... It may be the only ailment in existence in which the patient defines both the cause and the manifestations of his own condition."

So what I'm saying is you have a lot stacked against you unfortunately. IF you get them to believe your allergies are as severe as you claim, then you will also have to prove that to all the disbelieving patients and their families who chose to wear perfume. That's going to be a LIFETIME of explaining, and unless you like feeling 'special' all the time, it's gonna get real old real quick.

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.

[madwife2002, BSN, 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

[tewdles, RN]

regardless the pathophysiology, the symptoms associated with sensitivity to olfactory stimulation are real and noxious.

it is true that this represents a unique set of challenges for those who suffer these sensitivities but it is important not to minimize the symptoms as experienced by the victims...IMHO.