wearing perfume to work

jeepgirl, LPN, NP · Feb 19, 2006

from both sides of the fence (nurse and patient)

i am compelled to chime in here seeming that fragrances (chemicals) are the main source of my disability.

it started out with migraines and now i am completely disabled from chemicals and isolated / homebound for 15 years because of this. mind you, i am not talking inconvenienced by "smells" as it is not an allergy but has grown into a severe neurological problem as well as affecting all of my organs.

it appears that most people are missing the obvious... and that is, that fragrances "natural" or otherwise are made of chemicals. so, is not the smell that makes so many of us sick it is the chemicals that the soaps, lotions, perfumes, body sprays, etc. are made of. most of these being petro chemicals. petro... yes, derived from the same as in gasoline for your car. this negative reaction happens when when it crosses the blood / brain barrier.

also keeping in mind... if chemicals (as in meds) can make you well they can also make you very sick. think of the fragrances, soaps and lotions that you slather your body with as one big transdermal patch coating all your skin and how it gets into your blood stream.

now, when it comes to getting migraines, asthma attacks and various other reactions from these fragrances, imagine what it would be like to become so incredibly disabled from fragrances and chemicals that you could not leave your house? you could not work, you could not shop, you could not visit or have visitors, you could not go to wedding or funerals (kids, parents, don't matter) and you could not participate in life.

well, that is where i come in.

my latest episode last month is trying to be admitted to the hospital for pancreatitis. i said "trying" because it was something that never happened. not only was there nowhere in the hospital to evaluate me as everywhere and everyone (defensively so) stunk of the usual "personal fragrances" natural, slight, just a spray, a hint of or otherwise but all the rooms have many fragranced sanitizing products in them. not to mention the disenfectants. i waited in an entry hallway for hours bot in pain as well as dehydrated while staff tried to find a room that didn't reek of toxic products, disenfectants or other and was told that there was no way to admit me because there was no room in the hospital to admit me to that didn't have toxic air from these industrial products. also interesting, was that when my doc (who has a fragrance free office) called the hospital from her office to admit me there was not a single nurse that could step forward to help me by being truely "fragrance free." everyone had "just a little" of something on. so, who polices that fragrance free policy ?

so, 10 hours later i ended up with an iv and given 5 bags of fluids to self administer at home ! thank goodness i was a nurse, what would have happened if i wasn't is frightening for me to think about. imagine being that sick and not being able to be accommodated / admitted.

well... bring me a nurse with her clothes dried with bounce and i will show you a code blue ! i will show you anaphylaxis like you have never seen before. and yet, she will not only be trying to save my life but will be the cause of the anaphylaxis and not even know it. after all, she only has shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, deoderant, lotion, nail polish, moisturizer, laundry detergent, bounce, body spray, deoderant soap, and fabreeze ... but she is not wearing any "perfume" !!!

these are all triggers to a person living with mcs.
multiple chemical sensitivity.

and to think .... there are thousands and thousands of people suffering behind closed doors from mcs and many of them are healthcare workers and teachers. many not even making the connection between the chemicals and fragrances and their own health problems.

for me, i think of it as a huge waste of a pediatric special care nurse !

i had a patient that had mcs (mom's dx). she was a pedi patient. mom insisted that a distant relative had it, that that the daughter was "prone to it." by the end of her stay, she "had it." no, the doc didn't dx her with that... and she had no "reactions" while mom was not there. however, mom would state that she was having reactions the minute she walked back on the floor. i believe in mcs (some people do not) however, i think that there are some patients who do not meet that criteria really but are kind of... over the top about it and maybe just a little paranoid and misunderstand it. the mom would scream at all the nurses that the hospital soaps were setting her daughter's mcs off, and that we should only use dove soaps (which some of the variations set my asthma off!). it was a little stressful for all involved (including the patient / family) to say the least.

rambisisking · Feb 19, 2006

i had a patient that had MCS (mom's dx). she was a pedi patient. mom insisted that a distant relative had it, that that the daughter was "prone to it." by the end of her stay, she "had it." no, the doc didn't dx her with that... and she had no "reactions" while mom was not there. however, mom would state that she was having reactions the minute she walked back on the floor. i believe in MCS (some people do not) however, i think that there are SOME patients who do not meet that criteria really but are kind of... over the top about it and maybe just a little paranoid and misunderstand it. the mom would scream at all the nurses that the hospital soaps were setting her daughter's MCS off, and that we should only use dove soaps (which some of the variations set MY asthma off!). it was a little stressful for all involved (including the patient / family) to say the least.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand the point of your comment.

Quilternurse · Feb 19, 2006

I was a Pediatric Special Care nurse before I became severely disabled with MCS. It happened at the ripe old age of 36 ! I am glad that I had the years that I did in nursing. We will soon be in the process of building a Formaldehyde Free - Non toxic home.

It is soooo true... we spend the first half of our life spending our health to make money and the second half of our life spending our money to buy back our health!!!

I believe that everyone is at risk for this and is just one spray away from MCS.

rambisisking · Feb 19, 2006

I was a Pediatric Special Care nurse before I became severely disabled with MCS. It happened at the ripe old age of 36 ! I am glad that I had the years that I did in nursing. We will soon be in the process of building a Formaldehyde Free - Non toxic home.
It is soooo true... we spend the first half of our life spending our health to make money and the second half of our life spending our money to buy back our health!!!
I believe that everyone is at risk for this and is just one spray away from MCS.

I agree with you, we are all one spray away, Didn't anyone see "The Incredible Shrinking Woman"? I realize it was a movie and a made up story, but the message is real. If you haven't seen it you should.

Thank you Quilternurse for "chiming in". I have a very close friend who is living your life. For the past 15 years, she has gone through different degrees of the illness and has had to stop shopping, working, visiting or be visited, she has had the cork board removed from her kitchen cupboards, the nickel removed from the fillings in her teeth. She has had to learn to live without any kind of media, reading or writing materials, most clothing, bedding and carpeting. Her husband and daughter have had to rent a studio so that he can work and she can play with her toys and they can watch tv or listen to music. She sleeps on a hard wood floor because even the linens and mattress contain chemicals that are harmfull to her now. I remember pulling up in front of their house once and her husband, bless his heart, was standing on a ladder in front of the house, holding up a book to the window and turning the pages so she could read, we can only visit through the window. This is no joke and it can happen to anyone. We continue to debate whether this is valid or not...Geeze, don't these peoples lives make it valid? See it just simply doesn't come down to what you think or what I think, its real because people live it, not because we believe it or don't believe it.

JessicRN · Feb 19, 2006

I wish we had a policy of no scents or perfumes. We have two people both of which who are non nurses. They smell like they bathed in perfume and the scent stays for up to 10 minutes after they have left. I get physically ill whenever I go near them. I have written to my nurse manager but so far no one has spoken to them:angryfire

lcn · Feb 19, 2006

so far no policy stated for no perfumes at work, anyway most of the staff using it. as long as it's not too strong. :clown:

jeepgirl, LPN, NP · Feb 19, 2006

I'm sorry, but I don't understand the point of your comment.

then read the comment and the entire thread again.

we've had people on the thread stating that some who are reacting to fragrances are over reacting, and others who say that they are not. MCS is the same way. there are very true cases of it... and then there are not. the ones that are not true cases can make the very true cases of it misunderstood... and that is a really a shame.

rambisisking · Feb 20, 2006

then read the comment and the entire thread again.
we've had people on the thread stating that some who are reacting to fragrances are over reacting, and others who say that they are not. MCS is the same way. there are very true cases of it... and then there are not. the ones that are not true cases can make the very true cases of it misunderstood... and that is a really a shame.

In alot of illness there are those that have true cases and those who don't. The fact that this illness is so misunderstood and truly not investigated properly should not leave as much speculation to nurses who believe it can be judged. Because you don't witness a reaction that you can recognize does not mean there is not one. We don't know enough about this to be deciding whether it is true or not in anyone. As nurses we treat someones pain or discomfort whether we believe it to be true or not.

TlcprnMN · Feb 20, 2006

we are not allowed to wear anything scented at our hospital per policy, however the styff they spray after a "code brown" is :sniff: :sniff: bad!

KyPinkRN · Feb 20, 2006

i am allergic to stinking and filthy patients.
i wheeze when i get near them. the dust mites and lice leap onto my skin and bite me. they make me hyperventilate.
when they all start bathing once a week, i'll quit wearing perfume to work.
they can take away my perfume bottle when they pry it from my cold, dead hand.
:angryfire
this everyones allergic to everyone is getting out of hand!

:yeahthat: :yeah:

:yeahthat:

i couldn't have said it any better myself

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 20, 2006

If you're wearing perfume to the point that you can smell it off of yourself, chances are it's too much for other people (including the pts.!). There are other ways of masking out funk w/o a person's own perfume (and i've done it even without an actual mask).

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 20, 2006

Because you don't witness a reaction that you can recognize does not mean there is not one. We don't know enough about this to be deciding whether it is true or not in anyone.

I agree. Typically when i've started wheezing, people don't hear it, because i try to catch it before it's loud. And, of course, a headache or migraine cannot be seen.

Luckily, we've got a strict policy in our dept. against perfumes. But that only happened as a result of someone wearing a perfume that several people (we were told over 40 complaints out of appx 250 ppl) complained about. To ban it from others because of one may NOT be fair, however, perfume is far from being necessary.