Sensitivities to toxins & how they affect me now - as a mom
When I was little, I’d say around 7 or 8, each time my
family went out for the evening or to an event I noticed that I would
consistently suffer severe headaches. Sometimes they were so bad that I would
vomit and feel completely incapacitated. One day in particular, I realized that
the onset of this ill feeling was brought on by none other than my mother’s
perfume. It started out not being all of her different fragrances, just one in
particular – Samsara by Gurlain. I would beg and plead for her not to wear this
scent as it made me feel so sick all the time, and she complied for some
time…and I guess I felt ok. Fast forward 10 years or so and my dad brings home
some new orange scented air freshener and again I begin to experience headaches
and feel ill. I realized here that I am sensitive to some scents. It was a bit
weirs though as I was able to tolerate some perfumes, I wore perfume every day,
but only the few I could tolerate and I know right away when one didn’t agree
with me. Fast forward another 10 years and I am pregnant with my first born. My
sensitivity to scent and fragrance is amplified 100 times. I am sick at all
different types of scents and have to pack away all scented products in my
home, including perfume, laundry detergent, even certain dish soap. The funny
thing is, this amplified sensitivity didn’t go back to “normal” once my baby
was born…it kind of stuck. The other funny thing that happened after my baby
was born is that I started to research about why this was happening to me as I
never wanted my new baby to experience the same discomfort. I realized that most of these products on the
market, perfume, air freshener, scented candles, soaps, lotions etc. are FILLED
with toxic chemicals. Most of these chemicals are cancer causing, and can wreak
havoc on your endocrine system. It was this research that was a turning point
for me and my husband, and we swore against all of the scented hand sanitizers
(which is a discussion all on its own) and scented soaps, lotions, detergents,
and perfumes. We went fragrance free in our household and immediately noticed
that we experienced fewer headaches, less fatigue, and generally felt better.
We use products like Tide free, or Green Works, we use no perfume at all (we
shower every morning so smelling bad is not a thing, really), and we are
constantly looking for ways to improve in this journey. I would say it’s
difficult to relay this message to everyone and have everyone on board – maybe
this blog post will help! We are so fragrance free daily that when fragrance
wearing family or guests visit it, the effects hit us like a ton of bricks.
Both my kiddos have experienced nose bleeds to prolonged exposure, because they
are just not used to it at home. I feel like I need to take on this journey and
change the world, we should all work toward getting safer products into the
hands of everyone. No one needs these chemicals in their life, no one should
feel sick all the time. We don’t need to expose our children to cancer causing
toxins, or have their reproductive system messed with by chemicals. If I can
change even 1 person I will feel like I have accomplished something toward this
journey. So I challenge you to look into the products you choose, and make an
informed choice. Lets make the world we leave behind a better one!!
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