More on neurotoxic scents

http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/neurotoxins_and_adhd_connecting_the_dots/

What's that smell?

I've been thinking of chemical smells a lot this school year. We switched schools and are now going to a charter school for the arts. Apparently artsy people also love artsy smells...a palate for the nose. The entrance and many of the classrooms are very heavily scented. Andrew and Adam's main teachers have thankfully not used chemical fragrances inside the classroom but they do switch classrooms for different activities in which I notice strong smells.
I visited a class for science and thought I was fine. After about 5 minutes I started having an asthma attack and coughing. I left quickly and turned around to glance at my spot and found that I was sitting next to an automatic spray glade plug in. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Those little things are sneaky if you get there when they haven't gone off for a while. Fragrances are bad enough but aerosol fragrances just about kill me. I left and nursed my asthma and headache.
On a side note, since I had my gal bladder out my stomach has not hurt with fragrances at all. Remember when we joked last year about the poor kids pooping on the floor if they smelled a candle? I have no idea what connection the gal bladder would have to the fragrances but it will definitely be researched. It took about 5 times of coming in contact with an aerosol, having asthma, and realizing no diarrhea effect followed to figure out that I'm fine now. hmmmmmmmmmm
Poor Alyssa has headaches and tummy aches all day, gets really tired also. She's too embarrassed to ask 6 whole teachers to do without their smellies. I guess in 9th grade you actually have to care what people think. I have to admit that I'm nervous too. I know that it affects many more people than my family but it's still embarrassing to be the weird one. It's funny how people know that cigarette smoke is bad for you but since we don't see yummy smelling chemical droplets of petroleum floating in the air it seems very harmless.

Whole milk is no longer always acceptable :.(

"Until now, any brand of plain whole milk was acceptable, as you wrote. However, the Feingold Association has recently been receiving reports of reactions to milk from people who previously tolerated it. We can no longer consider "any whole milk" acceptable and are researching milks one brand at a time, according to an alert we sent out August 25, 2010. A reader wanting to use the Feingold Program to treat any sort of symptoms really needs to become a member and get the Foodlist and other materials."

This was a comment from Sheila and I'm reposting it as a blog post to make sure readers see it. I'll also be changing the always acceptable list. It's always sad when something as used as whole milk is no longer always acceptable. We buy our milk raw and unadulterated from a local dairy. I would suggest calling around to your local dairies or finding their numbers to read the codes at your local store if you need something acceptable.

And, as I've said several times, please consider joining the Feingold association. I feel like I know what I'm doing but when I stray from the list, I see infractions. I'll be a lifetime member. At less than $7 per month for the whole family, a food guide, fast food guide, and suppliment guide, monthly newsletters with updates on foods and current issues, and a very active chat room, I feel like it's a very good choice for most families.