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Cotton Mouth, Difficulty Swallowing, Lack Of Taste And Smell, Dizziness, Itchy Eyes, Burning Throat After Contact With Chemicals. Anything I Could Know?

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Posted on Wed, 11 Jul 2012
Question: I get sick whenever i come in contact with a whole bunch of different chemicals. Most household cleaning products, pretty much any smoke or vapors that come from things that are not natural mainly burnt plastic or rubber, and a number of other airborne things. It depends on what i come in contact with how much and for how long but the symptoms seem to be basically the same for the most part. The symptoms can take anywhere from 30 mins to close to an entire day before all of the symptoms are in effect. The symptoms include extreme cotton mouth that goes all the way down my throat to the point where i cant spit at all and can barely swallow and when i do it feels like i swallowed a rock and at the same time my lips will go from being plump to shrivalling into bleeding split lips, these symptoms of course include lack of tast and smell. The symptoms also include headaches that feel like tons of pressure in my entire head, dizziness, itchy eyes, extreme burning sensation in my throat, poor blood circulation, swollen taste buds, confusion, irritabilty, severe sweating, abnormal heart beat, nausea, loss of apetite, anxiety, diarrhea, insomnia, a panicky feeling, tremors, lethargy, muscle soreness, no libido, loss of color in face, sometimes vomiting or hives. All or most of these symptoms occur within mins to hrs after exposure however some symptoms like the nausea, dizziness, headache, itchy eyes, anxiety, and panicky feeling can occur in as little as seconds to mins after exposure and the symptoms can last as long as a few days. I have become a bit of a recluse to try and avoid any possible detrimental And keep in mind that it has taken me years to figure all of this out. I would like to know anything i could about what this might be or how i might treat or handle it. It dosnt seem to be anything that anyone really understands not even me nobody has any ideas as to what it might be or what it is. It rules almost every day of my life and effects how i look and act. People often tell me i look like im on narcotics but i have been clean for around six years now. Anything i could know would be helpful and much appriciated much appriciated. Thanx!!!
doctor
Answered by Dr. Raju A.T (13 hours later)
Hi,


Thanks for your query.

The symptoms you have are very typical and seen in allergies to Hydrocarbons and related chemicals. The long history of the symptoms adds to this fact.

Allergy to such chemicals which occur in many substances with mild changes in chemical structure could be very annoying as most of such chemicals are volatile and even solid forms liberate fumes continuously.

Taking Benadryl will surely comfort you for temporarily. The mainstay treatment is in avoiding the allergens.

I would ask you to visit a Allergy specialist who can perform tests like skin test or blood test to detect IgE (allergy antibody) and confirm the fact.

As I said avoiding the allergen is the best treatment but a difficult one.

Also newer treatment techniques are in play like Immuno therapy .Here desensitization or hyposensitization is a treatment in which the person is gradually vaccinated with progressively larger doses of the allergen in question. This can either reduce the severity or eliminate hypersensitivity altogether. It works by blocking excessive IgE production seen in atopys. In a sense, the person builds up immunity to increasing amounts of the allergen in question.

Such immunothreapies are practised by allergy specialist only. Hence,I do recommend a visit to him.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further

Regards,
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Raju A.T

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2008

Answered : 4927 Questions

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Cotton Mouth, Difficulty Swallowing, Lack Of Taste And Smell, Dizziness, Itchy Eyes, Burning Throat After Contact With Chemicals. Anything I Could Know?

Hi,


Thanks for your query.

The symptoms you have are very typical and seen in allergies to Hydrocarbons and related chemicals. The long history of the symptoms adds to this fact.

Allergy to such chemicals which occur in many substances with mild changes in chemical structure could be very annoying as most of such chemicals are volatile and even solid forms liberate fumes continuously.

Taking Benadryl will surely comfort you for temporarily. The mainstay treatment is in avoiding the allergens.

I would ask you to visit a Allergy specialist who can perform tests like skin test or blood test to detect IgE (allergy antibody) and confirm the fact.

As I said avoiding the allergen is the best treatment but a difficult one.

Also newer treatment techniques are in play like Immuno therapy .Here desensitization or hyposensitization is a treatment in which the person is gradually vaccinated with progressively larger doses of the allergen in question. This can either reduce the severity or eliminate hypersensitivity altogether. It works by blocking excessive IgE production seen in atopys. In a sense, the person builds up immunity to increasing amounts of the allergen in question.

Such immunothreapies are practised by allergy specialist only. Hence,I do recommend a visit to him.

Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further

Regards,