The Biggest Mistake Ever!

It's almost one year since we moved to our new place. Time just flew by.

We got a HE inverter front loading washing machine as it saves water electricity and detergent. Since it uses so little water, it needs to be 'washed' every month. Soap scum tend to get clogged much easier for the HE machine. I have never owned a HE front loader prior to this.

The HE front loading washer.

Recently, the laundry started to smell not-so-fresh and they didn't look clean after coming out of the washer. Many times, they had a stale smell.

The machine needed to be washed. I have not washed it for one year.

How to wash?

I went to a hardware shop nearby my place and was recommended this.

This was to be poured into the drum directly and washed in the highest temperature.

Worst. Mistake. Ever.

My whole house smelt as though it got 'nuclear bombed' AND 'atom bombed' AND 'torpedoed' by artificial fragrance. I choked and started tearing. Joel who has never been affected by smell said that both his ears and neck felt like they were breaking out in hives. He started itching.

We opened all the windows and switched on all the fans in full blast.

The smell left the house but the laundry room was a disaster. It smelt like a chemical perfume factory. I wanted to cry. My laundry room is just next to the kitchen. And I spend almost all my time in the kitchen. By the end of the day, the smell would permeate the whole house again.

My mouth started to burn. I started to feel ill. I swallowed two Piritons that day to be on the safe side.

Every load of laundry after that smelt of that horrible toxic fragrance smell.

I tried baking soda.

It didn't eradicate the smell.

I couldn't wear my clothes as they were saturated with the chemical perfume smell. It made me very ill.

WHAT TO DO????

And then the voice in my head said, "Vinegar".

I bought this from the hardware store:

Of course I had reservations regarding vinegar as vinegar has always been my worst enemy. Highest in salicylates.

Shockingly, this vinegar wasn't pungent. And I wasn't sickened at all by the smell. I had no reaction.

I poured 400ml into the washer and set it to the highest temperature. And I did this three times.

Hallelujah.

All hail Lord Vinegar. Praises be heaped upon Lord Vinegar.

The toxic fragrance smell was gone.

I then washed my clothes with the vinegar in the highest temperature. The sickening fragrance smell was gone!!! I then washed my clothes in my usual fragrant-free detergent. They all smelt normal again.

What a great relief!

This was a pricey lesson as the Tide machine washer cost RM60+ per box. I cannot exchange it as I've used one sachet. Hmmmmm.... I wonder who would want it. Hehe.....

For future washings for the machine, vinegar will be used as the tub is now so clean and fresh. And the clothes look bright and clean again. Smells great too.

Thank god for Lord Vinegar! Long live Lord Vinegar!

Formaldehyde Poisoning

Who would ever guess that this family was being poisoned by formaldehyde which was from their books, magazines and newspapers?

Click on LINK to read more.

Trekking On

Today is the 58th day of being free from PPIs. It is the 49th day of being Xyzal free!

I now realise that the garlic which I had thought to have caused me to have gastric/reflux is actually an IBS symptom. Garlic is a definite high on the FODMAP food list. I've also been eating BREAD! Yes, I couldn't resist the temptation of bread. It was like I died and went to bread heaven. Again, this is high on the FODMAP diet. But one needs to know the amount that one can take before the IBS symptoms start to manifest. And the new gastro told me that I have to experiment and know my limit as everyone is different. Most of the time, it was the IBS that pushed the gas up to the stomach which then pushed the acid up to the esophagus. Once I had my food under control, there wasn't any IBS or 'reflux'.

I still get random itches here and there now and then. The good news is that the craving for Xyzal has lessened a lot. I've been consuming quite a lot of food high on the salicylate list. I've had broccoli, spinach, okra, corn, curry, turmeric and etc. I overdid it and my bucket overflowed. I had a nasty reaction two days ago and I had to take two piritons to help settle this episode. Well, it's back to low salicylate diet again for now. But I am so happy that today, I am able to tolerate better high levels of salicylate in food.

Will be working towards experimenting outside food in the future. But for now, it's still maintaining being drug-free and symptom-free.

The beginning of this journey: 1000 Kilometres and Candida

The second part of this journey: Candida & Dr. Yadav

The third part of this journey: Pain & Rock Star No More (Part One)

The fourth part of this journey: Pain & Rock Star No More (Part Two)

The fifth part of this journey: The New Hell Called Steroids!

The sixth part of this journey: Onward, Forward, No Looking Back

The seventh part of this journey: Moving On

Happy Story

I CAN EAT ANYTHING!

What's yours?

Did You Know....

*picture taken from HERE

Moving On

Day 5

I woke up with some blisters on both my palms and they ITCH like hell! But it was only at the palms. The other parts of the body were not affected.

And then the itch came again at about 2.30pm. This time it was my nose. It felt as though I had feathers tickling my nose nonstop. And then I started sneezing and sneezing AND sneezing and sniffling non-stop. And then the right eye began to itch and I felt as though it was swelling up with hives. BUT there were no hives at all. No swelling. No redness. No nothing. But it was ITCHY to the point that all I could do was rub it. And this went on for two hours.

At about 5.30pm, I took 1/2 a 5mg piriton which is a chlorphenamine. Totally different from Xyzal's group which is Levocetirizine.

The random itching still continued. Eyes still itch. But I was drowsy as hell. I still felt the enormous craving for Xyzal.

Let's see how Day 6 will go.

Day 6

I was a zombie because of the piriton which I took yesterday. The body was still craving for Xyzal but the itching wasn't so bad. The itching came in waves. It will itch for a period of time. And then it will go away. And then it will itch again and then it will go away. It really was like the waves at the beach.

Sometimes when the itch became too great, I used steroids cream (Hydrocortisone) to help me through.

I had very vivid dreams though. It wasn't nightmares or even night terrors. It was just very vivid dreams.

Still had random outbreak of boils and pimples on the skin. Also the ulcers were terribly painful. Couldn't talk or even eat properly.

Day 7

The insane itching (which almost caused me to cross over to insanity) has finally stopped. I still craved for Xyzal.

The good news was that the swelling in the right eye which had been bothering me for many weeks, suddenly disappeared. All this while I had thought it was salicylates or chemicals or even something that I was allergic to. I never thought it was Xyzal that caused it.

(...to be continued)

The beginning of this journey: 1000 Kilometres and Candida

The second part of this journey: Candida & Dr. Yadav

The third part of this journey: Pain & Rock Star No More (Part One)

The fourth part of this journey: Pain & Rock Star No More (Part Two)

The fifth part of this journey: The New Hell Called Steroids

The sixth part of this journey: Onward, Forward, No Looking Back