chemical sensitivity in the general population

Today I learned that Chantix, a drug that is supposed to take all the fun out of smoking so you can quit, causes a bunch of unpleasant mental side-effects in enough people that a writer wrote a whole article about his side-effects. I can get those same side-effects from going into that Whole Foods store I mentioned. It's too bad that so many chemical sensitivities are bad trips; Whole Foods would be a lot more fun if it made me drunk like one kind of outdoor mold does. (Or did. I've been staying out of mold.)

In other news, I hear you can get fragrance out of clothes by soaking them in a bucket with 1/2 cup of salt for an hour. I also heard from an actual hairdresser that you can scrub your scalp with salt instead of shampoo. Clearly I am still thinking about giving up on shampoo, but it may take until I develop my next shampoo sensitivity to nudge me into actually trying it.

sun damage and potential mold

Today I learned that some weather stations have solar radiation meters so you could maybe figure out how fried you would get going out in the sun at a particular time of day instead of just guessing based on what you remember having seen recently for current readings near that time of day.

In other news, my husband reported a year ago or more that a trip to Whole Foods was more dangerous chemically than a trip to a conventional grocery store. Since I was still unable to deal with the laundry chemicals in standard stores, I didn't believe him, but now I do. Currently I can go in the local Safeway once a day if I want as long as I take a shower fairly soon afterwards. After not going to Whole Foods for several months, the most recent trip resulted in my contaminating not only my half of the bed, but also my half of the couch. These things are easy to remedy -- there's a reason we keep the washing machine in top condition -- but three extra loads of laundry and 18 hours of detoxing seems like a lot for a trip to the 'safer' store.

So next time we need food that we can't get anywhere but Whole Foods, there will be an expedition out to the other Whole Foods, the one that is twice as far away, and we will find out if there is a problem with both stores or just the closer one.

huge improvements

Today I learned that replacing a 25-year-old hydraulic hose ourselves (ok, my husband did it, but I helped) fully repaired the clutch in our ancient car, and it cost less than $100. This approach was quite a bit cheaper than letting our usual mechanic replace the entire clutch, something he reportedly wanted to do the day he first saw the car.

In other news, the ozone pollution in Tucson today (link will work after midnight tonight) is the worst I've ever seen, and I feel pretty good. I wasn't able to get any exercise, but I didn't have to leave town, and I only found out about the ozone pollution because I wanted to see what level of particulates had been kicked up by the wind yesterday. I attribute this health improvement almost entirely to our upgraded house pressurizer. The MERV 16 filter has proved to make a big difference during pollen season, and it appears to keep out pollution, too.

hair care and the economy

Today I learned that there are a bunch of people out there who don't use shampoo and report that their hair is better for it. They're using things like baking soda and vinegar, things EIs use to clean lots of things, to clean their scalps, but then they use conditioner. Apparently conditioner doesn't contain 1,4-dioxane, but why other conditioner chemicals are ok is not clear to me. Also, maybe I'm just lucky, but I stopped using conditioner a couple of years ago, and I didn't notice any difference except that I started getting compliments, so maybe I don't spend enough time admiring my hair in the mirror.

The other thing that isn't clear to me is how you would get store chemicals out of your hair without soap. It's one thing to have shampoo residue in there, but it's another to have it smelling like Safeway.

In other news, the economy finally got around to affecting my household directly -- I got laid off from my geology journal copy editing job. I spent a lot of time in the last few months being extremely ill, so while I am disappointed to miss out on getting paid to read interesting things, but I am hugely relieved to have an extra 5 or 10 hours a week free.

Also, adult diapers and fire don't mix.

statistics and epidemics

Today I learned that Washington, D.C., has an HIV/AIDS epidemic. The rate of infection is 3%, and the cut-off for being labeled an epidemic is 1%. Now, at first I was thinking that maybe to have an epidemic, you had to have a communicable disease, but my husband pointed out that we have an obesity epidemic, so now I want to know why MCS has not been labeled an epidemic. A prominent doctor and author who has MCS wanted to know the same thing all the way back in 2000.

President Obama, we as a population are sitting and/or lying around (each to his own ability) collecting disability and not buying much other than organic food. We'd buy more, but disability doesn't pay and we can't go into stores, anyway. More of us will not make the economy better, but you can create jobs, lots of jobs, trying to look after us. The lady who lives in her car (and has brain damage from insecticide) could probably drive three full-time caregivers to distraction all by herself, but if there were chemically safe places to go or maybe even work, our taxes could go to supporting the three full-time caregivers for that lady, assuming you could keep any of those positions filled. I'm betting they'd turn over faster than clothes in a dryer.

all bad all the time

Today I learned that kids' bath products typically contain 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, so it's a wonder that kids don't croak before they're old enough to eat the candles on their birthday cakes. Also, the world is a scary place when the fake news shows have to take the financial-reporting networks to task, spending their entire show being scary instead of funny.

things you could learn reading Cracked.com

Today I learned that some schizophrenia medications inhibit the growth of Toxoplasma gondii, a single-cell parasite that causes schizophrenia in some people. It's much better known as the parasite that reproduces in the guts of cats but lives in cat prey like rats, from whom it removes fear of cats so that they get eaten. I still remember learning about the rats in high school biology.

Also, you can make a 'cool' rocket (one that won't fry your legs) for your jet pack using hydrogen peroxide.

confusion reigns

Today I read an article that says college women think their male friends want them to drink more than the men actually want them to drink. I thought that the whole peer-pressure thing was drink/not drink, so I think I learned that some people worry about how much to drink to be cool. I am mystified, but I've kind of been like that all day.

likely useless information

Today I learned that there is a matching program that helps low-income people save up for things like cars and houses and starting their own businesses, but it sounds like it's underfunded.

In stupid news, researchers asked a bunch of college students what it means when forecasters report some percent chance of rain, and 'a sizeable number' of students answered incorrectly. Now, this is what happens when you ask college students things like that -- they don't read the paper, they don't watch the news, and they haven't thought about it unless they grew up in farm country. Wait until the non-farmers graduate and have to commute through bad weather, and then you'll hear a different story.

That, or the researchers involved aren't familiar with how many people are math impaired to start with and will automatically give you the wrong answer as soon as you mention percentages.