TS and formaldehyde sensitivity

[Guest Jennifer]

We have an 8 year old child whom we have been working with for the past year know who has a combination of TS and mild OCD. Through nutrition, cleansing and supplements. We have seen some drammatic improvements. A couple of weeks ago we looked at some brand new homes. As soon as we walked in the door the smell of "newness" really hit our noses. I noticed that there was a warning laying on the counter cautioning those who may suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems that they could suffer a reaction from the formaldehyde fumes. It took us about 45 min to look at t he two we were interested in. As we got in the car and started driving home we noticed that our sons behavior went down the tube, he became very irritable, whiny and unreasonable his tics also became quite intense. The thought that it could be the formaldehyde briefly crossed my mind. The next morning he was better and that afternoon we looked at a few more "new" homes within about 30 min our son experienced the same reaction as the day before. I don't think this was a coincidence. I called the poison control center and found out that formaldehyde is pretty hard to get away from. It is in the following: glues, preservatives (it happens to be one of the ingredients in vaccines), building materials, permanaent press fabric, latex rubber, paper making,disinfectants,dye fasteners,plywood,particle board, cosmetics,some shampoos,some paints, insulation. New carpeting is sprayed with this chemical and high heat over 100 degrees or humidity such as shampooing your carpets can re-release the fumes. Many dried herbs are sprayed with it to preserve freshness. Probably most people who have a child with TS know by know to stay away from aspartame. Aspartame is made from the combination of formaldehyde and something else that I can't remember. At any rate when the product is consumed it brakes down into formaldehyde once again. When I think back at our sons history his tics first started when he a was about 3-we had just moved into a brand new home. His OCD greatly intensified the first part of first grade-we had finished the basement and just layed new carpet. I don't think this is his only trigger, but definatly a major one. We would have never figured it out had we not have gone to see those new homes. I hope our story might be of help to others out there.

 

Jennifer

[Sheila]

Jennifer, thank you for your post. All the information you shared is very helpful. It makes such a difference when you can see a true cause and effect. Without that, the progression of tics can be so confusing and apparently senseless. I'm going to share your material in one of our publications. I hope you can continue to learn more about your son's triggers. He's lucky to have such an observant and open-minded mom! Sheila

[Chemar]

We had a similar experience last school year.........my son's home room got new carpeting over a long weekend. because of an a/c flood.

 

He came back from school the first day back, ticcing intensely and with OCD symptoms that we hadnt seen before.......when I checked on what he had eaten etc at school, nothing seemed amiss....till he told me of the strong smell in his classroom .........

 

sure enough....it was the carpeting and they moved the class for a week till the roomhad aired.

 

Interestingly, the teacher had noted that the ADHD kids were way more hyper too !!

 

We have noticed very similar reactions in our son to all strong smelling househild cleaners, gasoline, pesticides etc and have gone as "natural" as possible in our home!

[Sheila]

Thanks for adding that, Chemar! Sure glad they moved the class. Most schools seem to be getting away from carpet because of problems with cleaning and mold growth, etc. In 40 years from now people will probably look back with amazement that we used such toxic products in carpeting/glues. But in the meantime it's so hard to protect ourselves. Sheila

[Guest genie]

i think the formaldehyde is going to be one of our biggest health issues. the problem is it makes some kids nauseated, some get headaches, some get foggy headed. my kid gets worse ocd. no tics yet, thankfully. maybe because there are so many different symptoms they don't seem to zero in on it at schools?? or no one speaks up.

[Guest Jennifer]

There are some really good websites. One of them is http://www.truetest.com/templates/21.html. It gives you some of the other names formaldehyde may be under as well as it's components. Another good site is www.checnet.org Children's Health Environmental Coalition or Healthy Building Network, www.healthybuilding.net. It gives really good info. on how to stay clear of toxic products (as much as possible). For example if you plan on building or remodeling it gives you ideas on some less toxic solutions for paints, stains etc, that are used in the home.

 

 

Jennifer

[Guest Susanna]

OMG!

 

I was just reading through some old posts and came across this one. Around the time my son started ticcing I had just bought/started using a new type of shampoo for my boys. I just read the ingredients and sure enough it contains one of the formaldehyde releasing ingredients! I realize it could be just a coincidence, or it possibly could be a contributing factor. (deep down I'm convinced my son's tics are primarily allergy related) I guess I'll be going back to their old shampoo, although if that contains the same ingredient (as they are both made by the same company) then I guess it's less likely to be a factor. But it is something I never would have thought of had I not come across this posting, so I'm bumping this up for others searching for information.

 

Update on where we are:

Since we're still in the process of obtaining the tests to be allergy tested, etc, it'll be a while before we make any significant dietary changes or do any supplementation, so I'll have a little time to see if the shampoo switch has any effect.

My son's blood work regarding his liver function came back and although the copper was still elevated (although lower than last time), all other tests related to liver function were ok. Neither his pediatrician nor the neurologist who first ordered the blood test seemed all that concerned about the elevated copper as it is not that far above the high end of the normal range.

We've met with the homeopath and I expect a remedy from her within the next week or two. Although she agrees that there may be an allergy that is causing/contributing to the tics, her whole theory is that the body itself is not in balance and therefore causing the allergy...if we correct the underlying imbalance then the allergy should diminish as well. She will do the testing I want (that I learned I wanted thanks to this site ) so that we can eliminate any offending items or do any supplementation needed as well. She has recommended an omega-3 supplement so far since in general she believes we don't get enough in our diet...we're using flax seed as that is what my son is willing to take (mixed in with his cereal), and I've continued with the probiotic (even though we've finished the antibiotic) because my son likes it! A few times he's said "my belly hurts I think I need some acidopholus"..I'll give him some and it's barely down his throat and he says it feels better. We finished the antibiotics for his strep the other day and will have him rechecked tomorrow. The tics are still there, although they seem to change daily, and they wax and wane on an almost daily basis. We have noticed that if his sniffling tic is particularly bad one day, the physical tics are extremely mild, and visa-versa. There have been quite a few "bad allergy" days lately where I live, and on those days the sniffling tic seems to dominate....I'm not sure which is worse (for us!)

 

I am so thankful I found this site and all the wonderfull information everyone is willing to share!

[sherrysunshine]

Hi,

 

I was just reading posts about some experiences with allergies, so I hought I would share something I've found beneficial.

 

Last year my daughter had a mysterious allergic reaction to something (we are still not sure to what) when she broke out in hives, mainly on the trunk of her body. She had been playing outside that afternoon and we later went for icecream at TCBY where she selected one with a mix of many colours. I'm still suspicious of the food coloring but can't be sure. Anyways, over a period of one whole week we were in and out of the doctor's office and she even spent a short spell in hospital and received all sorts of treatment, to no avail. The hives would recede and return nothing seemed to clear it permanently and her pediatrician even said that it was probably just one of those things that would have to run its course. I was beside myself with worry. Believe me God heard many prayers on that one!

 

A friend of mine is a BodyTalk Practitioner and although I had been quite skeptical about that whole concept I called her out of desperation. She came out right away and had a session with my daughter. Amazingly, by late afternoon the hives started to recede and by the next day it had all disapeared! We have not seen it since! My husband and I are still amazed.

 

Without doubt, BodyTalk works for allergies. In fact, the reason my friend became a practitioner was after getting remarkable results with Bodytalk for her daughter's life threatening allergy to citrus products, when conventional medicine failed. I have seen some improvement in my daugther's transcient tic as well, after a couple of these sessions.

 

For more information on BodyTalk here is the link for one of the many websites available: http://www.parama.com/html/bodytalk.html

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Chemar and Jennifer

 

Any idea if anti allergy mattress and pillow sheets that contain POLYURETHANE COATINGS may contain formaldehyde??

 

 

thanks.

[Guest Guest_Jennifer]

efgh,

 

I am not sure about that one, I have read on one of the Latitude newsletters that mattresses contain formaldehyde, I know they sell natural or organic mattresses, I have no idea what the cost is though.

 

Jennifer

[Guest Guest_Debbie]

Hi and thank you for sharing your story. My son also has developed severe facial tics from what I believe to be linked to carpet emissions. My son’s problem with facial tics started about a year and half ago and lasted for about 3 weeks with the first week being very intense facial tics and the second and third weeks slowing down till they disappeared completely. My son had been free of facial tics for a complete year and a half until last weekend. Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday they reappeared and were very severe and very frequent. Over the course of the past week, they lessened with some days not seeing any at all and some days very frequent. I homeschool, so my son is at home most of the time.

Very frustrated and worried, my husband and I wracked our brains trying to come up with some logical explanation as to why they would be gone for so long and now reappear. We started to track our activity. Last Friday night when the tics started, we had cleaned our basement carpets. Subsequently, my son was in the basement a lot over the weekend as we were putting it back together. Furthermore, I noticed the days this past week that he was mostly or completely tic free were the days we were out of the house and vice versa with the tics being more severe on the days we were home all day. In addition, we went back to a year and a half ago when my son’s facial tic problem started and realized we had our carpets professionally cleaned just four days before taking him to the doctor for the apparent tic problem.

After doing a lot of research on the web, we decided to purchase an air purification system which has been running in our home since this past Friday night. To our amazement, our son has not had one facial tic that we’ve noticed since. What a joy! However, we haven’t been able to find a whole lot of research on which air purifiers remove fumes from formaldehyde or other harmful carpet cleaning solutions, and I was wondering if you had come across anything in your research that might be of help. We’re not sure this is the best one for the problem.

Also, if you can share any other things that you know that have helped your son with facial tics, I would really appreciate it. I talked with my son’s neurologist about this presumption with formaldehyde and carpet cleaning and he had never heard of it, but it’s the only thing I have to go by…and I don’t think the tics and our carpet cleaning experiences were just coincidental. I was glad to read your story as it helps shed some light on the subject. Thanks again for sharing your story. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you may have about air purifiers or anything else on the subject.

 

Thanks again,

Debbie

[Frank_Sm1th]

Debbie-

 

The charcoal part of air filters is what removes the organic chemical vapors from the air. We rely on them greatly in our home, but the first thing we did (the DAY we moved in!) was remove the carpeting.

 

Frank

[Claire]

Hi Debbie,

 

GREAT analysis. You are lucky to have been able to pinpoint this so clearly.

Mainstream neurologists generally don't know about these tic triggers. Alternative MD's do. But it doesn't matter--you know your child.

 

I want to point out the possibility of mold also--since you mentioned he spent time in your basement. He can have a sensitivity to both mold and the formaldehyde or carpet fiber or carpet cleaner. In either case, the filter is a great solution...though Frank Smith and I are sympatico in hating carpets period. Frank, we got rid of the carpeting before we even moved in, ha! Of course, this was for me, but that's how much carpeting affects me.

 

Vacuuming with a HEPA filter vacuum regularly is another idea if you can't afford no carpeting.

 

I have standard Honeywell filters for our bedroom, but for my son's room I got this one that claims to also be good for chemicals...we were painting, and though I used low VOC paint, I wasn't taking chances. It is very quiet--the negative is that I don't know how to clean it--time to learn very soon! I must admit, I did this based on the claims rather than independent research on the differences.

 

http://www.natlallergy.com/allergy/product...r_Purifier.html

 

Also, interesting article on air filtration alternatives...

http://www.natlallergy.com/newsletter/aug2004.html

 

 

Claire

[Guest Guest]

Hi Frank and thank you for your reply. You mentioned that you rely on the charcoal filter in your air purification system. What kind of air purifier do you use and/or recommend? I mentioned before that we weren't sure the system we just purchased is the right one for the problem and we still aren't sure...how do you really know when if comes to eliminating formaldehyde/cleaning chemical fumes!!

 

Debbie

[Frank_Sm1th]

Debbie-

 

I don't really test them too well in the house, but when I need to use paint thinner, etc. in the the art/signshop addition, I swipe a purifier or two from the house and use them out in the addition. They can only do so much and sometimes I have to open the windows and door, too.

 

We use Honeywell and Hunter, but really have no preference as long as it has a charcoal filter and a major manufacturer is making realistic claims. Also, we use Feingold approved cleansers. We don't worry about formaldhyde from construction materials because our home and studio are 70 and 40 years old and we have no carpets. Sometimes when we get new things we air them out after opening the packaging. You never know when or where organic vapors are gonna get ya. Thank God I'm not sensitive, but they bother my wife and my older son even gets migraines at gas stations.

 

Good luck,

Frank