Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Allergies developing

Hi all!

I am new to this forum. I have Lyme disease and co infections but lately I have been battling with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and allergies on top of it.

We are living in my parents home now because we are getting treatment for my Lyme 1500 miles away from my current home is. Living back with my parents I have noticed my father uses so many different toxic cleaners and now that winter is here they don't open any windows for ventilation.

My father has also been using stains and paints and polyurethane to make custom furniture which is his sole business. It never used to bother me that much but now when he does it inside in the basement workshop...I can smell it all the way two floors up and get violently ill. My Lyme doctor said being in this "toxic soup" I will only get worse.

We bought a EL Foust air purifier with activated coconut shell carbon and a HEPA filter. We have had it running for two days in our living space but now I have a a lot of heaviness in my head. Not too stuffed up just feels like a head rush or doing a head stand for about a day now and my husband says he is wheezing...he is a Marine so when he says something may be wrong I start to worry lol.

My question is could the coconut be bothering us from the carbon? Or could it just be the carbon itself?

I hope I am in the correct place and I apologize if not.

Thanks and God Bless,

A simpler explanation would be that your air purifier removes some but not all of the chemicals in your environment. It seems that the 'load' in the air due to the workshop/business is quite high.

I also don't believe in portable purifiers. Ane, I got rid of my particle zappers on my (2) furnaces because they just make ozone, although they did get the larger particles.

The best solution is to modify the furnace intake, have a good furnace company put in a box for the 4 inch filters. You can get the filters with carbon too.

My filters fit the old particle zapper boxes, so it didn't take any modification. My housekeepers are so happy! There's nearly NO dusting after a whole month! I change the filters 2 or 3 times a year. They are a tiny bit expensive, but time saved in not having to dust is worth it!

If you are in a dry area in winter, also get a humidifier attached to the furnace. The portable types aren't worth anything, make a mess, don't last.

Offer to pay for the changes to your parents' furnace. They will benefit and appreciate it.

One more thing: If you can, get the furnace set up to run 24/ 7/365 like mine. I have a 2 speed fan. It runs on low all the time, circulating the air in summer too! It only costs as much as a 100 watt light bulb. Of course,when asking for heat (or in my case heat or cooling) it runs on the high speed. So I get free dusting all year.

Remember, you can get carbon filters also. I didn't take off the 1 inch filter boxes, so I can add that sort of filter.