I'm allergic to nonallergenic detergent

[pinto]

Okay, this is a followup to the eczema thread. I thought I had eczema on my eyelids, slathered them with olive oil, things got better, until I got a virus and spent all weekend in bed, and ended up with a rash on my shoulders and hips and other places ... and my eyes got bad again ... yuck.

Anyway, after a couple of weeks trying to figure out what is going on, and slathering myself in hydrocortisone and gulping benadryl every night, I went to my allergy doctor. She said, "contact dermatitis," so we tried to figure out what it was. We finally narrowed it down to laundry detergent, which would seem obvious, except I haven't bought detergent with any fragrance or dyes for years, so I really didn't consider that.

But on the second go-round of questions, I remembered that I had changed brands a few weeks ago, to Seventh Generation. Which of course is supposed to be natural, organic, gentle, all those good things. And I'm sure it is -- except I'm almost positive that I'm allergic to something in it (most likely something plant-based). My doctor said she had another patient recently who was suffering from a similar problem with Seventh Generation.

It makes sense: for those of us who are allergic to plants, sometimes organic can be worse than just plain chemical.

I was curious if anyone had experience with this? I also threw away my organic plant-based facial cleanser, and now I have 20 billion sample tubes of something called Vanicream, and the soap that goes with it. So far so good ... except I have about 10 loads of laundry ahead of me (with plain old All Free and Clear this time).

Anyway ... just a heads up. I never would have pictured that this could be a problem, so maybe it will help someone else. Seems pretty random, though. (I spent an hour googling a mention of such a problem, and came up emptyhanded.)

 

[num]

Weird. Hope it clears up fast.

 

[Severine]

Yeah, a lot of the all-natural stuff can contain irritants if you're allergic to the plants they use. I am what my allergist calls a "highly allergic person" so I tried being really careful about all that stuff. It turns out that a lot of the natural stuff irritates me more than the non-natural. Go figure! Good detective work!

 

[itri]

Blech. That's no fun at all. I was super paranoid about all that kind of stuff when DS was a newborn, but we've been using plain old Tide HE with no problems whatsoever. I always found it kind of ironic that they push Dreft as being sooo good for babies, when it's just chock full of scent and fabric softeners and crap like that.

I hope your problems clear up quickly!

 

[Skimom]

I have similar issues. I have to be very careful about detergents. Tide free works well for me, but you can never get it at Costco, and it usually only comes in small boxes at Target! Sleeping outside of my own bed can cause lots of problems for me. I once was convinced that my Aunt's house had bed bugs, but it was just her detergent!

 

[SkiNurse]

So sorry for you pinto, but glad you figured it out.

 

[pinto]

So sorry for you pinto, but glad you figured it out.

Ha ha, you guys are all so nice. It really hasn't been that big of a deal, in the grand scheme of things. The good part is that the eyes were the only "showing" part that got the rash; everything else was under my clothing. So it could be a lot worse.

But ... mainly I hope that I can alert anyone else to the possibility that they are going through the same thing. Trying to figure out what you're allergic to can be frustrating!

 

[Gumbelina]

I had the same issue w/All Free & Clear a few years back. If you look at that stuff under a fluroescent light it's pretty obvious that it has some sort of optical brightener in it, not sure if that was my culprit. Glad to hear that you figured it out and that things are clearing up.

 

[altagirl]

I'm starting to wonder about my detergent. Or, well, everything at this point. I haven't made any changes to anything, but have just had a second reaction within about 2 weeks and am at a loss.

I only get a reaction on my face - mostly on my cheeks, reaching from just under my jaw to my forehead and ears. But it swells badly enough that I can see my cheeks out of the corners of my eyes and my ski stretches tight and itches like crazy. The first time it happened, I went to urgent care and they prescribed me a 6 day course of prednisone, which did the trick within 2 days. I THOUGHT that the first one started after accidentally getting tea tree oil on my face, but I definitely didn't do that again, unless it's on something else... Or it's something else completely that I'm reacting to. I don't use any cosmetics at all, so it's not that - unless it's the lotion that I've used for years. UGH.

Sucks mainly because I can't sleep. I just sit here feeling like my face is blowing up like a balloon and it's all I can do not to scratch. Cortisone/benadryl/etc. don't seem to do anything.

 

[pinto]

Hmmm, are you getting hives too?

And what about your pillow? What's it made of, etc

 

[VickiK]

I had a similar reaction to a more "natural" detergent at one point some years back, and went back to orange Tide. The white Tide Free seems ok, I've been using the pods.

 

[bounceswoosh]

I used to have that reaction to hot and sour soup from a particular restaurant =/ I assume it was MSG, although I would think I'd get it more often if it were in fact MSG.

Um ... you're not allergic to one of your pets, are you? As a kid, I got rashes from kissing my hamsters =)

 

[SkiGAP]

That sucks AG, but on the positive side, props for reviving a thread after 6.5 years...

 

[bounceswoosh]

Oh, and, just to be sort of supportive - I routinely get burning sensations from supposedly "hypoallergenic" sunscreens and skin creams. Now that I re-read that, well, yeah, I could certainly have a reaction to something and not be allergic per se. Still sucks.

 

[altagirl]

Oh, and, just to be sort of supportive - I routinely get burning sensations from supposedly "hypoallergenic" sunscreens and skin creams. Now that I re-read that, well, yeah, I could certainly have a reaction to something and not be allergic per se. Still sucks.

That's one of the suspects for flare-up number 2.

The first one, we still suspect the tea tree oil, but it's hard to be certain. Today the dermatologist said that while I may not have come in contact with that again, my body is still on high alert, so to speak, and I DID likely come in contact with chemical sunscreen, which usually makes my skin feel like it's burning, but has never made it swell like this. We rode motos yesterday and I put on my old full face helmet that I haven't used in years and probably has sunscreen ground into the foam... Plus it's scratchy.... and probably scratched/ground in a known irritant (for me). Time to get rid of that helmet, I think.

So I don't know if it's really what you'd call hives or what - they're calling it contact dermatitis. My cheeks are swollen to the point that I can see them blocking part of my vision - under-eye area was swollen to the point of looking like I had two black eyes earlier. And my earlobes and neck below my ears are blotchy red. And it all itches like mad.

I did think about the pets, though it doesn't make a ton of sense for them to only affect my face. More than the dogs themselves, I've been wondering if they got into some irritant plant like poison ivy or apparently myrtle spurge is another one around here that causes rashes.

Anyway, they gave me more oral steroids and put me on claritin and I'm supposed to be using a topical gel as well, but so far my insurance hasn't approved it. The pharmacist said it can take "A FEW WEEKS" to get approval. I asked if I could just pay for it and she said "Sure, it's over $500 though..." Lovely. So I called the dermatologist back and they're supposed to contact the pharmacist and figure something out. UGH!!

 

[altagirl]

That sucks AG, but on the positive side, props for reviving a thread after 6.5 years...

Heh, I thought about that when I added on to it, but why not? Haha, not a lot of current threads about dermatitis and it can't seemed relevant as I'd been up at 2am googling potential allergens...

 

[altagirl]

Hmmm, are you getting hives too?

And what about your pillow? What's it made of, etc

I think I have one down one and one synthetic, both in satin pillowcases. THOUGH - I generally sleep on my back or my right side, so the left side of my face almost never is on the pillow. And inexplicably, the left side is slightly worse than the right - though it's relatively even.

 

[altagirl]

Now I'm laughing. We have a whole back side yard that we never really venture into - it's just pine trees and brush and dead ends so, you know whatever grows there is there. Which, now that I go look, is apparently is about 75% poison ivy.

I know I used to get exposed to poison ivy as a kid all the time and never reacted to it, so I never pay much attention. BUT - the dogs are over there all the time and are probably covered in it, so I've been exposed to it daily for years and my body probably had enough.

I'm leaning towards mystery solved. I would have expected the blistery poison ivy rash, which isn't what this looks like, but since I'm NOT particularly sensitive to it, I'm thinking that the generalized rash on the most sensitive exposed skin areas probably makes sense.

 

[bounceswoosh]

I know I used to get exposed to poison ivy as a kid all the time and never reacted to it, so I never pay much attention. BUT - the dogs are over there all the time and are probably covered in it, so I've been exposed to it daily for years and my body probably had enough.

That's exactly my understanding of poison ivy - even if you're not affected by it, if you're exposed to it enough, you become sensitized.

 

[mustski]

Either way, I hope you feel better soon. Skin irritation is terrible. It makes sleeping comfortably impossible and then everything goes downhill from there. Sending healing thoughts your way, AG!