Carpet Reactions

Hi all,

I rented a room in a recently built house in Central Texas with wall-to-wall carpet in the bedrooms, and, unfortunately, I’ve been having some adverse reactions.

I was ok when I visited and the day I moved in, but the first night, I awoke around 3 am, feeling awful, my head hurt a lot, smelled chemicals, felt shaky, and it was even hard to move.

The homeowner has a hard floor vacuum, not really for carpet, so, I bought a new vacuum, vacuumed a lot, and picked up a lot of junk.

I felt and slept better the 2nd night, but still waking middle of the night, not feeling well, insomnia, and my eyes burn a little during the day. I also feel congested and yucky sensations in my head. I didn’t sleep too well the next 2 nights.

I tried more things. I bought plants that are supposed to help absorb off-gassing. I’m running an air filter. I bought an 8'x10' wool area rug that covers about 75% of the floor, hoping the natural fibers would be ok, and, to keep whatever’s in the carpet from coming through.

Taking supplements and herbs: magnesium, Xlear Max nasal spray, oregano oil and Gui Pi Chinese herbs.

I've been going to the acupuncturist, chiropractor, and pranic healing weekly. I went to the sauna, and am using my spooky2.com devices.

To keep this post short, I listed more details here https://pastebin.com/vDkuQQyF.

Yesterday I listened to a podcast episode on DNA Testing on the Myers Detox podcast, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/myers-detox-podcast/id1021418457, an interview of a guy who started thednacompany.com. Interesting premise, that certain genes in the DNA could be missing or damaged, explaining why some people detox certain things easily and others do not. They have a test kit I'm considering getting, but the results take ~5 weeks.

Although I had an exposure to something that messed me up many years ago, I thought I had healed. I guess I haven't enough. Now I’m thinking maybe I am either missing or have a damaged gene, my organs aren’t working right, messed up sinuses, (dentist said I had a hole between my jaw and sinus cavity) or something else. Strange, no else in the house seems to have these reactions.

I also open the window as often as I can, although it’s hot here during the day.

Trying to figure out if I can overcome whatever this is. I may have to move, but I hope I don’t have to.

Anyone have any insight or ideas on how overcome or deal with this?

Is the carpet glued in place?

No, it has padding underneath.

Which plants did you buy?

Have you considered that you might be having an actual allergic reaction to something in the room - as opposed to your body just not being effective at metabolizing the chemicals that are entering your body through the lungs and mucus membranes?

You say "recently built" - so how sure are you that it's the carpet and not the paint, glues used to secure trim, caulking etc?

Are all the contents in the room yours? What about the drapes?

Until you have definitively isolated the cause of your reaction to the carpet, you may wish to consider running an ioniser in your bedroom.

Sansevieria plants have also been proven to remove toxins from the air but you would need an awful lot of plants for this to be effective.

I wish you well.

From personal experience, I have a few suggestions.

Always go with the simplest cause and move up from there.

The existing sinus issue is throwing alarm bells in my head. Have you been to a doctor about this? Infections in the sinus can be debilitating. The fact that a dentist was casual about a hole between your jaw and sinuses troubles me. A perforating sinus can lead to complications.

Other ideas

How old are the mattress and pillows?

As a child, I had horse hair pillows and I was VERY allergic to mammal hair. We didn't know about the pillows until we threw them out because the were ripping.

I'd really want to rule out the sinuses just in case that is a ticking health bomb.

Hi all, thank you for the replies. Still learning this platform. I'll answer as I can here.

@Jay, I bought 3 a snake plant and 2 golden pothos.

“Have you considered that you might be having an actual allergic reaction to something in the room - as opposed to your body just not being effective at metabolizing the chemicals that are entering your body through the lungs and mucus membranes?”

Yes, I’ve had reactions in the past. Not sure if it's just the carpet, or something that is on my things. It's been a 15 year battle.

“You say "recently built" - so how sure are you that it's the carpet and not the paint, glues used to secure trim, caulking etc?

Are all the contents in the room yours? What about the drapes?”

The bed, with pillow is the owner’s. There’s horizontal shades, no drapes.

I literally slept with my face in front on an open window last night. Not as bad as the first not, but, not so great. Seems slightly better. I've been experimenting with leaving the window open, and closed at night.

@Megan, thank you. I’m running a Medify Air MA-14 air filter.  I’ve tried many other air filters/purifiers. I think I’ve had one with an ionizer before.

@Timothy, I’ve been to 3 dentists, as I had 2 broken teeth. The first one caught it. The 2nd - she used his x-rays, and the 3rd, was last month when I had the teeth removed. They didn’t say anything about the hole. I’ll call and ask them.

I haven’t been to a doctor though. Trying to get insurance, and if I do, I will set up an appointment.

Jay Angler wrote:Have you considered that you might be having an actual allergic reaction to something in the room -

Yes! As an allergy sufferer, this was my immediate thought.

Carpets and their underlay are a nasty petri dish (or a particularly vibrant community of decomposers, pooping things that make me miserable!). I'm fighting this in my house right now -- and it's a forever fight, with two fine hounds sharing our space.

Can you afford to get these carpets cleaned, light on the detergent, heavy on the hot water?

Eric Admati wrote: I bought 3 a snake plant and 2 golden pothos.  

I have found spider plants to help me with formaldehyde which I'm sensitive to, and with "new paint smell". If you ask around, people might even just give them to you, as they do tend to "make babies", but I wouldn't know where to buy one in your neck of the woods, and I've owned mine for over 30 years.

Hi Eric,
Yes, there are studies showing that about 1 in 4 people have a genetic variation that makes it hard for their body to get rid of biotoxins. I am one of those 1 in 4 people. It also can be dormant, and be triggered by a major stress in your life. When I have a little more time, I will share more about how I am dealing with it.

The key, though is to stop the exposure. Whether it is mold or chemicals or what. If possible, go somewhere else for a week. A hotel or a friends house, or camp out in your back yard. Somewhere else and see how you feel. If you start feeling better (or at least not worse) then you know its something in your house/room and you can start eliminating things to determine what it is. Something like sleeping in the kitchen with your blankets, but away from the rug... that sort of thing to figure out what you are reacting to.