Today is Day 22 of my headache!
That's right - 22 days straight with a headache! Okay that is not entirely true - I was headache free this past Monday. Friday (day 20) I went to the Dr for it - a miracle for those of you that know me - I HATE to go to the Dr.
Diagnosis. . . "I have no idea what is causing your headache"
So they give me 3 different meds to try to see if any of them help. If they do not help I get to go in for an MRI (do you think they will actually find a brain in there?)
Today as I was showering, I was praying and thinking (I do my best thinking in the shower) and I realized that my headache started after my room remodel. So I grabbed my calendar (after I dried off of course) and started looking (I write down all of my bad or constant headaches). Sure enough, I had a headache 2 days after my built-in was installed, after I had done all of the sanding etc to it. Then again the day after I loaded everything into my room. Then again the day after I spent a power day in my new studio working on my YITL project. And these last three weeks I have spent every night in here after the girls go home and during their naps, and every weekend working on class samples and kits etc.
So, what is it about the new built in? After talking to a friend about my theory and looking online, the materials my beautiful, new, built-in was made from is full of formaldehyde!!! I am VERY chemically sensitive and have to use products with no perfumes or dyes etc or else I get terrible headaches and feel sick. I do not know why it took me so long to figure this all out? After all I know this about myself and I could smell the "wood" every time I came in my studio or walked past it in the hall. But it wasn't a "bad" smell so I guess I never thought about it.
Now what do I do????? It's not like I can just take it out - it is after all "built-in" and I really like it and I paid to have it built. There has to be a solution - right? Well there is. How do you get rid of the formaldehyde? Ventilate the room, and paint the built-in. The paint is supposed to seal the formaldehyde in.
Next problem, it can't just be painted. It needs to be primed first with a product called Gripper Grey by Glidden - a product I can't use because of my sensitivity. So, tomorrow after a long day at work my dear Gary will be coming home to caulk and prime my new cabinetry. Then on Tuesday he will come home to paint it all. He is NOT looking forward to this at all! But like he said, he promised me he would get it all painted after Super Bowl was over.
In the morning I will get things cleaned up in here (I have been busy working on a class sample using the new Le Cirque papers from G45 and it is everywhere and I love it!) and then I will start the process of unloading and prepping things for Gary to do his magic. Hopefully all of this will work and my headache will be gone by the end of the week. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I hope you all had a fun and creative week and wish you another one this week!
Toodles
2 comments:
You have my sympathies, it must be awful knowing that your lovely new room is the cause of your pain! Have you tried leaving a couple of onions in there? Just top and tail them or even cut them in half and leave them on the built in? Onions soak up all smells and I use this whenever I paint a room - the smell of paint is gone overnight. Worth a try?
Hope your headache goes away :-( I had a migraine for 2 weeks straight once. Just came out of no where and couldn't get rid of it then on and off for a month after. Went to the neurologist and he had me try some things but the only way I could get it to go away was hydrocodone, but ofcourse you can't take that at work. lol! And I think it was stress induced somewhat, but still not sure. Thankfully I only get a few a month now and that's all. Topomax didn't work for me, made me feel awful. He put me on Frova which works, but you have to take it RIGHT when you feel it coming on and it's like 7 bucks a pill so I try not to take it much.
Sorry this got so long. I just hope you feel better SOON!!! I know how miserable it can be :-(
-Sam
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