Dust, Toys and itching

[Twoducks]

Hi,

I want to know if this has happened to any other member here:

Ever felt a strong itching after manipulating your collection or an area close to it?

See my wife and I have had terrible intermittent itching for months now. It normally starts after we do an in dept cleaning. We start scratching for a few days and then it stops until it pops up again.

We've pinpointed the area down to the computer desk of the work room, right were I've been keeping most of my collection. Showers relieve the itching but just sitting down or touching something in the desk gets you started again.

We don’t know if it’s due to bugs or another toxic product in the house or maybe just a dust allergy (some of the things I have in the desk are second hand and still have some leftover dust from who knows what conditions).

Now, we did some remodelling in the house last summer and the parquet floor got a new coat of varnish. The idiot that did it did an incredibly sloppy job leaving great blobs of varnish on the corners. We now *think* this might be the source of the itching. Maybe the desk hits the floor while we are using it and lets loose some particles and when we clean they get distributed all over my collection and the computer.

The thing that opposes this hypothesis is that the rest of the house does not make us itch... that is until yesterday when the living room sofa started making us itch after cleaning the floor beneath it.

The itching is bearable; it just makes sleeping while scratching a pain in the arse. What worries us is that we have a five month baby in the house who will start crawling any day now over what could be a toxic floor or who knows what.

[eugimon]

Our friends had a similar situation. they bought a brand new home and they all started itching and their children developed skin conditions. Recently they tore out the carpet (they thought it was dust mites that were at fault) but they discovered that the builders had not removed the concrete dust from construction and just placed the padding and carpet right over a sizable layer of concrete dust. Since then their skin problems have noticeably improved.

If you think there's a problem with the varnish or maybe another material is outgassing, it's worth checking out!

[geepogi]

how about buying one of those fancy vacuum

cleaners with water filters that doubles up as

a air purifier too? i think rainbow is the brand.

but its too expensive for our taste so we bought

a cheaper one.

[transfan52]

Your condition is most likely related to a dust concern or allergy to a certain chemical in the air... I suggest you vacuum and wipe down whatever area you feel itchy around. It would be a good idea to clean your surroundings at least once a week to see if things will improve. Goodluck.

[eugimon]

Hey twoducks, if it's bothering you then it's REALLY going to bother the baby. They're so much smaller that small amounts of irritants/chemicals can wreck havoc on them.

[MechTech]

Three suggestions:

1) Mop up the floor with a DAMP mop, clean it occasionally.

2) Wax or coat the floor with a finish.

3) Get on some protective gear and CAREFULLY clean out your computer which is kicking AND attrarcting dust like crazy!

I've got some allergies and these are recomended solutions for some. - MT

[Vifam7]

Suggestions -

1. Clean and wash your desk and everything on it.

2. Inspect the chair you're sitting on. The filling in the cushion or any cloth covering could be a problem.

3. Clean/vacume the floor

4. If you've got pets, check for fleas and wash them too.

[D_Unit]

Also check if toxic drywall was used to remodel the new area. They stopped using the stuff since 2007 but a few may be still lying around.

http://www.canada.com/news/Toxic+Chinese+d...7648/story.html

[VFTF1]

I had a severe dermatological condition with dry, iritating and itchy skin all over my back and stomach, sometimes spreading to my arms as well -oh - and on my face, under my eye.

A Asian massage specialist took a look at it and said I had herpies. Some nurse in a NYC hospital scooped up a sample of my skin, ran some tests, and suggested I stop using Armani products and instead use Dove deoderant and Dove shampoo. My room-mate at the time thought I had poison ivy. My dear Dad, however, opined that it was all in my mind - he said the condition was a physical manifestation of my unhappy psyche; that in effect the illness was psycho-somatic. He pinpointed the prblem on my girlfriend at the time.

I got rid of her.

The itching went away.

I've been healthy ever since - although a slight rash always develops on my stomach every time I get angry. It's like the Incredible Hulk or something. "Don't get me mad - you won't like me when I'm mad"

My current girlfriend, thankfully, doesn't give me any infections. Even when she breaks up with me or throws a fit (very often) - it's usually cause of hysterical laughter because she's so retarded in how she does it Been together 5 years. No itching.

As for my collection - never given me anything but absolute physical pleasure.

Pete

Edited April 21, 2009 by VFTF1

[mr.chogokin]

Does any one here suffer from Eczema or Psoriasis? These two are often made worse by dusts accumulated thru collectibles and the stupid love of pets particularly, cats. Temporary solutions, vacuum and dust often, and ship your pets to North Korea and rural China.

[Cent]

Lol, VFTF... That's a new medical condition.

Maybe they should check the correlative link between cancer and unhappy marriages! You're brilliant!

Edited April 21, 2009 by Cent

[edwin3060]

Does any one here suffer from Eczema or Psoriasis? These two are often made worse by dusts accumulated thru collectibles and the stupid love of pets particularly, cats. Temporary solutions, vacuum and dust often, and ship your pets to North Korea and rural China.

My dad suffers from Psoriasis... apparent some tar-based cream really helped him.

[Salamander]

Hey twoducks, if it's bothering you then it's REALLY going to bother the baby. They're so much smaller that small amounts of irritants/chemicals can wreck havoc on them.

On the other hand, non-exposure to allergenes (the chemicals/materials/whatever that might cause an allergic reaction) as a kid seems to be a major reason for developping bad asthma later in life.

Which is why kiddies who spent most of thier life sheltered inside playing videogames without playing outside enough tend to have asthma more than kids who spent their entire life outside...

[mr.chogokin]

I hear from some friends that plastic mold release residue... that oily substance for separating plastic from their casting molds, that you find coating your box fresh toy also causes itchiness too. Is that true?

[Graham]

Hi,

I want to know if this has happened to any other member here:

Ever felt a strong itching after manipulating your collection or an area close to it?

See my wife and I have had terrible intermittent itching for months now. It normally starts after we do an in dept cleaning. We start scratching for a few days and then it stops until it pops up again.

We've pinpointed the area down to the computer desk of the work room, right were I've been keeping most of my collection. Showers relieve the itching but just sitting down or touching something in the desk gets you started again.

Hah, "blame the toys", this is obviously a cunning plan instigated by your wife to get you to stop collecting toys.

She's probably seeded the area around your toys with itching powder and as soon as you throw away your toys, the itching will 'mysteriously' disappear. Of course when you attempt to buy any new toys it will come back again.

Cunning are the ways of women.

Graham

[MechTech]

Mold release compound is usually an oil or wax based compound. I doubt it's that, though I'm not a total expert on the subject. - MT

[Twoducks]

Thanks for all the answers guys.

Two days ago we leaved the house. The night before we left we started having throat pain and we got really worried since that was a new symptom. The windows were left wide open that night. When we came back we started having the symptoms again. My wife went to the roof (we live on the last floor of the building) and said that up there she felt like she couldn’t breath. I went there and sure enough I felt irritated lips and found the reason behind this:

Glass wool rockwool or a similar material

The building is installing a new heather system with solar panel on the roof. The a$$holes doing this the past few month have pieces of this highly toxic crap laying on the floor plus some of the glasswool covering some of the pipes is in contact with the air.

We investigated about this material because the fake wall behind the workdest has this thing inside. But we couldn’t figure out how it could get past the wall. Then we looked at the roof and remembered that the opened windows just made it worst.

Now I don’t know if I should kill someone or feel happy to finally know what was causing us this.

We went to the ER last night and apart from the throat irritation we are fine. But we’ve been exposed to this $hit for months and my wife is really worried about any long time effects on the baby.

We’ve rented a room close to home and will begin nailing the balls to the wall of the idiots responsible for this as legally best as we can.

[BlueMax]

Congratulations on finding out the cause of your irritations.

Now you need a good lawyer and you should start to gather photographic evidence and samples!

[Twoducks]

Well, I went vacuum cleaner hunting today and couldn't find the rainbow brand. In the end I picked up a Dyson vacuum cleaner with a fancy cyclone system and with a supposed higher power which I imagine will be useful for making sure not much is left after cleaning, but I'm not completely sold on it being a better choice than a water filter based one. The water filter brand I had my sights on was Polti so I was hoping if anybody has had any experiences with either and what they would suggest.

As for samples and lawyers, that's already in process, hoping I can get an architect to confirm the monstrosity that's on the roof to give it all legal strength and have already started talks with a lawyer. I'll tell you how that all ends up...

Thanks in advance to all of you.

[m0n5t3r]

good job finding out the real culprit of your symptoms (ended up it wasn't a trivial or laughing matter) and good luck getting those bastids!

[transfan52]

To tell you the truth I have been having some dryness and itching all over my body lately but no one else in my family is experiencing the same symptoms... I think its most likely due to seasonal allergies...

I am very allergic to pollen and certain dust particles from plants that blossom during the spring and summer seasons. Over the years my allergies have gotten better but I still get irritated from time to time. Dry itchy skin isn't all that uncommon, most ppl can deal with it as long as they have some allergy meds.

[mr.chogokin]

Man, If I can macronize pollen and dander, I'd kick their arse!

[SchizophrenicMC]

Man, If I can macronize pollen and dander, I'd kick their arse!

Ahem

"ME GRIMLOCK, KICK POLLEN ASS!"

[VFTF1]

Hah, "blame the toys", this is obviously a cunning plan instigated by your wife to get you to stop collecting toys.

She's probably seeded the area around your toys with itching powder and as soon as you throw away your toys, the itching will 'mysteriously' disappear. Of course when you attempt to buy any new toys it will come back again.

Cunning are the ways of women. happy.gif

Graham

This is very true.

This is also why it's important that you quickly make your child your ally against your wife. Your child MUST turn to the Dark Side of the Force. Only then will your collection remain a treasured and lasting item in your home. And finally...there will be...peeeeaaace.

Pete