Color Me Stupid

Tweet That's exactly how I felt a few nights ago, S-T-U-P-I-D!

Many months ago, so long ago that I can't even remember, Tallen suddenly developed this horrible, gagging, cough. He would wake during the night and sound like he was literally choking to death. I carried him to the doctor many, many, times. Even after rounds of antibiotics and several different prescription cough medicines, he hadn't improved. Even a humidifier did nothing to help.

I really think the doctor was beginning to think I was crazy. During all the doctor visits, he didn't have even one of those coughing spasms. However, his throat was a bright cherry red from the irritation. He was even tested for strep. It was negative.I had pretty much reached the conclusion that he was allergic to something in his room. Just when I was to the point of tearing down his walls and ceiling to check for mold, the cough just vanished.

Now this was right along the same time that I had received a sofa and love seat from a really nice lady on FreeCycle. When I got them unloaded here at the house, I steam cleaned them, using my homemade laundry detergent ( it doesn't suds up ) in the machine instead of the commercial carpet cleaning solution. Tallen loved the new sofa and started sleeping there a lot. I'll add here that , when you have a child with special needs that also has trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, sometimes it is best to let him/her sleep where they are most comfortable. I don't mind him being a " free range sleeper ". Anyway, the fact that his cough went away at this time convinced me even more that something in his room was causing a reaction.

I switched to making my own laundry detergent and using cloth diapers at about the same time. For the diapers, I added a bit of vinegar to the rinse water and did not add a dryer sheet when drying. For the rest of the clothes, I did use dryer sheets, just until I had used up what I had already purchased, then I switched to a vinegar rinse for all our laundry.

The other day, Cina mentioned that her clothes have "no smell". I prefer it that way, but I questioned if maybe I was going a bit overboard, so when shopping the other day, I purchased a box of dryer sheets. That night, my eyes were burning and my head was pounding. My husband was suffering the same symptoms. Tallen woke during the night with that awful cough and actually vomited. That's when it hit me, it was the dryer sheets! The same time Tallen had started sleeping on the sofa was also about the time I had used the last of the dryer sheets!

I hurried to research online, looking for others who had the same reactions. Turns out that dryer sheets contain a lot of very harmful things... I felt like a horrible mother but was also relieved to have finally found the culprit. After learning what I did, I can't even give them to someone else in good conscience, so in the trash they go. Now I can work on getting Tallen back to his real bed...

Here is some information about the dangers of fabric softener CLICK HERE

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