I’m sharing this experience that I had recently and am still recovering from, even though I am horrified that I let it happen, in the hope that it may ring a bell for someone and help them understand, recover or avoid a similar situation.
As you read this post you might find yourself shaking your head at me. Let me assure you that you couldn’t possibly shake your head more than I did and have since.
I am pedantic when it comes to chemicals – we don’t drink out of plastic containers or put hot food into plastic containers, we don’t spray weeds or bugs or use chemicals to clean. Most people I meet think I’m crazy when it comes to chemicals. But I work everyday with people who are sick and struggling with life because of their chemical exposure.
So how did I poison myself?
So about 9 weeks ago I was at my hairdresser and he suggested using this Argan oil product to protect my curls. I didn’t even question the man who uses ‘chemicals for a living’ and purchased the Argan oil. As I left he said, “you can use it on your skin too.”
I tried the product on my hair and found it not to my liking but that meant I had a $50 bottle of product I wasn’t going to use. I’ll try it on my skin because the man who uses ‘chemicals for a living’ said it was good on the skin. Not sounding too good at this point is it?
Anyway about 5 weeks ago I started getting tooth pain. I thought I might have to have a trip to the dentist but the pain was moving around my teeth – changing sides, changing teeth. That didn’t fit with a tooth cavity. Then the pain started radiating up my jaw to my ear and down to my neck glands. It was debilitating. I was hitting the pain medication and we were fast tracking healing plans and I couldn’t eat and spent days in bed resting.
I would feel better for a short while and then have to sleep, hopped up on my meds.
After 4 weeks of this situation progessively getting worse, I was wondering when and if I was ever going to recover.
Then Sunday last week, that would be the 6th December, I woke up feeling really bad, after a terrible night sleep. Eric said something about how soft my skin was and I said, “oh that’s this beautiful Argan oil I’ve been using.” Immediately the penny dropped for Eric. So how long had I been using this ‘beautiful’ product? Had I checked the ingredients? Hmmm. Could it be something this simple causing my terrible pain and ill-health?
I immediately researched this specific product and the Argan Oil was the 4th ingredient with these delightful chemicals as lead ingredients – cyclopentasiloxane, dimethiconol, phenyl trimethicone. I was horrified. We made a remedy from the product and I had that several times throughout the day. 8 days later we are still working on the recovery from the damage it caused. For the most part I now have no pain but as I get tired around 4-5 pm my jaw starts to hurt and I am very sensitive to eating hot or cold foods.
Today I finally felt strong enough to have my masseuse massage my neck and face. She found lumps of toxins in my glands and gently released them for me.
I feel fragile and stupid right now. I really do know better but I think in the rush of life we forget the ground rules we set for ourselves.
As my 17 year old son (who is a Harry Potter fan) says – ‘Constant vigilance”.