The Trials and Tribulations of Someone with a Scent Allergy

So, having just flown to Australia on vacation with my Dad (it was on his bucket list), I thought I’d first start writing about the amazing journey and first impressions. Yet, instead, I find myself so annoyed by the absolute oblivion of the flight attendants to the existence of scent allergies. (And yes, that started with a Canadian Airline!)

Since my move from Toronto (Ontario) to Quebec City (Quebec) a year and a half ago, I was shocked by the complete unawareness of perfume allergies. Then, when moving to Montreal at the beginning of last summer, I thought: “Great, I’m moving back to a big city where people are less ignorant and a little more current and up-to-date on the latest trends.” (I mean, in Quebec City both of my quite senior French teachers saw nothing wrong with having adult students present themselves with their marital status at the beginning of the course! And, of course, I had to ask students myself to please not wear perfume.)

Living with a scent allergy only makes you aware of how scent-infested our whole society is from air fresheners in public washrooms over horribly strong cleaning products to people walking around in a cloud of perfume or cologne feeling offended when someone has to keep a distance for health reasons.

A while ago, I was shopping at Walmart (yes, I know, I admit it, but I don’t have much money!). So, in the line-up a couple stood behind me where she was wearing a perfume that triggered me immediately: an instant headache and knowing that even after taking my puffers, I will have a horrible delayed asthma attack anywhere from 30 minutes to a day later and lasting anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. (And by that I mean the wheezing, which allows me just enough air to function, but not really feel ok. Imagine being out of breath without running first.) So, when I put the shopping cart in between us and turned to them saying: “Sorry, I’m allergic to perfume.” because I didn’t want them thinking I was racist. Well, you would not believe their reaction: I was bombarded with an aggressive verbal assault of insults and being told that I needed psychiatric help.

(Another demonstrative way of covering my mouth has often attracted many evil looks and probably had the opposite effect of those people thinking they stink and then slapping on even more in the future.)

Now travelling with a Canadian Airline, I am yet again stomped that the flight attendant servicing my aisle (yeah, I always seem to have that kind of luck) who was in a cloud of cologne that not only triggered me instantly, but also the older gentleman next to me who “only” gets headaches. So, I went to the back, explained about my perfume allergy — was yet again confronted by absolute surprise (of the other flight attendant) about the existence of a perfume allergy. I asked if another flight attendant could please assist me instead of him as I need to keep a safe distance to him. They assured me that, yes, absolutely, that would not be an issue.

Then, several minutes later, they pulled up with their food cart and he stopped right next to me to ask the people sitting next to me (I was in the aisle seat!) what they would like to order. I’m sorry, but which part of “I cannot be near you” (or vice versa) did he not understand? So, I ended up escaping from my seat like a maniac and had to wait around in the back area for ages until they were finished handing out all the food and drinks. In the meantime, another flight attendant was trying to get me to return to my seat and when I explained to her that I’m allergic to that flight attendant’s cologne, her immediate reaction was: “Wow, I’ve never heard of anything like that before.”

I mean, seriously, how much do you have to play ostrich and stick your head in the sand to have never heard of scent allergies in the year 2020?! In the end, she was actually very nice and helpful and seated me temporarily somewhere else until they were finished with the food carts.

But come on, all government buildings here in Canada are now scent-free and most large companies have a scent-free policy in place (even if it’s blatantly ignored as in my last workplace, which is why I quit). I mean, nobody would even think of force-feeding spoon after spoon of sugar to a diabetic, so why are people with scent allergies supposed to just quietly suffer through a similar ordeal of being force-fed horrible air that literally makes us sick? As WebMD calls it: “A Sensory Assault”.

And to make things worse, in the best case, we might deal with a cooperative, considerate and understanding person, but more often than not, we are confronted with dismissiveness, disbelief or simple “I-don’t-give-a-s***” attitude. I’ve had the office manager of my last workplace feed me a bunch of lines about how she insists on “organic paint” (give me a break!) because she is so aware, yet, only 3 mass e-mails were sent around in 2 months to ask people to please minimize their use of scented products (even though the company had a “scent-free policy”, which everyone so blatantly ignored.)

One day when I was getting mad at a colleague whom I had told 3 times that I’m allergic and he continued to wear his cologne regardless, I was getting yelled at by a supervisor who overheard, saying I had no right to talk to my colleagues that way. When I told him that I clearly wasn’t getting any help and support from management (that meant including him), so I had to fight for my rights on my own, he got very quiet and didn’t know what to say. Well, yeah, because it was painfully obvious that he really didn’t care at all.

Maybe it’s this kind of apathetic and unempathetic, cold attitude that’s the worst. No, wait, maybe it’s actually worse to be lied to your face being fed a bunch of false promises of what they are apparently doing to improve the air quality (i.e. “cleaning the air filters” which would not increase the amount of fresh air input).

Now, looking at society in general again: not to forget those ever-so-popular air “fresheners” that are in reality air polluters or even air poisoners to anyone with a scent allergy. Using the public washrooms at the airports in Sydney and Adelaide (Australia) were even worse than in Canada. Maybe scent allergies haven’t become as common there yet as they are here in North America.

Then, at the gate, one of the flight attendants checking our tickets also wore something that triggered me and I had to avoid her and join the other line-up. (Of course that was after changing seats in the waiting area because someone near me triggered me; and my 82-year-old Dad was not overly understanding even though he tries to be.)

One of our accommodations in Elizabeth, Australia had the reception inside their bar, which was also perfume-infested. So, when trying to take advantage of their free drink coupons by having dinner there — I really should have known better, but my Dad (who sees me as an overreacting hypochondriac anyway) wanted to eat there — that one hour spent there being exposed (combined with a previous night at the mould-infested accommodation) ruined my health for 3 days, which I spent “overdosing” on my puffers and going for long walks in fresh air to counter-balance the polluted air to avoid being horribly sick with “bronchitis” again for a week while on vacation.

The extend to which I have to escape scents is debilitating and yes, I do get headaches, asthma and it puts me in a terrible mood followed by anger towards the culprit (so, I suppose you could add severe mood swings to the list of symptoms). However, I’m lucky that I rarely feel nauseous, which is often a symptom of many of my fellow sufferers, or hives, sneezing, dizziness, weakness or any of the other symptoms as described on WebMD.

“Those symptoms, she tells WebMD, can range from classic “allergic” reactions, such as sneezing, runny nose, and watery eyes; to headaches, inability to concentrate, and dizziness; to respiratory issues, such as breathing difficulties and wheezing; to skin reactions, such as itching, hives, and other rashes.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), fragrances are considered the leading cause of cosmetic contact dermatitis. As a health problem, this sensitivity alone affects more than 2 million people, and studies suggest that sensitivity is on the rise.”

https://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/fragrance-allergies-a-sensory-assault#1

That reminds me of how many times I had a scent stuck on my clothes after hugging someone. Enough times, I had to get changed and swore myself to stop hugging people. So, basically, this scent allergy forces me into defensive, self-preserving behaviour which makes me appear cold and distant. On top of that, I’ve turned into a hermit as I don’t enjoy getting triggered whenever I go out into public. As a solution: I do my shopping at the oddest times: either ½ hour before closing or if I can: during the daytime on a weekday, otherwise I go to 24-hour stores at night.

If you are affected by such an allergy, I urge you to check out the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/scent_free.html) which unfortunately, I didn’t before quitting my last job since my health deteriorated too quickly.

As a sufferer of a scent allergy, I would like to disagree with part of what Dalton is saying: that “some fragrance materials have direct physiological effects, but she estimates those affected are probably a smaller subset of individuals than the ones who have a more psychological-based reaction.” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3071407/)

Mind you, I cannot speak for all the scent-allergic sufferers, but if you have made enough experiences of having been exposed to something that didn’t even cause you immediate wheezing, but made you wake up with acute bronchial asthma (which is like bronchitis) due to a delayed reaction and you’re then sick in bed coughing your lungs out for a week, I’d say it’s experience and NOT paranoia. Other times, the wheezing type of asthma might be delayed, anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours, which can then also turn into a week or more of “bronchitis”. (Forgive my simplicity, but I’ve been confronted with so much ignorance, that I just started telling people that I got sick with bronchitis.)

“Since there is no diagnostic test to confirm the diagnosis of what many scent-sensitive individuals refer to as multiple chemical sensitivity, it creates room for unconventional medicine to fill the void, including homeopathy and naturopathy, says Dr. Susan Tarlo, a respiratory physician and professor of medicine at the University of Toronto in Ontario. “Unproven tests and unproven treatments have been offered to patients which is, in my opinion, very unfortunate,” she says.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3071407/

Well, what I can say to Dr. Susan Tarlo and all those dismissive people who don’t believe in alternative treatment methods is that: I hope you become highly allergic, too and desperate enough to try all sorts of “unproven” remedies. (Some of which actually work quite well.) I hate to put negative energies out there, but it seems that people only learn the hard way if it affects them personally, otherwise, they couldn’t care less. Just imagine an elephant sitting on your chest and every breath is difficult!

On that same website: “Noel also urges people to maintain an arm’s-length policy when using scented products. If you can smell a perfume, body wash or deodorant from more than an arm’s-length away, that person is wearing too much, he says.” Well, my response to him is only that for many of us that’s not enough!

Also, anyone who hasn’t worn perfume or cologne in a long time, will have developed a heightened sense of smell since we are no longer desensitized.

I hope this got some people thinking to help spread awareness and make our lives easier.

Written by Susanna Wacker