I have an update.
After 8 nights of sleeping in the living room, I noticed I was still waking up sick and getting better after going outside. I started sleeping on an air mattress on the balcony (which has a roof but no walls.) And I immediately started feeling much better. I had developed severe shortness of breath, especially while climbing stairs. I had to stop and rest halfway up the long stairway that leads from the street where I catch public transportation and my apartment building, which is on a hill. The shortness of breath resolved almost immediately.
Movers came August 5 and carted away most of my stuff. On the night of August 6 I took an overnight bus to Boston, and later on August 7 I went to Harrisburg to stay with relatives.
I should have taken my respirator with me. I woke up feeling ill on August 8, and had increased neuropathy in my fingers and toes. I began sleeping in a newer part of the house that's over a crawl space and not my cousin's admittedly moldy basement. I got another respirator and started wearing it most of the time I was inside. The room I was sleeping in had windows on three sides. I opened all of them and ran the ceiling fan.
The bathroom next to that room had three "air fresheners" in the tightly closed window. Smelling that odor made me feel ill. When the basement door was open I'd smell a strong smell of pesticides.
My cousin and her husband were very cooperative in trying to make their house livable for me. My best days were days we stayed away from the house the longest.
I went back to Philadelphia on August 15 and spent two nights there. I was having some symptoms, so I went looking for mold, and found a contaminated rubber bathmat in the bathroom next to the room I was sleeping in. It looked OK on top, but it had a luxuriant growth of black mold underneath it. I put on my respirator, disposed of the mat, and scrubbed the tub and tub surround.
Then I went to the Jersey shore. No noticeable mold, but workers were out on the beach constructing a handicap ramp and doing other work. I kept catching whiffs of diesel fumes. I still had some mild symptoms.
Then I found out about "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity." I've gotten contact dermatitis from various things (mostly cosmetics and sunscreen) since I was a teenager. When I was 23 I learned I was allergic to mold. I figured out in my early 50s that I can't be around chlorine or even come into prolonged contact with fabric that's been washed with chlorine bleach. I get hives, rashes, and weird-looking blotches on my skin. During a cleanup operation after a basement flood, I found out I also react to the spray-on antifungal they used to prevent mold growth.
Cologne, perfume, and other scented things can make me feel ill. Plug-in "air fresheners" and scented laundry products can give me headaches or migraines. I always use unscented laundry detergent, hand cleaner, hand lotion, and body wash. Recently I noticed burning and tingling in my hands and feet when I'm exposed to diesel fumes.
If you have an hour, watch this video about MCS. I'm not nearly as disabled as most of the people in the movie, but I'm getting more and more sensitive. It's possible that many of the symptoms I've been attributing to Herceptin (runny nose) or chemo (respiratory problems, shortness of breath, light headedness, skin problems, GERD) are caused or exacerbated by MCS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJuB...ature=youtu.be
Now that I've figured this out, I can take steps to limit or avoid exposure.
You might want to go fragrance-free now.
Amy