i don't know if you guys would have any insight into this

[cosmo105]

and i'm probably going to get it checked out this week, but i thought maybe someone here would have some experience.


something in my apartment is making me sick. (no, not my boyfriend or his farts.)

i say this because every morning for the last few weeks (since this really awful hangover i had - and i bet it was worse because of this), i've been waking up with a terrible headache and stomachache. it's weird, because i very, very rarely get headaches anymore. i used to occasionally when i was a kid, or with pms, but never enough to need any OTC painkillers. i hate taking anything like that. and now, i've been having to take them just to deal with it. it'll seriously feel like a hangover. and my stomach will feel awful, too. almost like having the wind knocked out of me.

i'm thinking maybe toxic mold, because i've noticed it's really only when i'm inside a lot with the windows closed. i don't really like sleeping with the windows open, but maybe i should start just to see if it helps.

i'm going to speak to my naturopath and get his opinion and then maybe go to a doctor later on just to get some tests (blood work, maybe some brain scans) done...but i doubt it's anything to do with my vegan diet, because about a year and a half ago i was getting headaches (but not like this) back at my mom's house and when i got blood drawn for that, i had no nutritional deficiencies. and i haven't changed my diet much since then (if anything, it's gotten healthier) so i doubt it's me.

it's just sorta scary and vague and i don't like it. :(

[beastiegirrl101]

How old is the building? Maybe there is there asbestos in the walls?

[Echewta]

Contact the city and ask if any health department codes have been broken or reported in or near your apartment.

[Waus]

Check under all your sinks and around in the bathroom. I just moved into a new apartment and there was black mold under the bathroom sink (which will apparently make you sick).

[DIGI]

Do you have carbon monoxide detectors?

[skra75]

Take a crowbar and hack into the wall "while you were out..." HGTV style.
If black dust pours out you're in trouble.

[Echewta]

Do you brush your breath with Dentine?

[cosmo105]

Do you have carbon monoxide detectors?
i'm not sure. i think i'm going to speak to the apartment managers about it today and see if they can get something figgered out. these are all great suggestions guys. thanks already.


except echewta.

[Planetary]

If black dust pours out you're in trouble.
why

[Justin]

Do you wear your glasses all day?

Maybe there's a gas leak?

carbon monoxide could be the reason. I lived over this car garage back in college and woke up with headaches all the time.


Awesome times(!)

[HEIRESS]

the heat wave maybe triggered something...

[cosmo105]

the heat wave maybe triggered something...
yeah, that's what i was worried about. ever since that awful hangover :o and then the heat really did a number on me. i'm just not sure. i'm going to speak to the apartment managers first and foremost, just to check, and have them look around the place.

[The Notorious LOL]

the presence of gas wouldnt make you sick, so its not that. Plus natural gas smells like a fart because of the additives.


It could be carbon monoxide potentially but it would require a gas burning appliance in the apartment to create CO. This could include an oven or dryer.


If you pay any cooking gas, call the gas company. Typically in most states the gas utility will send out a tech to investigate for possible CO or gas leaks free of charge.

[HEIRESS]

electricians sometimes have detectors too because they usually install and replace fire alarms/detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors are a natural addition to these services

[na§tee]

pregnant?
:eek:

[enree erzweglle]

Aside of the pregnancy possibility, do these symptoms coincide with that work situation and the stress that that brought or is bringing to you?

[cosmo105]

pregnant?
:eek:
haha no no no.

while i am kind of stressed about work, and i am kind of stressed about the situation i'm dealing with being in charge of my family at the moment, it's not enough to make me this ill. i've dealt with much worse before and this is definitely something external.

[DipDipDive]

My first thoughts were carbon monoxide or lead based paint.

[jennyb]

It doesn't sound like effects from mold to me... perhaps something else.

I lived in an apt once that turned out had mold in the attic right above where I slept. I had awful respiratory problems. This awful burning nasaly sensation, coughing and it was freaky as hell. I lived there all of 3 months.

[enree erzweglle]

while i am kind of stressed about work, and i am kind of stressed about the situation i'm dealing with being in charge of my family at the moment, it's not enough to make me this ill. i've dealt with much worse before and this is definitely something external.I have had monumental stresses in my life and didn't get physically sick from them, but smaller (relatively smaller) stresses did make me sick and those mostly came in the form of headaches and sometimes stomach problems too.

The extent of the stress doesn't necessarily correlate/map onto the severity of the symptoms. If it's not related to heat or because of a pregnancy, I'd look to stress before I started thinking in terms of an external toxin.

[DIGI]

I have had monumental stresses in my life and didn't get physically sick from them, but smaller (relatively smaller) stresses did make me sick and those mostly came in the form of headaches and sometimes stomach problems too.

The extent of the stress doesn't necessarily correlate/map onto the severity of the symptoms. If it's not related to heat or because of a pregnancy, I'd look to stress before I started thinking in terms of an external toxin.


^That and stop licking the ends of batteries.

[cosmo105]

well, the weird things about this are:

1. it's not affecting my boyfriend. then again, his immune system is a lot stronger than mine due to his condition.

2. it's really only when i wake up. (and i'm definitely not pregnant.)

3. we've been living here for almost a year and it's just been the last few weeks.

[monkey]

i had a problem where i woke up with stomachaches for about a week straight a long time ago. doctor couldnt figure what it was but then when i told him my schedule, he laughed at me. he said it was probably the stress becuase i was working 2 jobs, running for the xc team and taking 18 credits at school. i had no free time. so he told me to quit a job and see what happens. the stomachaches went away.

but if you dont think it's stress then yea, check out the carbon monoxide in your apt.

[Documad]

I have had monumental stresses in my life and didn't get physically sick from them, but smaller (relatively smaller) stresses did make me sick and those mostly came in the form of headaches and sometimes stomach problems too.

The extent of the stress doesn't necessarily correlate/map onto the severity of the symptoms. If it's not related to heat or because of a pregnancy, I'd look to stress before I started thinking in terms of an external toxin.
I agree completely (though I don't understand the biology of the other possibilities).

I have lived with huge stressers for most of my adult life. But it's when those go away and I'm having to live day in and day out with the grind of just the everyday stress of being somewhat unhappy with my job and feeling like I'm on a treadmill with regard to things in my personal life that I get the headaches, other pains, and I have trouble going to sleep and getting up. I've been in one of those cycles all summer.

[The Notorious LOL]

If it was carbon monoxide, you'd both be dead, certainly not one of you feeling sick.





wrong. Unless the exposure level is 400 parts per million or more it would just make you feel sick.

[kaiser soze]

malnourished?

more than likely you are eating well but forgetting to supplement something?

this might be a stretch, you appear to be on top of your diet

[Documad]

I once had a telemarketing job where we worked in a little sales floor that was elevated above the warehouse. We all got sick fairly often. Someone called OSHA and they shut it down.

[kaiser soze]

also consider Radon

[little j]

sounds like carbon monoxide poisoning...do you have a detector?

[Mr. Boomin'Granny]

Well i moonlight as a superhero so it doesn't affect me.

[cosmo105]

we're going to get a cm detector just to be on the safe side, but the more i think of my symptoms, the more i realize it really is me stressing myself sick. i'm even shivering with a low fever right now because i'm so stressed. and i don't have ANY flu symptoms...i mean besides body aches and chills. no stuffy nose or coughing or anything. yeah, i'm quitting this job this week.