Isn't it a treat to see someone who nails it? Very, very different issue, but I have had allergy/toxic reactions to many common solvents since I worked with fiberglass 4 years ago. It was common knowledge then among us grunts that the acetone we washed the fiberglass resin off our skins with carried those bad chemicals through our skin and they ended up in our livers. We all knew ex-workers with unusual and often life-altering conditions and accepted (or refuse to look at) that we would be there eventually. I had sinuses that were in such poor shape that I got infections after routine colds that required anti-biotics about every 18 months. Finally a doctor sent me to an allergy specialist. No I had no terrible allergies, but the specialist did prescibe me with a cotristeroid inhalent. Much better. Then my GP added a powerful antihistamine. LIfe was liveable, at $300 every 100 days when insurance didn't cover it. Years later, still on those meds, I started seeing a nurse with a long string of letters after her name. At the close of my first physical, see mentioned I had lafked of chemicals in my liver. Asked me if I wanted to try a natropathic liver cleanser. I said yes. She prescribed me two bottles of large capsules, 90 in each, to be taken one of each a day for the 90 days. $25 each. It would be a mini chemo and might not be a lot of fun.
Life changing. I have sinuses that are close to normal. Very few incidents with solvents. (I used to be so sensitive to acetone that I could feel my body react before I could smell it. When I worked in a shipyard (that built steel ships, very little solvents) there were times when I could feel the changes happening. Now, I could not work when that happened. So I would search out the source. It was that or go home. And I would always find it. I started getting called the canary because, like the canary in the coal mine, my body knew.
I still take those expensve medicines. But instead of a squirt of two per day in each nostril of each medicine, it now a 1/4 squirt as needed, usually every 4th or 5th days. Bottles last me a long time.
The right diagnosis - yeah!
Ben!