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paula1e · 06-24-2011, 08:54 PM

Hi all,
several years ago I developed this freekish allergy to third hand cigarette smoke...it's the residue that remains behind on someone after they've smoked a cigarette. Its crippling and I'm desperate to know if anyone out there has this besides me. Every time someone walks by me a few minutes after they've had a cigarette, my throat closes up and it takes about three hours for it to return to normal. Its very painful.

Some cigarettes are worse than others. One particular brand causes me to feel as though there is an elephant standing on my chest or that my rib cage is shrinking and strangling all the organs below it in addition to my throat closing up. It is excruciatingly painful and this particular reaction can last four to six hours.

I have these attacks all day long in work as my building is chock full of smokers.

Oddly enough the cigarette smoke itself does not cause me the same reaction. I detest it but I can walk through it and only end up with a slight asthmatic like cough but without having one of the above attacks.

i've had a million allergy tests and all negative. multiple blood work looking for missing enzymes, etc. - all normal. one antigen was slightly elevated (1 degree higher than normal range) it was the one that when greatly elevated would lead to Sarcoidosis.

i don't have asthma and since this isn't asthma it doesn’t respond to asthma meds and believe me i've tried everything that can be dispensed, prescription and non.....i've seen two of the top allergists in NJ and a noted pulmonary specialist. nothing on my lungs...i appear to be healthy except for this unexplainable anomaly.

anyone ever heard of this?????

mikeyc86 · 07-18-2011, 03:51 PM

I have never heard of anything like this before. I'm not trying to be rude but it sounds like you've subconciously learned to have panic attacks and have developed a very specific phobia.

The huge hole in your sarcoidosis thought is, if you really had this pulmonary issue, the smoke would be more likely a trigger to you having breathing difficulties than the smell of it on someones person.

paula1e · 07-18-2011, 07:24 PM

hi...just to comment here...i never smell it first...so it's not a smell that triggers a phobia. my throat begins to close and then much later i might smell it but most times there's no smell at all. it took me about a year to figure out what was causing it and I only figured it out to be from cigarettes when they moved someone next to me in work that smoked. once i was able to determine it was cigarettes, as soon as it triggered, i wouldl get up and walk around and try to locate a smell....sometimes I could smell it and other times I couldn't so i would just ask people in the area, "do you smoke?" till i could pinpoint who was causing the irritation.

but i have an update anyway that may explain the cause behind this ...i have since learned I have lyme disease in a somewhat advanced stage (bitten over ten years ago). I started googling all the symptoms i have and after finding most point to lyme i got tested and I test positive. I have not seen a lyme literate doctor yet but will in the upcoming weeks. I have a strange feeling my breathing issue is somehow tied to the lyme.

ciao!

Machaon · 07-19-2011, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paula1e

... but i have an update anyway that may explain the cause behind this ...i have since learned I have lyme disease in a somewhat advanced stage (bitten over ten years ago). ... I have a strange feeling my breathing issue is somehow tied to the lyme.

We have similar health histories.

Back around 1957, I reacted to a live flu vaccine and was hospitalized for ten days. When I got out of the hospital, I found out quite quickly that I was now suffering from a very sensitive Asthmatic condition. It did not take long to find out that there were many things that would set off my Asthma, including our cats, which we sadly had to give away to other families.

It also made me extremely sensitive to cigarette smoke. An exposure to the tiniest, trace elements of cigarette smoke would cause labored breathing, and make me feel ill for days. If someone had smoked several hours prior to my being exposed to them, it would cause me to have problems with my Asthma. Just a little residue smoke in their hair, clothes or breath would cause problems. And... just like you, certain cigarettes are worse than others.

So....... sadly, you are not alone with your affliction. You'll also find out, just like I have, that what people don't understand, they will reject as not true. So, for that reason, I usually only discuss my extreme sensitivities to cigarette smoke, dust, newsprint, animals, etc., with my friends and close associates. They have actually witnessed my problems with Asthma, and, instead of refusing to accept my extreme sensitivities, help me by not exposing me unnecessarily to things that set off my Asthma.

Best of luck to you in avoiding the things that set off your health problems.

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