Memory foam pillows, formaldehyde and migraines

A coworker was absent yesterday because she got a new memory foam pillow and had a bad allergic reaction to it and her face was all swollen and she had trouble breathing. She did research and found out that the pillow had formaldehyde in it that the manufacturer used to keep the fibers lasting longer. Further research found that this was a common practice in some bedding industries.

Another side effect of formaldehyde allergy is....you guessed it....migraine. For those of you experiencing morning migraines. Time to check that bedding.

Angela

Well its not a problem with my pillow, but how interesting, and worrying.
I hope everyone using them checks their's out before bed tonight.

i would have adored sleeping on a memory-foam pillow or mattress. having fibromyalgia, sleep disorders, and daily migraines means i always hurt, everywhere.

i gave several different kinds the "sniff test" years ago, and found they are all intolerable for me.

the formaldehyde MIGHT air out if i had a place to do that for about a year.......but it would be an expensive mistake if it didn't work. dianne

I have a sleep number...did you check that one out Diane? It's basically a giant air-mattress but you can adjust it. I have a pretty pronounced curve in my back and it conforms better - no pressure points or sore spots. I highly recommend it if it wouldn't cause you other problems.

i would think it would, since an air mattress has to be made of plastic. anyway, i only have room for a twin bed, so i imagine they don't come that small. i'll check, though, and i appreciate the tip. thanks, dianne

I was wondering about that.
IT is interesting what you say.
I bought a memory pillow last year - I wanted to try how it feels to sleep with one ( I have AS in my neck) but immediately I unpacked it, I had this strange feeling that something is not right, a faint chemical smell. I thought it might be the plastic packaging, but yes, this pillow gave me a h/a. Not a bad M, just a h/a for quite few weeks. It was good for my neack, bad for my head - definitely.

I tried to air that pillow properly in meantime, and eventually I did not feel the smell any more, so gardually my head has improved as well.

But I am convinced that it was that pillow. I still use it, but I will not buy the memory mattrass - even though I really want one.
I have a "bad feeeling", a sort of premonition, that it is going to make my head worse. I have learned to follow such feelings and listen to them.

BTW air mattress also gives me a h/a ! IMy son has air matress for his tent and they sometimes use it at home when they have other children visit, and the smell makes me run away from the room. So beware of any plastic/chemical materials as we just do not know how they will affect us.

The same is true about carpets. New carpet can be a killer!


Senna

i definately agree with the smells and headache thing, anything that smells chemically will irrate me and eventually give me a migraine, so those pillows would be a no no for me,

i wonder if it only triggers migraines in people who already suffer from them or whether it triggers migraines in people who never normally get them?

Theresa are you a member of MAA. Cant remember.
Their new newsletter is awful, it is printed on high gloss paper.
I have to put it in the garden for a day or two before I can get near it.
My daughter put it out for me and inadvertently touched her lip, which then swelled up...

I have mentioned it and a few other people have concurred.
It seems bizarre to me to send that to migraine people.

P

It's also an ingredient in many vaccinations. Never mind the EPA says there is no acceptable healthy level for formaldehyde.

i'm glad we're having this discussion. it gives me a chance to reiterate my "multiple chemical sensitivity" diagnosis. i've had the name for it, for 25 years or so, (named by a holistic m.d.) and have had the symptoms for way over 30 years.

some of us just can't live in the world as it is. if we try to go places and use things which other people find are no problem, we definitely suffer. in silence, because nobody believes us.

however, so many more folks are finding they can't stand perfume and other highly-scented items (like laundry detergent and the killer dryer sheets) that the manufacturers are forced to come up with unscented versions.

another thing to remember is that "unscented" does not mean fragrance-free. there is usually a MASKING FRAGRANCE in unscented-labeled products. how deceptive can you get?? when i buy stuff it has to say "fragrance-free" in order to be safe for me. dianne

Just for an alternative viewpoint: I experienced a reduction in migraines and back pain after getting my tempurpedic mattress and pillow. There's no stress on my spine and neck when I sleep now, and that greatly reduces my daily level of muscle tension, which is a huge contributor to my migraines.

I enjoy being trapped in my treatment room with a heavy smoker that uses cologne to try to mask the smoke smell. It doesn't work, instead it quadruples the stench. Even if they are not smokers I am still surprised at how many colognes are out there that are nothing short of demonic smelling.

Many times I can guess the name of the cologne.

Such as....... Cherry bubble gum and skunk, paint thinner and dish detergent (my fav), burning trash pile and rotten eggs.

And sometimes they will use the art of scent fusion with one of the above select colognes, smelly arm pit and garlic breath. It's truly a wonderful bouquet of olfactory hell.

In my younger years, before migraine, if I dared to put on perfume I immediately got a bad headache. I tried it again (perfume) in about early-thirties and alas the same pounding headache occured. Some things never change.... Also, having to traverse the perfume department in a store is always fun. I rush through trying not to breath. What a life.

Unfortunately formaldehyde is found in clothing, building products, household products, new carpets, mattresses and a ton of things in between.

I am an RVing fanatic and have owned many motorhomes and travel trailers over the years. They are notorious for using lots of building products with formaldehyde. I don't seem to have a problem with it and in fact I seemed to have less migraines when I'm on vacation in the motorhome but that's probably due to my stress decreasing 2000% from not being at work.

When I purchased my last motorhome (new) the smell was really strong. It's a bit deceiving because it isn't necessarily a "bad" smell. It still didn't give me a headache but I could smell it for sure. I had to open the windows at every chance I had to help with the outgassing. It is 2 yrs old now and is better but I can still smell it.

My daughter has mastocytosis (it's a rare mast cell disease which I may have as well) but many of the masto patients are sent into anaphylactic shock from smells. Whenever we have our annual meeting or local support group meetings everyone knows that they and any of the guests they bring cannot wear perfume or even any scented lotions, hairsprays, etc. It's always a challenge to find a hotel for our annual meeting that will accomodate our requests for food, smells, etc. One year even though they thought everything was covered, there was a Mary Kay convention in a nearby room!!! It was a disaster.

Definitely something to think about.

Take care, Beth

I'm not sure what your sensitivities are Diane. I do know that Sleep-Number come in twin size but they are rather pricey.

One thing you could do is find a Select Comfort store (they sell the Sleep Number beds and other things) and test it out and see if the construction materials would be a problem. I know I went to one, found my sleep-number and realized what I knew all along - that I need a softer bed or I end up with a backache and pressure points on my hips (now paying for sleeping in a hotel this past weekend).

jwar wrote:Just for an alternative viewpoint: I experienced a reduction in migraines and back pain after getting my tempurpedic mattress and pillow. There's no stress on my spine and neck when I sleep now, and that greatly reduces my daily level of muscle tension, which is a huge contributor to my migraines.

I agree, jwar. I love my tempurpedic and other brand memory foam pillows. I get more comfort from them than any other I've tried in my 48 years of life and I don't need to reposition them 15 times a night.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to sleep in our tempurpedic bed because laying flat esclates my head and upper back pain (I sleep in a recliner). The tempurpedic mattress is like sleeping on a cloud--so relaxing to every part of one's body, neither making one's body cold nor hot, and it doesn't move when your spouse rolls over so you're not disturbed by movement.

"I enjoy being trapped in my treatment room with a heavy smoker that uses cologne to try to mask the smoke smell. It doesn't work, instead it quadruples the stench. Even if they are not smokers I am still surprised at how many colognes are out there that are nothing short of demonic smelling.

Many times I can guess the name of the cologne.

Such as....... Cherry bubble gum and skunk, paint thinner and dish detergent (my fav), burning trash pile and rotten eggs.

And sometimes they will use the art of scent fusion with one of the above select colognes, smelly arm pit and garlic breath. It's truly a wonderful bouquet of olfactory hell." Brent

Brent, LOL, but I totally agree with you. Cigarette smell with any other odor has to be the worst. The unfortunate thing is that most smokers don't realize they have such a strong cigarette odor to them or their homes.

Becky

The makes me want to cry. I wonder where the product was manufactured. I often order online and read about the products in reviews by people who have already bought the clothing, shoes, purses, etc I am looking at purchasing.

I cannot tell you how many people write that they barely opened the box when the smell of the coat, purse, etc was so overpoweringly chemical that they taped it back up immediatelty to return.

There are constant warnings about drinking water out of plastic bottles, particularly if you use the bottle over and over, as many of us gym rats do. Apparently all kinds of bacteria can get into the bottles over time, no matter how carefully you wash them. If I leave tap water out for days, a gooky film will form---especially on the bottom and sides of a glass. And my local tap water is one of the best in the country----so the testers claim.

I have read many essays by scientists who say they would NEVER allow any of their family members to eat food cooked in plastic containers in the microwave. The also talk about the dangers of letting plastic wrap touch food while it is cooking in the microwave. Waxed paper is okay.

I notice that athletic stores and all the local dept stores like Target, K-Mart etc are suddenly stocking racks filled with metal drinking bottles designed for athletes to carry with them or place on treadmills, etc. Previously the same racks held all kinds of plastic bottles with colorful designs on them.

And how many toys have been recalled because of hazardous materials in toys designed for babies who put things in their mouths. How many more slid through because there are not enough inspectors? What are we doing to our bodies and out childrens' bodies.

Remember, vitamins and bottled water are not regulated or inspected by ANYONE. Several tests have shown some bottled water to have 85 per cent more bacteria than regulated tap water from various locations across the country.

An exerpt from "The Bottled Water Madness" By Larry Lack

Approximately one fourth of all bottled water and as much as 40 per cent of that sold in North America is simply municipal tap water run through filters and treated with minerals or other additives. The rest of the bottled water found in stores is pumped from groundwater aquifers many of which have been severely depleted by these water “takings”.

Safety testing of bottled water is seldom required or done, but published studies indicate that heavy metals and other toxic chemicals as well as health threatening bacteria are found with surprising frequency in bottled water which, ironically, is marketed based on claims of “purity”. Both chemical and bacterial contaminations tend to increase when water is stored in sealed bottles for long periods of time.

Bacteria can get through filtering systems, and, if they are not well managed, these systems themselves may contaminate the water they are meant to purify. A comprehensive 2004 Dutch study found that 40 per cent of 68 commercial mineral waters tested were contaminated with either bacteria or fungi. The study’s author warned that bacteria in bottled water could threaten the health of consumers with compromised immune systems and called for more effective regulation of bottled water. A 1993 study published in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology and a follow-up study in 1998 found that nearly 40 per cent of the samples of bottled water sold in Canada from 1981 through 1997 contained bacteria in excess of applicable safety standards.
Rest of article:

http://www.counterpunch.org/lack07252006.html

The worst part is the billions of plastic bottles ending up in landfills that held unpure water in the first place.

I use PBA-free 24-oz. water bottles made by Camelbak, and I love them. I always have one with me, 24-hours a day.

For some reason, I don't like the idea of drinking water from metal bottles (doesn't sound appetizing/appealing to me).

Becky