So here's how it all began. On July 17th, my family and I were celebrating my son's 25th birthday so I decided to go all out and put on makeup for the first time in months. See during the Summer it's quite rare to catch me with makeup on and there are a few reasons for that. Firstly, I can't see well enough to apply it without wearing my reading glasses due to an eye condition I have called Uveitis and secondly, it's also way too hot to wear it. But being a special occasion, I wanted to put in the effort to look nice.
To celebrate, I'd planned on taking my son out to eat so we started out on the 50 mile drive to Idaho Falls. Along the drive, I noticed that both of my eyes had begun to itch and tear up, but at the time I didn't think much of it. I just figured it was my Uveitis disorder causing the itchiness and watering so I ignored it.
Twenty or so minutes later we arrive at The Outback restaurant hungry and ready to chow down but by now, my eyes were itching and tearing up like crazy! Not wanting to upset my son on his special day, I kept it to myself and we ordered our meal.
About half way through the meal the itching was becoming unbearable and my eyes were very noticeably watering. By this time I was blaming it on the eye makeup I was wearing. Miserable, I was very tempted to dash into the bathroom, grab a few hand towels, and scrub all of the makeup off my face with a vengeance, but not wanting to embarrass myself or my son, I sucked it up and focused on finishing my Chicken Caesar Salad.
Besides, it was very hot out that day and knowing makeup and heat don't mix well. I figured that was the cause of my eye irritation. After a couple of hours of itchy, watery eyes we headed back home and as soon as we arrived, I raced to the bathroom to remove the makeup and flush my eyes out with water. It felt good to get the makeup off but at the same time something didn't feel quite right.
Later on that night a rash had developed on the side of my face and around both eyes, particularly around my left eye and lower cheek. This got me thinking about what I'd done differently besides applying makeup since the rash seemed to be worse on the left side of face.
It was then I realized that I'd used Snuggle Fabric Softener for the first time the day before while washing clothes. It started to make sense too as the side of my face most affected was the side I slept on. It then hit me that the four loads of laundry including all of my bedding I'd just washed needed to be rewashed. Crap!
Skip on ahead to Sunday, June 21st. The clothes, bedding, and anything else Snuggle touched are rewashed, but the rash, which I soon discovered was hives, had now spread to the inside of my left ear, down my neck, and onto my chest and parts of my arms.
Worried, I decided it would be best to see the doctor, who that evening, informed me of what I already suspected. It was indeed an allergic reaction. He recommended Benadryl for itching and Prednisone to stop the swelling. Thank goodness for that because I woke up this Monday morning feeling a lot better and not itching as much as before. Yay!
So Snuggle Fabric Softener, you are now officially banned from my home and especially my laundry! As the suspected culprit, you cost me a lot of time and money in the past 5 days. It is a shame though, because you made my clothing smell oh so nice and made my bedding so very soft.
Oh well, I will miss your lovely vanilla orchid scented fragrance and snuggly softness but from here on out, it's only hypoallergenic, unscented fabric softener for me. Tata!
How long did it take for your rash to go away?
ReplyDeleteIt took over a week before the hives on my face, neck and chest started to disappear but the worst of it was the unbearable itching caused by the hives inside my ears. That was pretty awful :/
Deletethis just happened to me! Only it was the fabric sheets. I had no idea what was going on, I went to my DR and he looked at me and said I had pink eye ! (odd since it affected both my eyes at the same time and other symptoms didn't match) but he wasn't interested in hearing my symptoms he just prescribed me a drop and said I'd feel relief the next morning.......Well the next day was pure hell one of my eyes swelled up and I was digging at them both so much they were raw! I went to out patients the DR on call took a swab and gave me an ointment, after 4 days that didn't heal it (although it did take some swelling down) so I went back to the same doc who told me since they treated me for an infection which would have cleared up by now that he would treat me for an eye allergy. After getting those meds and slowly mending I started thinking about what I changed that would cause an allergy. Nothing new, no new soaps then it hit me - snuggle sheets were on sale 2 weeks ago! Since buying them I have done literally all our laundry in them! Im assuming this was the cause as nothing new has really come into our house hold. This by far has been the worst experience I have ever had in my life. I would obsessively itch my eyes (once for 2 hours at a time). This was just awful I will never use this crap again
ReplyDeleteI just found this blog after searching for fabric softener allergic reactions. My son has had a horrible outbreak to the same Snuggle line (dryer sheets) and an ER doctor said it was just eczema (which he's never had before). Five hours later a small rash on his stomach is now over his body!
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