Household Products Harmful to Chronic Illness

Did you know that ingredients in common household products could be making you sick outright, or contributing to and exacerbating your illness? Let me help open your eyes and save you some money too…

Here are some products to avoid, and possible alternatives:

Air Freshener and fabric fresheners

According to Toxipedia.org, air fresheners contain formaldehyde, petroleum distillates, 1, 4 dichlorobenzene and aerosol propellants. A little essential oil in a diffuser sounds a heck of a lot better to me.

Deodorants and Anti-perspirants (Aluminum)

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not put aluminum straight into my lymph nodes, not to mention some of the other cancer-causing chemicals such as parabens, listed on that store-bought deodorant container. Some alternatives are milk of magnesia or magnesium oil. Others use a combination of coconut oil and some essential oils such as lavender.

Toothpaste and mouthwashes

Just about all toothpastes have fluoride or sodium laureth sulfate, or triclosan, a controversial anti-bacterial. None of which you want and all of which are implicated in cancer and chronic illness! The best toothpastes I see these days are those with activated charcoal and bentonite clay. Other alternatives are baking soda, salt, peroxide, and milk of magnesia.

Household cleaners with fragrances, furniture sprays

These are common sources of headaches just as air fresheners. Furniture sprays contain Polydimethylsiloxanes (Silicon oil), which oddly enough, is also in certain deodorants! Other ingredients include petroleum products, such as mineral oil.

Dryer Sheets and Fabric Softeners

You can put dryer sheets and fabric softeners up there with the same inflammatory substances as air fresheners. They put off acetaldehyde and benzene which are not safe at any level. I recommend you use Borax and/or Arm & Hammer washing soda to keep your laundry smelling fresh and to fight fungus (Borax). Washing soda will also help with hard water.

Bug sprays

Again, I lump the effects in with the air freshener type issues. Bug spray will give you severe headaches. According to LiveScience.com, “One chemical found in many repellents is DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide). Developed and tested in the 1940s and 1950s by the U.S. Army for use in jungle warfare during World War II, DEET is extremely efficient at repelling mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, chiggers and blood-feeding flies such as black flies and deer flies.”

In addition to popular forms such as aerosols and pump sprays, DEET is also found in towelettes, lotions, creams and gels. The chemical keeps insects away for hours after application and can be applied over sunscreen.”

Hand sanitizers and certain soaps

Here it is again, hand sanitizers smell like hairspray! Kind of makes you wonder what’s in there?! These will also give you headaches, just like air freshener, dryer sheets, furniture sprays, and bug sprays. Hand sanitizers may contribute to the rising problem of super-bugs, or antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Triclosan, in particular is worrisome as it is an endocrine disrupter and was also similar to Agent Orange used in warfare. ‘Nuf said?

Need labs?

Sources:

http://www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Air+Fresheners
https://www.organics.org/7-harmful-ingredients-in-your-deodorant/
https://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=chem&id=139
https://www.livescience.com/6687-bug-spray-dangerous.html
http://awakeningwillow.com/2010/04/27/11-toxic-ingredients-to-avoid-in-hand-soap-and-sanitizer-and-safer-options-for-your-family/
https://draxe.com/dryer-sheets/