Feeling Tired?

This morning we are feeling very tired, despite a good nights rest. Yesterday we were out, but it was not a heavy day and it all went quite well.

Up to a point.

What we did get was a heavy hit from perfumes/deodorants. For over two years now we have been doing a rigorous analysis of where the fatigue is coming from and why. This developed from ongoing rigorous checking out of all things because of my anaphylaxis to a particular chemical in common use.

It was further developed after a nasty winter virus left my wife with gluten reaction. She had already had some food intolerances for a time and also had reacted to hair colourings. We have never used fabric conditioners and have had problems with some detergents.

So yesterday we started off fresh and feeling fine. During the course of the day we do not eat or drink anything we have not carried. This is plain filtered water and foods made up and home and carefully sourced. We even know the farms where the meat comes from.

It is all balanced between protein and other stuff. No alcohol, no caffeine, no manufactured energy bars or drinks, no processed foods, no carbo heavy stuff designed to give you a kick and then leave you flat wanting more.

The travel is planned to avoid people as far as possible and the trains and stations picked also to minimise any contamination both in timing, location and facilities.

The journey there goes well and also the journey back is no problem. It is the kind of day we have done very often in the past. All the people we are in contact with are pleasant and good to be with. There is no incidental stress, no rushing and no worry. The waiting areas are open, spacious, and uncrowded.

The problem is in the auditorium. There is a young male nearby with a killer deodorant and unluckily one or two others with perfumes all too likely derived from unreliable sources and with synthetic musks banned in other countries. It is not good. It is not a long do so we manage to get through to the end.

But we have taken a heavy hit, enough to put us up to a Scale 3 Reaction in a scale of five with my wife’s verging on four. All the reaction boxes are being ticked. By the time we are home we are aching all over and very very tired. It can only be the air pollution in the auditorium that did it.

The problem not is how long the fatigue will last. The train journey back was fine, no trouble apart from the train overshooting a platform, the conductor losing his whistle and the train announcement being the wrong way round. It gave us all a laugh.

Now to see how long recovery will take. This morning we are better but there is not much in the tank. A couple of clear days may see us OK.

The serious about this kind of fatigue effect is the progressive effect. Because a little while back we had a run of events, six within two weeks, that all had the potential for the same problems. Same kind of journeys, same place, same pattern. Then, with all the same precautions we managed to avoid any heavy hit.

We did have reduced contamination because the air pollution in the auditorium is unavoidable although sometimes much lower than others. Even this began to give us problems because the recovery period between events was not enough to clear the effects of even relatively minor pollution and contamination.

By the time the run of events was over the progressive fatigue was taking its toll. This was despite the rigour described being applied over the whole period to all our eating, drinking and activities. We were whacked out by the pollution.

It took some days of careful management of the way we went about things to gain recovery to the point when we were feeling back to normal and fully functioning, given our age, again.

But what would it have been like if we were not retired and able to manage our lives? If we were not able or did not know how to manage our eating, drinking, cleaning and general routines to avoid pollution and contamination?

I suspect there are a lot of people out there who know exactly what I mean.