lymeHerx001
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posted
I finally came upon a bed I liked, and given the stores policy of 30 days money back I made a purchase.
The guy at the store said that the 5/8" of memory foam in the mattress wouldnt be a problem even though I told him I had bad experiences with it and have fibromyalgia and multiple chemical sensitivities.
He pushed the mattress on me anyway.
So the total was 1717$ for the mattress, box spring and frame.
At first I didnt notice a smell, then as it warmed up that damn memory foam smell started to fill the room. My throat got sore, I got more dizzy and confused and eventually my sinuses became swollen.
I sent a very heated email to the company and told them that the salesman pushed a mattress on me that didnt I couldnt use because I was chemically sensitive.
They gave me a call the next day, I cant pick something else out.
Thanks alot Lyme and freinds for making my life hell.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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seekhelp
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I'm confused. Is the return policy in writing? Was it clear/ Could you sue in small claims court for breach of contract?
Posts: 7545 | From The 5th Dimension - The Twilight Zone | Registered: Mar 2008
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I just went through something similar with buying new furniture. Whatever they sprayed on it nearly did me in.
Got it home, it looked great and didn't smell much. Put it in my small living room and by morning the entire house smelled of fire retardent and chemicals. I couldn't stop throwing up.
Luckily we returned it and got a full refund.
I think most poly-foam is chemically. I just bought two old chairs which were made before the chemical junk went postal on the market. I'm having them restuffed and re=apholstered with scent-free/chemically clean materials. It's actually cheaper than buying new.
As far as beds go, organic cotton is terrific but way too expensive for us. Foam is too irritating.
Won't they refund you? Tell them the MCS is life-threatening... its and effective stance and toss around the term "it off-gasses forever and I don't have that kind of time..."
Best,
wiserforit
Posts: 273 | From Banks of the Hudson | Registered: Nov 2008
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oxygenbabe
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posted
Since you told him about your situation he should refund you. Didn't I post the URL for you a while back of the PET plastic covers?
I suggest if you've got $1000 to spend you contact Susan at Sleep Systems (www.surroundewe.com/)
Ask her to make you a wool filled mattress. I have one here that I haven't used yet as I didn't get a frame for it, but I lay on it to try it out and it's fantastically soft. I only have half a mattress actually. She makes a mattress by sending you two of these. They look a little like futons. But the wool is springy and soft and quite nontoxic.
As for returning the mattress, I suggest you calm down, politely and firmly contact the CEO, tell him you are under treatment from a doctor who can verify your sensitivity, that you asked the employee about it and he said you could return it. You probably have to go to the top people. Tell them that otherwise you will be forced to go to the media about the toxicity of their mattresses. Offer to have your doctor send him a note. I think the problem is once the mattress is in your home it's used and they can't re-sell it.
Posts: 2276 | From united states | Registered: Jun 2004
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lymeHerx001
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posted
Yes I did talk to the head of customer relations and he wants me to just pick something else out. The other foams didnt bother me as much as this damn memory foam.
They do have a policy right outside their store that says "30 money back." I told him that I was going to hold him to his offer. Maybee I can pick something on the floor that has been offgassed.
The thing is, even when I put a cover on this bed that smell seeps through... I get so so sick!
No doctor can seem to help me with my MCS. Im at wits end.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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oxygenbabe
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posted
I have MCS too. Its a drag. But frankly these chemicals are carcignoens and quite poisonous. So even though it's a terrible hassle, you might see a silver lining, You should not be sleeping on something that toxic anyway.
An offgassed bed would be better but they are still toxic.
Posts: 2276 | From united states | Registered: Jun 2004
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djf2005
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Member # 11449
posted
why do you thank "lyme and friends" for making your life miserable?
no one but you is to blame for something you purchase.
another thought, if they have a money back guarantee and are not honoring it, i suggest you contact the BBB as well as calling a lawyer.
that amount of money is a lot of dough and i am sure it could be better used elsewhere.
-------------------- "Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you."
i have mcs too; royal pain in the butt also! best wishes on getting a REASONALBLE SOLUTION!
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lymeHerx001
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posted
by lyme and freind I dont mean this board, I mean the bugs and dysfunction in my body. Yes I know there is no one to blame but myself, but I am sensitive to so much these days. I blame myself for not having a healthy body like other people who arent bothered by this stuff.
I spent 3 months looking for a bed and got one that was too hard that I sold on craigs list.
My brain just seems foggy all the time and decision is my hardest lesson.
quote:Originally posted by djf2005: why do you thank "lyme and friends" for making your life miserable?
no one but you is to blame for something you purchase.
another thought, if they have a money back guarantee and are not honoring it, i suggest you contact the BBB as well as calling a lawyer.
that amount of money is a lot of dough and i am sure it could be better used elsewhere.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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lymeHerx001
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The question is do I really want to get another bed from these people or do I really just want my money back. Im just upset at the sales person.
Its almost that I wanted to be set up. But I trusted him for some reason, Im always trusting someone else more then myself.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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oxygenbabe
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posted
Get your money back. Don't blame yourself nor lyme. It takes a while to learn about one's own MCS. I've made wrong decisions repeatedly simply not aware that I could be chemically sensitive to--you name it, a new oil filled radiator (electric) that offgassed and gave me brain fog, even a new iron with toxic smelling steam, a new hotplate also smelling toxic. Now I know that new stuff has to go straight to my boyfriend's to be offgassed for several weeks and even then it's not always okay. New sensitivities take a while to master. Also as you begin to be aware you "unmask". You get healthier as you do so, but as you begin to avoid toxic chemicals, then you notice other ones that are causing reactions.
It's one big fricken horrible hassle but the good news is, these chemicals are indeed toxic and it's really terrible we're inundated with them.
Get a nontoxic bed. I would suggest the wool filled futon mattress--its soft and wonderful. Not at all like a cotton futon. Don't tempt fate.
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lymeHerx001
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Thanks for your advice Oxygen, has your MCS gotten better with time? Has anything helped?
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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oxygenbabe
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posted
No, it's gotten worse--it went from mild to medium severe almost immediately after 4 days of high dose salt/c which screwed me up royally. That was nearly two years ago. I went to a gala at Lincoln Center a few months later and was so MCS I had to leave--and this was a newish building I'd gone to an opening in pre salt-c with no problem.
So. I think the best route is avoidance. It's weird because there are certain things I can tolerate pretty well (like going to the hair salon where they color my hair--and I smell hairsprays, permanents stuff and all kinds of chemical crap) but other stuff I can't stand at all (like bounce dryer sheets). Now I don't always get "sick" from stuff it just smells awful to me and I want to get away from it.
What I get sick from is particularly--the kinds of foams you're describing, glues and solvents and offgassing plastics in new appliances and formaldehyde and glues in new "particleboard veneer" type furniture. I also can get sick in carpet stores that have lots of synthetic carpet--can't stand them! Lots of glues and formaldehyde in those carpets, too.
I also just can't stand, having researched the harmful effects, air fresheners (Glade can indeed make me wheeze--especially Glade plug-ins) and the fact that often these days if I buy something innocuous like plastic cups or sponges or something, they smell scented from the offgassing in the detergent aisle of all the perfumes.
I am happy to say that my last issue of Vanity Fair was practically unscented! Courtesy of our financial crisis I think the perfume manufacturers have stopped inserting cards reeking of perfumes because of the cost. Yay! I like reading a magazine that is just a magazine, not a cheap perfumerie.
I suggest you avoid the stuff and not think too much about it after that. Just adapt and realize that everything you're avoiding is actually toxic anyway and this is not a healthy lifestyle. American products are full of chemicals many of which are banned or simply not used in Europe and other countries.
I should add that for instance, the laundry room in my building is disgusting. It is so full of scented detergents and fabric softeners and the smell of dryer sheets. At first I stopped using the dryers as my clothes came out smelling like Bounce (fabric softener does make me feel yucky--or maybe it's just that I totally HATE the smell). Then I realized that my clothes were still getting contaminated by the washers from the Tide with Downy and all the liquid fabric softeners people were using--especially since they'd pour in whole capfuls. The washer drums just got coated with the stuff. So I got my own little mini washer and do my own stuff and dry it on racks. Well it's a pleasure just to have clothes that smell like the clean fabric. So as you eliminate chemicals, even though it's a hassle, you kind of get the pleasure of natural things. And you start to realize how disconnected this crazy society is. They USE chemicals to cover up other chemicals.
Posts: 2276 | From united states | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I agree not to blame yourself. Like Oxy said it's hard to tell what you will react to or not. It's not like they put labels with material ingredients on these things.
That's one of my most frustrations is buying something, taking it home, getting sick, returning it, than doing with out. Now I only have what I need and I kinda like it that way. A bed you need!
I found avoidance and a diet with low to no sugar and no or low carbs has helped my MCS.
Posts: 258 | From San Diego, CA USA | Registered: Sep 2002
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lymeHerx001
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posted
So let me get this strait. Not only dont you like the smell but you get sick from the new carpet smell. Do you get headaches? Post nasal drip? Vertigo/dizzyness? Swollen throat, dry sinuses, swollen sinuses, red itchy eyes?
Im curious.
quote:Originally posted by oxygenbabe: No, it's gotten worse--it went from mild to medium severe almost immediately after 4 days of high dose salt/c which screwed me up royally. That was nearly two years ago. I went to a gala at Lincoln Center a few months later and was so MCS I had to leave--and this was a newish building I'd gone to an opening in pre salt-c with no problem.
So. I think the best route is avoidance. It's weird because there are certain things I can tolerate pretty well (like going to the hair salon where they color my hair--and I smell hairsprays, permanents stuff and all kinds of chemical crap) but other stuff I can't stand at all (like bounce dryer sheets). Now I don't always get "sick" from stuff it just smells awful to me and I want to get away from it.
What I get sick from is particularly--the kinds of foams you're describing, glues and solvents and offgassing plastics in new appliances and formaldehyde and glues in new "particleboard veneer" type furniture. I also can get sick in carpet stores that have lots of synthetic carpet--can't stand them! Lots of glues and formaldehyde in those carpets, too.
I also just can't stand, having researched the harmful effects, air fresheners (Glade can indeed make me wheeze--especially Glade plug-ins) and the fact that often these days if I buy something innocuous like plastic cups or sponges or something, they smell scented from the offgassing in the detergent aisle of all the perfumes.
I am happy to say that my last issue of Vanity Fair was practically unscented! Courtesy of our financial crisis I think the perfume manufacturers have stopped inserting cards reeking of perfumes because of the cost. Yay! I like reading a magazine that is just a magazine, not a cheap perfumerie.
I suggest you avoid the stuff and not think too much about it after that. Just adapt and realize that everything you're avoiding is actually toxic anyway and this is not a healthy lifestyle. American products are full of chemicals many of which are banned or simply not used in Europe and other countries.
I should add that for instance, the laundry room in my building is disgusting. It is so full of scented detergents and fabric softeners and the smell of dryer sheets. At first I stopped using the dryers as my clothes came out smelling like Bounce (fabric softener does make me feel yucky--or maybe it's just that I totally HATE the smell). Then I realized that my clothes were still getting contaminated by the washers from the Tide with Downy and all the liquid fabric softeners people were using--especially since they'd pour in whole capfuls. The washer drums just got coated with the stuff. So I got my own little mini washer and do my own stuff and dry it on racks. Well it's a pleasure just to have clothes that smell like the clean fabric. So as you eliminate chemicals, even though it's a hassle, you kind of get the pleasure of natural things. And you start to realize how disconnected this crazy society is. They USE chemicals to cover up other chemicals.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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oxygenbabe
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posted
I wheeze in a store with lots of particleboard furniture. I got brain fog when I turned my new oil filled radiator on. When my handyman used the cheap stinky caulk in my kitchen to install my sink I got a migraine. Otherwise I find scents unpleasant and can't stand to be around them (bounce and glade) but not sure if that's a neuro reaction or just that I dislike them as my sense of smell is more acute now. Once I got foams out of my life (mattress and foam folding chairs that turn into beds) I realized sleeping on them made ear stuffiness worse.
I have been living with a slow gas leak in the kitchen for a year and working at a desk nearby. It was finally discovered and fixed. Thank god I always had my kitchen window open. I had many headaches. I thought it was Lyme. I now want to see if my headaches and mcs improve. Gas has some bad chemicals added to it.
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lymeHerx001
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So you get migranes, ear stuffyness, and brain fog. I get all of those plus a sore throat, feeling of fluid in ears and vertigo.
I also turn pale and start to sweat (in a bad way)around strong memory foam.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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oxygenbabe
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posted
The migraines--well that caulk stunk to high heaven. Have you ever had anyone use that stinky caulk in your place? He used gobs of it. It was awful. My bf took the entire sink cabinet out and removed all the caulk and we put some decent caulk on.
The migraines--I'm not sure but hopeful--that they were related to the gas leak. Natural gas has sulfur, toluene, benzene etc in it and many normal people will get sick in homes that have low level constant leaks. I was working at a desk close to the leak. Actually I'm very upset about the whole thing because almost a year ago i mentioned smelling the gas to my stupid handyman and he said it was nothing. But it was--the fitting had become worn and was leaking.
Anyway. I just had the lovely (NOT!) experience of, buying a new pullover winter thick cotton sweater, washing it a few times (I forgot to mention i wash all new clothing to get the formaldehyde and finishes and chemicals off, and I only now buy washable or wool or silk--no fake stuff), and it was very neutral smelling. But it was a bit wrinkled. Occasionally I've had the cleaners just press my corduroy jeans so I had my bf drop those off with the sweater and instructions to only press, no starch, no nothing. Well the pants came back okay but the sweater stinks. I think they must have used scented starch and the problem is cotton can absorb it.
I think the sweater may be ruined though I'll try washing it but this kind of thing drives me crazy. This happened a few weeks ago when we rented a car that had been very heavily febrezed. It stunk of cherry febreze. We opened the windows so neither of us would wheeze. However so much was on the seats it soaked into my winter vest and my pants. I washed the pants many times. After the cherry odor is off there is a sour chemical odor left--the real chemical that the cherry is masking. The pants eventually got okay but the jacket is a fake shearling vest (polyester, but looks nice) and it wouldn't get clean. So I threw it out and bought a new one.
I find it very frustrating to have neutral clean clothes and to get them contaminated by people using chemicals that I didn't want in the first place. I actually wrote the head of the car place that to febreze a car is one thing but to put so much on the seats that it gets onto your clothes is another entirely. He apologized. Next time I went there I joked to the employees that I've nicknamed them The Febreezy's.
The horrible aspect of all this is unexpected invasion--its psychologically destabilizing. Oh I should also mention that when I was with Sprint I tried a Treo. I opened it and got brain fog. I couldn't use it. I guess it had all kinds of solvents and glues. Then I became worried I would not be able to use any new smartphones. But I switched to AT&T and the Iphone. It's a miraculous gorgeous little device and I have no problem with it at all. It's glass and ceramic.
Which just shows that we don't NEED to have these chemicals. They are just cheap ways to mass produce stuff. So you see I am still learning too. I don't think I can trust any cleaners to press my stuff even. Which means I have to get my own system at home and right now my simple iron doesn't always do the trick. And the new iron I tried had toxic steam. On Debra Dadd's blog (she's recovered from MCS and has books and a blog) I posted about this and someone said she bought a new iron, kept it outside in the sun for quite a while and used it repeatedly with the steam feature outside just to offgas it.
The thing is--those who aren't "sensitive" still have these chemicals in their bodies. Way too much of them. They aren't doing well with them either they just don't have "allergies".
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lymeHerx001
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posted
Its not a true allergy. If it were then anti-histamines would would. I hear that it is not IGE mediated.
What works then?
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oxygenbabe
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posted
Avoidance is the only thing that works. These are low level toxicants, or poisons.
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lymeHerx001
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I know that works, but what has been proven to help people with MCS?
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