Trigger happy?
June 1, 2007 by laura
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
More often than anything else, the scent of vanilla will start a CFS crash (for me). More than stress, food reactions, overdoing the fun. Anything! I would rather smell a wet dog, than vanilla.
Tonight, I went on my weekly trip to my geeky movie theater. I was all settled into my middle seat, 4 th row from the back. When this really insensitive woman sits down directly in front of me. OK no big deal, right. Except that the entire theater was full of empty seats, and she had the nerve to spray vanilla perfume into her hair. Don’t people understand that there are a lot of us out there that are sensitive to chemicals (overwheming perfume is included in this).
As casually as I could, I moved to a different seat, but the stench still lingered. I suspect it was on my clothes, or in my nose, or something.
For a quick fix, I went to the concession and bought the largest coffee they offered. I don’t usually drink coffee at 7:30 pm, but I wasn’t planning on drinking it. I was going to sniff it through the whole movie. I told you, desperate times called for desperate measures. However, if I have a beverage in my hands…chances are I am going to drink it. And that is exactly what happened. About 45 minutes into the movie, I was able to start enjoying the story…as the vanilla had finally evaporated.
Do you have a definite crash trigger?
Please share.
My main trigger these days is gardening! Once I get started I have a hard time stopping. I triggered a 6-month crash last year by gardening too enthusiastically in the spring. I’m restraining myself this year but it’s hard!
6 month crash????
man, that’s a long one!
so you have been bitten by the gardening bug.
What are you doing differently this year, to prevent another crash?
Ya, it was a major drag, as you can imagine. This year is a bit different because spring was a long time coming, so I’ve just started out there. Also I got most of the heavy lifting (literally–digging out huge rocks) done last year so the work this year is easier. The main thing I’ve learned is just to quit while I can still stand up without seeing spots!
A-ha!
Learning to listen to your body…and knowing when to say enough is enough!!!
Much easier said than done. Good for you, for being able to do that. I am still learning this lesson.
I’ve also discovered a trick. Go out 30-45 minutes before a TV show I want to watch comes on. Then I *have to* quit whether I like it or not!
sounds like a good plan to me.