Polyester

Not only is polyester known for the famous leisure suits from the 70's and the bright colored polyester suits that our parents wore on their weddings, polyester is also made in to millions of other kinds of cloth. From athletic shorts to sheets and towels, Polyester is everywhere. Well I didn't really know how much it was everywhere till I started searching. A while back, Kaden began reacting to something different than eggs. He finally out grew that allergy and we had got him tested in Texas when we were there. Yay for no egg allergy! But this other reaction gradually got worse and worse. Kaden would start to itch. At first, it was just a little itchy and Benadryl would usually get rid of it fast. We thought it might be related his really dry skin, which he has had since he was born. Usually he would get itchy when he used different soaps or shampoo then what the Allergist or Pediatrician said to use. Though he still has to use those soaps, this reaction was different and was getting worse! He would break out at the weirdest times, in the middle of church, 4 am in the morning, while doing school at the table. He eventually began to develop some major bumps on his stomach, then his back, then his neck, then all across his body. Each time getting a little worse. I changed to a gentle laundry detergent and that didn't help. I was getting very frustrated. Then while talking to my mom, who I was kind of bouncing ideas off of, we both kind of thought of maybe it is material. So I began to take notes of what was going, where he was sitting, what he was wearing every time he had a reaction. So many things kept adding to my list. After many trials and errors I began to see a pattern, Cotton and Polyester kept popping up. These two of which are in most clothes, sheets, pillows, blankets, carpets, and stuffed animals. And most of the time they are in something together, so I was having a hard time determining which was the material that he was reacting to. I separated his clothes, cotton on one side, polyester on the other. Cotton didn't seem to be the one he was sensitive to so I started him on wearing only cotton. Being in Alaska where all his warm clothes were made with polyester, was hard. All his sweaters, his warm pants, his lined jeans, his warm socks, scarfs, hats EVERYTHING has a mixture of polyester in it! Thankfully we are coming into spring where layering up is not so important. Even all his athletic shorts which he likes to sleep with had to be removed.  I removed all the sheets, blankets and towels that had it. And we removed all the stuffed animals, which is MOST of them. We were having no reactions for a few days till this morning when he started to react when he was sitting at the table doing school. He said he was getting itchy and then I realized our dinning room chairs were made out of polyester..... Oh and our carpet! I am still trying to figure out how to keep him from touching the carpet which is in every room of our house. Like discovering his egg allergy, it was a lot of trial and error,  but I think I finally have it figured out but now I keep seeing what has polyester in it, like our couch and pillows. I am thankful to figure it out. With Kaden's allergy to eggs living in Alaska was great because eggs are expensive and we could avoid his contact with eggs easily. Keith said it will be good we are moving to North Carolina where Cotton is a good material to wear. T-shirts and flip-flops!  So I have a feeling cotton will become a normal material found in our house. And thankfully it will be years before Kaden would have to wear any polyester suit!