DadOfThree_NZ
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My office installed automatic air freshener dispensers in every room in 2020. Within a month I was getting daily headaches. Nobody else seemed bothered. I asked if we could remove them from my office and they looked at me like I’d asked to remove the fire extinguisher. I started working with the window open in the middle of a New Zealand winter. After a year I realized it wasn’t just the air fresheners — strong perfume on the bus, scented candles at friends’ houses, fabric softener on my kids’ school uniforms. I’m the dad who asks other parents not to use scented products on play dates. You can imagine how that goes.
Home is fine — my wife switched everything to unscented and we don’t use air fresheners. The challenge is everywhere else.
My GP nodded, said ‘some people are sensitive to fragrances,’ wrote ‘fragrance sensitivity’ in my file, and that was it. No referral, no advice, no follow-up. I’ve learned more from online communities than any doctor.
This is a personal experience, not medical advice. ImACanary.com makes no causation claims.
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