Why am I sensitive to cleaning products?!

[yarncakes]

I am actually a housekeeper and I love love LOVE cleaning but I am ever so sensitive to the smells of cleaning products. I can't use bleach at all as it makes my eyes burn and my nose run, even just a little bit. I have to be careful how much zoflora I use as well, I only use a capful in plenty of water, if I use it neat to wipe down the toilet bowel then I struggle to take in any air. I can't spray as I worry about breathing it in so I pour the solution onto a cloth instead. I definitely can't use air fresheners as that's enough to definitely make me cough up a lung. My colleagues use coupous amounts of chemicals and sometimes mixes it and it doesn't seem to bother her. She pours bleach everywhere (undiluted) and wipes all over the furniture's and bathroom and again, it doesn't seem to affect her but when I accidentally walked in on a room she was cleaning I honestly felt like I was going to be sick, my nose was streaming and I had to go outside as I couldn't breathe properly. Ps I've been like this for years and definitely not pregnant!

It's definitely "just" allergies, everyone is different, through the whole range of mildly affected, to life threatening allergic reactions.

You have my utmost sympathy it's annoying as anything, hindered by (personally for me) allergies that can come and go - as in I can be fine with a certain product for months/years, then all of a sudden my body decides it doesn't like it and can be then fine with the same/similar products on another occasions. This is bedsides things i have always consistently been allergic to.

What I am saying in a long winded way, it may be a case of trial and error, as in you may not be allergic to every single cleaning product (although there is chance you may be), different products contain different chemicals, so through trial and error, you may find cleaning products (even different variants of the same brands ) that you can use with no ill effects, just tread carefully.

Example - in most products, I just can't use Lemon scented cleaners, they really affect my breathing something shocking, there is one brand specifically that REALLY affects me, but when using other scents of the same brand, I am ok as long as I'm sensible in use and ventilation etc.

If it is any constellation, even though most of them smell lovely and are tested to the hilt - cleaning products aren't really good for you to be in to contact with anyway, so there is an upside.