Hi Richard,

Hold to your hat - I'm going to give you the lowdown on toxins...

Most drs do not have the education on toxins. They have not been taught.. and the drug companies who educate them via symposiums and sales reps after graduation, only teach about drugs.. so unless they dig into a more holistic and natural lifestyle and educate themselves, they just don't know.

Our everyday environment is horribly toxic.As upholsterers and trimmers - almost everything we use on a daily basis adds to the toxic load our bodies receives. I could spend quite awhile here to educate you all about it - but lets just say >> soaps,laundry detergent, anything with Febreeze, anything with petrolem, MOST of the foods in the marketplace, convenience box food -- anything other than organically grown, cleaned and shipped, MEDICATIONS, vaccines, flouridated water,... are all contaminated with carcinogens, endocrine disrupters and obesigens and neurotoxins. The offgassing of vinyl is absolutely toxic! As is our carpet, foam, our glues! Paint thinners, lacquers, solvents.. all of it. OH.. and lets not forget our phones, fitbits and home wifi networks. Anything we breathe, eat, or touch is absorbed. Have you ever wondered why there are sooo many folks these days with cancer? With digestive diseases?? Auto immune disease??

Toxic substances are foreign to the body. They can't be metabolized. So the liver will filter as much as it can, sending it to be eliminated when possible. But much of the toxic stuff - being unrecognized by the liver.. gets sent to a fat cell and stored - because it doesn't know what else to do with it. Other toxins attach to receptors in the body - like an imposter, taking the place of the proper molecule that our body needs -- hence - endocrine diseases -- lavender got the bad wrap for a long time for this -- but its been proven that SYNTHETIC (man made lavender) was the culprit. DNA damage -- gut destroying drugs (antibiotics, steroids, etc). Compromised immunity because of the over worked adrenals and liver. Autoimmune disease is at an all time high. why? Because of the toxic lifestyle we all have. Its quite frightening...

Is there hope? Yes! Can you eliminate all of this?? Lets be real here -- not unless you live far far away and isolate yourself from everything. BUT!! You can begin today. You didn't get here overnight -- and cleaning your body and environment is not an overnight cure. Its a lifestyle.

Always look for ways you can decrease your exposure. Work in a ventilated area, use a respirator when spraying glues, paints and lacquers - leave the area and ventilate well after such use. Use gloves where possible. Buy organic foods as much as possible, eat fresh foods as much as possible, avoid or limit dairy (horribly estrogenic - which is why drs tell women who've had breast cancer - no more dairy). Use essential oils and supplements to aid in cleansing your body..

I can tell you alot more about that - because that my side job.. I am not telling you all this to sell you doTERRA products. Im telling you this because its TRUE and its what everyone needs to DO to reduce their toxic load. You can read about why I got into oils on my upholstery website. They saved me. I'm still upholstering today because of doTERRA. I can move without pain and at 60, I have the stregnth and energy I need to work all day and then take care of the family (my grands live with me).. I use oils daily to address lots of things.. I diffuse them to clean the air, uplift moods, depending on if anyone is sick -- I will diffuse oils that support the body to get over it much quicker -- -- I take specific oils to support my liver after I have been spraying glue.. I use Lemon in my water every day to support a continual detox action.. I try to drink distilled water or filtered water to avoid flouride (neurotoxin)... I do a yearly cleanse - some folks do it quarterly but -- its all baby steps -- choose one thing today -- to make your life cleaner.. Once you have made that a habit -- choose another thing.. Step by step.. Feel free to ask me any questions. Hope this helps.

Cheryl

I don't think there's any way to prove whether your spots come from vinyl or not. Still, I see it just like Cheryl does. We are exposed to toxins and unnatural influences every day. And we also have a pretty unhealthy job on the top of it. Many in our industry underestimate or ignore the danger - I catch myself again and again using the glue gun without breathing mask, using Chemials without gloves and so on. But many things are not cleared up and then we stumble over reports and examinations and only then get what you have done to your body over years.
You will, if you do a little research, quickly find suppliers who can offer you vinyl and leather where you minimize the risk that extreme toxins are contained.
For example, I have dealers who supply leather from German or European raw hides also tanned in german or european Tanneries. So I reduce the risk of hexavalent chrome in the leather. Not to mention the unworthy conditions for humans and animals as in leather production, for example in Bangladesh. With the artificial leather there are some which are free of BPA and other materials. look times for artificial leather the recommendations for kindergartens etc. have. Skai also has some of them in their program.

Here are 2 links for interested people... but partly nothing for weak nerves

leather
leather/textiles

Leider gab es keine englische Version davon - aber der Untertitel kann eingestellt werden.

Thanks for the replies. Certainly, we are all living under conditions we cannot escape without taking very extreme and unrealistic measures. Toxins are in our air, water, food, cleaners, you name it.
My question was aimed at uncovering anyone who might have had physical effects that they suspected were caused by exposure to the materials we work with.
In the work I do, (dental chairs) the materials I use have to be those the original manufacturer used in order to match, so safer alternatives aren't an option.
Rich

Update;
After checking different sites on the internet, I found something from Uniroyal, the makers of naugahyde, that stated that vinyl should not be heated over 175d F. I heated a scrap to the point I usually do for stretching around a panel and found it had gotten yo 210d. Then I tried limiting the heat to 175 and I was able to work with it, but since I hadn't been heating any vinyl for about two weeks prior and my skin condition was clearing up, this brought on a new outbreak. So now, if I absolutely must heat vinyl to any temperature, it will be with a full face mask a a supplied air pump.
Rich

Hey Rich. Thanks for following up.

This is an interesting case. You may want to flag your findings to your dermatologists again. While it seems you found a short-term solution (which is great), long-term exposure may still be a problem.

Think of the health risks 10 - 20 years down the line.

If it's general exposure to vinyl that's the cause, then I suppose I'd have to look for a non-vinyl alternative, or take an early retirement.
Rich