Neurological Symptoms Caused by Cleaners

Hello Everyone,

This is a little lengthy, but powerful experience from Becky. It's also timely with April being Earth Day. Please take a minute to read and appreciate what Shaklee is doing in making safe, effective and economical cleaning products. This would never happen with our Shaklee Get Clean household products. If you want to get started, contact me to find out about our April Earth Day Special.

To Your Health,
Lisa

As I share my personal story with you all, I must start out by saying that for many years, I have always used the typical household cleaners that one might see at the local supermarket. I never truly considered that many types of cleaners were not only hazardous to everyone’s health and to the environment, but also that they could have an impact on children’s development, especially neurologically. Of course, as I used them, I tried hard to open windows and to clean away from where the kids were playing. However, it wasn’t until I saw the great implications of using these products in my home with my oldest son, that I realized it was paramount to make a change.

My story begins in 2008, when my oldest son Andrew turned three years of age. It was April, and we were expecting our second son at any moment. I decided to use a cleaning service for a few months so that it would take some stress off and I would have more time to focus on the boys. I started services as soon as Christopher was born. The cleaners they used were commercial and had a lovely scent, that made me “think” my house was disinfected and safe for my children. However, shortly after they began cleaning, my oldest son began to develop a neurological eye-blinking tic. He would sometimes start blinking so hard, that he couldn’t see what was in front of him.

We started trying to figure out what it was causing him to do this. My husband and I spent hours, researching on the Internet, considering many different reasons why this was occurring in our healthy and happy three-year-old. We thought perhaps he needed his eyes tested, or maybe he had bad allergies to something, maybe it was nutrition, or even maybe the stress of having a new sibling in the home impacted him so much this was a coping mechanism. I made appointments with allergists, optometrists, pediatricians, finding out he had great eye-sight, no huge red flags on allergies, and no explanation as to why these tics were occurring.

Lastly, we resorted to taking him to a Neurologist at the Denver Children’s Hospital. His tics were continuing to get worse. They ran a series of tests and the Neurologist was unclear as to why he was having such profound tics at such an early age. He informed us that Transient Tic Disorder can happen in childhood but is usually not seen until around five to six years of age. He said that the best approach would be to “wait and see”, and if they continued to happen, it could be a sign of Tourettes Syndrome. He began to show us the many different medications that Andrew might need to take. I was a mess.

And, his tics continued to worsen. It was so constant that I remember holding back the tears at his birthday party, as I watched him try to blow out the candles on his cake, and him not being able to stop his eyes from continuously blinking. Worse still, he started becoming aware of it, and would hide his eyes with his hands when he would feel them coming. It was a stressful moment for us. And, we were continuously trying to find answers.

Well, as time continued, so did Andrew’ tics and it was a daily struggle but as the Summer ended, his tics miraculously dissipated (so we hoped). Ironically, I had also quit using my cleaning service in order to save money, but at the moment, never even considered there to be a connection. As time progressed, Andrew was Tic-Free, and we were ecstatic. We chalked it up to maybe some random childhood phenomena. And, life went on.

As the holidays approached, I decided I missed that “clean” smell from my cleaning service, and asked them if I could purchase the cleaning products independent of using their services. They agreed and I started to use the products again in my home. Within a month’s time, Andrew’s tics returned. We couldn’t believe it. I had that mommy “gut” feeling that we all get with our kids that maybe, just maybe, it was the products I was cleaning with, but I wasn’t completely sure. I did stop using them once I ran out, and slowly once again, Andrew’s tics became less and less and less, until they were completely gone.

I still wasn’t completely convinced about what specifically it could be. I had never heard that cleaning products could be that detrimental and all of the products that were used were approved by OSHA as being safe. So, a couple months back, I made the final discovery. I noticed in my garage I had some left-over deodorizer and thought it would help freshen my car. Within TWO days, Andrew’s Tics were full-force! I realized that it must be some ingredient in the cleaners that he was sensitive to and in turn was causing him to have a huge reaction. In hindsight, I started to piece together a time-line and found the correlation between his tics and the cleaners. It seemed to match.

I quickly cleaned out my car with a steam cleaner (water only) and called the companies in request of the ingredients they used in the different products. Some of the ones listed seemed so foreign but all were ingredients that were surprisingly passed and regulated and commonly used. Which meant that these same ingredients were probably found in a multitude of other cleaners too. Thankfully, after the last episode, Andrew’s tics went away within a week’s time. But, now I feel 100% sure that it was the cleaners! I called a few friends and my family to say that now I finally had answers to this mystery that had been plaguing my son and our family on and off for a couple years.

After telling one of my friends about my discovery, she invited me to a SHAKLEE party, where I learned a lot. I found out that indeed chemicals in just ordinary household cleaners are extremely toxic and I quickly started to think to myself, what else am I putting around my family that is causing damage that isn’t obvious. I was lucky in a way, that Andrew was showing signs that the chemicals were hurting him, because now I know how potent they are and I knew what I needed to do to protect him. It was critical to his health that I completely used non-toxic and green products.

I guess from all of this, I have learned the importance of having a healthy home. It impacted one of my children’s lives and sometimes it takes that kind of wake-up call to make a change. I can only hope my story influences others to think about what we put around our children, especially when they are vulnerable in many ways. If a household cleaner, deemed safe by OSHA, could cause my son to have neurological issues, it scares me to think about what else it could do. I have now changed his environment in hopes that I will never have to find out.