So NOW what?

After I took on my mission to decrease the dust in the bedroom (I'll tackle the rest of the place later), my sinuses became much clearer. I no longer woke up all stuffed up and practically had to run to the shower in order to breathe. It's amazing what a little laundry, dusting, and vacuuming will do!

Unfortunately, the headaches persisted.

I woke up at least once per night with a throbbing headache. And I woke up every morning with a throbbing headache. I noticed that as the day went on, as I went outside and went about my business, the headache would decrease and eventually disappear.

When I woke up in the middle of the night, I took to going outside on the back deck with a cup of tea. As I sat outside in the night air, the headaches would go away. Keeping the window open in the bedroom helped some, but not totally. Persistent headaches were starting to be a way of life, once again, and now I did't have the stressful job to blame it on.

I also noticed that when I walked into the bedroom, I was assaulted by a strong, artificial, flowery smell.

It was time to start addressing both the air quality in the bedroom and the air fresheners used there.

So Now What?

As I said previously, as soon as I moved back indoors from my 5 1/2 month long hike, I started feeling terrible. All the health problems I had prior to my hike (and I had been attributing to stress from working too many hours at my former job) were back within 5 days.

Just to see if it would make a difference, I pulled my sleeping bag back out and slept outside on the back deck for a couple days. After sleeping outside, I would wake up fully rested, no headache, and with clear sinuses. That clinched it. The house was making me sick!

So I sat down and brainstormed. The worst part of the day was upon waking... so the bedroom was definitely suspect. I tried closing the vent to the central air and opening the window before I went to bed -- the headaches and sinuses were definitely lessened, but not as good as when I slept outside.  The other room where my symptoms were at their worst was the bathroom. Whenever I went in to shower or brush my teeth, I would get watery eyes, start sneezing, and start to feel nauseous and headachy. Not to mention, the smell of the cleaners!

I reasoned that I was reacting to one (or all) of four things: (1) dust, (2) the air quality in the house, (3) the bathroom cleaners, and (4) possibly the toothpaste? That's seemed like more of a stretch, but it was a consistent with my bathroom trips. And I set out to learn as much as I could about these things.

And So It Begins

2013 was a good year for me. This was the year I finally took the leap to start living my dreams. In March, I quit my job and embarked on a five and half month long hike of the Appalachian Trail.

The Appalachian Trail, in case you don't know, is a 2200 mile long hiking path that runs from Georgia to Maine. Along the way, I dealt with extreme heat, extreme cold, non-stop rain throughout the month of June, incessant gnats and black flies, mud, roots, rocks, and ridiculously steep climbs and descents. It was fantastic!

When I returned home in September, I was the healthiest I have ever been in my life. I had lost 25 pounds on the trail. (Admittedly, I was a little TOO skinny, but hey, the trail was really hard!) I was used to hiking for 10 to 12 hours per day carrying a 30 pound pack. I was really strong in the legs, the arms, and the core.

What's more, is during the five and half months of living outdoors, I did not have one headache, and did not have any sinus problems. This came as a bit of a surprise, since for the past few years, I had been experiencing sinus problems with greater and greater frequency, I got severe headaches an average of 3 to 4 times per week, and suffered bouts of insomnia. (I slept like a rock on the trail!)

Then I moved home.

Within 5 days, I was waking up with throbbing headaches and completely blocked sinuses. I was sneezing incessantly. I was waking up during the night with difficulty breathing. And I was hypersensitive to smells. I'd walk into the bathroom and I was overwhelmed by the smell of the bathroom cleaners. I felt like I was living in a toxic chemical dumping ground!

Living outside didn't make me sick, but living inside sure was! So now I am faced with a decision: do I move into a yurt or do I try to clean up my indoor environment? Well, since I have a place to live indoors and yurts are pretty expensive (especially when you haven't had a paycheck for 6 months) it's gonna have to be cleaning up the indoors.

But first, I have to learn what to do!