This post will deal with issues caused by using bleach as a sanitizer. Very few people who don't suffer with respiratory allergies know that bleach can be an environmental trigger for people with asthma and respiratory allergies. Unlike allergens such as pollen and mold, environmental triggers are not helped with normal allergy medicine and allergy shots. Environmental triggers must simply be avoided.
My History
To start, I need to share a little bit of my history. About 15 years ago we moved into a house that contained black mold. I already suffered from normal seasonal allergies, but when I was exposed to black mold my immune system went haywire. Right after the exposure I was nearly bedridden. I started having allergic reactions to cleaners I had used all my life. I couldn't go into any buildings if they were old and had had any water damage. Any amount of exposure to mold made me sick as everything. Not only that, but exposure to bleach did the same thing.
The World of the Allergy Sufferer
For those of you who do not suffer from asthma and respiratory issues, let me explain our world. Most of us have allergens such as tree pollen, dust, or mold that set off our allergies. When our allergies are set off our eyes water, we sneeze, or our nose runs if we're lucky. Those are the symptoms for those people with seasonal allergy issues. For those of us with hardcore allergy issues, the symptoms go much deeper. For us, it is like having the flu without the fever. We have trouble breathing deeply, we lose energy, our glands swell, and we just feel nasty. To deal with the allergens we either take allergy medicine regularly and/or take allergy shots regularly. For some people this regimen will eventually help them to return to normal. For others like me, we will deal with this the rest of our lives and have to take allergy shots perpetually.
Environmental Triggers
Allergens are not the only problem. As I said earlier, environmental triggers set off our allergy symptoms just like allergens except our medicine regimen doesn't help these as much if at all. What is an environmental trigger? It is something in the environment that our bodies react to as if it were a germ. Most of the time these environmental triggers are chemical in nature and have a strong smell. The most common environmental triggers are cigarette smoke, perfume, and strong-smelling cleaners. Thus, bleach qualifies as one of the worst environmental triggers because of its strong chemical smell.
The Child Care Setting
At this point, I should have the attention of every child care provider who has children in their facilities with respiratory problems or asthma. Maybe you, the child care provider, struggle with respiratory issues, and no one has ever told you that bleach can be a environmental trigger. Every time you sanitize with bleach, you are setting off allergy symptoms in the children who react to bleach as an environmental trigger. Most of the time this will manifest itself in children as runny noses, ear infections, and susceptibility to colds and other viruses. In essence, what you are doing to cut down sickness may actually be causing more sickness than it is avoiding. Many times the effects can be subtle and hard to see until you remove the environmental trigger because these children get used to not feeling good and consider how they feel as being normal. They cannot tell you that their lung capacity is being diminished. Many of these children don't know what it is like to live without a runny nose. However, once you remove the environmental trigger you will see dramatic results in a few weeks in how the children feel once they get to your facility. Unfortunately, most parents do not have good information on environmental triggers either. The parents may use strong-smelling cleaners at home or strong-smelling air fresheners, which can also be environmental triggers. The worst cases are those who have parents that smoke. Until those parents quit, those poor children will never know a day without respiratory issues.
We Are Killing Too Many Germs
If you can't use bleach, what can be used to sanitize? Before I answer that question, I am going to give you the same lecture my allergist gave me when he found out I was a childcare provider. Many allergists believe that we are oversanitizing our environments. When we sanitize we not only kill harmful bacteria, but we also kill useful bacteria that our bodies need to function properly. Without this useful bacteria, our bodies begin to fight allergens such as mold, pollen, etc. as if they were harmful bacteria. Our country has seen a massive spike in people dealing with allergies. This has coincided with our obsession of killing germs. However, for those of us who live in states that require significant sanitizing, what can we do? Number one, don't go overboard. Sanitize what you must and leave the rest alone. Number two, find a sanitizer that is more respiratory/asthma friendly.
Bleach Alternatives
Bleach is not the only sanitizer. You might be surprised to hear that hospitals and restaurants are beginning to switch from bleach to other sanitizers because of these respiratory issues. The most common of these alternatives is ammonium chloride. However, for me even this one has too strong a smell. My alternative is hydrogen peroxide. It has no smell and is an oxygen-based bleach instead of being a chlorine based bleach. I use it straight from the bottle, which is a 3% solution. I simply pour the hydrogen peroxide in my sanitizing spray bottle and go to town. I don't have to mix it everyday because I do not dilute with water. I simply refill the bottle when it gets low. Imagine not having to remake your sanitizing bottles every single day. It is a marvelous alternative.
Conclusion
Many of you may be asking if I see a greater occurrence of sickness than others who use bleach as a sanitizer. The answer to that is no. I see much less runny noses, ear infections, etc. than most child cares. We also have less occurrence of viruses than most child cares. I have to have a asthma friendly environment to work in or I could not do this job. Turns out, that makes my facility very respiratory friendly for everyone. I do want to give you two words of caution. Being respiratory friendly can make it difficult to control typical child care smells (smelly diapers). I can't use any air fresheners, and since hydrogen peroxide has no smell, it doesn't cut down those types of smells. We mop with vinegar, which does help to some degree, but many times we have to simply let the child care air out naturally. The second word of caution is that hydrogen peroxide can bleach your hair with constant use. That can be a good thing or a bad thing according to your perspective. For me, it keeps me blonder that I used to be, and it seems to bleach my gray hairs to a blond ( I'm perfectly okay with that). I just wanted you to be aware that can be a side effect.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!! Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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