Open AccessDiagnosing the tight building syndrome.
Author(s) -
Sherry A. Rogers
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
environmental health perspectives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 282
eISSN - 1552-9924
pISSN - 0091-6765
DOI - 10.1289/ehp.8776195
Subject(s) - sick building syndrome , nausea , medicine , weakness , depression (economics) , disease , muscle spasm , laryngitis , myalgia , intensive care medicine , dermatology , anesthesia , surgery , ecology , indoor air quality , economics , biology , macroeconomics
Formaldehyde is but one of many chemicals capable of causing the tight building syndrome or environmentally induced illness (EI). The spectrum of symptoms it may induce includes attacks of headache, flushing, laryngitis, dizziness, nausea, extreme weakness, arthralgia, unwarranted depression, dysphonia, exhaustion, inability to think clearly, arrhythmia or muscle spasms. The nonspecificity of such symptoms can baffle physicians from many specialties. Presented herein is a simple office method for demonstrating that formaldehyde is among the etiologic agents triggering these symptoms. The very symptoms that patients complain of can be provoked within minutes, and subsequently abolished, with an intradermal injection of the appropriate strength of formaldehyde. This injection aids in convincing the patient of the cause of the symptoms so he can initiate measures to bring his disease under control.