I went to the dentist today for the first time in a while and had a full blown reaction to the bib they put on me (hives, flushing, lung swelling, intestinal pain, diarrhea, etc). My dentist knows not to use anything on me, they don't even polish my teeth with a cleaning now because they know how sensitive I am to everything... but now I can't even use the bib?? What could be triggering me in the bib?

Totally agree with Joan

I am highly allergic to almost all medical plastics and adhesives and disinfectants.

Have to trial, air out or heat everything coming near my vicinity or I react to it. Most of those bibs have a waterproof coating.

The classic clove oil smell of a dentist office gets me a mile away. I am wondering if some outdoor military dentist will see me someday

Do you have issues with new electronics or products? Is often the phthalates (chemical softners) on plastics that cause reactions and can be at least partially removed with time or treatment

Silicone is generally better than PVC for me but still needs airing out

Amazingly I tolerate the blue paper surgical drapes but not the green towels due to detergents. Only tolerate purple nitrile gloves

Trial and error and a lot of caution can help you sort it out

We planned every single thing that touched me surgery wise and you could do the same for the dentist. I even brought it all my own clothes and linens and towels etc.  I know Lyn on here has looked into some of that already.

So sorry you reacted. I hope you feel better. Take care and keep us posted

Oh we are so similar!

Yes anything new is treated  as contaminated and aired out until it has no detectable smell to normal people. Usually outside, but for medical plastics I've used my furnace room as the heat seems to accelerate. If you live somewhere sunny that supposedly also does the trick

I am the same with adhesives

To go into the hospital or any medical setting and be ok I currently need the full premedication protocol in addition to prewashing, prep and planning for any encounters. If they're really quick and nothing needs to touch me I can sometimes get away with a mask.

Right now I have rashes next to my incisions which I suspect is to the sutures. Nothing foreign is ever just ignored by my system and it sounds like yours too

I hope you have someone good taking care of you to help sort out meds that might help and I hope we both improve with time away from triggers!

If you end up needing any procedures and definite plastic exposure, PM me as I looked into all the manufacturers and various plastic/phthalate options out there, got samples to test and try pretreating etc and got to the point that I could breathe through the anesthetic circuit they used on me by airing it out for 3 months, heating it and flushing it with air. Did the same with my endotracheal tube. They didn't go ahead with the surgery until I did not have reactions to any of the non sterile plastics and they kept me exposed to the sterile ones as briefly as possible and tried to air them out a bit in a sterile environment.

Just rambling in case anything helps.

Reading Dr. Rea's tips has helped me too on environmental illness