Have you ever felt like a place was making you sick? It could be your house, or that of a friend, or your workplace.
These are most likely places that you visit quite often and that awake an array of strange symptoms in you, such as a headaches, runny noses, itching, rashes or fatigue. All of which disappear as soon as you leave this place — as if it was contaminated.
If this rings true for you, you are suffering from unhealthy building syndrome.
As explained by Presse Santé, this can develop when the people living in a specific place suffer from health issues because of bad air quality. There is no disease and there doesn’t seem to be any other causes.
Unhealthy building syndrome can also be defined as an “allergy to a place.” But it what it really means is that this place is very toxic.
Most of the people who suffer from this syndrome contract it in badly ventilated buildings, whose air conditioning or heating systems are not maintained properly, not allowing air to be recycled. The air from these places can contain substances such as dust, smoke, vapors or fabric fibers.
It can also be in places where the light is very strong or flashing, there is a lot of noise, it is very dirty, it is too cold or warm, or it is lacking space. All of these situations can alter your comfort and effectively damage your health.
How to cure unhealthy building syndrome?
In order to be diagnosed with unhealthy building syndrome, you need to visit a health professional. They will conduct tests to exclude any other possible diagnosis. A specialist will then ask questions about your lifestyle, and your professional and personal life. Thus, they can better understand the environment you live in daily.
Once every other diagnosis is ruled out, it may be concluded that you are suffering from unhealthy building syndrome. Sadly, there is no specific treatment for this. Nevertheless, a doctor can advise you on how to proceed to alleviate your symptoms. Maybe you can open the windows when you are at this place, or you can control the temperature or get outside more often to breathe.
Don’t forget to also talk to the owner of the building so that they can try to find a more permanent solution to make things better, and create a healthier environment for everyone.
