Thanks to my aromatherapy direct inhalation addiction I have effectively destroyed my own brain.
(I primarily (ab)used Herb Pharm tea tree oil and Olbas inhaler.)
I do not wish to discuss my hellish cognitive decline symptoms on the public forum. It is far too personal of a horror story. But I will assure you that I now barely even recognize myself.
Why didn't I bother to extensively research this before doing it, you ask? I was an addict. I found breathing the cool fresh tingly vapor to feel absolutely wonderful. (Being an Aspie I am wired differently than your average bear when it comes to sensory stimuli.) Because of this instead of thinking "I want to be absolutely sure this is 100% safe and will take everything I read with a healthy dose of critical thought", my mentality was "I love what I am doing, and will find any way possible to justify it!" So I came up with numerous ways to assure myself that it was a relatively safe activity: the temporary short-lived surge in brainpower allowed me to convince myself that it couldn't be that all that bad for my brain. Several books written by doctors recommend it to soothe irritated airways. A physicist wrote on his site about how it completely cured the emphysema his doctors were powerless to treat. And the fact that it put an end to my treatment-resistant chronic bronchitis made justifying it terribly convenient.
I would vape at every chance: while reading books, while using the computer, while talking on the phone...I even found a way to inhale vapor in my sleep.
During that time period I gradually descended into darkness. Finally going into a building with extremely low levels of disinfectant fumes was the straw that broke the camel's back: it all went to hell in a handbasket. I was suddenly a drooling vegetable with "brain fog" as thick as pea soup.
Phone conversation with prospective doctor:
"I am baffled as to how being exposed to disinfectant fumes in such a minute amount could induce the shocking mental decline you are complaining of. This is all very strange. Anyway, if you came in here I would start you off with some IV vitamins..."
"I would prefer to take my vitamins orally. I already have PVC poisoning, so I am not a fan of getting more PVC from IV bags."
"So you have PVC poisoning from IV bags?"
"Not from IV bags. PVC lung disease from fumes."
I then told him the story of how my doctors had a crack at it, failed, gave up, and sent me on my way. Finally I took matters into my own hands and completely cured it with generous amounts of aromatherapy direct inhalation.
"Aha! Aromatherapy has been suspected to cause MCS syndrome. That could explain it."
"CRAP!!!"
From an aromatherapy site: "direct inhalation regenerates damaged lung tissue, greatly improving the absorption of oxygen."
Perhaps it also greatly increases the absorption of CHEMICALS?!!
(And I suspect that my lungs were overly permeable. They became ridiculously flexible, far more so than when I was a young child. I remember lying on my back doing full inhales...I could just keep expanding bigger and bigger for what seemed like an eternity. At times they were so intensely alive that I could actually feel the random movement of the air swirling around.)
A Life Extension Foundation doctor said on the phone "The aromatherapy is probably what messed you up. It has been suspected to effect the liver..." I personally doubt that I have liver problems (no symptoms of that), but however it happened, he suspected that what I did was not good.
I recently watched a youtube video of a lady making and using an aromatherapy inhaler. Her bizarre mannerisms looked just like mine did during the beginning of my downsliding period. I know a brain problem when I see one.
I will be seeing a cutting-edge doctor to figure out the how's and why's of what happened (at the moment she is busy looking into ways to make the bloodwork more affordable for me). But until then, unless you want a Flowers For Algernon experience...
STAY AWAY FROM THIS STUFF.