Just found 2 bags of hyacinths that I forgot to plant end of last year
(actually, I didn't 'forget' so much as never got around to digging out the
allotment flower patch in time before it snowed), so I thought I'd throw
them in.

I swear I didn't touch anything without gloves! But within minutes my face
and neck were itching so much I had to go in and wash hands and face in cold
water - even then, as soon as I came back out it all started up again. And
even now, several hours later, I still feel uncomfortable. :-(


--

wrote in message
...
Just found 2 bags of hyacinths that I forgot to plant end of last year
(actually, I didn't 'forget' so much as never got around to digging out
the
allotment flower patch in time before it snowed), so I thought I'd throw
them in.

I swear I didn't touch anything without gloves! But within minutes my
face
and neck were itching so much I had to go in and wash hands and face in
cold
water - even then, as soon as I came back out it all started up again.
And
even now, several hours later, I still feel uncomfortable. :-(



I Googled "Allergic reaction to Hyacinth Bulbs" and found several
interesting articles - too many to quote.

Give it a try.
Bill


Bill

Bill Grey wrote:
I Googled "Allergic reaction to Hyacinth Bulbs" and found several
interesting articles - too many to quote.

Oh I know /what/ it is. I get it every time. But the advise of 'wear
gloves' doesn't work! I had gloves on, i didn't touch them!!

Had a bath now and I /still/ feel itchy! :-(

(particularly seemed to be a problem because it was windy, and I seemed to
get particularly itchy where my hair blew into my face)

In article ,
Martin wrote:
On 6 Feb 2011 23:10:19 GMT, wrote:
Bill Grey wrote:

I Googled "Allergic reaction to Hyacinth Bulbs" and found several
interesting articles - too many to quote.

Oh I know /what/ it is. I get it every time. But the advise of 'wear
gloves' doesn't work! I had gloves on, i didn't touch them!!

Had a bath now and I /still/ feel itchy! :-(

(particularly seemed to be a problem because it was windy, and I seemed to
get particularly itchy where my hair blew into my face)

It's the arsenic/heavy metals that the bulbs are treated with?

No. They aren't. And they wouldn't cause that effect.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 06/02/2011 18:16, wrote:
Just found 2 bags of hyacinths that I forgot to plant end of last year
(actually, I didn't 'forget' so much as never got around to digging out the
allotment flower patch in time before it snowed), so I thought I'd throw
them in.

I swear I didn't touch anything without gloves! But within minutes my face
and neck were itching so much I had to go in and wash hands and face in cold
water - even then, as soon as I came back out it all started up again. And
even now, several hours later, I still feel uncomfortable. :-(


Well, no, as your hands weren't itching it seems that you could have
transferred something from the outside of your gloves to your face and
neck. It's so easily done.

You could always try some Hydrocortisone Cream (despite the warning
he
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/868.aspx...CategoryID=104
which is plain daft for a one-off use, and recognises this itself with
some weasel-wording!). But whatever you decide, it's obvious you are
allergic to something on the outside of those bulbs, and will need to
take care in future. Unless, of course, it was a coincidence and there
was something else outside to which you are allergic...

--

Jeff

Martin wrote:
Oh I know /what/ it is. I get it every time. But the advise of 'wear
gloves' doesn't work! I had gloves on, i didn't touch them!!

Had a bath now and I /still/ feel itchy! :-(

(particularly seemed to be a problem because it was windy, and I seemed to
get particularly itchy where my hair blew into my face)

It's the arsenic/heavy metals that the bulbs are treated with?

No, as far as I know it's just something given out by the bulb itself.

Jeff Layman wrote:
I swear I didn't touch anything without gloves! But within minutes my face
and neck were itching so much I had to go in and wash hands and face in cold
water - even then, as soon as I came back out it all started up again. And
even now, several hours later, I still feel uncomfortable. :-(
Well, no, as your hands weren't itching it seems that you could have
transferred something from the outside of your gloves to your face and
neck. It's so easily done.

Ah, but when I've touched them with my hands in the past, it's always my
face and neck which have itched! I don't remember it making my hands itch

You could always try some Hydrocortisone Cream (despite the warning
he
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/868.aspx...CategoryID=104
which is plain daft for a one-off use, and recognises this itself with
some weasel-wording!). But whatever you decide, it's obvious you are
allergic to something on the outside of those bulbs, and will need to
take care in future. Unless, of course, it was a coincidence and there
was something else outside to which you are allergic...

Nah, happens every time, that's about half a dozen incidents now (looking
back and adding in the ones where I didn't realise at the time that that
was what it was). I should probably just stop growing hyacinths. They're
not /that/ nice. :-}

Janet wrote:
Oh I know /what/ it is. I get it every time. But the advise of 'wear
gloves' doesn't work! I had gloves on, i didn't touch them!!

If they were disposable gloves it's possible you reacted to the type
of glove material.

Nope, they're my normal gardening gloves. Honest, it's /definitely/ the
hyacinth bulbs! I've never had this kind of reaction to anything else
afair, either.

wrote in
:

Just found 2 bags of hyacinths that I forgot to plant end of last year
(actually, I didn't 'forget' so much as never got around to digging
out the
allotment flower patch in time before it snowed), so I thought I'd
throw
them in.

I swear I didn't touch anything without gloves! But within minutes my
face and neck were itching so much I had to go in and wash hands and
face in cold water - even then, as soon as I came back out it all
started up again. And even now, several hours later, I still feel
uncomfortable. :-(



A possible axplaination (assuming the hyacinths had irritants) is that you
were obviously working with 2 gloves. When you take off the first glove
your other hand is still gloved so it is protected. When you take off the
second glove the other(previously gloved and protected) hand is naked and
would have taken the irritant onto your thumb and index finger. unless you
took the second glove off with your teeth, as I have seen people do. Then
of course the irritant is on your skin, or in your mouth.

I hope this is of some use.
Baz

Baz wrote:
A possible axplaination (assuming the hyacinths had irritants) is that you
were obviously working with 2 gloves. When you take off the first glove
your other hand is still gloved so it is protected. When you take off the
second glove the other(previously gloved and protected) hand is naked and
would have taken the irritant onto your thumb and index finger. unless you
took the second glove off with your teeth, as I have seen people do. Then
of course the irritant is on your skin, or in your mouth.

Ah, you could be onto something there! Although it /has/ been known for me
to take my gloves off between my knees.

Although I have to say, I think it started when I still had the gloves on.

But now I think about it along those terms ... I reckon it was when I picked
the packet up. I would normally be holding it by the cardboard, but the
plastic bag was open on one (2 were removed), so I think I was holding the
plastic, which has quite big ventilation holes in it. Damn. Must be more
careful. (of course, I only remember I need to be careful once I'm itching
and it's too late! (said the actress to the bishop, etc))

wrote in
:

Baz wrote:
A possible axplaination (assuming the hyacinths had irritants) is
that you were obviously working with 2 gloves. When you take off the
first glove your other hand is still gloved so it is protected. When
you take off the second glove the other(previously gloved and
protected) hand is naked and would have taken the irritant onto your
thumb and index finger. unless you took the second glove off with
your teeth, as I have seen people do. Then of course the irritant is
on your skin, or in your mouth.

Ah, you could be onto something there! Although it /has/ been known
for me to take my gloves off between my knees.

Although I have to say, I think it started when I still had the gloves
on.

But now I think about it along those terms ... I reckon it was when I
picked the packet up. I would normally be holding it by the
cardboard, but the plastic bag was open on one (2 were removed), so I
think I was holding the plastic, which has quite big ventilation holes
in it. Damn. Must be more careful. (of course, I only remember I
need to be careful once I'm itching and it's too late! (said the
actress to the bishop, etc))


So it is nasally how you got the "itch". There are loads of ways to get
irritants, and one is between the knees (said the actress to the bishop).
The most irritating thing is that a few bulbs can harm some sensetive folk.

Baz

On 7 Feb 2011 11:16:53 GMT, wrote:



Ah, but when I've touched them with my hands in the past, it's always my
face and neck which have itched! I don't remember it making my hands itch

When I was a child, I was allergic to primroses/primulas and if I
touched one with my hands, the skin around my eyes puffed up and
effectively closed my eyes for a day or so. Wierd and somewhat
terrifying for a 6-year-old. There was no other reaction. I've grown
out of that allergy but cannot now eat mushrooms - for some reason,
"non-lumpy" mushroom soup is ok and I can touch mushrooms but if I eat
a chunk of mushroom I come out in a very itchy rash.

But I never had any reaction to hyacinth bulbs until they started
printing a warning on the pack about skin irritation! Is it something
recent I wonder? Or am I allergic to warnings about allergic
reactions?

On 07/02/2011 11:16, wrote:
Jeff wrote:
I swear I didn't touch anything without gloves! But within minutes my face
and neck were itching so much I had to go in and wash hands and face in cold
water - even then, as soon as I came back out it all started up again. And
even now, several hours later, I still feel uncomfortable. :-(
Well, no, as your hands weren't itching it seems that you could have
transferred something from the outside of your gloves to your face and
neck. It's so easily done.

Ah, but when I've touched them with my hands in the past, it's always my
face and neck which have itched! I don't remember it making my hands itch

You could always try some Hydrocortisone Cream (despite the warning
he
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/868.aspx...CategoryID=104
which is plain daft for a one-off use, and recognises this itself with
some weasel-wording!). But whatever you decide, it's obvious you are
allergic to something on the outside of those bulbs, and will need to
take care in future. Unless, of course, it was a coincidence and there
was something else outside to which you are allergic...

Nah, happens every time, that's about half a dozen incidents now (looking
back and adding in the ones where I didn't realise at the time that that
was what it was). I should probably just stop growing hyacinths. They're
not /that/ nice. :-}

It could be that the bulbs were treated with a fungicide prior to
storage. You might be allergic to that or the hyacinths themselves. Do
you get any reaction when you touch/smell hyacinths? Do you get
reactions from any other Hyacinthaceae such as muscari or bluebells?

Whatever, you need to avoid hyacinths (and possibly get medical advice
if the reactions get worse).

--

Jeff

wrote in message
...
Baz wrote:
A possible axplaination (assuming the hyacinths had irritants) is that
you
were obviously working with 2 gloves. When you take off the first glove
your other hand is still gloved so it is protected. When you take off the
second glove the other(previously gloved and protected) hand is naked and
would have taken the irritant onto your thumb and index finger. unless
you
took the second glove off with your teeth, as I have seen people do. Then
of course the irritant is on your skin, or in your mouth.

Ah, you could be onto something there! Although it /has/ been known for
me
to take my gloves off between my knees.

Although I have to say, I think it started when I still had the gloves on.

But now I think about it along those terms ... I reckon it was when I
picked
the packet up. I would normally be holding it by the cardboard, but the
plastic bag was open on one (2 were removed), so I think I was holding the
plastic, which has quite big ventilation holes in it. Damn. Must be more
careful. (of course, I only remember I need to be careful once I'm
itching
and it's too late! (said the actress to the bishop, etc))

Having searched Google for information, it appears your were suffering from
"Hyacinth Itch" !
Pleanty if instances mentioned, but no definitive cause other than a
chemical substance contained in the bulbs.

Bill

wrote in message
...
Just found 2 bags of hyacinths that I forgot to plant end of last year
(actually, I didn't 'forget' so much as never got around to digging out
the
allotment flower patch in time before it snowed), so I thought I'd throw
them in.

I swear I didn't touch anything without gloves! But within minutes my
face
and neck were itching so much I had to go in and wash hands and face in
cold
water - even then, as soon as I came back out it all started up again.
And
even now, several hours later, I still feel uncomfortable. :-(

Further Googling has turned up this--

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=C...20Itch&f=false

It shows a page with a paragraph on Hyacinths.

It's one hell of a long link !

Bill