Burns incense that makes me nauseous. It’s ok when I can keep the gallery door closed, but I’m worried about the summer when we open the door because it gets so warm in here.

Walked into a classroom when I was a student.
I was there to take the final. Went directly to and open window and threw up out the third floor window.
Incense does that to me also.
The prof knew I knew the subject. Gave me an A for the course without the final.

Incense can be pretty intense. And not necessarily pleasant.

I have the same issue with those plug-in fragrance things.

Me too - with those plugin things - and some candles. (Some candles are fine). People who wear a lot of perfume often give me a migraine.

Those plug in things are the worst!

I have migraines, and strong perfumes and scents are hard to take. In the building where my office is, someone had one of those plug-in things and I had to ask them to stop using it. It was awkward but they took it out, thankfully!

I wonder if you could ask them about it? It's ultimately an accessibility issue, scented things make spaces less accessible.

Years ago the owner of the property next door was running an illegal body shop in his garage. He was sandblasting old cars that had lead paint on them, and using a sprayer to repaint them with highly toxic vaporous car paint. I came home one day to find my entire yard covered in sandblasted paint dust. He let his children play in the exhaust fumes that were also expelled right next to the open windows of my house.

Talking to him was futile. I called the healthj department. I called the police. They all said he could do what he wanted on his property (it was zoned commercial).

So I called my city councilman. Suddenly the police were all over him--he raced out the back of the garage and down the alley to escape them. And he sold the property soon after (he didn't live there--his mother and aunt did--they were quite elderly. Actually I had bought my house from them and the illegal body shop perp may have grown up in my house).

Not long after this I developed terrible chemical sensitivities. I could not tolerate being near any perfume, paint, and many other odors. One day I suddenly got an asthma attack and the fire department came with a "sniffer" to find out the source of the trigger.

It was in our basement. Mr. Pique had put a fabric softener sheet in the dryer. I had nearly asphyxiated, even though I was no where near the dryer.

Sometimes I would notice a strange metallic smell in the back yard and the asthma would come back. I finally called the health dept. They said I was smelling the neighborhood meth labs and that I should call them every time I smell it so they could locate them.

Come to think of it, I do not miss living in that neighborhood at all.

Jodi, can you talk to the yoga people and explain how they are affecting other people? Maybe they would let you install a blowout fan in their window to divert the smoke?

OMG piqué!!!! Yikes!

My wife is also sensitive to a variety of vapors in the air. Her reactions tend toward the beginning of anaphylactic shock with constriction of breathing. Not too long ago, a new student came to the pilates studio where she exercises wearing a heavy dose of perfume. The teacher, who is a retired nurse, sent her out of the building when she started wheezing.

Some years ago, the carpet in our church's sanctuary was replaced. She reacted strongly to the carpet adhesive and it was over half a year before she could enter that space again.

She's had to rush out of other places where they were painting, using cleaning products, or otherwise emitting chemical vapors.

It seems to be a fairly widespread problem. Unfortunately, not all the people generating the smells are sympathetic to the problems they are causing other people.

Big Al

Al I don't know if if would help your wife, but in my case I was able to partially reverse my chemical sensitivities over a number of years after I started seeing a naturopath who explained these are symptoms of liver toxicity, which is reversible. Diet was key. I was put on a very strict no sugar, no yeast, low carb diet and also ate foods and took supplements the naturopath recommended. 20 years later. My reactions are far milder now when they happen at all.

We are mostly below below ground level no ventilation. though the galley has windows that are not particularly airtight. The yoga studios have no windows. In the summer I open the outer doors to the building and our door and the air flows in through our gallery and back into the under the sidewalk back area (we call the tunnel) and off to who knows where. We are probably getting more radon exposure than incense exposure! But I may have to talk to the building manager, like I said at this point the only time I notice it is when I’m in the outer hallway, but when the doors are open in the summer that may change.

The first couple of photos show the gallery. Main stope gallery