Issues At Work

[msmini14]

Hi All, hope everyone is doing good.

I started a new job and it is in a small office. Within this office the owner brings his dog in everyday and we all know this dog is eating wheat. There is a bag of dog food in here near the kitchen area and I smell it all day long, when I have to go near the food it is hard to breathe. I am on my 4th day here now, I come in, I smell it and now I am getting a headache. I have been having problems in my gut since yesterday and it is getting a bit worse as time goes on.

The last 2 days I have had horrible brain fog, I cant concentrate and I am in a dream like state. Since going gluten-free I cant even be in the bread isle to long at the store or I end up with a headache, it only lasts for about 30 minutes but I can feel the tension.

Has anyone else had a problem like this? My house is 100% gluten-free, make up, shampoo, etc is all safe. Now I just feel horrible. Here we go again with another day of living in fog.

I would really appreciate some input from you all, I need to know if anyone else has problems like this. Thanks!!! =)

Jen

[Takala]

Sounds like you are very sensitive. There are so many ingredients in pet foods that could be setting you off besides the wheat, so this could be a combined immune/allergy/gluten issue, but if I had to guess, the entire kitchen area is contaminated.

Open bag of pet food gaaaaahhhhck

You will have to approach this very carefully, for two reasons, to get the desired outcome (you're still a happy employee, and the dog is eating a better diet with the bonus of it is not making you ill) because it is unknown to us if your new boss knew of your allergy/intolerance/auto immune issue before he/she hired you, and people tend to get defensive about their pet's behavior and the pet's food.

I was in the waiting room at the vet's office, and somebody has a really sweet little dog that they had to maintain on allergy medication because it was so allergic to everything. This dog is eating some sort of venison- sweet potato food for maintenance. We were talking about this and special dog diets in particular and when she left, she just picks up a generic biscuit out of the courtesy dish on the counter and tries to feed it to the dog ! The dog had the common sense to turn its nose up at the offering, but I am having to stop myself from saying ah, excuse me, WHAT IS IN THAT AGAIN ? I mean, I KNOW from my searching there are not many dog biscuits that don't have wheat and soy and who knows what junk in it.

I have several pets with food allergies and/or intolerances to different food ingredients. 3, no, make that 4 if you count the one horse, of them right now are on special diets that do NOT have wheat, rye, barley in it because it was causing them problems. Two of my dogs are pound adoptees we obtained about a year apart, who are related by breed and it turns out they both need a very simple diet. One gets OCD neurotic big time on wheat and couldn't be housebroken until he was taken off of it, the other just was scratching himself raw and had a lot of gut, pooping, and vomiting episodes, so we did an elimination diet recommended by the veterinarian. (The horse had gone partially bald years ago, and was actually tested and had the antibodies, and his issues cleared up by diet change, so he has his own list of things to avoid).

So what I'm getting at, is that even though that "office" dog is healthy right now, the owner may have to be feeding him whatever he is eating for some reason, or the owner just doesn't know any better or may not have any concept that some pets, just like some humans, cannot eat wheat products for known or unknown reasons. So there are such things as dog foods made without wheat and barley products, which are readily available at pet food stores and feed stores. My guess is that the owner doesn't know that the dog's saliva may be spreading the gluten onto its hair coat when it licks itself, then over a course of time that is getting spread all over the office.

A few of the dog food manufacturers are trumpeting that they are GLUTEN FREE but it turns out that they are putting BARLEY into their foods instead, and trying to call it hypo allergenic dog food. They also may be using barley AND oatmeal and calling it the same thing. There was another thread on this. I did a bunch of online ingredient research trying to come up with a brand of dog food without wheat, and without soy, that more than one dog could eat around here, and was dismayed to see this. With dog foods, just like people foods, reading the labels carefully is mandatory. I have been told, by dog food snobs that meant well, that corn is really bad for dogs, yet I have dogs that are eating dry dog food with corn in it, quite happily, because that barley **** that was in the extra special super duper expensive specialty dog food was making them sick. The guilt, the guilt.... but they stopped puking (and worse) all over the house. They gained weight, they smell better, they have nicer hair coats. I've seen supposed rice and lamb based dog foods that also have that barley and oatmeal mix **** in it. READ THE LABELS.

Most people's dogs don't have this problem. I am typing this out on the off chance that someone in a similar situation could benefit from it.

For your situation:

The "office" dog's food really needs to go into a sealed container, such as a small metal trash can, for storage, to keep the mice and cockroaches out of it. That and perhaps reading the label to see what is so special about whatever "office dog" is eating right now (they all seem to have a gimmick, whether it be for more "energy" or shinier hair, weight loss, or the supposed amount of exotic ingredients is alleged to bestow a very long life ) could give one some ideas about what kind of dog food "office" dog could eat while at work. Then it shouldn't be too hard to find a sample bag of dog food at the store without this wheat/barley garbage in it, and you could gift the dog's owner a sample of it.

If the dog is getting treats, also go to a wheat free treat. That's a little trickier to find, but is possible. I end up using broken up pieces of rice cakes for my wheat free dogs, they think that is a much bigger deal than a mere dog biscuit and I don't have to worry about what is in it. Science diet makes a chicken based, wheat free biscuit, I think Mother Hubbard does also, but the dogs really prefer the rice cake pieces. Also, you know how there is occasionally in life, that loaf of gluten free bread that turns out not so good, that's going stale, that you don't know how to get rid of ? Dogs gobble that stuff down like manna from heaven. They don't even make you toast it first. I know that some people also take sweet potatoes, slice and dehydrate them, and make their own version of hypo allergenic dog chewies.

Mind you, the motivation in this, it is being done for the dogs, but it also benefits the odd human who needs to co exist with them.

I would make sure that you wash your hands before your lunch break and perhaps a good wipe down of the keyboard, desk and kitchen counters is advisable. If you succeed in getting the owner to switch dog foods to a higher quality item without the wheat garbage (and here's another idea on how to pitch this, it will make the dog STOP farting if that has been a problem, for example, and there will be less poopies to clean up on the higher end, wheat free dog foods) it will also be a good idea to give the dog's water dish a good cleaning.

The one last thing I would try is taking an over the counter antihistamine, to see if you just don't have some sort of other allergy situation going on.

[home-based-mom]

Were you aware of the dog/dog food situation when you accepted the job?

Was the owner aware of your health issues?

If I were you I would start looking for another job ASAP. You probably will have absolutely no success changing a situation that worked for everyone else before you started there.

In the meantime, it might be worth it to talk to the boss and ask that the dog food be kept in an enclosed plastic or metal container.

[skymgirl]

Do you have pets yourself at home? I ask this because many pet shops sell airtight containers (steel or plastic) for holding pet food. You could broach the subject by saying something like "You know, my _____'s (insert dog/cat) was always going stale because of leaving the bag open, so I tried this container I got from _____ (insert pet shop) and it's made a difference in how long the food lasts!" You could also scare the boss by mentioning that open bags of food of any kind are an open invitation for bugs - who wants those in the kitchen area! Or catch some mice and plant them yourself!

I don't think you're at the point where you need to be looking for a new job, I think if you're a happy employee and have a good rapport with the boss you can work something out. Since it's a small office, are they aware of your Celiac? I'm assuming they might be because they might see you eating at work, or you might have declined goodies b/c of your dietary restrictions. (I could be wrong in my assumption, if so, I apologize.) I don't think you need to make a full disclosure to them about your health should they be unaware, but if you need to stress the importance you can talk about how you're affected by the food. It is a delicate line to tightrope on, but I'm hoping that you will be able to work something out with them.

I'm sure you will get a lot of great advice - keep us posted on how it goes. Sorry that you have to be feeling sick at work, I'm sure that is really rough. Hope you're feeling better soon!

[ravenwoodglass]

Were you aware of the dog/dog food situation when you accepted the job?

Was the owner aware of your health issues?

If I were you I would start looking for another job ASAP. You probably will have absolutely no success changing a situation that worked for everyone else before you started there.

In the meantime, it might be worth it to talk to the boss and ask that the dog food be kept in an enclosed plastic or metal container.

I agree with this. You can try talking to your boss first but if they can't provide a safe enviroment finding a different job is about all you can do.

[msmini14]

Thanks for all your input I really appreciate it. No one was aware until today about me having Celiac. He moved the dog food outside for right now and is going to get a bin to store it in. I just hope this wears off soon because I do not like feeling this way.

He bought me a huge thing of wipes from Costco so I can always wipe down my desk and things like that so he is working with me. I thought he was going to be like the standard person and look at me like I am nuts lol

[ravenwoodglass]

Thanks for all your input I really appreciate it. No one was aware until today about me having Celiac. He moved the dog food outside for right now and is going to get a bin to store it in. I just hope this wears off soon because I do not like feeling this way.

He bought me a huge thing of wipes from Costco so I can always wipe down my desk and things like that so he is working with me. I thought he was going to be like the standard person and look at me like I am nuts lol

What a great boss! It is so wonderful that he is willing to work with you on the issue. If your not taking sublingual B12 you might want to get some. It may help a bit with the brain fog, it does for me.