Housemate's cooking makes me sick

LegacyUser

I have been suffering from migraines for a few years. But over the past few months i have been getting them weekly. Before this i could go months without getting a migraine. Im not asking for medical advice as i have finally seen a doctor about it and i hope the medication i was prescribed will work.

I think i know what the trigger has been over the past few months, my housemate's cooking especially onions. The smell of onions can give me a migraine. The onions then stink up the whole house for hours. Im normally stay in my room with the window open and try to sleep it off to avoid the smell. But it doesn't really help. Would i look weird wearing a face mask around the house?

What do i do? I can't ask him not to cook? The people im with are a lovely crowd, not a bit of bother out of them, cheap rent, cheap bills. The cooking of onions, it isn't every day, just once a week.
Another option is to move out and into another house share but what do i say when viewing a place, do people cook onions or weird smelly food in the house? I cant stop them from cooking. And onions is probably something most people have in the house.

But then im not sure if its even the cooking, as when i got up yesterday morning, i knew i was going to get a migraine. As with most other times i get them. Maybe the smell of the cooking just makes it worse.

Im in college until may, so i cant afford to rent on my own to avoid all this.

Milk & Honey

A bucket of water in the room helps absorb the smell of onions.

ButterflyABC

sickonion wrote: »

I have been suffering from migraines for a few years. But over the past few months i have been getting them weekly. Before this i could go months without getting a migraine. Im not asking for medical advice as i have finally seen a doctor about it and i hope the medication i was prescribed will work.

I think i know what the trigger has been over the past few months, my housemate's cooking especially onions. The smell of onions can give me a migraine. The onions then stink up the whole house for hours. Im normally stay in my room with the window open and try to sleep it off to avoid the smell. But it doesn't really help. Would i look weird wearing a face mask around the house?

What do i do? I can't ask him not to cook? The people im with are a lovely crowd, not a bit of bother out of them, cheap rent, cheap bills. The cooking of onions, it isn't every day, just once a week.
Another option is to move out and into another house share but what do i say when viewing a place, do people cook onions or weird smelly food in the house? I cant stop them from cooking. And onions is probably something most people have in the house.

But then im not sure if its even the cooking, as when i got up yesterday morning, i knew i was going to get a migraine. As with most other times i get them. Maybe the smell of the cooking just makes it worse.

Im in college until may, so i cant afford to rent on my own to avoid all this.

I also hate the smell of onions as they stink up the whole house but you can't really expect someone not to cook something they like. There is some housewives tale that lemons cut up absorb the vapour but I don't know if this works. I know the feeling as it gets on to any clothes and everything! If the house is good aside from that I would mention it to your housemate maybe as it can be hard to find a group of people that get on well in a house. I also find when cooking onions in a stir fry or something if you cover it up the smell isn't half as bad as when you have no lid on a frying pan.

aidan24326

ButterflyABC wrote: »

I also find when cooking onions in a stir fry or something if you cover it up the smell isn't half as bad as when you have no lid on a frying pan.

That's a simple bit of advice but it does work. OP if you get on well with the guy then you could mention your problem to him and ask him when frying onions if he wouldn't mind keeping a lid on the pan and also use the extractor and/or leave the kitchen window open for a bit. Those simple steps will reduce the smell of onions around the house and won't inconvenience your housemate in the slightest.

Susie_Q

If you are that sensitive OP, perhaps you should consider getting your own place?

gugleguy

sickonion wrote: »

.......................... so i cant afford to rent on my own to avoid all this.

as posted originally by OP

starlit

Hey Op, don't feel too hard on yourself. I get sick and get headaches that could lead to a migraine if things that are being cooked have a very strong smell. Anything with a strong smell like cooking oil would make me woosey. A lot of things can give me nausea or a headache or both. So you aren't alone. Its flowers (in particular lilies), perfumes and paint and a couple of other things can drive my headaches wild. Para-zone would make me very very ill.

So I understand perfectly OP. I find if I smell something very strong and find it an offensive smell that could give me a headache/feel sick I naturally block my nose. It just happens.

Onions are strong though, I'd find raw onions and raw garlic can be quiet offensive. I don't mind them once they are cooked just that onions even if I am not near one it make my eyes and nose water, any kind of smoke or steam would make my eyes and nose water too so I am pretty sensitive to a lot of things.

I think if you open not just your window, open all windows for the duration of that day. Is there a special air freshener spray you could use that wouldn't cause you to get a headache from?

A bucket of water in the kitchen might be handy as a poster mentioned already.

Is there a fan over the cooker? It absorb all the moisture from the onions?

I was in a house share before and there was things my housemates cooked that would make me ill too, I just left the windows and door to the patio opened for as long as possible to let the smell out.

It might be a bit weird but sure you are a student they won't take much notice if you go to your room until the smell goes! If the smell gets too much there is no harm in staying in your bedroom or going somewhere outside the house for a while like shopping or to the library or say take something up that night like a sport/activity/club until the smell dies down!

Its once a week so do something else to distract you from the smell. That's what I often try to too myself. Get away from the source of the smell and distract myself from it. I'd find it hard enough to eat if the smell is really really offensive and makes me feel ill. If I have a headache I'd find it hard to eat like.

It's probably an allergy you have to the smell of onions. Have you had that with anything else?

Have you considered hypnotises maybe? I recommend seeking help from a Doctor that prescribe you something for migraines in general as you are prone to them even before you were getting regular ones from the onions. I've always been prone to headaches but not migraines, only been prone to frequent migraines in the last two years. If a migraine gets very bad, I could get very sick with it and actually end up in bed to be honest, best way to ease it is to sleep it off. I use the boots headache cooling pads, they are excellent if I have a headache or a migraine, it help me sleep as I find often enough if my headache /migraines are very bad I might not be able to sleep with them. As of now certain things set it off that I know of but often or not lately in the past few years anything could set off a headache/migraine for me.

Best thing you could do is to find another place and ask someone to move in with you to share the rent and so on, state that you have allergy to onions that's as much as you need to tell them! No harm in changing to another place if you feel like that, no point putting yourself through that if you are feeling ill like that a lot of time, it does no one any favours if you are ill like that. Otherwise let your housemates know!

Take care of yourself OP

starlit

Have you ever gone for an allergy test? You could be allergic to other things other than the scent of onions. It be worth doing it to eliminate any other 'causes that might cause your migraines.

I've heard that dairy, cheese and eggs are food factors that contribute to migraines. I find eggs can give me a feeling of being ill and give me a headache just from eating them so have had to stop eating them. I know of a couple of people to start drinking soya milk instead of cows milk that might help them stop getting migraines. Stress, lack of sleep, too much sleep, sleeping badly and worrying about things can contribute too as well as medical reasons.

I find the smell of a lemon can cause quiet a stifling and stale scent for me and often gives me a headache. Other things like overly scented toiletries can give me a headache as well. I find that if its mildly scented its ok but a strong scent can make me very ill. I prefer cosmetics, toiletries that aren't scented like the simple cleansing, toning and moisturising products that aren't perfume-matted and don't give of any scent.

Don't worry too much op. Many people are in the same boat as you. Get yourself checked out further by your Doctor.

Best of luck

LegacyUser

If you get along with your housemates otherwise then it might not be that big a deal to bring up with them.

Just bring it up nicely after they cook them next time, if they'd mind toning it down, that you don't mean to be a pain but the smell of certain foods is playing up your allergies. If your getting along with them otherwise then they might be understanding that you brought it up nicely and don't want to be a pain to them.

Dr. Manhattan

If I was in your housemate's position and you told me about this, I'd be happy to stop cooking onions, or whatever small change I needed to make to help you out.
You know best what your relationship with him is, but I can't see the harm in asking him nicely to stop.

Scruffles

OP,
speaking from personal experience of living with them since a small child,migraines-especialy when combined with auras can make a person more sensitive to sights/smells/sound/touch etc.

living with other people means comprimising as opposed to being one big personal space,so obviously it woud be unfair to expect a person to not have something as its their space to,so this is where a comprimise shoud come in.
woud it be possible to buy an extractor fan for the kitchen,what about one of those cooker hood extractor fans also?
also,is there a solid door there kept shut,with kitchen windows open?
they shoud be cleaning up their stuff so there isnt a lot of it lying around afterwards to.

-have personaly lived in adult institutional and residential care for years and had to deal with a lot of severe food and drink issues between us all, but staff have always altered the issue to remove the 'barrier' rather than restrict any of us from having what we have,for example another lady am living with now has very severe OCD ontop of profound autism-she will dump down the drain or neck-or,open and throw on the floor every carton/bottle of drink or milk,as one of her OCD things is she cant deal with things that dont look full.
staff tried to comprimise by locking everything away and using UHT/long life milk but it was like trying to drink vomit so they get the smallest milk instead every day.

onions are an extremely common part of recipies so it woud be highly restrictive for them to stop,so in own view woud say to definitely look into how this can be comprimised.