I noticed it by accident, as it is nearly impossible to link the two (detergent and your dreams) in normal circumstances. It just so happens that we shop at Costco for our big-family needs and they carry just two brands - Cascade and Kirkland. We used to buy Cascade as it seems a "bigger" brand and we assumed it would be better than Kirkland - the cheaper, Costco-owned brand.
At one point we decided to try the cheaper Kirkland brand of dishwasher detergent. You know, Costco sells everything in big packs (or packs of several) and just one purchase of the new detergent has set us using it for a straight couple months. Well, the kirkland brand didn't perform quite as well as Cascade (comparable, though) and we decided to return back to Cascade.
This is when it stroke me that my nightmares returned! It took me switching to a different brand and back to realise it. And, interestingly enough, the nightmares begin not instantly but just about a week into using the Cascade detergent. Well, that was my good reason to start using the cheaper (and the not-so-bad in the new light of events) Kirkland detergent. And we used for a while, more than a year, or maybe even two.
And then, Costco stopped carrying the Kirkland detergent brand. At least, that's my assumption, as the only brand sold now is Cascade. And I thought that my idea of detergents being linked to your dreams may be somewhat unfounded. So we decided to try again Cascade. About a week later - there they are! - the weired nightmares for the whole family were back. I tried to switch between powder and gel and the results were the same - wierd dreams and nightmares continued.
Next I went through a series of brands - Palmolive, Electrasol and others. The nightmares were gone. Well, maybe not completely, as weird dreams still happen occasionaly and especially when you are under stress, or when you drink cofee after 4pm, or when you have a heavy meal rigth before going to sleep you are going to have "entertaining" nights. Except these fall into somewhat "normal" cases and frequency of happening.
Last week we ran out of dishwasher detergent, we didn't have time to go shopping and I opened an older leftover bottle of Cascade. Last night my 9years old daughter came to me complaining about nighmares. Two days ago my 5 years old daughter was having nightmares. And I and my wife both started having these really weird dreams again.
And by the way, have you read the label on the dishwasher detergent? Have you seen that big WARNING sign? Did you read that is says "POISON" there? And that you have to seek IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN CASE OF INGESTING?
How well do you think the dishwashers rinse the detergent off the dishes and glasses? I'd assume some ammount of detergent still remains on the surfaces and later is consumed with food. So you do ingest the detergent you use. Should we seek immediate medical assistance as the label sugests?
Here is an interesting link with an excerpt from the North American Diet book - http://www.healthrecipes.com/dishwashing_detergent.htm
The Center of Science in Public Interest revealed that dishwashingSounds scarry, doesn't it? There should be more info on the net on this topic, I just didn't have enough time to look for it.
detergents have caused more household poisonings than any other cleaning product in the home. Nearly all dishwashing detergents contain naphtha, a fuel used in camping stoves. Naphtha is a central nervous system depressant. Other high-tech cleaning agents included are diethanolsamine which is a liver poison, and chlorophenylphenol which is a toxic metabolic stimulant. Chlorine is a poison
present in nearly all dishwashing detergents.
For now, I'm looking into replacing my 5-years old dishwasher with a top-of-the-line new one (with extra rinse cycles) and not using Cascade brand ever again (or at least until thay'll claim a new "healthier" detergent).
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