Allergic to Wool - HELP!

[Orvil Newton]

Not me.

It's my wife. She has recently decided that she is allergic to wool. Every time I put on a wool sweater she starts to wheeze and sneeze. This is a real problem for me because 1) we are spending the winter in Alaska, and 2) a couple of years ago I got rid of most of my Patagonia polyester fleece and capilene and replaced it with Smartwool underwear and wool sweaters. Then there is my Armani suit and a blazer, wool slacks (You can imagine what I went through finding vintage button-fly wool trousers), not to mention my prized tweed newsboy cap and Pendleton shirts.

OTOH, she has no trouble wearing Smartwool socks or her own wool/polyester cap. She does not get any skin rash or contact reaction.

What can I do? If I can't find a solution I will have to either get rid of thousands of dollars worth of my favorite clothes and replace them with polyester or find a new wife - really not an option is it?

 

[m0nk]

Not me.

It's my wife. She has recently decided that she is allergic to wool. Every time I put on a wool sweater she starts to wheeze and sneeze. This is a real problem for me because 1) we are spending the winter in Alaska, and 2) a couple of years ago I got rid of most of my Patagonia polyester fleece and capilene and replaced it with Smartwool underwear and wool sweaters. Then there is my Armani suit and a blazer, wool slacks (You can imagine what I went through finding vintage button-fly wool trousers), not to mention my prized tweed newsboy cap and Pendleton shirts.

OTOH, she has no trouble wearing Smartwool socks or her own wool/polyester cap. She does not get any skin rash or contact reaction.

What can I do? If I can't find a solution I will have to either get rid of thousands of dollars worth of my favorite clothes and replace them with polyester or find a new wife - really not an option is it?

Sounds like she has an allergy to your wardrobe, not wool. Not sure of a solution, though...

 

[Orvil Newton]

Sounds like she has an allergy to your wardrobe, not wool. Not sure of a solution, though...

My first thought. But she did help me pick out most of it and has always complimented me on my attire. BTW we have been married 16 years this month. I really do not think this is the case but she may be imagining the allergy thing. She has asthmatic tendencies so I thought it might be dust or something like that.

 

[carldelo]

Well, it sounds like you need to get to an allergist to see if she is actually allergic to something, and determine what it is. Who knows, maybe she's just allergic to dust, as you say, or dry cleaning solution, hopefully not allergic to you personally......