Why Indoor Air Sensitivity Can Develop After Illness or Stress
When the body’s tolerance changes after it’s been pushed too far.
I kept asking myself why this hadn’t been a problem before.
I had lived in homes like this. Worked in buildings like this.
Something shifted after my body went through too much.
It wasn’t sudden — but it was unmistakable.
Developing sensitivity didn’t mean I’d become fragile.
Why illness and stress can change tolerance thresholds
Before, my system had reserves.
After illness or prolonged stress, those reserves were thinner.
Things I once absorbed quietly started registering loudly.
This helped me understand why sensitivity showed up after, not before.
Tolerance depends on capacity, not toughness.
How recovery periods can unmask environmental strain
While healing, my body needed more safety — not more input.
Indoor air became harder to ignore.
It wasn’t that the environment changed — my body did.
This connected closely to what I noticed about recovery being influenced by surroundings, which I explored in how indoor air can impact recovery from illness or injury.
Recovery can reveal what was previously tolerated.
Why symptoms often feel confusing or delayed
The sensitivity didn’t arrive with a clear start date.
It unfolded gradually.
I kept looking for a single cause when it was really a shift in baseline.
This mirrored what I learned about gradual onset, which I described in why indoor air issues often appear gradually, not suddenly.
Delayed symptoms don’t mean imagined ones.
Why sensitivity after stress is often misread
From the outside, it looked psychological.
Internally, it felt physiological.
I was reacting — not ruminating.
This echoed how indoor air reactions are often mistaken for anxiety, which I explored in why indoor air issues can mimic chronic anxiety.
Context matters when sensitivity emerges.