March, 2013, I am not a botanist or an allergist. In winter 2011 my nine Ficus nitida trees froze just deep enough to kill the leaves and smaller branches. The larger branches lived and new growth occurred after several months. During the months that the dead leaves and thin dead branches began to break down, I came down with a terrible respiratory problem. The respiratory problem hit everyone in my household and recovery took months. Friends and neighbors in the Phoenix area described similar respiratory problems. None of us or anyone we knew thought about the F. nitida decaying in the air. We all recovered and in the winter of 2012-2013 the F. nitidas froze again. One morning a few months after the freeze, while sitting on the patio I saw what I thought was mist swirling and blowing through the yard. I discovered that the breeze was taking some sort of dust out of the dead parts of the trees. Large amounts of dust I should add. It hadn’t been too long since the last rain and we hadn’t had any dust storms to fill the trees with dirt. The trees should have been relatively clean compared with summer dust conditions. I thought little of it until later that day when I was working on one of the trees and became aware that I was breathing a lot of their dust and shortly became very sick. It reminded me of being sick 2 years before because the symptoms were the same. I believe it’s possible that as the plant material breaks down to small particles the particles become airborne and wreak havoc on our lungs. Here is an article about F. nitida and how dangerous toxins are trapped by their leaves then released when they die and break down. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FB%3AWATE.0000026521.99552.fd?LI=true# Unfortunately, it’ time for my trees to go. Bob Here is a link that might be useful: Capture of Particulate Pollution by Trees:

Hi everyone. Kebbiee1 - Prevention is better than treatment, however here in Australia I just rub a bit of Ti-Tree oil on any itching or stinging irritations and it stops them in their track, but I don't know if it's available where you live. There are also various antiseptic creams now available containing Ti Tree oil as the active ingredient which work just as well. A pair of men's old work socks with the toe cut out and pulled over the arm will give good protection as will long armed gloves made for the purpose. Although they look cumbersome, they aren't, as they are made out of a type of light weight canvas. Last time I bought them they were $5.95 AU. All the best, Nev.

I got this in the beginning of May. What I thought was spider strings was actually the larvae of the gypsy moth. My rash and itch were so bad I was put on Prednisone and Benadryl to counter act it. It's been 27 days and it is just now starting to go away. At first I thought it might be poison ivy or one of the others but the rash did not leak like it usually did when I got it. After 3 days of sleeplessness I finally went to the doctors and was put on medication.

Do you ever have a brief sense of clouding over or like there is a film in your eye or like you have an eyelash in your eye.Those are also symptoms of dry eyes. No, that doesn't happen to me. Again, I think that it is allergies, because I will be fine until I go outside, and the nursery experience really made me realize it was some sort of tree or shrub. It is quite obvious that I am having a reaction to something. Recently my DH and I were out to dinner, and dining in the restaurant's patio area and I experienced the same sypmtoms. I was fine when we left the house, but started tearing up when we sat down on the patio.