I think it's just allergies in general- the warm winter means extra polleny junk, so even those who normally don't suffer are.

And dust? how often is it properly cleaned? Or is anyone near you wearing too much perfume?

It's not that clean. (It is my desk we're talking about). No perfume or anything like that, and like I said when I'm outdoors, I'm fine, which would seem to rule out pollen.

I have never been as sick as I have been at my current job. I started getting ear infections and they told me to go to an Allergist and get tested. Turns out all of the dust in the office is making my other (previously untreated) allergies significantly worse.

Someone sitting near you may have a new pet that you are allergic to and is bringing in dander on their clothes.

There could be an allergen there that your body does not have experience with. Maybe a kind of mold, or dust.

People brining in allergens is not far-fetched. As part of my job, I have found dog and cat allergens in rooms where no dogs or cats have been, presumably because kids have brought them in on their clothes and bodies.

I'm allergic to office tasks: photocopying, filing, and data entry make my eyes tear up and my lunch break take forever.

I'd talk more but in 7 minutes I have to go to a mandatory meeting about new software tools that I'm never going to get to use, which will take time away from me working to keep my productivity up, which I need to do to keep a job I'm losing in two months anyway. Also, it's around 11 so the crazy people are lining up outside the state agency across the street doing the thorazine shuffle.

Also, the guilt-ridden twit who runs the department sent an email that she wants to have morale-boosting get togethers once a month. At Antarctica. My bar.

If you read about a shooting spree in Lower Manhattan today, yeah, that'll be me.

How about a drinking spree?

Also note that when a big building's system gets switched from heating to cooling, or vice versa, a lot of dust gets blown around.

At first, I read that as: "Is it possible to actually be allergic to your orifice?"

That would be a real bummer.

When my company moved to a new office park, everyone started coming down with mystery ailments. In particular, about a half dozen of the women I worked with developed weird, severe rashes. Lots of prednisone. My editorial assistant had a rash so bad on her face that she had to bring in a cooler full of ice packs to take the sting away.

It could have been the new carpets or the constant painting and repainting or the fact that the whole office park was built on a reclaimed waste dump. I don't know. I'm just glad I got out.

At first, I read that as: "Is it possible to actually be allergic to your orifice?"

That would be a huge issue for me.

Absolutly. Yes. Positively. Bad or Sick Buildings have been the source of huuuge lawsuitery over the years.

It's usually caused by a bad HVAC system and/or not enough oxygen in the air. It's cheap to put off changing the HVAC filters or to not vacuum the ducts often enough. Landlords also save the big bucks on both heating and air conditioning by recirculating air in the building instead of doing frequent exchanges with the outside (reason XVII why I like working in a lab environment).

Dust causes allergies. Low oxygen causes grumpiness, sleepiness and headaches.

I'm back. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back. I'm so fucking hopping mad at the world right now I could eat nails and spit screws.

Hugh, I'll be at the bar at 5. Wino, too, briefly.

(sorry to those who don't like us doing that, but I have no other option)

I'll be there.

Screws: I'd rather spit 'em than shit 'em.

Yeah - office buildings (especially older ones) are awful for allergens. Is it getting warm enough outside that the ventilation system is starting to blow air/conditioned air?

Probably not your circumstance, but two of the lab I have been in used to be microbiology labs (one for undergrad students) so there were tons of random spores and junk floating around that just would not go away.

Low oxygen causes grumpiness, sleepiness and headaches.

Well to put it more exactly (I do indoor air for a living), the oxygen levels never go much below 20-21%, but the carbon dioxide levels, which are 375-400 parts per million in outside air, go up.

The guidelines call for keeping the CO2 levels in indoor air under 1000 ppm but that is hard to do with old systems.

We measure CO2 because it is a good yardstick for the presence of other stuff (my technical word to occupants is "cooties") that is there but we can't measure.

These cooties, including the stuff that literally flies off you and me when we are in a space (skin cells, voc's from our respiration and digestion, etc.) can be irritating when they build up, and cause a load on one's system that can result in allergic reactions, or can manifest in headaches, sloth and drowsiness.

I am not a big believer in routine cleaning of air ducts (unless there is something wrong in there, like mold) but I am a firm believer of 3 or 4 annual filter changes, which keep the air flowing at high volume while removing a lot of the contaminants out of the air.

Plus, enough outside air introduced (you can't have 100% OSA or the building operators would never be able to afford their heating and cooling bills) to keep the CO2 levels down.

And any leaks, condensation, or ANY source of persistent moisture needs to be dealt with right away, to keep mold at bay.

office is an open-floor plan

allergies aside, I have worked in those, and the person who originated this idea needs to be hanged by the neck until he is dead, dead, dead.

Nothing like a complete and utter lack of privacy and personal space to make me feel all hip and "dot-commy!"

Yeah, I always seem to be sniffing and I get a lot more headaches since I moved back into head office. Why why why do they make buildings without opening windows in a city where the climate means we would not need a/c for 9 months of the year if only we could open the fucking windows?

In the last building I was in, the a/c was competely stuffed and nobody did anything about it until we threatened to open a window (with a chair). Actually, it wasn't until they realised we were serious that they fixed the problem. Until then, we had to make do by propping open the security and fire doors to get enough air to breathe.

Has it occurred to you that you may be alleric to the job, rather than the building? Or, at least, the current atmosphere that exists there. The "past month or so" seems to pretty much tie in with when things went bad for you there.