In a clip from an episode of TLC’s My Strange Addiction, we meet Evelyn, a 27-year-old mother of two addicted to drinking air freshener. According to Evelyn, there’s not a day that goes by without her drinking the household cleaner. Unfortunately, her doctor warns that this strange habit may turn into a deadly one if she doesn’t give it up soon.
Evelyn, first stumbled upon her love for air freshener accidentally. While walking across her hallway to fill her glass up with ice, some freshener from the automatic dispensers accidentally sprayed on the rim of her glass.
“It dusted the rim of my glass. It was a flavor that I liked,” Evelyn explained in the TLC clip.
Ever since, the Missouri mother has been hooked on drinking fresh linen flavored air freshener, claiming that no other flavor will do.The death of Evelyn’s mother only caused her addiction to escalate, and at the moment she can go through up to 20 bottles a week — as much as a mid-size hotel will use, according to The Mirror.
Evelyn chooses to enjoy her air freshener only two ways: straight out of the bottle or sprayed over crushed ice. However, on the show, Evelyn’s doctor had some tough news for the Missouri mom: Her favorite habit was slowly killing her. Research shows that spray air fresheners contain chemicals that not only are capable of irritating body tissue (such as burning of the throat and diarrhea), but have also been linked to cancer.
“Hearing that I was going to die from this if I didn’t stop, it really hit me hard,” Evelyn explained on the show. “It was kind of a blow to the chest. I’ve got to stop drinking air freshener.”
via Medical Daily
